Track Down DLL-version Problems or Handle Leaks with Process Explorer

Yes, I know that you know how to use the Task Manager because like me you also use it to kill runaway processes during times when you notice that your system is showing sluggishness. You will think that some programs that you did not run are running and they are eating away too much of your RAM that is why your PC is in slow motion. But most of us are not satisfied with just killing off the runaway processes, we want to know more about them, where they are located, which handles and DLLs processes they have opened or loaded. If you want a thorough look at what each process is doing in your PC, you need a free program called Process Explorer. The unique capabilities of this little tool make it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work. Check it out.

Microsoft's Phone Data Manager Beta

Yeah, it looks like its going to be just another ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Manager in a new package but really it's not. Microsoft's Phone Data Manager Beta has something new to offer us: it works with non-Windows Mobile devices and it syncs your data with Windows Live Services. What does it mean? It means that Phone Data Manager Beta works with a number of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola devices and you can now access your music, videos, photos, and contacts online from any computer with a browser that is connected to the internet. This new utility syncs your data with Windows Live Services. Just connect your phone to your computer's USB port or via Bluetooth.

You can look at a list of devices that work with Phone Data Manager Beta here.

From OpenView to Open Source

Learn the drivers for considering open source and the IT situations where open source makes sense. IT teams have long recognized that an enterprise-class IT management system is absolutely essential, especially given the mission-critical nature of most corporate IT networks. Yet for many years, IT executives resigned themselves to a frustrating reality: In order to fulfill their need for robust IT monitoring and management functionality, they had no alternative but to use a proprietary solution—even though these commercial platforms (such as HP OpenView and IBM Tivoli) have been widely criticized as being expensive, overly complex, and difficult to deploy and manage.

Now companies like Cingular Wireless, TimeWarner Cable, Siemens, and TicketMaster have embraced and rely on open source IT management products. Successful adoption by high profile firms such as these provides concrete evidence that IT teams now have a viable and market-tested open source alternative to closed commercial systems.

Request your free "OpenView to Open Source" white paper here.

Hack Your PC's Dual-Core Performance

If your PC is not more than two years old, there is a very good chance that it has two processors. Of course I know that you've heard about dual-core processors (if you haven't heard about this term, I think I have the right to ask you this question : where have you been the last two or three years?). Most PC's sold today have more than one processors because it's how things are today and how things should be. If you are not really sure about how many processor your PC has, you can right-click on your taskbar and click on "Task manager" in the menu that pops up. The Task manager will show. Click on the Performance tab. If you are using Windows XP, you will be seeing something like what is shown below. I am using my office computer (which runs on Windows XP and has a dual-core processor) to write this post. (Yes, you are right, I sometimes do some blogging during office hours! it makes me a better worker). If you have two processors you will see that there are two windows under "CPU Usage History". The Vista Task Manager also looks more or less like this but it has six tabs (there is a tab added for Services).

The idea behind dual core processors is really simple: two processors are better than one. The real benefits of having a system with dual core processors won’t be very obvious until more software is written to take better advantage of it. Windows recognizes dual core processors, though, and lets you control how they run your applications. If you’re interested in hacking your dual core processor, the first thing to do is get a gadget that tracks dual core usage. The CPU Meter gadget that ships with Windows Vista doesn’t report on how much of each CPU is being used; instead it averages the two and reports on overall CPU usage. So if it reports 40 percent CPU use, you have no idea if one processor is using 70 percent and one 10 percent, or one 60 percent and one 20 percent and so on. Windows Vista and Windows XP users don’t need a sidebar gadget to monitor CPU performance, Task Manager will do the job just fine: start Task Manager, and select the Performance tab. A CPU usage history graph appears for each core or CPU you have. The free Multi Meter gadget, though, will show you how much each processor uses. To get it, first click the + sign at the top of the Sidebar.


On the Gadget Gallery screen that appears, click the link at the bottom, “Get more gadgets online”.

You’ll be sent to a page full of gadgets you can download. You’ll most likely see the Multi Meter gadget listed in the Top Downloads area, because it’s been the most popular gadget downloaded for quite some time. However, if it’s not there for some reason, browse or search the site for it. Or you can browse here for it.

Download and install the gadget, and as you use your PC, it will show you how much of each processor is being used, in real time.

If you run a processor-intensive application that takes up a lot of CPU, such as Norton AntiVirus or any other Norton security software, you may be able to improve its performance, and overall performance of your PC, by running that application off of a single core, rather than dividing performance among several cores. To do it, run the Task Manager by typing taskmgr at the Start menu search box or at a command prompt, and pressing Enter. Go to the Processes tab, and rightclick the application’s filename. If you’re not sure which file runs the application, look at the Description column. After you right-click, select Set Affinity. From the dialog box that appears, deselect one of the cores, and click OK.

This is the default setting, the two boxes are checked

When you run the application, watch Multi Meter or Task Manager; you’ll notice that the core you assigned that application to is used more heavily. If you find that assigning the application to a single CPU boosts performance, keep the setting; if not, repeat the steps but confi gure the application to use both cores.

When You Want To Choose the Right Web Hosting Provider

When you want your presence to be felt on the web the first thing the you will think about is web hosting. If you are just starting out, I am quiet sure that you are not really sure about which web hosting provider to choose because you are not familiar with the many companies that offer the service. You also know that it is very important to not commit a mistake in choosing your web hosting provider because your site's future depends on it. So the best thing to do is to see what other site owners did when they were just starting out. Sites like WebHostingRating.com could be a big help because they provide you with independent customer rating of top 10 web hosting companies. How exactly does WebHostingRating determine the rating of individual web hosting provider? They base it on customer satisfaction, affordability, reliability, uptime and techical support. I visited their site and saw that InMotion Hosting is currently their highest rated web hosting provider. It is followed closely by Web Hosting Pad. So as someone needing a web host provider you will probably be considering the top on the list and choose between the two mentioned. But there are many things to consider also like the affordability of the package they offer and if the features they have fits your needs. You can actually look into some articles about the web hosting providers they have rated in their article section. With the customer ratings and the articles you read about you can fine tune you decision in choosing the best web host provider for you.

How to Decrapify Your PC

Do you know what is a "craplet"? Well, if you use structural analysis you will understand that the root word is the word "crap" and we all know the meaning of this word. The suffix "let" means little and the morpheme "s" makes the term plural. Craplets are trial programs that clutter your PC, they pop up anytime and ask you to do thing like registering to their site. These craplets makes your PC slow, and there are many of them in just about any PC you buy from your favorite appliance store. How do you decrapify your PC? Easy, you do not even need to shell out some bucks because there is a free software that would do the cleaning. PC Decrapifier searches through your PC and removes as many of the craplets as it can. Among the nearly four dozen craplets it kills are multiple kinds of Norton, McAfee and Trend Micro trial antivirus products, