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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

10 Easy Steps To Speed Up Windows Xp




1. Disable Indexing Services

Indexing Services is a small little program that uses large amounts of RAM and can often make a computer endlessly loud and noisy. This system process indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that when you do a search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don't search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary. To disable do the following:

1. Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Double-click Add/Remove Programs
5. Click the Add/Remove Window Components
6. Uncheck the Indexing services
7. Click Next


2. Optimise Display Settings


Windows XP can look sexy but displaying all the visual items can waste system resources. To optimise:

1.Go to Start
2. Click Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click System
5. Click Advanced tab
6. In the Performance tab click Settings
7. Leave only the following ticked:
- Show shadows under menus
- Show shadows under mouse pointer
- Show translucent selection rectangle
- Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
- Use visual styles on windows and buttons


3. Disable Performance Counters

Windows XP has a performance monitor utility which monitors several areas of your PC's performance. These utilities take up system resources so disabling is a good idea.

To disable:

1. download and install the Extensible Performance Counter List
2.Then select each counter in turn in the 'Extensible performance counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' checkbox at the bottom.button below.


4. Speed up Folder Browsing

You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers everytime you open Windows Explorer. To fix this and to increase browsing significantly:

1. Open My Computer
2. Click on Tools menu
3. Click on Folder Options
4. Click on the View tab.
5. Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
6. Click Apply
7. Click Ok
8. Reboot your computer


5. Improve Memory Usage

Cacheman Improves the performance of your computer by optimizing the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings.

Once Installed:

1. Go to Show Wizard and select All
2. Run all the wizards by selecting Next or Finished until you are back to the main menu. Use the defaults unless you know exactly what you are doing.
3.Exit and Save Cacheman
4.Restart Windows


6. Optimise your internet connection

There are lots of ways to do this but by far the easiest is to run TCP/IP Optimizer.

1. Download and install
2. Click the General Settings tab and select your Connection Speed (Kbps)
3. Click Network Adapter and choose the interface you use to connect to the Internet
4. Check Optimal Settings then Apply
5. Reboot


7. Optimise Your Pagefile

If you give your pagefile a fixed size it saves the operating system from needing to resize the page file.

1. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Under Performance choose the Settings button
4. Select the Advanced tab again and under Virtual Memory select Change
5. Highlight the drive containing your page file and make the initial Size of the file the same as the Maximum Size of the file.

Windows XP sizes the page file to about 1.5X the amount of actual physical memory by default. While this is good for systems with smaller amounts of memory (under 512MB) it is unlikely that a typical XP desktop system will ever need 1.5 X 512MB or more of virtual memory. If you have less than 512MB of memory, leave the page file at its default size. If you have 512MB or more, change the ratio to 1:1 page file size to physical memory size.


8. Run BootVis - Improve Boot Times

BootVis will significantly improve boot times

1. Download and Run
2. Select Trace
3. Select Next Boot and Driver Trace
4. A Trace Repetitions screen will appear, select Ok and Reboot
5. Upon reboot, BootVis will automatically start, analyze and log your system's boot process. When it's done, in the menu go to Trace and select Optimize System
6. Reboot.
7. When your machine has rebooted wait until you see the Optimizing System box appear. Be patient and wait for the process to complete


9. Remove the Desktop Picture

Your desktop background consumes a fair amount of memory and can slow the loading time of your system. Removing it will improve performance.

1. Right click on Desktop and select Properties
2. Select the Desktop tab
3. In the Background window select None
4. Click Ok


10. Remove Fonts for Speed

Fonts, especially TrueType fonts, use quite a bit of system resources. For optimal performance, trim your fonts down to just those that you need to use on a daily basis and fonts that applications may require.

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Fonts folder
3. Move fonts you don't need to a temporary directory (e.g. C:\FONTBKUP?) just in case you need or want to bring a few of them back. The more fonts you uninstall, the more system resources you will gain.

