How to find Bad Memory In Vista?

Unexpected or chronic system errors can sometimes be caused by faulty RAM. For checking the Vista system’s memory, there is a built-in Memory Diagnostics Tool.
To find the Memory Diagnostics Tool, just type Memory Diagnostics Tool into the Start Search box and then click the tool. Since the Memory Diagnostics Tool can’t check memory while Windows is running, there will be given two options-
Restart the system immediately and run the test, or run it the next time you restart.

The memory test usually takes around 10 to 15 minutes to complete,and when it’s finished, your system will automatically restart and let you know if any problems were found.

Ref: Smart Computing

Is a 1 GB RAM Computer faster than a 512 MB RAM one?

This article was published in some PC Magazine sometime ago. I thought this would be helpful for many. Hence I am providing the info As-Is. Read On -

There are many factors that influence how fast a computer operates, and RAM is one of them.But there are other components to consider: The processor, graphics card, and hard drive are three main components that affect a computer’s performance. A computer with a 3GHz processor will most likely be faster than one with a 2.1GHz processor, for example. A high-end graphics card will outperform a budget card, leading to better performance. A hard drive that spins at 4,500rpm will be slower than one rated at 10,000rpm.You must also consider the level of maintenance performed on one computer vs. another; the better-maintained computer may be quicker. Further, different operating systems have different requirements; for example, Microsoft suggests 128MB of RAM is sufficient to run Windows XP but recommends at least 1GB for Windows Vista.

Hence RAM is not the only criteria. But yes a 1GB RAM always > 512 MB RAM performance wise to some extent.

Cannot delete file or folder: Access is denied Error -> Solution!

Error deleting file or folder, cannot delete folder: it's being used by another person or program

This is the most common error that we see in our systems regularly.
There will be space - We are the owners - We do have the rights - The Harddrisk will not be full - The Hard disk is pretty fine -

Yet....We get these annoying messages at times and we cant delete a file that we want to!

I will not tell you the many ways there out to do some settings change or anything tricky...Instead I will tell you one software to use which soles such errors - It does the job successfully.

Unlocker 1.8.7 - Google it for you can find many locations to download. Just remember that to avoid spam, I would like you to know that the whole setup is not more than 240KB.

This software helps to get rid of the below errors of locked files as well:

· There has been a sharing violation.
· The source or destination file may be in use.
· The file is in use by another program or user.
· Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.


After you install this, whenever you get these errors, the software immediately turns up as in the above screen and asks what to do. Then you might need to select the required option "delete" and click "unlock" . There you go...Voila!!! Its pretty simple! Let me know if you have any doubts!

Error is now invisible and the file is deleted as you wished !!!

Is your computer slow and takes a lot of time to open programs?

Many of us face this problem on a regular mode. Though there is a pretty decent and a good PC configuration, sometimes our system doesnt use it! I mean my AMD 6000+ 3 GHz at times gets stuck up....Though I use many programs simultaneously, never did I faced it...But sometimes, it doesnt work out...So the below tweak might just help us to some extent.
Ensure that you dont have lot of programs on startup and also see that they dont keep running in the background.

• Go to Start | Run and type "msconfig" and press Enter
• Try removing unnecessary items from the "startup" section. Go to the "Services" tab, check the "Hide all microsoft services" and disable the ones that you dont need running in the background.

Note: Dont disable any thing required by the antivirus software!
Overclocking the CPU might also help - but not advisable by many. Only games may be very slighlty improved by performance but not applications.

About me and this blog

Hi -

I am harsha and am a software consultant in an MNC. I was always a die hard fan of the PC and technology and features around it. In short am a gadget freak though I cant buy any of them[;)]
I have been reading a lot of computer magazines since a long time. But I thought I need to share those that I have found/learnt with newbies and also geeks who can suggest improvements.
And just when I thought this, a word website came to me. But considering diff things, I have given a heads up for Blogger. So Here I am....Writing some articles on my own....Providing some articles to you guys as-is from Various computer magazines that I read(Credits given to them)...

Please note that: -

• 90-95% of the Knowledge articles have been written by me.
• The articles that will be under "In the news" Column are taken as-is from various magazines or Television.
• The articles related to Issues/Fixes - 50% of the posts are mine which means the issues I found and solved on my PC. The rest have been reported by others in diff PC Magazines. Either of them have been updated as issues are common to anyone.
• Since this blog is intended to be unique in content wise and look wise at the same extent, due to images, the page might load slowly. Am really working on it.Request your patience while the page loads as you will be happy to see that it would be worth the wait.You will have lot of Knowledge and useful articles regularly updated.
• If a post has completely not written by me, and I just wanted the reader to know it as it is really useful, then please look at the bottom of the post for credits. I have given credits to the owner i.e., PC magazines for the posts taken completely from them.
• I again tell you - Do not miss any post and subscribe via Email or RSS. This blog will be and is really useful to newbies and everyone who use Computer regularly. Hence I promise that I would keep up these standards.
  

This blog talks all about technology and computers or to be specific - Software,hardware,performance,tips and tricks needed,frequent issues encountered by a common user and not only this - steps,utilities to maintain your system in pretty decent condition for years. Please don't miss any post and just subscribe via Email or RSS.Stay here by learning,discussing and suggestions are always welcome!

Kindly help me to make this big and useful!Request your cooperation!
Cheers.... and Happy Reading. Hope that these would help you to some extent :)

Turn XP into Vista!!!

How does it feel like....U like Xp...but U love vista's look??? Since vista being a heads down and users now in the mood of Windows 7, the next termed big thing - Meanwhile for all those who would sit tight with xp for some more time - check this out!

There are many ways but transformation packs might just be the ones which would help us in an easier way to get the look of vista. You might thave heard abt these..I shall be providing some awesome packs over here - So keep an eye on this page!

Transformation packs - Coming soon...

Spammers using Mumbai attacks

The November terrorist attacks on Mumbai, in which Indian and foreign nationals were held
hostage, were soon used by spammers to tempt users into opening unsolicited email messages. Subject lines promising the latest news related to the attacks were used to push spam messages
trying to sell medication, according to Symantec.

Shame on these spammers who try to use such unfortunate stupid act of the terrorists for their benefit. Let us all pray god that those who lost lives, let their souls rest in peace and may god bless their families and let the people behind that horrifying act be punished..If not by humans....By God!!!

Nvidia loses XFX exclusivity!!

A big news sometime back....
XFX has shed its trademark identity as an Nvidia exclusive partner, first launching motherboards with Intel chipsets and then announcing its intention to sell graphics cards with ATI GPUs. The
company will launch its Radeon 4000-series based cards in early 2009, and have promised to continue offering customized drivers and factory-overclocked cards. The move is seen as a reaction to Nvidia's frequent and confusing lineup changes, and ATI's better value.

Courtesy: Chip

MTNL rolls out 3G in Delhi, other cities to come soon

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) has rolled out the country's first licensed 3G
network. While the auction for private players to acquire 3G spectrum has still not taken place,
MTNL has gone ahead with a rollout under the brand name 3G Jadoo. In the first "soft launch" phase, the service will be available only in select areas such as Connaught Place, Sanchar Bhawan, India Gate, and Pragati Maidan. MTNL will roll out 3G access to customers around the
country through 2009. According to a company statement, Delhi and Mumbai alone will have 15 lakh 3G subscriber lines by the middle of the year, allowing subscribers to make two-way video calls, watch mobile TV broadcasts, and surf the Web and download their email at upto 2 Mbps.
However, MTNL has not announced any tariff plans yet, and is treating the launch as a trial. It is not currently known what charges subscribers will have to pay.

Courtesy: Chip

Restrict limited users or other administrators of system from using USB devices or DVD-ROMs

Is there any way to restrict limited users or other administrators of the system from using USB devices or DVD-ROMs?

Yes indeed!!! You can do this thru the group ploicy editor.

