As you know Google.com is the most popular search engine in the world.
Here are some tips to helps you find eBooks with Google:
Find Apache's (default) Index page
Try this query:
| +("index of") +("/ebooks"|"/book") +(chm|pdf|zip|rar) +apache |
| allinurl: +(rar|chm|zip|pdf|tgz) TheTitle of the book |
I just learnt below stuff so lets share it.
You can listen to any PDF instead of reading with Adobe Reader 7.0 or 6.0, and the short cut is:
Ctrl+shift+b - to hear the entire Document
Ctrl+shift+v - to hear the page
Ctrl+shift+c - to resume
Ctrl+shift+e - to stop Open any PDF File
What next? you should test it.
Everyone who owns a computer knows how fast the technology gets outdated in Computer world. A brand new hardware which you buy today might be outdated in 10 days. Now, we just can’t keep on upgrading the hardware always so there comes a point when a user is looking for a cheap & efficient computer system with the ability to upgrade it later as required & having the best value for money. If you don’t play games or play games casually only, then this PC will easily last for 4 years without upgrading anything in it. Even if you play games then small updates will do. you might pay a bit high for the PC but then you will not need to pay a penny on it.
Now, you can go in the market & buy the best product available for your money but is it balanced? Remember, a 80% balanced PC will work better then a 100% high end component based PC as it is more efficient & there are very few flaws. I came across a configuration which I think fits this balanced & efficient PC configuration perfectly with a lot of room to upgrade as required.
CPU & Motherboard = AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ AM2 with Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H. AMD has recently released the 780G chipset which by far is the best Value for Money chipset out there I have seen in a long time & with the Gigabyte motherboard, you get lots of features for such a low price. The feature list of this motherboard is quite long & it has everything you will ever want in a PC. When combined with the Athlon64 CPU, this machine has more then enough power to do anything you throw at it for a really low price.
Although AMD in my opinion is better then Intel when it comes to Value for Money, but if you still want to go with Intel Setup then simply buy Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 along with Asus P5E-VM HDMI. This motherboard has similar features to the AMD 780G chipset based Gigabyte motherboard sans DirectX 10 based onboard graphics. Rest all features are almost similar.
CPU Fan = The stock CPU Fan should be good enough but if you want to further reduce the noise of your computer then you can have a look at Cooler Master Gemini S CPU cooler.
Memory = RAM is relatively cheap these days. It makes perfect sense to for 2X1GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM, If you are not into overclocking then you can buy Corsair Value Select RAM for as low as Rs. 2,000 in the market. You are advised to upgrade to 2X2 GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM after about 1 or 2 years when the prices further reduce.
Cabinet & SMPS = Zebronics Cube is something I would recommend for such a PC. It is small, easy to carry & move around, gives enough room for expansion as required. This cabinet comes with a basic 400W SMPS but I would recommend to change it to Cooler Master Extreme power 500W for Rs 2,200. This will provide adequate electricity for the components.
Hard Disk = There is no limit and it depends completely on your requirements. however, as a starting point I would recommend Western Digital SATA2 WD3200AAKS Hard disk with 16 MB Buffer & 320 GB HD space. If you need more space then buy an external HD. If you can pay a it more then look for Western Digital 500GB GreenPower Hard disk. This is a RoHC compliant hard disk & required less power & electricity compared to the above mentioned 320 GB hard disk at a slight price premium but it is worth it as you will save more in electricity bills.
Optical Drive = There are many optical drives in the market right now but one Drive which is enough for needs would be Samsung SH-S203D DVD Writer at Rs 1,200.
Audio & Video = The Gigabyte motherboard already comes with a more then decent onboard audio & video configuration. The Onboard 7.1 channel Realtek ALC889A HD Audio Codec should suffice for all your HTPC needs & the onboard Radeon HD 3400 class graphics should take care of all your non-gaming needs to run the OS. The onboard graphics chip comes with UVD 2.0 which means automatic decoding of HD & VC-1 Content. If you want to upgrade then look no further then a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card for about Rs 4,500 & Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 with 512 MB DDR3 RAM for about 11k. However a separate graphics card & sound card will not be needed as this PC is not meant for serious gaming.
TV Tuner Card = Buy it if you need it else leave it. I would recommend Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP Global Media Center with my eyes closed as this TV Tuner is by far the best analog TV Tuner card I have seen. It is compatible with Windows Media Center & even comes with a Media Center Remote. If you can find the PCI Express X1 based WinFast PxTV1200 Media Center Edition then buy that instead to use that idle PCI Express X1 slot to some good use.
Speakers & Headphones = This is a completely personal choice & I would advice you to go to the market & check yourself after listening to some available models.
If you are looking for headphones then look for Philips HiFi SHP-8900 headphones for Rs 3,500. Not only they look good, but for a headphone of Rs 3,500 they sound astonishingly good. It comes with gold plated 4 meter long OFC cable which is long enough to take it to to the couch too.
For speakers, although you should check yourself in the market but I would say as a starting point look for Creative Gigaworks T20 or Creative I-Trigue T3000 for Stereo Sound.
Webcam = Buy it if you need it. These days webcams start for as low as Rs 500 in the market. Considering the state of Indian broadband, a Microsoft LiveCam VX-1000 should suffice or Frontek Webcam which are surprisingly good for the price at Rs 500.
Keyboard & Mouse = Again, this is a personal preference. Look yourself to judge which keyboard & mouse you find comfortable with your hands & posture. Since this Computer is meant to be a life style PC, better go for Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 set if your budget allows it.
Monitor = LCD Monitors are dirt cheap now so it makes prefect sense to invest in a LCD Monitor instead of a CRT now as monitors easily last for many years & is generally the last hardware component to upgrade. Since this is the HD Era it makes sense to buy a HD certified LCD Monitor such as LG L206WTQ for Rs 10,500. This monitor is 20″ with TN Based panel & HDCP compliancy. You can easily upgrade to a Blu-ray Drive later & still enjoy all your HD Movies as Blu-Ray requires a monitor with HDCP connection. It has a native resolution of 1650X1080 pixels which is more then enough for whatever you want to throw at it, even 720p HD Videos play flawless on this monitor as 1080p will look different from 720p only when seen on a 32″ or higher LCD Display. You can also connect your gaming console such as XBOX 360 or Playstation 3 to this monitor to play games on a wide screen LCD with real HD resolution.
Operating System = With all this perfectly balanced hardware, it would be a shame to use Windows XP which will severely hinder the feature & hardware power of this Machine. On the other hand, 64bit Windows Vista Home Premium for Rs 4.200 will compliment this hardware completely out of the box. It’s more like the OS & this machine are made to complement one another. Once installed & configured for which you can have a look at my article “Using Windows Vista : The MVP Way” & your setup will be like Set it & forget it. Just start the system, work on it & do what ever you want.
If you are into Linux, even then this hardware setup is perfectly suited as the drivers are easily available & since you are into Linux, chances are you are not afraid or tinkering around with the OS. Linux Mint is something I would recommend to start with in this case. You might loose some features such as Blu-ray playback etc with Linux but there are always other ways.
I have written some prices which I personally know, however you can have a look at Lynx India or TheITwares for better idea of approximate prices.
This PC is not supposed to be a high end PC, it is supposed to be a small, silent & “Does your work without hassle” PC.
That’s it, I can’t see the slogan “Intel Inside, Idiot outside” coming true & then users blaming Windows just because they don’t know how to work on Windows. No operating system in this world is good enough out of the box, you always need to make it good by installing or removing things you need & don’t need. This is a process which will sure take some time but the process is easy & you can save the files & settings so that you don’t need to do it again & simply use the old settings.
There is a way I use my computer due to which I don’t need to install Windows again & again, like many people do. In my case, it works when I want it to, the way I want it to. I decided to share my deployment expertise here which might help other Windows Vista user. I don’t use many paid apps now, & also use some OSS apps where applicable, so I am making this tutorial in a step by step way.
1) Install Windows Vista, then go to Windows Update & install every update available.
2) If you have a Bluetooth adapter, then don’t forget to install BlueSoleil 5. It is a must have application for all your Bluetooth needs in Windows Vista. Although you can transfer & receive files without BlueSoleil in Vista too, but since it is an OEM bundle, chances are you already have it bundled with your Bluetooth adapter.
3) Make sure you use Ad Muncher, it is a must have application for Windows Vista. Just install it, then run it & forget it, it won’t bug you & do its work automatically. Vista comes with Windows Defender which is good enough for removing Adware & Spyware. If you want something else, there are many free tools to choose from but once u start using Ad Muncher, you won’t need an adware cleaner & you can very well disable Windows Defender.