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Ways to Disable Unnecessary Vista Features







Sidebar

Sidebar; click to view full-size image.You pay a heavy performance price for the analog clock, thumbnail slide-show viewer, and Microsoft-centric RSS news feed that dock in the Windows Sidebar. Turning the whole thing off gives you a big speed boost, especially at boot time.

To remove the Sidebar, right-click anywhere on the Sidebar and select Close Sidebar. Uncheck Start Sidebar when Windows starts, and then click OK.


Aero

Microsoft put a lot of Vista's visual enhancements under one technological and marketing umbrella: Aero. Among those features are the thumbnails of your windows that appear when you hover the mouse pointer over the taskbar, as well as the Flip 3D view you get by pressing Windows-Tab. Aero adds a little practicality and a lot of panache to the Vista user interface, and personally, I like it.

If your PC is underpowered or overloaded, however, Aero may be more trouble than it's worth. To turn it off, right-click the Windows desktop and select Personalize, Window Color and Appearance. In the resulting 'Window Color and Appearance' dialog box, click Open classic appearance properties for more color options (if you don't see the option, that means Aero is already turned off). Select Windows Vista Basic and click OK.


Assorted Interface Beautification Options

Interface options; click to view full-size image.You can save some additional clock cycles by turning off all or some of Vista's pretty interface options, not all of which are directly connected to Aero.

To see the options, click Start, right-click Computer, and select Properties. Click the Advanced System Properties link, the Advanced tab, and then the Settings button inside the Performance box.

You can uncheck all of the listed options by selecting Adjust for best performance, or you can simply uncheck the ones you don't care for. I unchecked Fade or slide menus into view, Fade or slide ToolTips into view, Show shadows under menus, and Slide open combo boxes. The rest I left on.


Remote Assistance

Don't worry about turning this item off if you run Vista Home (Basic or Premium). You don't have it. If you run Vista Business or Ultimate, though, you can use Remote Assistance to control one PC from another--a useful tool if you regularly provide tech support for a relative living far away.

On the other hand, if you're not providing long-distance support, or if you prefer a third-party remote-control program, Remote Assistance is just a waste of resources. To get rid of it, click Start, right-click Computer, and select Properties. Click Remote Settings. Uncheck Allow Remote Assistance connections to this computer.


Internet Printing Client

Internet Printing; click to view full-size image.Do you ever print documents over the Internet? Neither do I. Chances are, you won't miss out on anything by disabling Vista's Internet Printing Client.

Open the 'Programs and Features' control panel and click the Turn Windows features on or off link on the left; you'll get the Windows Features dialog box. Expand the Print Services section and uncheck Internet Printing Client.

Click OK at this point, and then wait several more minutes for the system to ask to reboot.


Windows Meeting Space

Meeting Space; click to view full-size image.I like Windows' built-in peer-to-peer collaboration program, Meeting Space, which lets you share files across a network while editing them with a remote colleague. But I don't have any use for it in my daily life, and neither do most of the people I know.

So I shut Windows Meeting Space off. You can, too. Simply uncheck Windows Meeting Space while you're in the Windows Features dialog box. If you're not in the Windows Features dialog box, see the tip further up the page for instructions on getting to it.


Windows Ultimate Extras

Ultimate Extras; click to view full-size image.One of the best things you can do exclusively in Vista Ultimate Edition is turn off the really pointless features that are found exclusively in Vista Ultimate Edition. I refer, of course, to Ultimate Extras, a set of downloadable add-ons available only to Ultimate users. If you didn't pay for the most expensive version of Vista, these useless add-ons aren't a concern.

If you do own Ultimate, go to Windows Update (Start, All Programs, Windows Update), click View available updates, and check out all the worthless stuff Microsoft has made available exclusively to people who paid through the nose for the most bloated version of Vista.

As of this writing, the extras include a poker game, some BitLocker and EFS enhancements that hardly anyone uses, several sound schemes, and an odd tool called Windows DreamScene that lets you waste your precious system resources by using video as your wallpaper. If PC World ever asks me to write an article on pointless ways to slow down Vista, I'll start with DreamScene.