1. Click ‘Start | Run’ and type ‘gpedit.msc’ and press [Enter]. When the Group Policy Editor window opens, you can tweak the settings of your choice.
2. In the left pane of the window, browse to ‘User Configuration | Administrative Templates | WindowsComponents | WindowsExplorer’.
3. Then in the right pane, look for the setting ‘Prevent access to drives from My Computer’ and double-click on it. In the new window, select the ‘Enabled’ button and from the dropdown list in the bottom window, select the drives you want to restrict access to.
4. Apply and save the settings. Exit from the policy editor and Windows will not allow the drives to be accessed.

They can still be accessed through the DOS prompt [;)]

Note: Make sure that you take note of the settings before changing any so you can undo the same. This is because there are a lot of settings here and is difficult to find something in particular, so you might have to browse through the whole list to get to the settings you require.

Courtesy: Chip

No Signal Error on monitor - Common issue

Sometimes, one fine day, when you boot the computer, your monitor might display "no signal". This issue is quite common. Do not worry as your monitor is fine. Its just that you might have played with the screen resolutions sometime!

Here is how you fix it!

1. Restart the computer, pressing the [F8] key just before Windows starts.
2. A menu should appear.Choose ‘Safe Mode’ from the list and press [Enter].
3. When in Safe Mode, go to the Device Manager (Right-click on ‘My Computer’ and click ‘Properties’.
4. Choose the ‘Hardware’ tab and click on ‘Device Manager’. Here click on the ‘Video’ or ‘Display adapter’ and select ‘Uninstall’.
5. Restart the computer and the system will reinstall the video card drivers.
6. Set the resolution according to what the monitor supports and your system will be fine again. :)

How to use USB Flashdrives in Windows 98?

We have many advanced OS right now. Windows 7 is on its retail way already or its been out atleast the alpha and beta stages. But still some consumers might still be using Microsoft Windows 98 - the supersuccessful biggie of 90s. This is at the cost of not being able to use USB Flashdrives directly as in editions of XP or Vista.
This article will help you to use the USB flash drives in Windows 98.Its pretty simple and you must be on internet for that!

To use a USB flash drive on Windows 98, you need to install a driver for it first. Browse through the manufacturer’s website to download the Windows 98 driver. Install it and you will be able to use the flash drive on your computer.

Note: Support has officially ended and drivers for newer hardware will not be easily available. There would be problems with driver and software compatibility under Windows 98.

So upgrade your system and the OS!

recycled/boot.com is not a valid Windows32 application

Sometimes when you try to open your drives, they do not open which is quite frustating and annoying... a message showing ‘recycled/boot.com is not a valid Windows32 application’ pops up.

Do not worry this is nothing to do with the drives or harddisk errors. Its just that you havent paid enough attention to your antivirus program. Why? Since this is being caused by a virus!

Fix: Please download latest virus definitions for your antivirus program.

Clean your harddrives and any other removable drives.

• Delete any hidden ‘autorun.inf' files from all the drives. These files will be present in the root folder.
• Scan the registry and find the words ‘recycled’ and ‘boot.com’ and delete the keys. Take a backup of the registry before doing so using any registry cleaner software.
• Scan and delete all files that state boot.com in the folder ‘C:\Windows\system32\dllcache’
• Scan and delete all files that state boot.com in the folder ‘C:\Windows\prefetch’ or just clear the folder.
• Clear the temp folder, cookies, and Internet cache.
• Disable the Autorun feature before accessing any external drives (USB lash drives, cameras, etc.) and CD/DVDs or just hold down [Shift] for 15 seconds when plugging in the drives. This will prevent the ‘autorun.inf’ file from executing the virus. Do not double-click on the drive letter, instead right-click and select ‘Explore’ to open it.
• Delete all files and folders with names ‘autorun.inf’ and ‘resycled’ from all drives and folders.

My Suggestion: Use a software called the USBShield which doesnt allow your external drive to execute any virus'.
And always keep your antivirus program up to date when using shared external media or if you download unknown software often. Keep Windows updated using the automatic update feature.