4) The best torrent client for Windows is un-doubtfully µTorrent. It us low on resources, works the way you want it to work & even provides a WebUI for controlling even when you are away from the computer. Start it, configure the way you want it like setting the folder to download files to, enable port forwarding & that’s it, Just double click on a torrent file & it will do the rest automatically without bugging you. A very good Vistaish skin for uTorrent is the nCore suite.
5) For CD Burning you will be satisfied & surprised by InfraRecorder. It is a very small & simple, easy to use CD Burner with support for writing Audio & Video CD out of the box. It can also make CD Images of your optical CDs. For mounting Virtual CDs there is no better solution then DAEMON Tools for Windows. It hardly has any front end & runs simply from the tray. Install it, then right click on any disk image & select to mount it.
6) A must have Add-on for Internet Explorer 7 in Vista is IE7 Pro, it has one very small but effective Download Manager integrated which works very nicely with IE 7. If this isn’t sufficient for you then you can always use Orbit Downloader. To view the loaded cookies in Windows you can use Cookie Monster.
7) When it comes to IM clients, I recommend using the official IM client due to more features available compared to something like Pidgin.
8 ) For your Image Viewing & Management tasks, you can rely on the inbuilt Windows Photo Gallery or something like Pictomio which uses the power of WPF in Vista. If you can pay, then there is nothing better than ACDSee 10 for Windows. Other good solutions are XNView but I haven’t tried them. You can also use Paint.net which is by far the best free Image editing application for Windows Vista.
9) When it comes to system maintenance, Tune-up utilities is the all in one solution that I use. However you can also use separate applications for maintenance, however other CCleaner, I have not tested the others.
For cleaning temporary & obsolete files, you can use CCleaner
For Registry Cleaning, a simple & effecting solution is Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
For registry defragmenting use Free Registry Defrag/Compact
You can use either the inbuilt defragmentor or use any free defragmenting application like Defraggler or Auslogics Disk Defrag.
10) You must be having a mobile phone, right. If it is Sony Ericsson then make sure you see MyPhoneExplorer & if it is Nokia, then make sure to install Nokia PC Suite for managing everything in your phone
11) A very good & lite PDF reader is Foxit PDF reader , it’s only 2 MB & works wonders however it is good only for simple text PDFs, not those with inbuilt movies or interactive content. For that you should use Adobe Reader which is very fast now & even supports hardware acceleration in Windows Vista something which Foxit lacks. For printing to PDF, have a look at BullZip PDF printer with Ghostscript 8.6. Install it & then you can print any document or web page to PDF.
12) For all your Multimedia needs just install K-Lite Codec Pack. It has FFDShow inbuilt which is the only decoding engine you will ever need. For more formats like Quicktime & Real Media, just install Quicktime Alternative & Real Alternative. These codec come without the player so you can simply use Windows Media Player 11 or Media Player classic to play the videos.
13) The inbuilt security in Vista is quite beefed up, in most cases the default ones are enough. Still if you want to have control over the system, then just install Comodo Personal Firewall which is free for home use. You already have Ad muncher installed so with this firewall it is a killer combination. For your antivirus needs, I would recommend NOD32, the best antivirus for Windows Vista I have ever used. It’s very light on resource usage. For storing your passwords, you can either use Keypass or AI Roboform. Most of the time I have my antivirus disabled & I run it only when I plug in a pen drive of a friend or a CD. It's advisable to download Applications etc from reputed sources like Download.com or FileHippo or Fileforum
14) The Media center application in Vista will take care of all your PVR needs; you can even record TV using it. If your TV tuner card is not supported then have a look at ChrisTV or Media Portal, which is equally good.
15) For converting videos from on format to another, you can use SUPER, although I use Riverpast video cleaner.
16) A must have UI enhancer for Vista is Vize. Install it after you have installed every update for Windows. Vista comes with inbuilt sidebar which brings gadgets to Windows, but if you want a bigger library of Widgets, considers using Yahoo Widgets.
17) Windows Vista comes with Windows Mail inbuilt but it lacks support for Windows Live Mail in it. A better solution is Windows Live Mail desktop using which you can check & access your Yahoo, Gmail & Windows Live Mail. It’s quite simple to use & an All in one E-Mail Client.
18 ) For saving contacts, you can use Windows Contacts. It integrates with WLM Desktop so you don’t have to worry about syncing.
19) For archiving purpose WinRAR is the best but it is paid, however another good & free solution is jZip which integrates in Windows like it is a part of Windows. The shell integration is better than WinRAR. It can open RAR files too, just that you can only make Zip files using it.