You can turn Windows Ultimate Extras off in the Windows Features control panel by clicking Turn Windows features on or off to open the Windows Features dialog box, and then unchecking Windows Ultimate Extras.


Tablet PC Stuff

Tablet PC options; click to view full-size image.I own a tablet PC, and I love Vista's tablet-oriented features--especially the Input Panel for writing with the stylus. But if you don't have a tablet, these features are useless to you.

Turning off Vista's tablet features is a two-step process: Start in the Windows Features dialog box. If you're not already there, see the tip further up the page for instructions on getting to it. Once there, simply uncheck Tablet PC Optional Components.

You complete the job in the Services window, which you open by clicking Start, typing services, and pressing Enter. Find and double-click Tablet PC Input Services. In the 'Startup type' drop-down menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.


Search Indexing

This one is a real trade-off. Turning off Vista's indexing will slow searches to a crawl--I'm talking minutes, not seconds. But ditching this convenient feature could very likely speed up your general PC use significantly.

In other words, turning off indexing will help your PC's performance only if you seldom search by file content, or if you use a third-party search tool such as Copernic Desktop or Google Desktop (in which case you probably have two indexing routines running at the same time, which is an even bigger waste).

If you match either of those descriptions, turn off indexing by clicking Start, typing services, and pressing Enter. Find and double-click Windows Search. In the 'Startup type' drop-down menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.
Offline Files

If you work on files stored on a server somewhere, and you can't depend on that server always being available, Vista Business and Ultimate's Offline Files feature makes your life easier by copying the files to your hard drive and keeping them synced.

Of course, that sort of thing isn't for everybody, which is probably why Microsoft didn't include Offline Files in the Home editions of Vista. But if you have Business or Ultimate and still don't need Offline Files, turn it off by clicking Start, typing services, and pressing Enter. Find and double-click Offline Files. In the 'Startup type' drop-down menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.


Windows Error Reporting Service

Every time Windows experiences an error--either with its own processes or with a third-party program--it offers to report the problem to Microsoft. In theory, doing so can help the company locate problems with its OS (and heaven knows that would be a good thing). But more than likely, your report will either go unresolved or just end up in a big ol' pile of other people's reports on the same problem. Either way, you're wasting your system's precious resources on a feature that isn't doing you any good.

To disable this unhelpful service, open the Services window: Click Start, type services, and press Enter. Find and double-click Windows Error Reporting Service. In the 'Startup type' drop-down menu, select Disabled, and then click OK.

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Saturday, June 06, 2009

Remove Ads from Windows Live Messenger




Remove Ads from Windows Live Messenger with WLM Universal Patcher













Nowadays almost all Instant Messenger like Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger shows ads to generate revenue.

A latest version of Windows Live Messenger 9 also carries ads. Most of the time these ads annoying and distracts a lot. There are few ways to remove, disable and get rid of the ads on Windows Live Messenger so that the messenger is ads free.


WLM Universal Patcher also lets you to hide the actions pane and search bar, or to enable multiple logons.

WLM Universal Patcher Plus

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Make Your PC Talk with Notepad!




Open a text file in notepad and write:

Dim msg, sapi
msg=InputBox("Enter your text","Talk it")
Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
sapi.Speak msg


Save the file with a (*.vbs) extension, it will create a VBScript File.
It will prompt you for a text when u open the file, input the text and press ok."

u will hear what u typed

this works in xp,vista,se7en.

- Aztec





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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Video Tutorials Resources for Design programs




General
3-D Layers (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0208cs3extended.html

3-D Pop Out-Quick Selection Tool (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/extreme_3d_popout.html

Actions, Using - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/usingactions.html

Adjusting Lights&Darks w.Overlay - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/707lightadj.html

B&W using Adjustment Layers - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/b_and_w_adj.html

B&W with Camera Raw - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/blackandwhitecr.html


Camera Raw (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/camera_raw.html

Change Hair Color - http://www.tutcast.com/photoshop/haircolor

Color Cast - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/colorcast.html

Color Cast Removal & Photo Filter (CS3) - http://previews.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/previews/photomagic/1.html

Color Correction/Depth Field (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/color_depth_field.html

Color Correcting with Curves - http://www.layersmagazine.com/photoshop-color-correcting.html

Color Cutout - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/color_cutout.html

Color Modify (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0208colormod.html

Crop Tool - http://www.craigstutorials.com/photoshop%20tuts/crop%20tool/crop/crop.html

Designing with Photos (CS2)- http://www.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/designing_with_photos_cs2.html football player baby

Extracting via Mask (long video) - http://www.ephotozine.tv/video/Creating-complex-and-high-quality-cutouts-747

Eyes, Enhanced - http://www.tutcast.com/photoshop/eyes

Floating Borders (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/floating_borders.html

Framing your work (PS Workbench 148) - http://www.msjphotography.com/

Highlights, Mid-tones & Shadows - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/high_mid_shad.html

Improving High Contrast Scene (PS Workbench 147) = http://www.msjphotography.com/

LAB Sharpening - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/lab-sharpening.html

Layer Comps (CS3) - http://previews.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/previews/photomagic/3.html

Layer Masks (painting with) (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0408paintingmasks.html.

Layer Masks (purple berries) - http://learn007.com/tutorials/ps/masks.html

Levels, Adjustments - http://www.craigstutorials.com/photoshop%20tuts/precise%20levels.html

Levels (working with) (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0408workingwithlevels.html

Liquify - http://www.oman3d.com/tutorials/photoshop/video/liquify.php

Marquee Tool, Special Effects - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0208specialeffects.html

Marquee Tool Tips (CS3)- http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0208specialeffects.html

Masking Basics - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/masking.html

Patch Tool (new) (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0408patchtool.html

Photos & Shapes - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/shapes.html

Portrait Work Flow - http://www.nobsphotosuccess.com/pages/chris.html

Removing Undesired Subjects w/Median Stack CS3 (PS Workbench 144) - http://www.msjphotography.com/

Shapes - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/shapes.html

Smart Objects (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/smartobjects.html

UpSizing Photo - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/0408upsizing.html

Video Effects, Creating Altered (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/1207altvideffect.html

Vignetting Photos (PS Workbench 146) - http://www.msjphotography.com/

Wrapping Text - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/Wrapping_Text.html


CS3 - DREAMWEAVER
Adding Text Info (CS3-D) - http://tips.watchandlearnphotoshop.com/pstips/1107shortcut.html


CS3 - FLASH
Color Cast Removal & Photo Filters - http://previews.learnflash.com/previews/ps/0108smartobj.html

Color Modify w.Masks & Brushes - http://previews.learnflash.com/previews/ps/0108colormod.html

Continuous, Repeating Line Animation - http://learnflash.com/st/st20temp.html?utm_source=auto&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=em42
Fire-Particle - http://tips.learnwebdevelopment.com/flashtips/fire_particle.html

Introduction to Flash CS3
Flash File Formats (Running Time - 2:14)
The Flash Workspace (Running Time - 5:50)
Saving Your Panel Layout (Running Time - 7:09)
The Tools Panel (Running Time - 6:21)
The Rectangle Primitive Tool (Running Time - 3:00)
The Brush Tool (Running Time - 2:45
The Pen Tool (Running Time - 4:31)

Smart Objects, Working with - http://previews.learnflash.com/previews/ps/0108smartobj.html


CS3 - ILLUSTRATOR
3-D Graphics - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/0208floating3d.html

3-D Type - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/3D-Type.html

Distressed Type - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/1207distype.html

Extruding Objects (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/extruding_objects.html

Extruding Compound Objects (CS3) - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/compound_extrude.html

Gilt Frame - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/0208giltframe.html

Invisible-Geometry - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/invisible-geometry.html

LiveTrace - http://www.tutorial9.net/illustrator/adobe-illustrator-tip-1-intro-and-livetrace/

Making Wood - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/0408makingwood.html

Navigating - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/0408navigating.html

Perspective - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/0408perspective.html

Radiating Text Lines - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/Radiating_lines.html

