OCgeeks

Linux Media Center Edition

2008-07-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Controls everything from your TV to your security system using anything from your cell phone to a Wii remote. More >>>

IsoHunt Goes Secure, Adds SSL Encryption

2008-06-27T16:46:00.001-07:00

ISPs and authorities increasingly use Deep Packet Inspection hardware to block access to BitTorrent sites, or spy on users ’ browsing habits. To offer its users more privacy, isoHunt has now added SSL encryption, making it impossible for your ISP or the authorities to monitor your activities on the BitTorrent site. More >>>>

Why You Should Download Firefox 3 Right Now

2008-06-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

Firefox 3 — available for download at 10am PDT Tuesday — is the culmination of a two-year quest to build the best browser ever. And while it’s not perfect, it comes pretty close.

The open-source web browser is the fastest and most secure version of Firefox yet. Significant improvements have been made to the way it uses your computer’s resources, so the memory leaks and other performance problems found in Firefox 2 have been stamped out. Text and image rendering have also been improved, and the underlying code for Gecko, the engine that draws the actual web pages on the screen, has been updated. There are also heaps of useful features that have been added for both power users and newcomers alike.

REMOVE VISTA .com

2008-05-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

REMOVE VISTA .com how to uninstall Windows Vista
Please note that this site is just a helping hand. Use this information at your own risk!
Please select your situation:
I installed Vista next to another Windows version (e.g. XP/98 etc.)	I upgraded from XP to Vista	I've only got Vista installed on my system

ACP-Hyperactive Swapmeet at 1310 Edinger, Santa Ana CA

2008-05-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

ACP-Hyperactive Swapmeet at 1310 Edinger, Santa Ana CA. (Off the 55 Freeway and Edinger). Come by and see the latest in HDTV HDMI, DVI, + Component Cables and computer cables, adapters accessories such as USB to SATA, CAT5e, USB Adapters, & DB9-Pin Serial Cables for those free-to-air boxes. The latest USB to RS232 just came in and they do work with anything!

This Technology Will Blow Your Mind..

2008-05-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

These genius' never cease to amaze me.. This technology will soon be at our fingertips..

Programmer Destroys 7 Billion Dollar Industry

2008-04-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

Spencer is the inventor of Asterisk, a free software program that establishes phone calls over the Internet. handles voicemail, caller ID, teleconferencing and other features for the phone.a decent-size company can rip out its traditional phone switch, even some of its newfangled Internet telephone gear, and say good-bye to 80% of its telecom costs More >>>

Windows Command Line Tricks

2008-03-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Automatically Defragment C: Daily

schtasks /create /tn "Defrag C" /tr "defrag c: /f" /sc daily /st 23:00:00 /ru "System"

This will set your computer to automatically perform a complete defrag of the C: drive each day at 11:00:00 PM (23:00:00). It does this by creating a scheduled task called Defrag C. It will run this command under the computer’s system account.

---------------------------------------
Map A Drive Letter to a Folder
subst W: C:\Windows

Sometimes, your directory structure can get pretty deep and complicated. You can simplify this a bit by mapping a drive letter to commonly used folders. In the example that I have given, this will create a drive letter W: and map it to the C:\Windows directory. Then, whenever you go into My Computer, you will see a W: drive and when you browse to it, it will automatically take you to the contents of the C:\Windows folder.

You can do this with any unused drive letter and any folder that exists on your system.
-------------------------------------------

List All Tasks Running On The Computer

tasklist

It’s always good to know what is running on your system. This is the command line version of the processes tab in Taks Manager.
Kill A Program

taskkill /im programname.exe /f

If, when using the tasklist command, you discover that there is something running you just want killed. This is the way to do it! Just note the program name and use it in place of programname.exe.

--------------------------------------------
Reboot a Remote Computer

shutdown -r -f -m \\remotePC -c "System will be rebooted in 20 seconds"

Sometimes, you just need to reboot a system. This will do it remotely and give the user a 20 second warning.

---------------------------------------------
stopping and starting the print spooler

%windir%\System32\cmd.exe /c "net.exe stop Spooler && net start Spooler"

--------------------------------------------
To flush the DNS lookup cache (in case you’re using a dynamic DNS service for connecting to a remote machine etc.):

ipconfig /flushdns

If you’re using IIS for local web development and you need to restart the web server (to clear the application data, to fix a DLL problem etc.), don’t take the long trip through Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Internet Information Services etc. Simply issue:

iisreset
------------------------------------------------

runas /user:domain\user “cmd.exe /c shutdown -r -f -m 192.168.0.2 -t 1″

if you also supply the password it will not prompt
------------------------------------------------

Google Sky Released!

2008-03-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Now you can explore the universe without Google earth... >>>

69 Linux-Unix cheat sheets - The ultimate collection

2008-02-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

The ultimate collection of cheat sheets for linux users. Enough to fill up your whole wall with commands yielded by the geek gods! Be sure to digg this so more people can have the opportunity to get ahold of all these in one place. More >>>

10 great free downloads for your network

2008-02-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

Whether you've got a home network, small network, enterprise network or anything in between, these 10 freebies can make it more secure, run better and easier to manage. They're useful, easy to learn ... and you certainly can't beat free

1. NetworkMagic
2. Spiceworks IT Desktop
3. NetLimiter Monitor
4. Network Notepad
5. Advanced Net Tools (ANT)
6. DreamSys Server Monitor
7. NetBrute Scanner
8. Technitium MAC Address Changer
9. RogueScanner
10. NetPeek More >>>

Top 100 Essential Mac Applications

2008-02-05T22:53:00.000-08:00

An up to date list of the top 100 Apple Mac applications. These are the applications that every Mac should be installed with. Examples include the free to the not so free but all worth having for any Mac user.

1) AppFresh
Software updater is great for Apple applications, but appfresh has the ability to check thrid party apps for updates. A great little tool for keeping upto date.

2) AppZapper
Although applications are easy to uninstall on a mac there are usually small preference files hanging about. Appzapper cleans up an uninstall all of those files.

3) Disk Inventory X
A simple program that scans your disk and visually shows what files takes up how much space, good to visualise if you are running out of space and you have some size hogs.

4) Grand Perspective
Very similar to Disk Inventory X, shows you what files take up how much space on your website.

5) OpenPlist
A very cool little tool if you need to end up editing Plist files.

6) Quicksilver
One of the best applications ever made for the mac. Its a quick launch tool that enables you to open and do practically anything. Very fun and really increases your productivity.

7) Stuffit
An application design to unstuff or unpack nearly any file. Create if you use archives a lot.

8) TextWrangler
A very cool text editor that lets you edit text files quickly. Sometimes more powerful than text edit.

9) TidyUp
An application that enables you to search through a list of files finds duplicates. Great if you have many files and you need to organise them.

10) Todos
Leaves no application behind. A very visual way to view all of the applications on your computer. Kind of surpassed by the stacks in the dock.

11) UnRarX
UnrarX gives you the abilty to easily uncompress .rar files. Very good, although stuffit can now handle .rar files.

12) Xslimmer
Give your mac a diet. It goes through and removes the powerpc or intel parts of your program. It can really reduce the size of applications. Can also break them if you are not careful.

More >>>

How to Rip DVDs with Handbrake

2008-02-03T23:51:00.000-08:00

How to Rip DVDs to Your Mac

Basic movie ripping is fairly simple. Here's how to do it:

How-to get Windows XP past the June 30th cutoff (or not)

2008-01-29T23:42:00.000-08:00

Well with the June 30th cutoff fast approaching, PC World decided to take a look at your options for procuring an XP license after that date, but unfortunately, the picture isn't too pretty.

The problem with vista is that it looks great, but is a pain in the butt to do most things with. Security is not in creating extra steps for the user to jump through, security is taking those steps in the background without the user needing to worry about it. when you have to disable things like User control to make the OS less annoying, you've added a level of security that is in fact, useless.

Having said that, Vista is not near as bad as it's made out to be, and by that XP 2009 cut off, it will likely really shine. But Microsoft needs to take a serious look at why XP was so popular, and Vista so resisted. And they need to take notes from the Mac side of things and not wait years between massive updates. You spend 6+ years with one OS, of course you are going to be comfortable with it and resist change. More >>>

25 Windows XP Hidden Applications

2008-01-19T22:26:00.001-08:00

1. Character Map = charmap.exe (very useful for finding unusual characters)

2. Disk Cleanup = cleanmgr.exe

3. Clipboard Viewer = clipbrd.exe (views contents of Windows clipboard)

4. Dr Watson = drwtsn32.exe (Troubleshooting tool)

5. DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag.exe (Diagnose & test DirectX, video & sound cards)

6. Private character editor = eudcedit.exe (allows creation or modification of characters)

7. IExpress Wizard = iexpress.exe (Create self-extracting self-installing package)

8. Mcft Synchronization Manager = mobsync.exe (appears to allow synchronization of files on the network for when working offline. Apparently undocumented).

9. Windows Media Player 5.1 = mplay32.exe (Retro version of Media Player, very basic).

10. ODBC Data Source Administrator = odbcad32.exe (something to do with databases)

11. Object Packager = packager.exe (to do with packaging objects for insertion in files, appears to have comprehensive help files).

12. System Monitor = perfmon.exe (very useful, highly configurable tool, tells you everything you ever wanted to know about any aspect of PC performance, for uber-geeks only )

13. Program Manager = progman.exe (Legacy Windows 3.x desktop shell).

14. Remote Access phone book = rasphone.exe (documentation is virtually non-existant).

15. Registry Editor = regedt32.exe [also regedit.exe] (for hacking the Windows Registry).

16. Network shared folder wizard = shrpubw.exe (creates shared folders on network).

17. File siganture verification tool = sigverif.exe

18. Volume Contro = sndvol32.exe (I've included this for those people that lose it from the System Notification area).

19. System Configuration Editor = sysedit.exe (modify System.ini & Win.ini just like in Win98! ).

20. Syskey = syskey.exe (Secures XP Account database - use with care, it's virtually undocumented but it appears to encrypt all passwords, I'm not sure of the full implications).

21. Mcft Telnet Client = telnet.exe

22. Driver Verifier Manager = verifier.exe (seems to be a utility for monitoring the actions of drivers, might be useful for people having driver problems. Undocumented).

23. Windows for Workgroups Chat = winchat.exe (appears to be an old NT utility to allow chat sessions over a LAN, help files available).

24. System configuration = msconfig.exe (can use to control starup programs)

25. gpedit.msc used to manage group policies, and permissionsr

Windows shortcuts, must know

2008-01-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Run Commands:

compmgmt.msc - Computer management
devmgmt.msc - Device manager
diskmgmt.msc - Disk management
dfrg.msc - Disk defrag
eventvwr.msc - Event viewer
fsmgmt.msc - Shared folders
gpedit.msc - Group policies
lusrmgr.msc - Local users and groups
perfmon.msc - Performance monitor
rsop.msc - Resultant set of policies
secpol.msc - Local security settings
services.msc - Various Services
msconfig - System Configuration Utility
regedit - Registry Editor
msinfo32 _ System Information
sysedit _ System Edit
win.ini _ windows loading information(also system.ini)
winver _ Shows current version of windows
mailto: _ Opens default email client
command _ Opens command prompt

Run Commands to access the control panel:
Add/Remove Programs control appwiz.cpl
Date/Time Properties control timedate.cpl
Display Properties control desk.cpl
FindFast control findfast.cpl
Fonts Folder control fonts
Internet Properties control inetcpl.cpl
Keyboard Properties control main.cpl keyboard
Mouse Properties control main.cpl
Multimedia Properties control mmsys.cpl
Network Properties control netcpl.cpl
Password Properties control password.cpl
Printers Folder control printers
Sound Properties control mmsys.cpl sounds
System Properties control sysdm.cpl

Command Prompt:
ANSI.SYS Defines functions that change display graphics, control cursor movement, and reassign keys.
APPEND Causes MS-DOS to look in other directories when editing a file or running a command.
ARP Displays, adds, and removes arp information from network devices.
ASSIGN Assign a drive letter to an alternate letter.
ASSOC View the file associations.
AT Schedule a time to execute commands or programs.
ATMADM Lists connections and addresses seen by Windows ATM call manager.
ATTRIB Display and change file attributes.
BATCH Recovery console command that executes a series of commands in a file.
BOOTCFG Recovery console command that allows a user to view, modify, and rebuild the boot.ini
BREAK Enable / disable CTRL + C feature.
CACLS View and modify file ACL's.
CALL Calls a batch file from another batch file.
CD Changes directories.
CHCP Supplement the International keyboard and character set information.
CHDIR Changes directories.
CHKDSK Check the hard disk drive running FAT for errors.
CHKNTFS Check the hard disk drive running NTFS for errors.
CHOICE Specify a listing of multiple options within a batch file.
CLS Clears the screen.
CMD Opens the command interpreter.
COLOR Easily change the foreground and background color of the MS-DOS window.
COMP Compares files.
COMPACT Compresses and uncompress files.
CONTROL Open control panel icons from the MS-DOS prompt.
CONVERT Convert FAT to NTFS.
COPY Copy one or more files to an alternate location.
CTTY Change the computers input/output devices.
DATE View or change the systems date.
DEBUG Debug utility to create assembly programs to modify hardware settings.
DEFRAG Re-arrange the hard disk drive to help with loading programs.
DEL Deletes one or more files.
DELETE Recovery console command that deletes a file.
DELTREE Deletes one or more files and/or directories.
DIR List the contents of one or more directory.
DISABLE Recovery console command that disables Windows system services or drivers.
DISKCOMP Compare a disk with another disk.
DISKCOPY Copy the contents of one disk and place them on another disk.
DOSKEY Command to view and execute commands that have been run in the past.
DOSSHELL A GUI to help with early MS-DOS users.
DRIVPARM Enables overwrite of original device drivers.
ECHO Displays messages and enables and disables echo.
EDIT View and edit files.
EDLIN View and edit files.
EMM386 Load extended Memory Manager.
ENABLE Recovery console command to enable a disable service or driver.
ENDLOCAL Stops the localization of the environment changes enabled by the setlocal command.
ERASE Erase files from computer.
EXIT Exit from the command interpreter.
EXPAND Expand a M*cros*ft Windows file back to it's original format.
EXTRACT Extract files from the M*cros*ft Windows cabinets.
FASTHELP Displays a listing of MS-DOS commands and information about them.
FC Compare files.
FDISK Utility used to create partitions on the hard disk drive.
FIND Search for text within a file.
FINDSTR Searches for a string of text within a file.
FIXBOOT Writes a new boot sector.
FIXMBR Writes a new boot record to a disk drive.
FOR Boolean used in batch files.
FORMAT Command to erase and prepare a disk drive.
FTP Command to connect and operate on a FTP server.
FTYPE Displays or modifies file types used in file extension associations.
GOTO Moves a batch file to a specific label or location.
GRAFTABL Show extended characters in graphics mode.
HELP Display a listing of commands and brief explanation.
IF Allows for batch files to perform conditional processing.
IFSHLP.SYS 32-bit file manager.
IPCONFIG Network command to view network adapter settings and assigned values.
KEYB Change layout of keyboard.
LABEL Change the label of a disk drive.
LH Load a device driver in to high memory.
LISTSVC Recovery console command that displays the services and drivers.
LOADFIX Load a program above the first 64k.
LOADHIGH Load a device driver in to high memory.
LOCK Lock the hard disk drive.
LOGON Recovery console command to list installations and enable administrator login.
MAP Displays the device name of a drive.
MD Command to create a new directory.
MEM Display memory on system.
MKDIR Command to create a new directory.
MODE Modify the port or display settings.
MORE Display one page at a time.
MOVE Move one or more files from one directory to another directory.
MSAV Early M*cros*ft Virus scanner.
MSD Diagnostics utility.
MSCDEX Utility used to load and provide access to the CD-ROM.
NBTSTAT Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NBT
NET Update, fix, or view the network or network settings
NETSH Configure dynamic and static network information from MS-DOS.
NETSTAT Display the TCP/IP network protocol statistics and information.
NLSFUNC Load country specific information.
NSLOOKUP Look up an IP address of a domain or host on a network.
PATH View and modify the computers path location.
PATHPING View and locate locations of network latency.
PAUSE Command used in batch files to stop the processing of a command.
PING Test / send information to another network computer or network device.
POPD Changes to the directory or network path stored by the pushd command.
POWER Conserve power with computer portables.
PRINT Prints data to a printer port.
PROMPT View and change the MS-DOS prompt.
PUSHD Stores a directory or network path in memory so it can be returned to at any time.
QBASIC Open the QBasic.
RD Removes an empty directory.
REN Renames a file or directory.
RENAME Renames a file or directory.
RMDIR Removes an empty directory.
ROUTE View and configure windows network route tables.
RUNAS Enables a user to execute a program on another computer.
SCANDISK Run the scandisk utility.
SCANREG Scan registry and recover registry from errors.
SET Change one variable or string to another.
SETLOCAL Enables local environments to be changed without affecting anything else.
SETVER Change MS-DOS version to trick older MS-DOS programs.
SHARE Installs support for file sharing and locking capabilities.
SHIFT Changes the position of replaceable parameters in a batch program.
SHUTDOWN Shutdown the computer from the MS-DOS prompt.
SMARTDRV Create a disk cache in conventional memory or extended memory.
SORT Sorts the input and displays the output to the screen.
START Start a separate window in Windows from the MS-DOS prompt.
SUBST Substitute a folder on your computer for another drive letter.
SWITCHES Remove add functions from MS-DOS.
SYS Transfer system files to disk drive.
TELNET Telnet to another computer / device from the prompt.
TIME View or modify the system time.
TITLE Change the title of their MS-DOS window.
TRACERT Visually view a network packets route across a network.
TREE View a visual tree of the hard disk drive.
TYPE Display the contents of a file.
UNDELETE Undelete a file that has been deleted.
UNFORMAT Unformat a hard disk drive.
UNLOCK Unlock a disk drive.
VER Display the version information.
VERIFY Enables or disables the feature to determine if files have been written properly.
VOL Displays the volume information about the designated drive.
XCOPY Copy multiple files, directories, and/or drives from one location to another.
TRUENAME When placed before a file, will display the whole directory in which it exists
TASKKILL It allows you to kill those unneeded or locked up applications

Windows XP Shortcuts:
ALT+- (ALT+hyphen) Displays the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window's System menu
ALT+ENTER View properties for the selected item
ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order they were opened
ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program
ALT+SPACEBAR Display the System menu for the active window
ALT+TAB Switch between open items
ALT+Underlined letter Display the corresponding menu
BACKSPACE View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer
CTRL+A Select all
CTRL+B Bold
CTRL+C Copy
CTRL+I Italics
CTRL+O Open an item
CTRL+U Underline
CTRL+V Paste
CTRL+X Cut
CTRL+Z Undo
CTRL+F4 Close the active document
CTRL while dragging Copy selected item
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging Create shortcut to selected iteM
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word
CTRL+LEFT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word
CTRL+DOWN ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph
CTRL+UP ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph
SHIFT+DELETE Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin
ESC Cancel the current task
F1 Displays Help
F2 Rename selected item
F3 Search for a file or folder
F4 Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer
F5 Refresh the active window
F6 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program
SHIFT+F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu
SHIFT+CTRL+ESC Launches Task Manager
SHIFT when you insert a CD Prevent the CD from automatically playing
WIN Display or hide the Start menu
WIN+BREAK Display the System Properties dialog box
WIN+D Minimizes all Windows and shows the Desktop
WIN+E Open Windows Explorer
WIN+F Search for a file or folder
WIN+F+CTRL Search for computers
WIN+L Locks the desktop
WIN+M Minimize or restore all windows
WIN+R Open the Run dialog box
WIN+TAB Switch between open items

Windows Explorer Shortcuts:
ALT+SPACEBAR - Display the current window’s system menu
SHIFT+F10 - Display the item's context menu
CTRL+ESC - Display the Start menu
ALT+TAB - Switch to the window you last used
ALT+F4 - Close the current window or quit
CTRL+A - Select all items
CTRL+X - Cut selected item(s)
CTRL+C - Copy selected item(s)
CTRL+V - Paste item(s)
CTRL+Z - Undo last action
CTRL+(+) - Automatically resize the columns in the right hand pane
TAB - Move forward through options
ALT+RIGHT ARROW - Move forward to a previous view
ALT+LEFT ARROW - Move backward to a previous view
SHIFT+DELETE - Delete an item immediately
BACKSPACE - View the folder one level up
ALT+ENTER - View an item’s properties
F10 - Activate the menu bar in programs
F6 - Switch between left and right panes
F5 - Refresh window contents
F3 - Display Find application
F2 - Rename selected item

Internet Explorer Shortcuts:
CTRL+A - Select all items on the current page
CTRL+D - Add the current page to your Favorites
CTRL+E - Open the Search bar
CTRL+F - Find on this page
CTRL+H - Open the History bar
CTRL+I - Open the Favorites bar
CTRL+N - Open a new window
CTRL+O - Go to a new location
CTRL+P - Print the current page or active frame
CTRL+S - Save the current page
CTRL+W - Close current browser window
CTRL+ENTER - Adds the

Code:

http://www

. (url) .com
SHIFT+CLICK - Open link in new window
BACKSPACE - Go to the previous page
ALT+HOME - Go to your Home page
HOME - Move to the beginning of a document
TAB - Move forward through items on a page
END - Move to the end of a document
ESC - Stop downloading a page
F11 - Toggle full-screen view
F5 - Refresh the current page
F4 - Display list of typed addresses
F6 - Change Address bar and page focus
ALT+RIGHT ARROW - Go to the next page
SHIFT+CTRL+TAB - Move back between frames
SHIFT+F10 - Display a shortcut menu for a link
SHIFT+TAB - Move back through the items on a page
CTRL+TAB - Move forward between frames
CTRL+C - Copy selected items to the clipboard
CTRL+V - Insert contents of the clipboard
ENTER - Activate a selected link
HOME - Move to the beginning of a document
END - Move to the end of a document
F1 - Display Internet Explorer Help

runas /user:Administrator "....."

Best Keyboard Shortcuts

Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:

Windows key + R = Run menu

This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer

ALT + Tab = Switch between windows

ALT, Space, X = Maximize window

CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager

Windows key + Break = System properties

Windows key + F = Search

Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows

CTRL + C = copy

CTRL + X = cut

CTRL + V = paste

Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.

Keyboard Shortcuts

[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications

[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter

[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu

[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)

[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window

[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document

Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word

Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph

[F1] Open Help for active application

Windows+M Minimize all open windows

Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows

Windows+F1 Open Windows Help

Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons

Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box

acessability shortcuts

Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.

Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.

SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.

NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.

explorer shortcuts

END....... Display the bottom of the active window.

HOME....... Display the top of the active window.

NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.

NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.

LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.

RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.

Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run

devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog

Sun buys MySQL

2008-01-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

Didn't see that one coming. Blog contains details to what this could mean for both companies. May as well be one of the most important takeovers of 2008 already! More >>>

Linux Commands Line - v1.0

2008-01-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

arch	show architecture of machine
uname -r	show used kernel version
dmidecode -q	show hardware system components - (SMBIOS / DMI)
hdaparm -i /dev/hda	displays the characteristics of a hard-disk
hdparm -tT /dev/sda	perform test reading on a hard-disk
cat /proc/cpuinfo	show information CPU info
cat /proc/interrupts	show interrupts
cat /proc/meminfo	verify memory use
cat /proc/swaps	show file(s) swap
cat /proc/version	show version of the kernel
cat /proc/net/dev	visualizzare gli adattori di rete See adattori network
cat /proc/mounts	show mounted file system(s)
lspci -tv	display PCI devices
lsusb -tv	show USB devices
date	show system date
cal 2007	show the timetable of 2007
date 041217002007.00	set date and time - MonthDayhoursMinutesYear.Secondi
clock -w	save changes on BIOS

Shutdown, Restart of a system and Logout
shutdown -h now	shutdown system
shutdown -r hours:minutes &	planned shutdown of the system
shutdown -c	cancel a planned shutdown of the system
shutdown -r now	reboot
reboot	reboot
logout	leaving session

Files and Directory
cd /home	enter to directory '/ home'
cd ..	go back one level
cd ../..	go back two levels
cd	go to home directory
cd ~utente	go to home directory
cd -	go to previous directory
pwd	show the path of work directory
ls	view files of directory
ls -F	view files of directory
ls -l	show details of files and directory
ls -a	show hidden files
ls [0-9]	show files and directory containing numbers
lstree	show files and directories in a tree starting from root
mkdir dir1	create a directory called 'dir1'
mkdir dir1 dir2	create two directories simultaneously
mkdir -p /tmp/dir1/dir2	create a directory tree
rm -f file1	delete file called 'file1'
rm -rf dir1	delete directory called 'dir1'
rm -rf dir1 dir2	delete two directories simultaneously
mv dir1 new_dir	rename / move a file or directory
cp file1 file2	copying a file
cp dir/* .	copy all files of a directory within the current work directory
cp -a /tmp/dir1 .	copy a directory within the current work directory
cp -a dir1 dir2	copy a directory
ln -s file1 lnk1	create a symbolic link to file or directory
ln file1 lnk1	create a physical link to file or directory
touch -t 0712250000 fileditest	modify timestamp of a file or directory - (YYMMDDhhmm)

File search
find / -name file1	search file and directory into root filesystem from '/'
find / -user user1	search files and directories belonging to 'user1'
find /home/user1 -name *.bin	search files with '. bin' extension within directory '/ home/user1'
find /usr/bin -type f -atime +100	search bynary files are not used in the last 100 days
find /usr/bin -type f -mtime -10	search files created or changed within 10 days
find / -name *.rpm -exec chmod 755 {} ;	search files with '.rpm' extension and modify permits
find / -name *.rpm -xdev	search files with '.rpm' extension ignoring removable partitions as cdrom, pen-drive, etc.…
locate *.ps	find files with the '.ps' extension - first run 'updatedb' command
whereis halt	show location of a binary file, source or man
which halt	show full path to a binary / executable

Mounting a Filesystem
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2	mount disk called hda2 - verify existence of the directory '/ mnt/hda2'
umount /dev/hda2	unmount disk called hda2 - exit from mount point '/ mnt/hda2' first
fuser -km /mnt/hda2	force umount when the device is busy
umount -n /mnt/hda2	run umount without writing the file /etc/mtab - useful when the file is read-only or the hard disk is full
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy	mount a floppy disk
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom	mount a cdrom / dvdrom
mount /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrecorder	mount a cdrw / dvdrom
mount /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrecorder	mount a cdrw / dvdrom
mount -o loop file.iso /mnt/cdrom	mount a file or iso image
mount -t vfat /dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5	mount a Windows FAT32 file system
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbdisk	mount a usb pen-drive or flash-drive
mount -t smbfs -o username=user,password=pass //winclient/share /mnt/share	mount a windows network share

Disk Space
df -h	show list of partitions mounted
ls -lSr \|more	show size of the files and directories ordered by size
du -sh dir1	estimate space used by directory 'dir1'
du -sh * \| sort -rn	show size of the files and directories sorted by size
rpm -q -a --qf '%10{SIZE}\t%{NAME}\n' \| sort -k1,1n	show space used by rpm packages installed sorted by size (fedora, redhat and sourced)
dpkg-query -W -f='${Installed-Size;10}\t${Package}\n' \| sort -k1,1n	show space used by deb packages installed sorted by size (ubuntu, debian and deriviate)

Users and Groups
groupadd group_name	create a new group
groupdel group_name	delete a group
groupmod -n new_group_name old_group_name	rename a group
useradd -c "Nome Cognome" -g admin -d /home/user1 -s /bin/bash user1	create a new user belongs "admin" group
useradd user1	create a new user
userdel -r user1	delete a user ( '-r' eliminates home directory)
usermod -c "User FTP" -g system -d /ftp/user1 -s /bin/nologin user1	change user attributes
passwd	change password
passwd user1	change a user password (only by root)
chage -E 2005-12-31 user1	set deadline for user password
pwck	check correct syntax and file format of '/etc/passwd' and users existence
grpck	check correct syntax and file format of '/etc/group' and groups existence
alias hh='history'	set an alias for a command - hh = history

Permits on File - use "+" to set permissions and "-" to remove
ls -lh	show permits
ls /tmp \| pr -T5 -W$COLUMNS	divide terminal into 5 columns
chmod ugo+rwx directory1	set permissions reading (r), write (w) and (x) access to users owner (u) group (g) and others (o)
chmod go-rwx directory1	remove permits reading (r), write (w) and (x) access to users group (g) and others (or
chown user1 file1	change owner of a file
chown user1 -R directory1	change user owner of a directory and all the files and directories contained inside
chgrp gruppo1 file1	change group of files
chown user1:gruppo1 file1	change user and group ownership of a file
find / -perm -u+s	view all files on the system with SUID configured
chmod u+s /bin/file_eseguibile	set SUID bit on a binary file - the user that running that file gets same privileges as owner
chmod u-s /bin/file_binario	disable SUID bit on a binary file
chmod g+s /home/public	set SGID bit on a directory - similar to SUID but for directory
chmod g-s /home/public	disable SGID bit on a directory
chmod o+t /home/comune	set STIKY bit on a directory - allows files deletion only to legitimate owners
chmod o-t /home/comune	disable STIKY bit on a directory

Special Attributes on file - use "+" to set permissions and "-" to remove
chattr +a file1	allows write opening of a file only append mode
chattr +c file1	allows that a file is compressed / decompressed automatically by the kernel
chattr +d file1	makes sure that the program ignores Dump the files during backup
chattr +i file1	makes it an immutable file, which can not be removed, altered, renamed or linked
chattr +s file1	allows a file to be deleted safely
chattr +S file1	makes sure that if a file is modified changes are written in synchronous mode as with sync
chattr +u file1	allows you to recover the contents of a file even if it is canceled
lsattr	show specials attributes

Archives and compressed files
bunzip2 file1.bz2	decompress a file called 'file1.bz2'
bzip2 file1	compress a file called 'file1'
gunzip file1.gz	decompress a file called 'file1.gz'
gzip file1	compress a file called 'file1'
gzip -9 file1	compress with maximum compression
rar a file1.rar test_file	create an archive rar called 'file1.rar'
rar a file1.rar file1 file2 dir1	compress 'file1', 'file2' and 'dir1' simultaneously
rar x file1.rar	decompress rar archive
unrar x file1.rar	decompress rar archive
tar -cvf archive.tar file1	create a uncompressed tarball
tar -cvf archive.tar file1 file2 dir1	create an archive containing 'file1', 'file2' and 'dir1'
tar -tf archive.tar	show contents of an archive
tar -xvf archive.tar	extract a tarball
tar -xvf archive.tar -C /tmp	extract a tarball into / tmp
tar -cvfj archive.tar.bz2 dir1	create a tarball compressed into bzip2
tar -xvfj archive.tar.bz2	decompress a compressed tar archive in bzip2
tar -cvfz archive.tar.gz dir1	create a tarball compressed into gzip
tar -xvfz archive.tar.gz	decompress a compressed tar archive in gzip
zip file1.zip file1	create an archive compressed in zip
zip -r file1.zip file1 file2 dir1	compress in zip several files and directories simultaneously
unzip file1.zip	decompress a zip archive

RPM Packages - Fedora, Red Hat and like
rpm -ivh package.rpm	install a rpm package
rpm -ivh --nodeeps package.rpm	install a rpm package ignoring dependencies requests
rpm -U package.rpm	upgrade a rpm package without changing configuration files
rpm -F package.rpm	upgrade a rpm package only if it is already installed
rpm -e package_name.rpm	remove a rpm package
rpm -qa	show all rpm packages installed on the system
rpm -qa \| grep httpd	show all rpm packages with the name "httpd"
rpm -qi package_name	obtain information on a specific package installed
rpm -qg "System Environment/Daemons"	show rpm packages of a group software
rpm -ql package_name	show list of files provided by a rpm package installed
rpm -qc package_name	show list of configuration files provided by a rpm package installed
rpm -q package_name --whatrequires	show list of dependencies required for a rpm packet
rpm -q package_name --whatprovides	show capability provided by a rpm package
rpm -q package_name --scripts	show scripts started during installation / removal
rpm -q package_name --changelog	show history of revisions of a rpm package
rpm -qf /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf	verify which rpm package belongs to a given file
rpm -qp package.rpm -l	show list of files provided by a rpm package not yet installed
rpm --import /media/cdrom/RPM-GPG-KEY	import public-key digital signature
rpm --checksig package.rpm	verify the integrity of a rpm package
rpm -qa gpg-pubkey	verify integrity of all rpm packages installed
rpm -V package_name	check file size, permissions, type, owner, group, MD5 checksum and last modification
rpm -Va	check all rpm packages installed on the system - use with caution
rpm -Vp package.rpm	verify a rpm package not yet installed
rpm2cpio package.rpm \| cpio --extract --make-directories bin	extract executable file from a rpm package
rpm -ivh /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/`arch`/package.rpm	install a package built from a rpm source
rpmbuild --rebuild package_name.src.rpm	build a rpm package from a rpm source

YUM packages updater - Fedora, RedHat and like
yum install package_name	download and install a rpm package
yum update	update all rpm packages installed on the system
yum update package_name	upgrade a rpm package
yum remove package_name	remove a rpm package
yum list	list all packages installed on the system
yum search package_name	find a package on rpm repository
yum clean packages	clean up rpm cache erasing downloaded packages
yum clean headers	remove all files headers that the system uses to resolve dependency
yum clean all	remove from the cache packages and headers files

DEB packages - Debian, Ubuntu and like
dpkg -i package.deb	install / upgrade a deb package
dpkg -r package_name	remove a deb package from the system
dpkg -l	show all deb packages installed on the system
dpkg -l \| grep httpd	show all rpm packages with the name "httpd"
dpkg -s package_name	obtain information on a specific package installed on system
dpkg -L package_name	show list of files provided by a package installed on system
dpkg --contents package.deb	show list of files provided by a package not yet installed
dpkg -S /bin/ping	verify which package belongs to a given file

APT packages updater - Debian, Ubuntu e like
apt-get install package_name	install / upgrade a deb package
apt-cdrom install package_name	install / upgrade a deb package from cdrom
apt-get update	update all deb packages installed on system
apt-get remove package_name	remove a deb package from system
apt-get check	verify correct resolution of dependencies
apt-get clean	clean up cache from packages downloaded

View file content
cat file1	view the contents of a file starting from the first row
tac file1	view the contents of a file starting from the last line
more file1	view content of a file along
less file1	similar to 'more' command but which allows backward movement in the file as well as forward movement
head -2 file1	view first two lines of a file
tail -2 file1	view last two lines of a file
tail -f /var/log/messages	view in real time what is added to a file