20) You can use Winmpy FLV player for playback of FLV files like those downloaded from YouTube.
21) RSS Feeds are a very good way to stay in touch with latest news & articles. Although you can use any of the RSS reader application out there like FeedDaemon etc, but Windows Vista already has a RSS feed reader inbuilt, it’s in IE 7. A simple & easy to navigate RSS feed reader.
22) You can simply use TCPOptomiser to optimize the internet settings of your computer. Just select the speed of your internet connection & select Optimal Settings, then reboot.
23) GSpot is a free utility which identifies the codec required to play an AVI file and supplies other information as well.
24) For recording what you do on the screen I use Snag-It, but you can also use Jing which is free. The only problem is that it saves in Flash video format.
These are all the applications I use in Vista. There are some more professional applications such as 3ds Max & Photoshop CS3 but most home users won't need them.
A quite extensive TweakGuide for Vista can be found here.
Vista has inbuilt instant search but if you manage it like me, you will not need that. I am assuming that you only have 2 partitions in your computer, one C drive for Windows & another E drive for files.
1) Make some folders in E drive named Music, Movies, Documents, Software, Backup, Download, Pictures. Now go to C:\users\your username\ Right click on the appropriate folders & go to properties, then the location tab, then set the location to the folders created in E drive.
The benefit of this is that you don’t have to worry about backing up your data in case of a Virus breakthrough or corrupt windows installation. All you have to do is to insert the vista DVD & repair. All your documents will remain safe.
2) Make a folder inside the folder Backup in E drive with the name “Application files”. This is where you should save your application files like Firefox profile folder, or Windows Live Mail Desktop data folder. This way the application settings will remain same even if you reinstall Windows. In case you have to migrate to a laptop or new computer, just copy the files there. The method to change the folder location should be there in Options or Preference of the application. Like in ACDSee, the option to change the location of Database folder is in Tools->Options-> Database. Just give the path of this application folder & it will take care of the rest.
3) Copy all your songs to the Music folder & videos to Movies folder. Now open WMP 11, Go to tools -> Library -> Monitor folders & give the path of these 2 folders. WMP11 will automatically add new files placed in these folders to the library.
4) Make a shortcut of the download folder & put it in the folder
C:\Users\saurav\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ SendTo
This way you don’t need to copy files individually when you are trying to copy files from different locations to a particular location. Just right click on files placed in various locations & select downloads from the Sendto Menu. After this just copy the files at once from the download folder to where ever you like.
5) Make a habit of copying downloaded applications or files or documents to their proper location. Like make a folder named Office in the E:\Documents\ folder & place all your office related files there only. This simple task makes life easy.
6) Once Vista is installed, Disable DEP. To do this, go to Start -> Run -> Type “CMD” & enter this command.
bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff
7) Don’t install applications in the default path of program files. Instead, make folders like “User Interface”, “Security” in Program Files folder & install the applications inside them. For example, this is how my Program Files folder looks like, all application released to security such as Firewall, NOD32, Ad Muncher & AI roboform are installed inside the Security Folder, while Codec Pack & Riverpast suite is inside the “Studio” folder.
8 ) Instead of Shutting down the system, Hibernate it.
9) Make links to frequently used folders in the Sidebar of explorer
10) Start up Regedit and navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l]
On the right pane look for the "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" string and change its value to 5000 . Default value is 20000.
11) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer, Create a new string called Max Cached Icons & give it a value of 10000.
12) To change the reserved bandwidth by Windows go to gpedit.msc then to Local Computer -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> QoS Packet Scheduler -> Limit reserved bandwidth Then enable it & change the bandwidth to 0
13) Disable Auto Play from control Panel. This will save you from the nasty virii like Brontok etc which spread via Pen drives.
14) I am not much into gaming these days, but Microsoft started a new program with Vista called, Games for Windows. Once you install a compatible game it automatically shows up in Games explorer, if u run he game from here then Vista automatically disables unused resources, DWM & indexing service for games to run faster & better. If a game is not detected then either follow this tutorial or use Vista Game Explorer Editor
Well, this is just part of how I use my Windows Vista system & how it stays top notch even after months of usage, I will be adding more to this guide soon about how I have made it easy to run Windows here. There are lots more tricks & tweaks, but this is how I use Windows.
Here is the trick how to block website without any software.