Rainbow - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/Rainbow.html

Wrapping Text - http://tips.watchandlearnillustrator.com/illtips/Wrapping_Text.html

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Got Unlimited Bandwidth in Web Hosting



Bandwidth may refer to bandwidth capacity or available bandwidth in bit/s, which typically means the net bit rate, channel capacity or the maximum throughput of a logical or physical communication path in a digital communication system. For example, bandwidth test implies measuring the maximum throughput of a computer network.
- Wikipedia


Bandwidth is the amount of data transfer that you are allowed to have for a hosting package i.e. Let's say you have a web page that is 48KB in size, now each time a user opens your site and goes to that page S/he downloads 48 KB of information on to their computer. If a 100 users view that page one time each then there has been a total of 4800 KB of data transferred from the server on which your files are stored for the computer of users.


Size of web Page: 48 KB

Number of users who viewed the web page: 100

Total amount of data transferred: 48KB * 100 = 4800 KB


Bandwidth is the term that is used to denote the amount of data that has been transferred from your web space.

The amount of bandwidth that you require while choosing a host depends on two factors:

The size of your site.

The popularity of your site.

If your site is not very huge and you do not have any audio/video downloads and it's not very popular i.e. not a lot of people visit your site then you do not really require a lot of bandwidth, on a average a web site uses up only 500 MB of bandwidth per month. Or if your site is small but extremely popular then you might have to go for a web hosting package that offers high bandwidth.

On the other hand if your web site is huge, providing audio/video downloads, as well as being very popular then you would certainly require a huge amount of bandwidth. Let's say you have a video file that is 150 MB in size and in a single day a 100 visitors download the file. This means that 15 GB of bandwidth will have been used. If you multiply that by 30 days for the month it comes to 450 GB.

The unlimited bandwidth controversy

For some time now a lot of hosting companies are supposedly providing "unlimited bandwidth" for their web hosting packages.

It's absolutely true, you can have unlimited bandwidth. However, you will need an unlimited amount of money by your side! Jokes apart, if you ever come across such a host it would be best to turn around and run back the way you came from.

Just think, if you can get unlimited bandwidth for $25-30 a month then why aren't big companies like Sun, Microsoft etc. not hosted there? In fact, why isn't everyone hosted there? For that matter, if unlimited is a standard feature then why don't all the hosts offer it? Is it because it is expensive and requires better hardware? No, it's because some hosts are honest and don't give in to such gimmicks.

Statistically speaking, a T1 Internet connection (huge broadband) equals approximately 500GB per month and costs around $1200 per month. So how can it be possible to get the same or unlimited for $30 a month? There are a lot of ways you can be duped by these ' unlimited' hosts; here are just a few of them:

The secret of 'unlimited' is actually buried in the Terms of Service by the host. Do not be surprised to find that unlimited = 15 GB.

The host may restrict the sort of files that you can host on their server. Generally image galleries and audio/video files attract a lot more downloads
thereby resulting in higher bandwidth consumption. So if there are no files of this type, your site won't really require a lot of bandwidth.

Some newly opened hosts use it as a scam. They take your money and after a few months when their server starts to become slow or reaches its limit, they run. with your money!

Some hosts outline in their Terms of Service that you can have unlimited bandwidth as long as you qualify for it. i.e. Your site must use less then, let's say 2 GB of bandwidth in order to qualify for the unlimited bandwidth feature. As soon as your site goes over that limit they either start charging you for it or cut off your downloads altogether.

In life it's a universal truth that you always get what you pay for, and it's no different for web hosting.

If a host is using a cheap advertising gimmick like 'unlimited' bandwidth they maybe lying about a few other things too. Their 'dedicated' support team could be a single person (the hoster itself in most cases) sitting in front of a computer and taking your calls.

Do you really want unlimited bandwidth hosting from hosts that have very limited resources at their disposal? Or, do you want to go for a host that has spent thousands of dollars on setting up a good network infrastructure, servers, and a highly qualified and dedicated support team? The choice ultimately is yours and yours alone.

- Aztec

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