[W] Connect a Laptop Computer To Your Television Screen

Connect a Laptop Computer To Your Television Screen

While it is possible to display the contents of your computer screen on the TV, you may not be very happy with the overall picture quality and the text is not very readable.



If that is no concern, here’s how to connect your computer to a Television set (we used an HP Tablet Vista computer and a Sony Bravia HDTV for this example)

1. First you need a video cable for making the physically connection.

Most computers have an S-Video port that can be connected to the S-Video input of your TV screen using a very cheap S-Video cable (it’s round with 4 or 7 pins).



For better picture quality, you should connect the computer to the TV using standard VGA ports or via the DVI to HDMI cable provided your TV supports these ports.

2. Open the "Display Settings" in your Vista computer and activate output to the TV screen. You can either mirror content of your computer on the TV or extend the display just like a dual monitor screen.



3. Pick up your TV remote and switch to "External Inputs" from the menu. You will need to change the default "Video 1" to a different selection which may be "HDMI 1" or "Video 2" depending on how you have made the connection.

Important: Make sure you connect the cable to the TV before turning on the computer as sometimes it may fail to recognize external display.

You may also need to change the screen resolution of your TV using the Display settings in your Control Panel else the picture may appear distorted.


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[W] Save All Open Websites in Firefox

Save All Open Websites in Firefox

Option 1. Press Ctrl+Shift+D or go to Bookmarks and select "Bookmark all Tabs". This will save all the open tabs into one folder and you can resume surfing the next day by select "Open All in Tabs" from the bookmark folder.

Bonus Tip: Name this folder something like "Feb25" or "022508" so it becomes easy for you to guess the date from the folder name itself.



Option 2. Send Tab URLs – This extension helps you send URLs of all open tabs to any other email address tabs using your default email program – it could be Gmail, Microsoft Outlook or anything else. Very handy if you are working from home and need to access the same websites from office the next day.

If you don’t want email, use Tab URL Copier to copy URLs of all open tabs to the clipboard and paste them inside any note taking software like Google Notebook.



Option 3. Google Browser Sync – If you have a Google Account and work across computers, this Firefox add-in from Google is a perfect way to save your Firefox tabs and open windows. Unfortunately, Google Browser Sync is not supported on Firefox 3.




Option 4. Session Manager – This is probably the most popular solution for save your browser session in Firefox. It will even restore your windows and tabs incase your browser crashes.

Firefox, even without any extensions, will prompt your save the tabs if you decide to quit the browser when multiple tabs are open. This sounds like a good idea but if you are sharing the computer with other family members, you run the risk of losing work if someone else logs in the next day before you do.


Download the latest version of FireFox here.


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Hide ur Browsing Stuff

Close All Websites in Firefox Before Someone Approaches U.

Panic is like the perfect fool key for Firefox. It will not just prevent you from getting into an embarrassing situation, but others may even get (False) Impression that u r browsing some other site.



You press a keyboard shortcut and all website tabs open inside Firefox will close automatically.

To give others an impression, that you weren’t wasting time, you can configure Panic to replace all open tabs with a single work-related website like your company’s intranet homepage or any other web page.

Get Panic [Firefox add-on] – Please note that Panic will close all open websites not just hide them from view by minimizing Firefox.


Download the latest version of FireFox here.


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[W] Keyboard Shortcuts to your Favorite Websites

Assign Keyboard Shortcuts to your Favorite Websites

We all have our own list of favorite websites that we like to visit several times a day. Now the point is how do you quickly access these frequently visited pages without having to type the URLs in the address bar ?

One of the best options in Firefox is keyword bookmarking – you basically save the website to your Firefox bookmarks and then assign a (memorable) keyword to that bookmark.



For instance, I have assigned the keyword "w" to the Wikipedia homepage bookmark as in screenshot above. The next time I want to visit the Wikipedia site, I simply go the Firefox address bar, type w and hit Enter.

That’s the default method of doing things but if you are too bad at memorizing shortcuts and need something more simple , check out Site Launcher.