Block website without any Software
Go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc
Find the File named "HOSTS"
Open the said file with the help of Notepad
Under "127.0.0.1 localhost" just add the site you want to block
e.g.
127.0.0.2 www.orkut.com
127.0.0.3 www.santabanta.com
Save the file & exit notepad. (Some antivirus may prompt you the changes, simple allow the changes to take effect.)
Now both website are blocked at all.
Just add anyother website you want to block but remember last number must increase in every website.
e. g.
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.2 www.orkut.com
127.0.0.3 www.santabanta.com
127.0.0.4 www.google.com
)
If you are clueless, there is a thread by Giga on installing Wordpress locally. The installation part should come in handy. )
I was sick looking at the dull images that come in the newspapers and I really wanted to create some mouth watering effect that the guys here at digit give to their Images.
So I selected any sample image (For this tut you won't need any pictorial guidance....it's so easy!!).
STEP 1: Open your Image In Photoshop.Duplicate the Background Layer. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Give it a gaussian blur of 3 Pixels....6 Pixels in case the image contains too much detail.
STEP 2: Press Ctrl+Shift+F To bring the fade option. Adjust the opacity to 100% and Mode to normal.
STEP 3: Again apply Gaussian Blur of about 4 Pixels.
STEP 4: Again Press Ctrl+Shift+F to bring the fade option. Don't disturb the opacity but change the mode to Soft Light.
YOUR FRONT PAGE MAGZINE EFFECT IS READY
Do you have a large collection of DVD's or DivX movies in your cub board, but don't know how to play them independently without a desktop PC or don't want to connect your PC to TV via TV-out for obvious reasons or Do you have a Playstation 2 but don't know how to make an optimum use of your investment? In 10 mins you will learn how you can convert your same old PS2 into a Home Entertainment HUB. DVD burners and DVD-Rom's becoming cheaper day-by-day, its really convenient to backup all your movies into DVD's or backup your mini library into compress Xvid or DivX file format. You can store as-many-as six movies into one DVD in Xvid format. Of course you can opt for new DivX players available in market, but wait, are these players good enough? I don't think so.
Why should one opt for PS2 rather than some media player? One, you can play cool PS2 games, all the neighboring kids will envy you and befriend you. Two, you can play DVD's, CD's. Three, you can play DivX and Xvid file format movies. Four, you can listen to all those MP3's that you have collected since 1972. Five, you can play all the movies from USB hard-disk.
Disclaimer! Ensure that you legally own the original movies which you backup in DivX or Xvid formats. I take no responsibility for any damage to your property. Take your own risk.
Step 1:You NeedStep 2:Hardware:
Software
- Playstation 2
- Blank CD
- USB Hard Disk (Optional)
- CD Gen PS2
- SMS Player
SMS is a DivX and MP3 player for the PS2.Using SMS, you can stream movies and music right to your TV. forget about all the set-top boxes, forget about the 'Media PC', if you have a PS2, you have all the hardware you need.
Features of SMS include:
- Smooth DivX AVI Playback at decent resolution
- Pan/Scan and zooming
- Subtitles support (SRT and SUB)
- Visual seek (Fast Forward and Rewind)
- Multiple language and character set support for subtitles other than English
- MP3 Playback
- AC3 Surround Support
- Full resolution
- Multilanguage
- Copy your movies and mp3's to your internal HDD!
SMS will read video files from a variety of sources:
- Network Streaming
- USB Drives
- Hard Drives (both the Official Sony HDD and any normal PC HDD)
- CD/DVD-ROM (and NO modchip required!)
SMS can even read DVD-RW discs specially formatted with the DVD-Video filesystem, or CD-R Discs formatted with CDDAFS without needing a modchip or any Swap tricks.
Download SMS Player.
Download CDGenPS2.
Download USB.irx file which is part of Naplink.
Download the SYSTEM.cnf file.
Note: There are other Media players for PS2, But I chose SMS because I find it most efficient.
Step 3:
Extract the CDGenPS2 zip file to any location on your drive. Launch the CDGenPS2 exe file.
Right click on "System.cnf" and click "Edit", check "Fix LBA", type 12231 in LBA "text box"
Click File->Create CD then Save
Voila! Burn to a CD (not DVD) using any of your favourite CD-Writer software.
Step 4:
Place the newly created CD into your PS2. Power On.
If you want, I have created a CD-Image for you. Download SMS Player CD-Image Zip, extract it, then burn it to your CD.