Ref: Chip

Obama uses whitehouse.gov to reach out to the world

Newly-sworn in uS president Barack obama's team launched a completely revamped www.whitehouse.gov within hours of his assuming office. the president's use of online media during his campaign was widely acknowledged as a huge factor in his victory, and his new official website further promotes his tech-savvy image. the site uses streaming video (in addition to the new official White house Youtube channel), blogs, a modern design, high-quality photography, and even RSS feeds. the Briefing Room section will contain multimedia-rich updates for the world to see. And the interaction is two-way—visitors can comment on anything from the site design to government
legislation before it is signed by the president.

What are Satellite Phones and what is it about them?

Satellite phones or Sat phones are a type of mobile phone that connects using satellites that orbit around the earth rather than terrestrial cell towers. Depending on the type of phone, it’s range may span across a particular region or the entire surface of the earth.The mobile equipment or the terminal comes in different sizes, depending on the range and reception area required. Early sat phones were the size of mobile phones of the 90’s. They usually had an attached large retractable antenna. Today’s sat phones have shrunk to the size of latest smart phones. Some prototypes even look and feel like modern day mobile phones. Sat phones are especially popular on ships and during expeditions to far off remote places where signals from terrestrial cell sites don’t reach.Aboard ships, a fixed, large andrugged, rack mounted electronic circuit is mounted along with a steerable microwave antenna thatis usually placed on the mount of the ship. This antenna automaticatracks the overhead satellites.On the down side, satellite phones are known to have very poor reception indoors, unless you place the antenna near a window. To combat this problem, it is possible to install an external antenna on the roof of a building or vehicle.

Courtesy: Chip

10 Must-have Firefox add-ons!!!

Firefox is one of the best browsers undoubtedly. However with certain addons we can simply "Rock On" !!! Here are ten extremely useful add-ons for Firefox, which will make our Firefox experience even better.

1. Foxmarks:
A great add-on... if we work on different computers. With Foxmarks, we can automatically backup and store our bookmarks and stored passwords, and access them from any machine. What’s more, you can also restore our bookmarks onto our machine incase of a system crash.

It is possible to access our bookmarks from a mobile phone - thus making our bookmarks truly mobile. We can also create different profiles to specify what bookmarks appear on which computers.

2. Answers:
Instead of checking unfamiliar words thru a dictionary or something, use this addon to get the meaning with just a click. The Answers add-on uses resources like Answers.com, Wikipedia and Dictionary.com to name a few, and shows the meaning of the word through a popup on the same page.

3. Google preview:
This add-on inserts a thumbnail image of the Google search result beside the link. Not only does
this add-on work with Google Search, but also on Yahoo! Search. This may come in handy when searching for a particular site you may have seen some time ago and forgotten its URL. Apart from the thumbnail preview of the search results, this add-on also adds a ‘Popularity rank’ bar below the link of each search result.

4. All in one sidebar:
Inspired from Opera - All-in-One Sidebar add-on gives us quick access to the most commonly used features of Firefox through easily accessible buttons. We can view your bookmarks and history, and directly open them in the same or different tabs. Downloads, add-ons and themes can be quickly accessed and confi gured through the sidebar.

5. Download status bar:
This is a very useful addon to help manage and track our downloads easily.After the add-on is installed,the download window does not pop up every time we download a file or save an image thus saving the trouble of switching between the browser and the download windows. Instead, a small statusbar appears on the bottom of the browser. The statusbar shows details
like the download speed, estimated time remaining for the download, the amount of data downloaded so far, and the percentage of the file completed. We can also resume a download that wasn’t completed in previous session.

6. Stumbleupon:
Find new Websites of your liking. Simply specify likes and StumbleUponwill generate a list of websites that suit our likes. We can access these sites throug the buttons
on the toolbar.With the ‘review’ button, we can add a review to a particular site. With many categories of website, we can be sure we will never be left with nothing to surf.

7. Firefox showcase:
If we have a lot of tabs open in browser, With Firefox Showcase, we can view the current thumbnail of each tab that is open in browser. Not only this, we can also browse through the previously opened pages in that particular tab by using the ‘Back’ and ‘Forward’ buttons provided on the bottom of each thumbnail. Using the drag and drop feature of the add-on, we can rearrange the tabs. We can also easily bookmark pages by simply right clicking the thumbnail of the page we want to bookmark.