You hit a shortcut key and there you have a list of all your favorite pages presented in a clean overlay window – press another key and the associated website will open in a new Firefox tab. The keyboard shortcuts works even while you are browsing the web in full-screen mode.

This visual appearance of Site Launcher overlay window is actually very similar to the help window of Gmail or Google Reader (see screenshot below) that’s invoked when your hit the Shift + ? keyboard shortcut and disappears on pressing the Escape key.



You can add as many number of sites to the Site Launcher menu as you want and it will auto-download the corresponding favicon so you can recognize sites more quickly.

And while you can manually add any web page to Site Launcher using the menu, the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + S will quickly add the current web page to the Site Launcher menu in one click.


Download the latest version of Firefox here.


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[W] Google is more secure than Bing

Google is more secure than Bing

Google search engine is reliable as it continuously monitors and updates details about websites in its database.so if you searched for a website that is found malicious by Google ,it shows to user with warning “this site may harm your computer”.



When you click that website link, it will not take you to the website page instead Google again shows the warning that “visiting this website may harm your computer” ,user already warned by Google twice to not to visit that website as it may download malicious software into your computer.These malware sites may download malicious software onto your computer and steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers,passwords stored in your computer also.

As you open this malicious website in Firefox it will show the” reported attack site” warning as Firefox has phishing and malware protection feature powered by Google(correct if I am wrong).When you open the same site in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 you won’t get that warning ,not strange of course.



Now as Microsoft launched their decision engine bing which added malware filter to their search doesn’t seem to filter malware sites in their search results.

Let’s take an example to prove Google is secured than bing.

A government university website of India named Nagarjuna university has been flagged as malware site by Google ,when you search in Google for that university website ,you will see “this site may harm your computer” warning in the search results.Now When you search for same website in Bing ,bing neither warns user nor filters that site in their search results as it added malware filter.



As I am using AVG anti-virus ,I opened the website in Internet Explorer 8 which AVG’s resident shield detected the virus in form of HTML/framer and alerted me as I moved it to the vault.This shows how Google information on that website is true and we can rely on Google.





Above is Google’s safe browsing diagnostic page provided for that website.


Download the latest version of Firefox here.


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20 Things to do after installing Ubuntu

20 Thngs to do after installing Ubuntu.

Generally, in any operating system when you first install it fresh, you don't get all the goodies. You have to install and download various applications and install them to make it suitable for your personal taste and requirement. Same is the case with Ubuntu as well. Unlike Windows, you have email client (Evolution) and an office suite (OpenOffice.org) by default loaded when you first install it. (Microsoft wants you to buy them separately and install it. But that's a different debatable topic.)
In fact you are better off with default Ubuntu installation without a need for further customization and installation. However if you are like me, you want even more, more and more...
So I have prepared a list of applications and plugins I need to install after I fresh install Ubuntu.

Tip: If you don't want to install every application you loaded on Ubuntu everytime you upgrade or reinstall Ubuntu, create a SEPARATE partition for HOME. Having a separate HOME partition makes your life lot easier going forward.

I have prepared the below list based on my personal choice and requirement, your taste and requirements might vary. But the below mentioned applications are Best in Class for Ubuntu Geeks. & you may at least want to try them once. Here is a step by step list for my Ubuntu customization:
Go to Applications -> Add/Remove Programs. From the drop down on right, select All available applications. Now select the following applications' checkbox from the list:


Advanced CCSM: To enable eyecandy effects such as shown below and much more than that. You will forget Vista I am sure once you use it. You may even get different wallpapers on different desktops. How to get different wallpapers on each workspace

Avant Windows Navigator (AWN): This will give you a dock same as in Mac. See the image with bottom deck of icons on desktop.

Gstreamer Extra Plugins: Gstreamer plugins are required for media playback and all. Because I am sure you would definitely have some mp3 and all. This is for providing the system rquired codecs.

Ubuntu Restricted Extras: These extras will provide you many plugins and add-ons required for Mozilla Firefox and other applications to run smoothly. Extras include Java, Flash player, Browser media plugins and lot of other things. Check description for complete list while installing.

MS Core fonts: You won't find Times New Roman and other Microsoft propreitary fonts in Ubuntu. So this plugin will install those fonts on your Ubuntu machine.

Mozilla Thunderbird: If you are a great fan of Thunderbird email client, then install this application for your email client. Else you can use Evolution -the default email client in Ubuntu.

Lightning: If you installed Thunderbird, then you will definitely need to install Lightning which adds a calendar to Thunderbird. (Thunderbird by itself lacks Calendar functionality.)

Firefox Add-on: I am sure you need to install lots of Firefox add-ons

gtkRecordMyDesktop: This one is good if you want to create a quick tutorial of some application or something else running on your machine. This application catures everything you are doing on your screen. It's a good application for bloggers like me.

Scribus: Scribus is good for those who want to create Newsletter, Magazine and similar looking material. It is a Desktop Publishing tool which has got a cool set of features.

Samba: If you have more than one computer in your house, you would definitely wanna make a Home network or at least wanna share files between the two. Samba enables you to do that easily.

Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop: Zimbra is a new one in the list of applications to be installed on Ubuntu. It is another email client which has got cool features and makes you able to read your Yahoo and other emails with ease. Zimbra has got everything you will need from a Desktop email client. For complete features, read this post.

Miro: Miro is a video player which can play any video file and best of all you can save Youtube videos. To install the latest Miro, follow the instructions mentioned on Miro webpage.
Quick tip:
Add "deb http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/linux/repositories/ubuntu hardy/" (without quotes) to the Third Party repositories. Reload and install miro by searching in Synaptic.

Wine: Wine enables you to run most of the Windows applications on Ubuntu. Install it as mentioned on WineHQ site.
Quick Tip:
Open Terminal-> Copy and paste "wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -" to add key.
Copy and paste "sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list"
Type "sudo apt-get update".
Type "sudo aptitude install Wine"

Google Earth: You don't need any detail for it. Go and install Google earth

Skype: Download the latest Skype and install by double-clicking on it. Follow the prompts on screen.

Gizmo Project: If you don't like Skype, you might want to try Gizmo which is another application for internet based calls.

Linux Back-port Modules: This is for those having issues with Wi-fi LED light not lighting while Wi-fi is in use. Just search for Linux Back-port Modules and install it through Synaptic. After you restart your system, wi-fi LED will lit.

Songbird: Songbird is a open source alternative for iTunes and Windows Media Player with very cool features and customization possibilities. Install Songbird 0.7 as mentioned in my other post.

Go to System ->Preferences ->Appearance ->Visual Effects and select Extra. That will activate your Video card driver. In my case it is NVIDIA. The changes will take place after you restart.

Finally restart your machine just to make sure everything is working properly. BTW, if you happen to install any Linux kernel update, you will have to restart anyways. If you want you might want to remove the older kernels to save some space and some clutter from the booting menu.


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[W] Fix Google "Error we're Sorry"

Fix Google "Error we're Sorry"



When you trying to search for a query in Google search or try open websites related to Google or any other websites you can get Google Error we’re sorry message with CAPTCHA or without CAPTCHA.

If you get the error with CAPTCHA while trying Google you can answer this by entering words in CAPTCHA thus by Google confirms that the Computer is using by human.Then you can get access to the search page.

The Error looks like this:



Reasons:

Google detected that the query you are entering in search engine seems to be automated from virus and spyware ,what you have to do enter the word in CAPTCHA so that Google believes that you are human thus you can access the page without any problems.

Sometimes when you try to access some websites from Google like Blogger ,and Gmail you can get we’re sorry Google Error this error can be without CAPTCHA,so that you can not access that website for 30 minutes or above ,this can be temporary ,you can access that site after half -hour as happened to me .

Solution:

What you have to do is

You make sure the website is not accessed by you only or others too .If you confirmed you are the one unable to access that website.then follow these steps.