Text Manipulation
cat file_test \| [operation: sed, grep, awk, grep, etc] > result.txt	syntax to elaborate the text of a file, and write result to a new file
cat file_originale \| [operazione: sed, grep, awk, grep, etc] >> result.txt	syntax to elaborate the text of a file and append result in existing file
grep Aug /var/log/messages	look up words "Aug" on file '/var/log/messages'
grep ^Aug /var/log/messages	look up words that begin with "Aug" on file '/var/log/messages'
grep [0-9] /var/log/messages	select from file '/var/log/messages' all lines that contain numbers
grep Aug -R /var/log/*	search string "Aug" at directory '/var/log' and below
grep Aug /var/log/messages	write result of a search within a file
sed 's/stringa1/stringa2/g' example.txt	replace "string1" with "string2" in example.txt
sed '/^$/d' example.txt	remove all blank lines from example.txt
sed '/ #/d; /^ $/d' example.txt	remove comments and blank lines from example.txt
echo 'esempio' \| tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'	convert from lower case in upper case
sed -e '1d' result.txt	eliminates the first line from file example.txt
sed -n '/stringa1/p'	view only lines that contain the word "string1"
sed -e 's/ *$//' example.txt	remove empty characters at the end of each row
sed -e 's/stringa1//g' example.txt	remove only the word "string1" from text and leave intact all
sed -n '1,5p;5q' example.txt	view from 1th to 5th row
sed -n '5p;5q' example.txt	view row number 5
sed -e 's/00*/0/g' example.txt	replace more zeros with a single zero
cat -n file1	number row of a file
cat example.txt \| awk 'NR%2==1'	remove all even lines from example.txt
echo a b c \| awk '{print $1}'	view the first column of a line
echo a b c \| awk '{print $1,$3}'	view the first and third column of a line
paste file1 file2	merging contents of two files for columns
paste -d '+' file1 file2	merging contents of two files for columns with '+' delimiter on the center
sort file1 file2	sort contents of two files
sort file1 file2 \| uniq	sort contents of two files omitting lines repeated
sort file1 file2 \| uniq -u	sort contents of two files by viewing only unique line
sort file1 file2 \| uniq -d	sort contents of two files by viewing only duplicate line
comm -1 file1 file2	compare contents of two files by deleting only unique lines from 'file1'
comm -2 file1 file2	compare contents of two files by deleting only unique lines from 'file2'
comm -3 file1 file2	compare contents of two files by deleting only the lines that appear on both files

Character set and Format file conversion
dos2unix filedos.txt fileunix.txt	convert a text file format from MSDOS to UNIX
unix2dos fileunix.txt filedos.txt	convert a text file format from UNIX to MSDOS
recode ..HTML <> page.html	convert a text file to html
recode -l \| more	show all available formats conversion

Filesystem Analisys
badblocks -v /dev/hda1	check bad blocks in disk hda1
fsck /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of linux filesystem on disk hda1
fsck.ext2 /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of ext2 filesystem on disk hda1
e2fsck /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of ext2 filesystem on disk hda1
e2fsck -j /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of ext3 filesystem on disk hda1
fsck.ext3 /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of ext3 filesystem on disk hda1
fsck.vfat /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of fat filesystem on disk hda1
fsck.msdos /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of dos filesystem on disk hda1
dosfsck /dev/hda1	repair / check integrity of dos filesystems on disk hda1

Format a Filesystem
mkfs /dev/hda1	create a filesystem type linux on hda1 partition
mke2fs /dev/hda1	create a filesystem type linux ext2 on hda1 partition
mke2fs -j /dev/hda1	create a filesystem type linux ext3 (journal) on hda1 partition
mkfs -t vfat 32 -F /dev/hda1	create a FAT32 filesystem
fdformat -n /dev/fd0	format a floppy disk
mkswap /dev/hda3	create a swap filesystem

SWAP filesystem
mkswap /dev/hda3	create a swap filesystem
swapon /dev/hda3	activating a new swap partition
swapon /dev/hda2 /dev/hdb3	activate two swap partitions

Backup
dump -0aj -f /tmp/home0.bak /home	make a full backup of directory '/home'
dump -1aj -f /tmp/home0.bak /home	make a incremental backup of directory '/home'
restore -if /tmp/home0.bak	restoring a backup interactively
rsync -rogpav --delete /home /tmp	synchronization between directories
rsync -rogpav -e ssh --delete /home ip_address:/tmp	rsync via SSH tunnel
rsync -az -e ssh --delete ip_addr:/home/public /home/local	synchronize a local directory with a remote directory via ssh and compression
rsync -az -e ssh --delete /home/local ip_addr:/home/public	synchronize a remote directory with a local directory via ssh and compression
dd bs=1M if=/dev/hda \| gzip \| ssh user@ip_addr 'dd of=hda.gz'	make a backup of a local hard disk on remote host via ssh
tar -Puf backup.tar /home/user	make a incremental backup of directory '/home/user'
( cd /tmp/local/ && tar c . ) \| ssh -C user@ip_addr 'cd /home/share/ && tar x -p'	copy content of a directory on remote directory via ssh
( tar c /home ) \| ssh -C user@ip_addr 'cd /home/backup-home && tar x -p'	copy a local directory on remote directory via ssh
tar cf - . \| (cd /tmp/backup ; tar xf - )	local copy preserving permits and links from a directory to another
find /home/user1 -name '*.txt' \| xargs cp -av --target-directory=/home/backup/ --parents	find and copy all files with '.txt' extention from a directory to another
find /var/log -name '*.log' \| tar cv --files-from=- \| bzip2 > log.tar.bz2	find all files with '.log' extention and make an bzip archive
dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1	make a copy of MBR (Master Boot Record) to floppy
dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/dev/hda bs=512 count=1	restore MBR from backup copy saved to floppy

CDROM
cdrecord -v gracetime=2 dev=/dev/cdrom -eject blank=fast -force	clean a rewritable cdrom
mkisofs /dev/cdrom > cd.iso	create an iso image of cdrom on disk
mkisofs /dev/cdrom \| gzip > cd_iso.gz	create a compressed iso image of cdrom on disk
mkisofs -J -allow-leading-dots -R -V "Label CD" -iso-level 4 -o ./cd.iso data_cd	create an iso image of a directory
cdrecord -v dev=/dev/cdrom cd.iso	burn an ISO image
gzip -dc cd_iso.gz \| cdrecord dev=/dev/cdrom -	burn a compressed ISO image
mount -o loop cd.iso /mnt/iso	mount an ISO image
cd-paranoia -B	rip audio tracks from a CD to wav files
cd-paranoia -- "-3"	rip first three audio tracks from a CD to wav files
cdrecord --scanbus	scan bus to identify the channel scsi

Networking - LAN and WiFi
ifconfig eth0	show configuration of an ethernet network card
ifup eth0	activate an interface 'eth0'
ifdown eth0	disable an interface 'eth0'
ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0	configure IP Address
ifconfig eth0 promisc	configure 'eth0' in promiscuous mode to gather packets (sniffing)
dhclient eth0	active interface 'eth0' in dhcp mode
route -n	show routing table
route add -net 0/0 gw IP_Gateway	configura default gateway
route add -net 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.0.0 gw 192.168.1.1	configure static route to reach network '192.168.0.0/16'
route del 0/0 gw IP_gateway	remove static route
echo "1" > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward	activate ip routing
hostname	show hostname
host www.linuxguide.it	lookup hostname to resolve name to ip address and viceversa
ip link show	show link status of all interfaces
mii-tool eth0	show link status of 'eth0'
ethtool eth0	show statistics of network card 'eth0'
netstat -tup	show all active network connections and their PID
netstat -tupl	show all network services listening on the system and their PID
tcpdump tcp port 80	show all HTTP traffic
iwlist scan	show wireless networks
iwconfig eth1	show configuration of a wireless network card

Microsoft Windows networks - SAMBA
nbtscan ip_addr	netbios name resolution
nmblookup -A ip_addr	netbios name resolution
smbclient -L ip_addr/hostname	show remote shares of a windows host
smbget -Rr smb://ip_addr/share	like wget can download files from a host windows via smb
mount -t smbfs -o username=user,password=pass //winclient/share /mnt/share	mount a windows network share

IPTABLES - firewall
iptables -t filter -L	show all chains of filtering table
iptables -t nat -L	show all chains of nat table
iptables -t filter -F	clear all rules from filtering table
iptables -t nat -F	clear all rules from table nat
iptables -t filter -X	delete any chains created by user
iptables -t filter -A INPUT -p tcp --dport telnet -j ACCEPT	allow telnet connections to input
iptables -t filter -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport http -j DROP	block HTTP connections to output
iptables -t filter -A FORWARD -p tcp --dport pop3 -j ACCEPT	allow POP3 connections to forward chain
iptables -t filter -A INPUT -j LOG --log-prefix "DROP INPUT"	logging sulla chain di input Logging on chain input
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE	configure a PAT (Port Address Traslation) on eth0 masking outbound packets
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -d 192.168.0.1 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 22 -j DNAT --to-destination 10.0.0.2:22	redirect packets addressed to a host to another host

Monitoring and debugging
top	display linux tasks using most cpu
ps -eafw	displays linux tasks
ps -e -o pid,args --forest	displays linux tasks in a hierarchical mode
pstree	mostra un albero dei processi sistema Shows a tree system processes
kill -9 ID_Processo	force closure of the process and finish it
kill -1 ID_Processo	force a process to reload configuration
lsof -p $$	display a list of files opened by processes
lsof /home/user1	displays a list of open files in a given path system
strace -c ls >/dev/null	display system calls made and received by a process
strace -f -e open ls >/dev/null	display library calls
watch -n1 'cat /proc/interrupts'	display interrupts in real-time
last reboot	show history reboot
lsmod	display kernel loaded
free -m	displays status of RAM in megabytes
smartctl -A /dev/hda	monitoring reliability of a hard-disk through SMART
smartctl -i /dev/hda	check if SMART is active on a hard-disk
tail /var/log/dmesg	show events inherent to the process of booting kernel
tail /var/log/messages	show system events

Other useful commands
mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 `uname -r`	create a boot floppy
gpg -c file1	encrypt a file with GNU Privacy Guard
gpg file1.gpg	decrypt a file with GNU Privacy Guard
wget -r www.example.com	download an entire web site
wget -c www.example.com/file.iso	download a file with the ability to stop the download and resume later
echo 'wget -c www.example.com/files.iso' \| at 09:00	start a download at any given time

Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks

2008-01-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

10. Get the local time anywhere

What time is it in Bangkok right now? Ask Google. Enter simply what time is it to get the local time in big cities around the world, or add the locale at the end of your query, like what time is it hong kong to get the local time there.

9. Track flight status

Enter the airline and flight number into the Google search box and get back the arrival and departure times right inside Google's search results.

8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more

Google's powerful built-in converter calculator can help you out whether you're cooking dinner, traveling abroad, or building a PC. Find out how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup (quarter cup in teaspoons) or how many seconds there are in a year (seconds in a year) or how many euros there are to five dollars (5 USD in Euro). For the geekier set, bits in kilobytes (155473 bytes in kilobytes) and numbers in hex or binary (19 in binary) are also pretty useful.

7. Compare items with "better than" and find similar items with "reminds me of"

Reader Adam taps the wisdom of the crowds by searching for like items using key phrases. He writes in:

Simply search for, in quotes: "better than _keyword_"
Some example results:

Results 1 - 100 of about 550 English pages for " better than WinAmp".

Results 1 - 57 of 57 English pages for " better than mIRC".

Results 1 - 100 of about 17,500 English pages for " better than Digg". (Wow. Poor Digg.)

The results will almost always lead you to discovering alternatives to whatever it is you're searching for. Using the same concept, you can use this trick to discover new music or movies. For example, " reminds me of _someband_" or "sounds like _someband_" will pull up artists people have thought sounded similar to the one you typed in. This is also a great way to find good, no-name musicians you'd probably never know of otherwise.

Examples:

Results 1 - 88 of 88 English pages for " reminds me of Metallica".

Results 1 - 36 of 36 English pages for " similar to Garden State".

Results 1 - 66 of 66 English pages for " sounds like The Shins".

Just get creative and you'll, without a doubt, find cool new stuff you probably never knew existed.

6. Use Google as a free proxy

What, your company blocks that hip new web site just because it drops the F bomb occasionally? Use Google's cache to take a peek even when the originating site's being blocked, with cache:example.com.

5. Remove affiliate links from product searches

When you're sick of seeing duplicate product search results from the likes of eBay, Bizrate, Pricerunner, and Shopping.com, clear 'em out by stacking up the -site:ebay.com -site:bizrate.com -site:shopping.com operator. Alternately, check out Give Me Back My Google (original post), a service that does all that known reseller cleaning up for you when you search for products. Compare this GMBMG search for a Cruzer 1GB flash drive to the regular Google results.

4. Find related terms and documents

Ok, this one's direct from any straight-up advanced search operator cheat sheet, but it's still one of the lesser-used tricks in the book. Adding a tilde (~) to a search term will return related terms. For example, Googling ~nutrition returns results with the words nutrition, food, and health in them.

3. Find music and comic books

Using a combination of advanced search operators that specify music files available in an Apache directory listing, you can turn Google into your personal Napster. Go ahead, try this search for Nirvana tracks: -inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wma|mp3) "Nirvana". (Sub out Nirvana for the band you're interested in; use this one in conjunction with number 7 to find new music, too.) The same type of search recipe can find comic books as well.

2. ID people, objects, and foreign language words and phrases with Google Image Search

Google Image search results show you instead of tell you about a word. Don't know what jicama looks like? Not sure if the person named "Priti" who you're emailing with is a woman or a man? Spanish rusty and you forgot what "corazon" is? Pop your term into Google Image Search (or type image jicama into the regular search box) to see what your term's about.

1. Make Google recognize faces

If you're doing an image search for Paris Hilton and don't want any of the French city, a special URL parameter in Google's Image search will do the trick. Add &imgtype=face to the end of your image search to just get images of faces, without any inanimate objects. Try it out with a search for rose (which returns many photos of flowers) versus rose with the face parameter. What's your favorite ninja Google search technique? Tell us about it in the comments

Free Tools to Manage New Year's Resolutions

2008-01-01T19:20:00.000-08:00

To reach the goals you've set out for yourself in '08, follow through each and every one of the next 365 days—several free tools can help you with just that. Track your progress and help motivate yourself to stick to your New Year's resolutions with our favorite goal tracking webapps and tools. More >>>

How to Set Up Your New Computer

2007-12-25T18:50:00.000-08:00

Trick out your new rig with our favorite system tweaks and downloads for Windows XP, Vista, Mac, and Linux.

Windows XP and Vista

Top 10 Free Windows Downloads
"Our top picks of free Windows software downloads that will make your PC faster, stronger, more functional and productive."
Power Replacements for Built-in Windows Utilities
"How many times have you wished Notepad had tabs, Paint supported layers or Windows Explorer let you bookmark frequently-used folders? Power users need power utilities, and Windows' default system programs barely get the job done. Over time third-party developers have stepped up and built superior replacements to programs like Notepad, Paint, Windows Explorer and the Command Prompt."
Top Windows tweaks
"Hop in for a quick ride around Windows dialogs, tabs, menus and toolbars to get your XP fitting like a glove."
Windows Vista Power Tips
"After weeks of test-driving Windows Vista full-time, there are several tips and tweaks I wish I'd known before I started."
Top 10 Free Windows File Wranglers
"Windows Explorer and its weak band of file manipulation functions just doesn't cut the mustard for people with lots of data and only a little time, but several free utilities can help out."
Automatically Load and Update Your Windows Systems
"One of the best parts of getting a new computer for the holidays--other than that new computer smell--is setting up a fresh, clean system exactly how you want it." More >>>

Linux Directory Structure

2007-12-23T17:14:00.001-08:00

The directory structure of Linux/other Unix-like systems is very intimidating for the new user, especially if he/she is migrating from Windows. In Windows, almost all programs install their files (all files) in the directory named: `Program Files.’ Such is not the case in Linux. The directory system categorises all installed files. All configuration files are in /etc, all binary files are in /bin or /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin. Here is the entire directory structure along with what they contain:

/ - Root directory that forms the base of the file system. All files and directories are logically contained inside the root directory regardless of their physical locations.

/bin - Contains the executable programs that are part of the Linux operating system. Many Linux commands, such as cat, cp, ls, more, and tar, are locate in /bin

/boot - Contains the Linux kernel and other files needed by LILO and GRUB boot managers.

/dev - Contains all device files. Linux treats each device as a special file. All such files are located in /dev.

/etc - Contains most system configuration files and the initialisation scripts in /etc/rc.d subdirectory.

/home - Home directory is the parent to the home directories of users.

/lib - Contains library files, including loadable driver modules needed to boot the system.

/lost+found - Directory for lost files. Every disk partition has a lost+found directory.

/media - Directory for mounting files systems on removable media like CD-ROM drives, floppy disks, and Zip drives.

/mnt - A directory for temporarily mounted filesystems.

/opt - Optional software packages copy/install files here.

/proc - A special directory in a virtual filesystem. It contains the information about various aspects of a Linux system.

/root - Home directory of the root user.

/sbin - Contains administrative binary files. Commands such as mount, shutdown, umount, reside here.

/srv - Contains data for services (HTTP, FTP, etc.) offered by the system.

/sys - A special directory that contains information about the devices, as seen by the Linux kernel.

/tmp - Temporary directory which can be used as a scratch directory (storage for temporary files). The contents of this directory are cleared each time the system boots.

/usr - Contains subdirectories for many programs such as the X Window System.

/usr/bin - Contains executable files for many Linux commands. It is not part of the core Linux operating system.

/usr/include - Contains header files for C and C++ programming languages

/usr/lib - Contains libraries for C and C++ programming languages.

/usr/local - Contains local files. It has a similar directories as /usr contains.

/usr/sbin - Contains administrative commands.

/usr/share - Contains files that are shared, like, default configuration files, images, documentation, etc.

/usr/src - Contains the source code for the Linux kernel.

/var - Contains various system files such as log, mail directories, print spool, etc. which tend to change in numbers and size over time.

/var/cache - Storage area for cached data for applications.

/var/lib - Contains information relating to the current state of applications. Programs modify this when they run.

/var/lock - Contains lock files which are checked by applications so that a resource can be used by one application only.

/var/log - Contains log files for differenct applications.

/var/mail - Contains users’ emails.

/var/opt - Contains variable data for packages stored in /opt directory.

/var/run - Contains data describing the system since it was booted.

/var/spool - Contains data that is waiting for some kind of processing.

/var/tmp - Contains temporary files preserved between system reboots.

25 Popular Desktop Apps and Their Free Online Alternatives

2007-12-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

Don't have a few hundred bucks to spend on Office 2007? Well, there is increasingly a great alternative out there: web apps. By going online, you can access many of the desktop app functionalities you need without shelling out a cent.

Outfitting your computer with the latest software can be expensive. Time and money aren’t things to be wasted. With sky rocketing prices for desktop applications, you need to arm yourself with the right alternatives.

Fortunately, there is a great alternative out there: the Internet. As hard as it is to believe, just by surfing around online, you can access most of the desktop app functionalities you need without shelling out a cent.

To prove it, here’s a list of 25 online alternatives for the most popular desktop applications that you use, want and simply must have when working online.

Application	Online Alternative	Description
Microsoft Office 2007	Google Docs	Google Docs includes the same creation applications for creating word documents, spreadsheets and presentations as MS Office.
Adobe Photoshop CS3	Splashup	Splashup is an online photo image editing app that contains similar photo editing tools found in Photoshop CS3 and can integrate seamlessly with popular photo sharing services.
Microsoft Visio 2007	Gliffy	Gliffy has the basic functionalities to create and share quality flow charts, complex diagrams or technical drawings.
Adobe Acrobat 8.1	iConv	Create PDFs from a variety of formats by simply uploading your file. No registration, installation or cost required.
Apple 1 Password Manager and Form Filler 2.5.7	clipperz	With clipperz, you create direct log in links for your online accounts. Just log in once to clipperz to access them.
Apple Aperture 1.5	Flickr	A popular online photo management and sharing site. With a free basic Flickr account, you can upload photos via email or the upload webpage.
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007	Gmail	Gmail accounts have tons of space, instant messaging, built in search technology, no banner ads, and available in 40 languages.
Vista	YouOS	YouOS is a virtual OS that you can customize without the hefty price or desktop trappings. A combination of OS functionality and web access, it still has the same look and feel of a desktop.
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Adobe Flash CS3 Professional	app2you	This neat web service allows you to create your own simple web application without any coding or web designing experience whatsoever!
Desktop calculators	InstaCalc	InstaCalc is an advanced web based calculator. Send a link of your calculations to others or embed a calculator into your own website. Other features include unit conversions and programming commands.
MS Outlook HP fax machine Printing paper	FaxZERO	With this internet faxing service, you can send digital documents within Canada and US for free. Just upload the document and you’re set.
SharpReader (Windows) NetNew Wire (Mac OS X) Straw (Linux)	Netvibes	Netvibes is a nifty RSS reader and web home page. Stay connected to everything online at all times--catch up on blogs, facebook, to-do lists, news and weather.
Website Analysis Software	Google Analytics	This online tool allows you to keep track of your website and how it’s being accessed. Track content views or the amount of time spent on the site.
MSN Messenger Google Talk ICQ AIM Jabber Yahoo!	meebo	A web portal for instant messaging, meebo lets you have the same online chats, but without the download. Access Google talk, msn, Yahoo!, jabber, ICQ and AIM from any computer.
All desktop tools	Sosius	Sosius has all the essential desktop tools online: calendar, file management, rss feeds, projects, file management, databases, and collaboration and messaging tools.
Desktop Task Lists	Ta-da List	This is an online to-do list that you can easily access and share with others while online. You can even check your lists on an iPhone when you’re on the go.
Desktop Task Lists	Backpack	Like Ta-da List, Backpack is a to-do list web tool, but more dynamic and complex. Create pages of to-do lists with images, set up text message alerts or even share your pages with others.
Microsoft OneNote 2007	Stikkit	Stikkit is a simple online alternative that creates "little yellow notes that think". The notes are sharable and accessible anywhere.
Apple MindManager 7.0 Mac	Bubbl.us	This web application allows you to brainstorm online when you need to map out projects or make long term business plans.
Microsoft Money Plus Premium	Wesabe	Part financial application and part user community, Wesabe combines both to provide you with communal tips and forums so you can keep track of your spending habits.
MS Excel 2007	chartAll	chartAll.com is a free online web service where you can create, store and publish simple charts from your own data sources. Charts can be customized with colors, themes, and fonts.
MS PowerPoint	Preezo	As the website says, “Preezo is an Ajax web application that gives you the power to create and share professional quality presentations over the web without software or plugins. Goodbye, PowerPoint. Hello, Preezo!”
Adobe LiveCycle ES	Wufoo	From job applications to customer surveys, Wufoo lets you create forms quickly and easily with an HTML interface.
Excel spreadsheets Invoices Financial software	PayPal	PayPal acts as the go-between that connects you and online recipients. An online must-have when making business purchases.
USB storage devices Hard drive storage space	DivShare	Simply upload and share your media and document files online to free up storage space on your computer.

Vista #1 biggest tech disappointment of 2007 -- by PC World

2007-12-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

First PC World gets all up on the soapbox that (until a certain date) the MacBook Pro is the fastest PC the mag had tested, but consider the next step taken: PC World has boldly declared Vista #1 with a bullet in in their Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007. Full Story >>>

The Most Beautiful Supercomputer in the World

2007-12-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

The room that its in is amazing, a beautiful combination of old and new. More >>>

Sorry, your account has been disabled. Gmail

2007-12-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry, your account has been disabled. For more information about Google Accounts, please consult our Help Center. It looks like a Lot of people are having this issue. And any email sent you is getting bounced back. Google, PLEASE fix this! A lot of us Rely on Gmail! More >>>

40 Unusual Websites you should Bookmark.

2007-09-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

If you’re long time makeuseof reader at one point or another you may have seen several of these websites before. We have covered lots of lists and round-ups but this one is quite different: it lists undiscovered webservices that are original, rather unique, unusual, useful, free, and must-be bookmarked type. You won’t find any collaboration, storage or ToDo service here. More >>>

20 BitTorrent Tips and Tricks

2007-09-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

BitTorrent For Beginners

1. How and Why BitTorrent Works

BitTorrent is often referred to as the best filesharing protocol for sharing large files. But why? What makes BitTorrent so unique? Well, lets take a sneak peek under the hood of your BitTorrent client, and list a couple of features that make BitTorrent as fast, stable, and robust as it is.