8. Colorful tabs:
An addon to the above addon :)
With this add-on, different colors can be assigned to different tabs. Using different colors for different tabs, the user can relate a certain tab with a color, thus avoiding reading the tab titles while searching for a particular tab. This add-on can also be configured to have tabs of a certain site to be the same color, which proves to be very helpful when we have more than one page from a particular site opened in browser.

9. Read it later:
Ever come across a website that caught your eye, but you didn’t have the time to read it? Now, instead of bookmarking a page that is meant for a one time read, use this add-on to store the link of the page. A simple way to tag a page for later viewing is by clicking the ‘tick’ mark which appears at the side of the bookmark button on the address bar. Read It Later stores the links which can easily be accessed from the add-on button. Once done, it can be marked as done, and the link will be deleted.

10. Foxytunes:
If you are a music lover, go for this!This add-on adds music control buttons to your Firefox browser window which allows you to control your music directly while surfing the Internet, instead of switching between Firefox and your music player.

It supports all the major music players and also a few Internet radio clients. Basic controls like Play, Pause, Stop, Previous and Next buttons are available along with a volume control. It also includes a song ticker, which displays the song title in your browser window. You can also have new skins!!!

Quick Keyboard shortcuts - Googletalk

Here are some quick keyboard shortcuts that you can use while chatting with your online contacts using Google Talk. These are especially useful if your mouse stops functioning and you are left with just your keyboard to work on.
Below are the Shortcut key combinations and its function:

[TAB]: Is used to give focus to each of the windows opened by Google Talk.
[CTRL] + [I]: The same function as tab.
[SHIFT] + [TAB]: The reverse of what Tab does.
[CTRL] + [TAB]: The same as Shift + Tab
[CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [L]: Switch between points, numbers, letters, capital letters, roman numbers and capital roman numbers
[CTRL] + [1 (KEYPAD)]: Creates a normal space between the lines.
[CTRL] + [2 (KEYPAD)]: It creates a double space between the lines.
[CTRL] + [5 (KEYPAD)]: A space of 1.5 is created between the lines.
[CTRL] + [END]: Moves cursor to the end of the current line.
[CTRL] + [7 (NUMPAD)]: Moves cursor to the beginning of the current line.
[CTRL] + [F4]: Closes the current window.
[ALT] + [F4]: Closes the current window.
[ALT] + [ESC]: Minimizes all windows.
[F9]: Opens the Gmail page in your browser to send an email to the current contact.
[WINDOWS] + [ESC]: Opens Google Talk (if it’s minimized, or in the tray).
[F11]: It initiates a voice call with your friend.
[F12]: Cancels a voice call.
[ESC]: Closes the current window.
[CTRL] + [R]: Justifi es the selected text, or the current line to the right.
[CTRL] + [E]: It centralizes the selected text or the current line.
[CTRL] + [L]: Justifi es the selected text, or the current line to the left.

Other shortcut keys that can be used for minimizing and maximizing windows and switching between different windows adhere to Microsoft Windows standards.

Courtesy: Chip

no disc/unknown disc Error Message - Possible cause

To all the computer freaks who use the CDs/DVDs/VCDs regularly in the players, this is a common message that pops up regularly in a little bit older machines.




Fix: The lens of the DVD Writer could be dirty or misaligned. Purchase a good lens cleansing disc or if you can - open the writer and clean it carefully (Using an ear bud dipped in isopropyl alchohol).
Note:- If its under warranty - Never open it. I mean enjoy by calling your vendor :)

Courtesy of Fix - Chip

Hard disk drive failure

This one is self-explanatory: WinXP is reporting a problem with your hard drive.
This is a hardware problem, so the solution is to determine whether your hard drive is permanently damaged or whether the hard drive information in your system’s BIOS
is incorrect.
Reboot the computer, enter your computer’s BIOS Setup pro-gram, and verify the settings for your hard drive. If everything looks OK in the BIOS, you may have a damaged hard drive. In this case, we hope that you have backed up your data because most likely the data on the damaged
drive may be very difficult, if not impossible, to recover.