1.Delete the Google cookies from the browser you trying to open.

2.Scan your system with Anti-virus and anti-spyware programs like ad-aware ,Spybot search and destroy and Malwarebyte’s Anti-malware to make sure your system is not infected with viruses and spywares and try to delete them with those free security programs

3.Now try to open those websites or search for query and if you still getting same error go to step 4.

4.Contact your ISP about the problem,ask them the security measures they are taking to prevent these errors and you are getting these errors.also just enquire in city you are residing are there any other computer users of different internet connections also suffering with these errors and cant access websites.If you got no positive response from your ISP go to step 5.

5.If the entire network is getting these warnings ,then contact Google submitting your details like your name, email address country and how many users in your network affected and when these block of websites began ,Google will review all these and may lift the ban on your IP address to prevent getting those warnings again ,having said that it’s up to Google to lift the ban on your IP addresses as long as you don’t violate their terms of service.


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[W] Not a Single file

File created using MS OFFICE 2007 is not single file.




change the extension .docx to .rar or .zip of any file created using MS office 2007.
U get to see many folders in it. its not a single file.
They use XML to store data.

Note: Ur file should contain some data


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Website Not Loading in Firefox? Try Again, Automatically

Website Not Loading in Firefox? Try Again, Automatically

When browsing web pages in Firefox, it often happens that the site you’re trying to access doesn’t load in one go.



May be the web server is down momentarily or there was too much load or maybe your own Internet connection dropped. Whatever be the case, such issues are often temporary and get resolved as soon you press F5 to reload the same web page.

If you work with too many browser tabs, a better alternative to F5 could be Try Again. This is a Firefox add-in that will continuously try connecting to web pages that didn’t open successfully in the first instance.




TryAgain v 3.2 – Thinks of this as robot pressing F5 every 5 or 10 seconds.

And if the web server fails to respond even after several tries, you can always see a copy through Google Cache or the WayBack Archive.


Download the latest version of FireFox here.


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[W] MediaControl.exe Virus

MediaControl.exe Virus

A new malware virus MediaControl.exe found in some parts of central asia last month.

It changes the extension of all the media files like AVI (.avi), Music (mp3, ...) to .jpg.

This just changes the file extension & not the file format. To play the media file, you need to re-change the file extension to the previous type, or open the file using the media player. Malware name is MediaControl.exe.
It internally creates a folder by name "mcont" in AppData of OS drive. AutoRun inside mcont also puts the MediaControl.exe to the winwos start up of msconfig.

How To Remove MediaControl.exe ?:

1. Kill the process MediaControl.exe which is running.
* Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the windows taskmanager.
* Click on the Processes tab
* Search the MediaControl.exe, Click on End Process button at Bottom right.

2. Remove MediaControl link from Windows Start up
* Click on Windows Start Button, and on the Run option at the right side of the window,
* Type msconfig on the form opened at left bottom. This will open the System Configuration Utility.
* Click on Start Up tab.
* Search for MediaControl, Untick the link. Click Apply -> OK, Click on Exit Without Restart on the dialog opened.

3. Remove the AutoRun from Computer:

Option 1:
Using Command prompt inputs.
* Click on Windows Start Button, and on the Run option at the right side of the window,
* Type cmd, to open the command prompt window.
* Type the following command lines one by one.

cd C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
attrib -s -h -r /S /D *
del *
y
cd C:\WINDOWS\system32\mcont\AutoRun
attrib -s -h -r /S /D *
del *
y
exit

Option 2
Using Safemode booting.
* Restart the Machine.
* Click F8 on Booting, this wil open the machine in safe mode for you.
* Browse for the folder mcont inside C:\Windows\System32\
* Delete the folder mcont.
* Restart the computer in the normal mode.
* Thats All.

Once you remove the mallware, your computer is free of mallware but, you are left with thousands of your media files changed its exentsion to .jpg. It is not an easy job to change the file extension one by one. You can use an Auto-Renamer programs.

For AutoRenamer Download links request 4 it in Comments.


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