2. How to Make a Torrent

Torrents are great, they are the best way to share large files with your friends, or even with people you don’t know at all. But surprisingly enough, not many people create torrents when they need to share something. We show you how.

3. uTorrent Beginners Guide

The uTorrent website has a great beginners guide for BitTorrent newbies. Worth a visit if you just started using BitTorrent.

4. Where to find Torrents

By now you probably know how BitTorrent works, now you need a good place to find .torrent files. Here’s a list of 10 great BitTorrent sites. There’s also a list of 20 less known BitTorrent sites.

Fight Throttling ISPs and be Anonymous

5. ISPs Who throttle BitTorrent Traffic

Some Internet providers try to slow you down when you use torrents. The Azureus wiki has list of ISPs who throttle BitTorrent traffic. It also suggests what encryption levels you should use.

6. How To Encrypt BitTorrent Traffic

More and more ISP’s are limiting and throttling BitTorrent traffic on their networks. By throttling BitTorrent traffic the speed of BitTorrent downloads decreases, and high speed downloads are out of the question. We show you some techniques that should help you evade some of these measures.

7. How To Tunnel BitTorrent over SSH

Sometimes it is impossible to use BitTorrent, if you’re at work, school, Comcast! or connected to a public hotspot for example. But there is an easy solution to overcome this problem. If you use a secure connection (SSH), you will be able to bypass almost every firewall.

8. How to make BitTorrent Transfers Anonymous

The Swedish Pirate Party introduced a completely anonymous (VPN) service called Relakks. Relakks makes it possible to browse the web, and use p2p-applications (like BitTorrent) without being monitored by your ISP or anti-piracy gangs like the MPAA and RIAA.

Speed up your BitTorrent Downloads

9. How to Optimize Your BitTorrent Download Speed

BitTorrent can be fun, as long as you get decent speeds. Not satisfied with your current speeds? These suggestions might help you to optimize your download pleasures.

10. How to Speed Up Bitcomet and uTorrent

90% off all people use the default settings on their client, and that’s a problem. Azureus users might want to try this tutorial by Paul Stamatiou.

11. Calculate Your Optimal BitTorrent Settings

Configuring your BitTorrent client is extremely important if you want to get the best out of BitTorrent. However, the settings pane of the average BitTorrent client might be a bit overwhelming, and some people just don’t know where to start.

12. How to Protect Your Torrent From Failing Trackers

Nothing is more frustrating than your download getting stuck. The fact that a torrent has stopped downloading can have several reasons.

BitTorrent and RSS

13. How to Use RSS & BitTorrent to Download TV shows

Are you tired of scanning several BitTorrent sites for the latest episodes of your favorite TV show? You should definitely try using RSS feeds then. RSS and BitTorrent are a perfect match.

14. How to Make a Custom TV Torrent Feed

How to create a personalized TV torrent feed, and have all your favorite TV torrents in one feed.

15. Subscribe to TV Shows Using BitTorrent and TVNanny

TVNanny is a BitTorrent site specializing in the indexing of TV show torrents. Using a subscription based interface, it’s possible to automatically download your favorite TV show episodes to your PC, utilizing the RSS feature in your chosen torrent client.

16. How to Use Gmail to Search Torrents

Gmail is more than a useful email service. In just a few steps you can turn it into your personal torrent search engine. And by using labels and filters you can keep your inbox clean.

uTorrent Tips and Tricks

17. How to Run uTorrent on a USB Stick

A portable version of uTorrent may come in handy when you’re with friends, at school, or at work. It will fit perfectly on every usb-stick, iPod, mobile phone, or any other device that is recognized a “removable disk”.

18. How to Run uTorrent in Mac OS X

uTorrent is currently only available for Windows. But that doesn’t going to stop us from running it in OS X.

19. How to Use Firefox to Remotely Control uTorrent

The uTorrent WebUI can be used to access uTorrent from an external computer. This Firefox extension will make it even easier.

20. Use uTorrent to Organize Your BitTorrent Downloads

BitTorrent is great, but all those downloaded torrents have the habit of making a mess of your harddrive. Do you still have all your downloaded stuff in a single folder? Take action, organize your torrents. More >>>

10 Speed Tweaks that can make a huge difference in Vista performance

2007-08-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

1. Turn off Windows Search Indexing
Windows Vista search indexing is constantly reviewing files on your system to make their contents available for quick searching. This is handy, but can severely impact system performance.

To disable constant indexing:

* Click Start then Computer
* Right Click the C: Drive
* On General Tab, Uncheck Index this drive for faster searching
* On the subsequent dialog box, Select Include subfolders and files

2. Turn off Remote Differential Compression
Remote Differential Compression measures the changes in files over a network to transfer them with minimal bandwidth rather than transferring an entire file that has previously been moved. By constantly checking for file changes, this service can hinder system performance.

To disable this service:

* Open Control Panel
* Switch to Classic View
* Select Program Features
* Choose Turn Windows features on and off
* Scroll down and uncheck Remote Differential Compression

3. Turn off Automatic Windows Defender Operation
Windows Defender real-time protection against malware continues to run despite having Automatic operation disabled.

To disable this feature:

* Open Control Panel
* Select Windows Defender
* Choose Tools from the top menu
* Select Options
* Uncheck Auto Start at the bottom of the window

4. Turn off Automatic Disk Defragmentation
Windows Vista and its always-on defragment feature isn’t really that necessary and can cause system slow down. Just remember to run a defrag manually every week or so.

To disable this:

* Click Start then Computer
* Right Click the C: Drive
* Select the Tools Tab
* Uncheck Run on a schedule

5. Add a 2GB or higher USB Flash drive to take advantage of Windows Ready Boost (Additional Memory Cache)
Ready Boost is Microsoft’s name for using a USB thumb/flash drive to provide some quick access memory the operating system can use as extra RAM. The Ready Boost system can significantly improve system performance.

To set this up:

* Insert a USB Flash Drive
* Click Start then Computer
* Right Click the USB Drive in My Computer
* Select the Ready Boost Tab
* Choose Use this device
* Select as much space as you can free up for RAM usage vs. Storage

6. Turn off Windows Hibernation
Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system resources. If you don’t use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you may want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost.

To disable Hibernation:

* Select the Control Panel then Power Options
* Click Change Plan Settings
* Click on Change Advanced Power Settings
* Expand the Sleep selection
* Expand the Hibernate After selection
* Crank the selector down to zero
* Click Apply

7. Turn off System Restore
Analysis and restore point creation by Windows Vista can eat a fair amount of system resources. Disabling this service will obviously mean the system restore feature in Vista will not be available in the event of a system crash. Change this at your own risk.

To disable this service:

* Control Panel>System
* Click System Protection on the left panel
* Uncheck the main system drive
* Agree to the confirmation

8. Disable User Access Control (UAC)
This much-loathed new Vista feature attempts to protect your system from malware infection by making you manually confirm a whole host of everyday user operations. While it doesn’t directly impact performance, it can be annoying and might be more hassle than good.

To disable User Access Control:

* Click Start then Control Panel
* Select User Accounts
* Select Turn User Account Control on or off
* Uncheck User Account Control Box
* Restart as recommended

9. Disable excess Windows Services that Auto-Launch at Startup
Just like Windows XP, Vista ships with all kinds of services enabled that load at startup and may never be used by most users.

To see what loads at startup and disable the ones you likely won’t be needing (they can always be started manually later):

* Click Start then Control Panel
* Select Administrative Tools
* Choose System Configuration
* Click the Services Tab
* You can safely deselect:
o Offline Files (unless you’re using Offline File Sync)
o Tablet PC Input Service (unless you have a tablet PC)
o Terminal Services
o Windows Search (If you have already disabled indexing)
o Fax (unless you’re using a fax modem)

10. Disable Excess Windows Features
Windows ships with other features that are listed separately in the Vista operating system from the startup services.

You can view and disable these features by:

* Clicking Start then Control Panel
* Select Program Features
* On the left panel, select Turn Windows Features on or off
* You can safely deselect:
o Indexing Service
o Remote Differential Compression
o Tablet PC Optional Components
o Windows DFS Replication Service
o Windows Fax & Scan (unless you use a modem for faxing)
o Windows Meeting Space (unless you use the Live Meeting Service)

Unix/Linux Cheat Sheet

2007-08-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Extremely handy terminal command reference sheet, available as a PDF file (image visible and readable on the page). Divided into the following categories: File Commands, Process Management, File Permissions, SSH, Searching, System Info, Compression, Network, Installation, and Shortcuts. Licensed under Creative Commons. More >>>

10 things your IT department won't tell you

2007-07-31T23:39:00.000-07:00

10 things your IT department won't tell you

The list offers a nice point-counterpoint of why your IT department considers something a risk, how you can bypass their roadblocks and do it anyway, and perhaps more importantly how to get around it in a manner that won't completely freak out your IT department. More >>>

openDesktop.org launched

2007-07-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Today we launched openDesktop.org. openDesktop.org is the new head of our website network. It brings the contents and users of our websites together. Users and contributors of a free desktop can exchange applications and artwork, help each other, discuss new ideas and get to know other people. It shouldnt be important which desktop environment you More >>>

Stealther Firefox extension

2007-05-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

Firefox extension Stealther lets you browse the web without leaving a trace of your browsing session on your computer by disabling:

- Browsing History (also in Address bar)
- Cookies
- Downloaded Files History
- Disk Cache
- Saved Form Information
- Sending of ReferrerHeader More >>>

Automatically upload a folder's photos to Flickr

2007-05-22T15:09:00.001-07:00

I love Flickr, but I'm terrible at uploading pics to my Flickr account. It's not that there aren't already a lot of great tools for getting photos into Flickr (there are); but I need a way to monitor my pictures folder to upload everything I dump in there. Call me lazy, but I just don't want to take the extra steps if I don't have to More >>>

How to Add Music To Your Ipod Without Itunes

2007-05-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

a review of 3 programs that give you more functionality then Itunes More >>>

30 Scripts For Galleries, Slideshows and Lightboxes

2007-05-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

Family photos, vacation snapshots or creative artistic works: whatever images you have to present, you can present them in a variety of ways. On a big screen, in slide shows or in a thumbnails gallery. However, to convey the message of presented data effectively, it ’s important to offer it in an attractive and intuitive way More >>>

Sync your Greasemonkey scripts across computers

2007-05-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Greasemonkey is by far my favorite Firefox extension. It's the first extension I install on a new installation of Firefox, followed quickly by a slew of my favorite Greasemonkey scripts. The only problem that I've had with Greasemonkey in the past is that it's hard to keep my scripts in sync across all of the computers I work on, requiring me to duplicate work and installations across several computers More >>>

Disable FilterKeys, StickyKeys, and ToggleKeys

2007-05-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

If you've ever held your shift key too long or pressed it 5 times in a row because you're an indecisive typist like that, you've probably run into Windows' keyboard accessibility features. While I'm sure these features are very useful for some, as someone who doesn't use them, their ill-begotten keyboard shortcuts have been a major source of annoyance to me. More >>>

FileHamster makes real-time backups of your files as you work

2007-05-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

FileHamster makes real-time backups of your files as you work.

Though designed with artists in mind, the program has applications for anyone who could benefit from having incremental backups of their documents. Any time you save your active document, FileHamster copies it to a specified folder. Subsequent saves are stored incrementally as revisions. You can add comments to each revision so you have a record of the changes (if necessary). The software lets you designate individual files and/or folders to be "watched" for backups. It even supports a handful of plug-ins, including logs, notes and Zip compression.

FileHamster is easy to configure, and it works quickly and quietly in the background. Even so, you might want to peek at the wiki to get a better idea for how the program operates; the main site is a little vague. FileHamster is free; it requires Windows 2000 or later and .NET 2.0 More >>>

Unstoppable Copier

2007-05-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

If you've ever had a disk go bad and you've tried saving some of the contents, you've probably seen all of the error messages Windows can throw at you when you try to copy files to a new drive. Unstoppable Copier ignores the error messages and does its best to reconstruct your files with what's available, and since it runs from an .exe without installation More >>>

Quickly check if you're logged in as Administrator

2007-05-10T13:42:00.001-07:00

If you need to quickly tell if the person currently logged onto a PC is a local administrator of the windows server, right click on the START button. If you see "Open All Users" rather than just "Open," the account is in the local Administrators group.

Robocopy snapshots

2007-05-10T13:36:00.001-07:00

1. I use Robocopy to create snapshot of the burned disc. The snapshot includes the information of discs' directory tree structure and the files with zero-length. The command I use is
Robocopy [source] [destination] /CREATE /E
The [source] is the burned disc location, and the [destination] is where the snapshot resides. If you would like to specify how deep the directory be copied, you can add "/Lev:?" as parameter (? is the directory level you specified).

Banish crapware with The PC Decrapifier

2007-05-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

the PC Decrapifier removes crapware--the system-hogging, usually unwanted programs vendors stuff onto new PCs. You know the drill: You fire up your new machine, only to find the desktop littered with icons and a deluge of pop-ups to install this, register that and update the other. The PC Decrapifier, which is a simple executable that doesn't even require installation More >>>

Replace Windows Explorer with Xplorer2

2007-05-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Let's face it: for advanced file manipulation, Windows File Explorer stinks. But like Firefox is a must-have replacement for Internet Explorer, a file manager called Xplorer2 blows Windows Explorer out of the water for anyone who browses multiple folders, copies, pastes, moves and searches the PC filesystem frequently.

Using Xplorer2's tabbed, dual pane interface, keyboard shortcuts and killer advanced features, you're in total control of your PC's files. Let's take a look. More >>>

The Windows File Shredder

2007-05-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

I add an instant file shredder to my Windows desktop using the SDelete utility, available freely from Sysinternals. Save the SDelete.exe in your C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory. Add the following text to a new text document:

@echo off echo .* * *W A R N I N G * * * echo . echo .The File(s)/Folders(s) Will Be Permanently Deleted! echo . echo .Press CTRL-C to Abort and Terminate Batch Job Or... echo . pause sdelete -p 4 -s %1 pause

Save the file as "shred.bat" on your desktop right next to your Recycling Bin. Now just drag and drop those sensitive files onto the icon to make them disappear forever! More >>>

How To Download Free Torrent Files Using Google

2007-05-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Google is a search engine that allows you to find anything on the Internet, no matter the format, the type or the content. That's why you're also able to find free torrents and download them straight from Google without having to find alternative sources. The torrent is quite a useful way to download anything because it doesn't need a stand-alone server as the files are transferred between users. Basically, the files are stored on a user's computer and then sent to another system using a simple .torrent file. This protocol is extremely useful and fast as it is able to download a huge file on multiple segments from several users in the same time.

CODE:
filetype:torrent anything

The term anything must be replaced with the name of the file you're looking for. Google will search the Internet for information and, if it available, it returns the torrent file that must be opened with your client to start the download. So, if you want to search for the Opera browser, you should type the following command:

CODE:

filetype:torrent opera browser

Add Music to Blogspot blog

2007-04-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

Depending on the subject matter of your blog, having music played in the background may either enhance the pleasure of reading or annoy your visitor More >>>

Vista Power Button

2007-04-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

When I power off my PC that is what I want to happen. The default power option on Vista when you press the power off button is to sleep. Fortunately this can be changed via the Control Panel.

From Control Panel navigate to Power Options - Change Plan Settings - Change Advanced Power Settings. In this panel you will find an option "Power buttons and Lid". Change both "Power button action" and "Start menu power button action" from Sleep to Shutdown ... and you're done.

25 Code Snippets For Web Designers

2007-04-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

"Part 3 of our code snippets series takes a look at more handy pieces of html, ajax and css that you can incorporate into your web designs." More >>>

Speedup Windows XP in Minutes!

2007-04-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's not always wise to upgrade your hardware every time you feel your computer is getting slow. In face, according to my opinion Microsoft operating systems have a tendency to slow computer sown when you have a lop of programs installed. In this tutorial I will tell you some easy tricks to get most out of your hardware. More >>>

eicar The Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware test file

2007-03-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

If you are active in the anti-virus research field, then you will regularly receive requests for virus samples. Some requests are easy to deal with: they come from fellow-researchers whom you know well, and whom you trust. Using strong encryption, you can send them what they have asked for by almost any medium (including across the Internet) without any real risk. More >>>

remove msn messenger

2007-03-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Start/Run RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

iTunes and QuickTime for Windows cannot be installed without Visual Basic Script (VBScript)

2007-03-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

The iTunes and QuickTime Installers uses a technology called "Windows Installer", provided by Microsoft. If you see this error, it may be because the Windows Installer technology is unable to process the Visual Basic Script embedded inside the iTunes and QuickTime Installers. You may resolve this issue by installing the latest VBScript engine from Microsoft.

If the VBScript is installed, it might not be registered within Windows. To re-enable the VBScript engine, follow these steps:

On the Start menu, click Run.
In the "Open" field, enter the following command and click OK.
regsvr32 %SystemRoot%\system32\vbscript.dll
A message should appear stating that the "DllRegisterServer in C:\WINDOWS\system32\vbscript.dll succeeded."
Click OK and try installing iTunes or QuickTime again. More >>>

Fixtool (SDFix) remove the Trojan Services then make some repairs to the

2007-03-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

Download
SDFix
and save it to your desktop.

Please then reboot your computer in Safe Mode by doing the
following :

Restart your computer
After hearing your computer beep once during startup, but before the
Windows icon appears, tap the F8 key continually;
Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu with options should appear;
Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode, then press "Enter".
Choose your usual account.

In Safe Mode, right click the SDFix.zip folder and choose Extract
All,
Open the extracted folder and double click RunThis.bat to
start the script.
Type Y to begin the script.
It will remove the Trojan Services then make some repairs to the
registry and prompt you to press any key to Reboot.
Press any Key and it will restart the PC.
Your system will take longer that normal to restart as the fixtool
will be running and removing files.
When the desktop loads the Fixtool will complete the removal and
display Finished, then press any key to end the script and load
your desktop icons.
Finally open the SDFix folder on your desktop and copy and paste the
contents of the results file Report.txt back onto the forum with
a new HijackThis log

Wine 0.9.33 Released

2007-03-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

The wine devs have an unbeatable speed with releases :) "Wine 0.9.33 was released today, with the following main changes: Many Direct3D fixes and performance improvements, More comctl32 tests and some bug fixes, Compatibility improvements in cmd.exe, Still more fixes to builtin OLE, Support for process control on Solaris, Lots of bug fixes" More >>>

Daylight Savings Time - Fix for Windows 2000 Servers

2007-03-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

In order to get started, download the tool to your Windows 2000 server from Microsoft from the following link: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/8/a/58a208b7-7dc7-4bc7-8357-28e29cdac52f/TZEDIT.exe

After downloading, run the file, and extract the tzedit program somewhere on your server (The default of Program Files\TZedit is usually fine)

Run the extracted program - by default, the current timezone is already highlighted for you, so go ahead and click "Edit"

Now, enter the new date settings in DST portion of the timezone:
Starts 2nd Sunday of March at 2:00 AM
Ends 1st Sunday of November at 2:00 AM

That should be the only change you need to make - Click "OK", then "Close".

In order to make the server re-read the zone file - you will need to do one of two things:
Reboot the server or Double-click the clock to pull up time and date settings, and under the Time Zone tab, pick a different timezone and hit Apply, and then re-select your real timezone and hit apply again.

You're done! Your server has been updated with the new DST rules, and will change its clock at the appropriate date. More >>>

time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems

2007-03-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

RESOLUTION

Update rollup information

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Download the Update for Windows Server 2003 package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=554A94FE-A478-47A7-B004-0277A292E90E)

Download the Update for Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5D16F9EC-BE72-487B-84E8-E4368049A644)

Download the Update for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=53D4F49B-AA6F-48A9-9244-6A1F7DCF2A94)

Download the Update for Windows XP package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=66F1420C-DF2D-400B-A8A9-EF9061A9A3CA)

Download the Update for Windows XP x64 Edition package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6404F3E9-736D-449A-911E-F7CC99A375A4)

Release Date: February 7, 2007

Printing from a Mac to a shared printer connected to a PC

2007-03-11T17:28:00.001-07:00

Links:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...inter+with+Mac
http://iharder.sourceforge.net/curre...winmacprinter/
http://homepage.mac.com/william_whit...o_windows.html
http://www.computing.net/mac/wwwboard/forum/9771.html

Daylight savings Fix

2007-03-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

If you use Windows Update, the Daylight Savings Time update probably was already delivered to you with the last batch dated February 13. It is KB931836. You can also get it from the link provided by nganvu
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst
There is a separate update for Outlook called tzmove.exe
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

You should really try to fix the timezone rather than just changing the time. If you just change the time, then anything which is actually handled in UTC (like timestamps on emails) will appear to be an hour off. Not a critical issue in Win9x, but it's worth getting right.

With later versions of Windows it becomes more important to get right in some environments -- machines on a domain are only allowed to be 5 minutes off from the domain controllers or they don't get access to anything.

The main options for a change like this in order of preference are:

Fix the timezone info (good).
Leave it as is and deal with your clock being an hour off (okay -- at least you know everything that's affected).
Leave the timezone as is and change the clock (bad -- this will tend to bite you in strange ways).

Vista Keyboard shortcuts

2007-03-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

See the following tables for some of the most useful shortcuts:

Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
Right SHIFT for eight seconds	Turn Filter Keys on and off
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (or PRTSCRN)	Turn High Contrast on or off
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK	Turn Mouse Keys on or off
SHIFT five times	Turn Sticky Keys on or off
NUM LOCK for five seconds	Turn Toggle Keys on or off
Windows logo key +U	Open the Ease of Access Center

General keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
CTRL+C	Copy the selected item
CTRL+X	Cut the selected item
CTRL+V	Paste the selected item
CTRL+Z	Undo an action
DELETE	Delete the selected item and move it to the Recycle Bin
SHIFT+DELETE	Delete the selected item without moving it to the Recycle Bin first
F2	Rename the selected item
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
CTRL+LEFT ARROW	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
CTRL+DOWN ARROW	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
CTRL+UP ARROW	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
CTRL+SHIFT with an arrow key	Select a block of text
SHIFT with any arrow key	Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document
CTRL+A	Select all items in a document or window
F3	Search for a file or folder
ALT+ENTER	Display properties for the selected item
ALT+F4	Close the active item, or exit the active program
ALT+SPACEBAR	Open the shortcut menu for the active window
CTRL+F4	Close the active document (in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
ALT+TAB	Switch between open items
CTRL+ALT+TAB	Use the arrow keys to switch between open items
Windows logo key +TAB	Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Windows Flip 3-D
CTRL+Windows logo key +TAB	Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Windows Flip 3-D
ALT+ESC	Cycle through items in the order in which they were opened
F6	Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
F4	Display the Address bar list in Windows Explorer
SHIFT+F10	Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
CTRL+ESC	Open the Start menu
ALT+underlined letter	Display the corresponding menu
ALT+underlined letter	Perform the menu command (or other underlined command)
F10	Activate the menu bar in the active program
RIGHT ARROW	Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu
LEFT ARROW	Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu
F5	Refresh the active window
ALT+UP ARROW	View the folder one level up in Windows Explorer
ESC	Cancel the current task
CTRL+SHIFT+ESC	Open Task Manager
SHIFT when you insert a CD	Prevent the CD from automatically playing

Dialog box keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
CTRL+TAB	Move forward through tabs
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB	Move back through tabs
TAB	Move forward through options
SHIFT+TAB	Move back through options
ALT+underlined letter	Perform the command (or select the option) that goes with that letter
ENTER	Replaces clicking the mouse for many selected commands
SPACEBAR	Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box
Arrow keys	Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons
F1	Display Help
F4	Display the items in the active list
BACKSPACE	Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box

Microsoft keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
Windows logo key	Open or close the Start menu
Windows logo key +BREAK	Display the System Properties dialog box
Windows logo key +D	Display the desktop
Windows logo key +M	Minimize all windows
Windows logo key +SHIFT+M	Restore minimized windows to the desktop
Windows logo key +E	Open Computer
Windows logo key +F	Search for a file or folder
CTRL+Windows logo key +F	Search for computers (if you are on a network)
Windows logo key +L	Lock your computer (if you are connected to a network domain), or switch users (if you're not connected to a network domain)
Windows logo key +R	Open the Run dialog box
Windows logo key +T	Cycle through programs on the taskbar
Windows logo key +TAB	Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Windows Flip 3-D
CTRL+Windows logo key +TAB	Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Windows Flip 3-D
Windows logo key +SPACEBAR	Bring all gadgets to the front and select Windows Sidebar
Windows logo key +G	Cycle through Sidebar gadgets
Windows logo key +U	Open Ease of Access Center
Windows logo key +X	Open Windows Mobility Center

Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
END	Display the bottom of the active window
HOME	Display the top of the active window
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK (*) on numeric keypad	Display all subfolders under the selected folder
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN (+) on numeric keypad	Display the contents of the selected folder
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN (-) on numeric keypad	Collapse the selected folder
LEFT ARROW	Collapse the current selection (if it is expanded), or select the parent folder
ALT+LEFT ARROW	View the previous folder
RIGHT ARROW	Display the current selection (if it is collapsed), or select the first subfolder
ALT+RIGHT ARROW	View the next folder
ALT+D	Select the Address bar

Windows Sidebar keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
Windows logo key +SPACEBAR	Bring all gadgets to the front and select Sidebar
Windows logo key +G	Cycle through Sidebar gadgets
TAB	Cycle through Sidebar controls

Windows Photo Gallery keyboard shortcuts


Press this key	To do this
CTRL+F	Open the Fix pane
CTRL+P	Print the selected picture
ENTER	View the selected picture at a larger size
CTRL+I	Open or close the Details pane
CTRL+PERIOD (.)	Rotate the picture clockwise
CTRL+COMMA (,)	Rotate the picture counter-clockwise
F2	Rename the selected item
CTRL+E	Search for an item
ALT+LEFT ARROW	Go back
ALT+RIGHT ARROW	Go forward
PLUS SIGN (+)	Zoom in or resize the picture thumbnail
MINUS SIGN (-)	Zoom out or resize the picture thumbnail
CTRL+B	Best fit
LEFT ARROW	Select the previous item
DOWN ARROW	Select the next item or row
UP ARROW	Previous item (Easel) or previous row (Thumbnail)
PAGE UP	Previous screen
PAGE DOWN	Next screen
HOME	Select the first item
END	Select the last item
DELETE	Move the selected item to the Recycle Bin
SHIFT+DELETE	Permanently delete the selected item
LEFT ARROW	Collapse node
RIGHT ARROW	Expand node
Keyboard shortcuts for working with videos
J	Move back one frame
K	Pause the playback
L	Move forward one frame
I	Set the start trim point
O	Set the end trim point
M	Split a clip
HOME	Stop and rewind all the way back to the start trim point
ALT+RIGHT ARROW	Advance to the next frame
ALT+LEFT ARROW	Go back to the previous frame
CTRL+K	Stop and rewind playback
CTRL+P	Play from the current location
HOME	Move the start trim point
END	Move to the end trim point
PAGE UP	Seek to nearest split point before the current location
PAGE DOWN	Seek to nearest split point after the current location

Windows Help viewer keyboard shortcuts

Press this key	To do this
ALT+C	Display the Table of Contents
ALT+N	Display the Connection Settings menu
F10	Display the Options menu
ALT+LEFT ARROW	Move back to the previously viewed topic
ALT+RIGHT ARROW	Move forward to the next (previously viewed) topic
ALT+A	Display the customer support page
ALT+HOME	Display the Help and Support home page
HOME	Move the to beginning of a topic
END	Move to the end of a topic
CTRL+F	Search the current topic
CTRL+P	Print a topic
F3	Move to the Search box

How to Setup a VLAN on a Cisco Switch

2007-03-08T16:31:00.001-08:00

Have you ever wondered what a Virtual LAN (or VLAN) is or been unclear as to why you would want one? If so, I have been in your place at one time too. Since then, I have learned a lot about what a VLAN is and how it can help me. In this article, I will share that knowledge with you. More >>>

How can I disable the User Account Control (UAC) feature on my Windows Vista computer?

2007-03-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Windows Vista has the built-in ability to automatically reduce the potential of security breeches in the system. It does that by automatically enabling a feature called User Account Control (or UAC for short). The UAC forces users that are part of the local administrators group to run like they were regular users with no administrative privileges.

Read more about UAC here: What's User Account Control in Windows Vista?

Although UAC clearly improves the security on Windows Vista, under some scenarios you might want to disable it, for example when giving demos in front of an audience (demos that are not security related, for example). Some home users might be tempted to disable UAC because of the additional mouse clicking it brings into their system, however I urge them not to immediately do so, and try to get used to it instead. More >>>

Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve your Productivity

2007-03-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

Top 10 extensions that will keep you focused, reduce distractions, streamline your daily work flow, and improve your productivity. More >>>

A Guide to OS X Web Browsers

2007-03-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

A guide to OS X Browsers - There's no perfect browser for OS X, Firefox is too slow, Camino is too featureless. This is an analysis of 11 browsers for OS X, weighing up the positives and negatives of each More >>>

HowTo Quickly Deep Clean Your System

2007-02-22T23:53:00.000-08:00

It is really easy for your computer system to get full of junk. This is one reason why people often notice that their computer system seems to be slowing down. Go to Start→Run… and type in cleanmgr /sageset:99

To run the deep clean, simply follow these steps:

Go to Start→Run… and type in cleanmgr /sagerun:99
The disk cleanup program will now run. It will close automatically when it is finished
More >>>

How to regularly backup Windows XP to Ubuntu, using rsync

2007-02-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

How to regularly backup Windows XP to Ubuntu, using rsync

Back in September I revived my Mini-ITX box to serve as a backup server. I set up BackupPC, ran it once, it seemed to work, and then ignored it for weeks. When I checked back, it hadn’t run successfully since. Ugh, I want backups to just work!

A few nights ago I decided to try again, this time dropping the constraint of not installing software on my laptop. Turns out I already had the building block I needed: rsync, installed in the form of Cygwin.

I began with these Rsync for Windows instructions, and everything went smoothly until the very end—rsync on Windows wasn’t connecting to rsync on Ubuntu. My gut told me rsync’s port 873 isn’t open on Ubuntu, but I had no idea how to open ports anymore. Luckily I found How to start rsync daemon at boot in the Ubuntu forums which told me exactly what I needed to know.

Partly as an aide to my memory, and partly to help anyone out there who might be struggling with the same project (unless everyone except me is already backing up their computers) I decided to summarize the process without all the false starts and dead ends it took me to figure it all out. For more information, the rsync man page is useful, as well as the results in Google for windows rsync.

Set up rsync server on Ubuntu

Run sudo apt-get install rsync (it’s probably already installed)

Create a file named rsyncd.conf in /etc

```
sudo nano /etc/rsyncd.conf
```

Add the following to rsyncd.conf, replacing all instances of username with your Ubuntu username:

[usernamebackup]

   path = /home/username/backup
   comment = Backup
   uid = username
   gid = username
   read only = false
   auth users = username
   secrets file = /etc/rsyncd.secrets

```
sudo chmod 644 /etc/rsyncd.conf
```

Create a file named rsyncd.secrets in /etc
1. ```
sudo nano /etc/rsyncd.secrets
```
2. Add the following to rsyncd.secrets, replacing username with your username and password with a password of your choosing:
```
username:password
```
3. ```
sudo chmod 600 /etc/rsyncd.secrets
```
Open rsync port by editing /etc/default/rsync and setting
```
RSYNC_ENABLE=true
```
Restart rsync
```
sudo /etc/init.d/rsync restart
```

Set up rsync client on Windows

Install Cygwin, making sure Editors > nano and Net > rsync are selected
Add C:\cygwin\bin; to the Windows PATH statement
1. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Switch to the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button at the bottom
3. Find the “Path” or “PATH” variable in the System variables list at the bottom and click Edit
4. Add C:\cygwin\bin; to the beginning of the list
Create secret file to store password in Cygwin
1. Start Cygwin Bash Shell
2. Create secret file in the filesystem root and enter only the password in rsyncd.secrets above, with no spaces or line breaks
```
nano /secret
```
3. ```
chmod 600 /secret
```
4. ```
chown Administrator:SYSTEM /secret
```
Create bat file to run rsync
1. Open Notepad and enter the following command, replacing User Name with your Windows User Name directory, username with your Ubuntu username, and ipaddress with the IP address of your Ubuntu server (e.g. 192.168.0.100):
```
C:\cygwin\bin\rsync.exe -qrtz --password-file=c:\cygwin\secret --delete "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/User Name" username@ipaddress::usernamebackup
```
  As you may have guessed, the "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/User Name" command line option designates where to start backing up from. As currently configured, this will backup your Windows home directory (Desktop, My Documents, etc). If you want to backup your whole hard drive, change that option to "/cygdrive/c".
2. Save the file as C:\rsync.bat

Create scheduled task to run C:\rsync.bat once a day

Create scheduled task
1. Goto Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks
2. From the File menu, select New > Scheduled Task
3. Name this task “rsync backup”
4. Right-click on the task and select properties
5. Enter C:\rsync.bat in the Run field
6. Switch to the Schedule tab and select the time you want the backup to run every day and click Ok
Test the scheduled task
1. Create a folder called C:\data and put a few photo files in it
2. Edit C:\rsync.bat and change "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/User Name" to "/cygdrive/c/data"
3. Add the command pause on a new line at the bottom of C:\rsync.bat and save the file
4. Right-click on the “rsync backup” scheduled task and select “Run”—A command window should popup and with either errors or the list of files being transfered. If there are errors, troubleshoot them.
5. Once the scheduled task and C:\rsync.bat appear to be working correctly, change "/cygdrive/c/data" back to "/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/User Name" and remove the pause command
6. Finally, edit the scheduled task properties and change “Run as:” to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM—this will ensure that the process runs in the background, without popping up a command prompt window

Run your first backup

Run C:\rsync.bat from the command line before going to bed. Backing up 35GB over a wireless-g connection took me over 8 hours. Subsequent backups take less than a minute. Behold the beauty of rsync.

Back up Gmail with fetchmail

2007-02-09T16:15:00.001-08:00

Instead, today we'll set up a nightly automated Gmail backup using the command line program fetchmail, which will go out, grab your newest messages, save 'em to your hard drive and exit, all while you sleep soundly in the knowledge that you've got an offline copy of your important email. More >>>

Questionable Conviction of Connecticut Teacher in Pop-up Porn Case

2007-02-02T22:02:00.000-08:00

When lax cyber-security meets anti-porn hysteria, an innocent computer infection can land you in jail. Just ask Julie Amero, a 40-year old substitute teacher who maintains she's a victim of a malicious software infestation that caused her computer to spawn porn uncontrollably. She's awaiting a possible 40 year sentence due to ignorance all around More >>>

Inspire Yourself: 50 Remarkable Favicons

2007-01-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

Let ’s take a look at 50 beautiful favicons you can inspire yourself from. You can click on favicons - they lead to a page, which uses the image as a page icon. More >>>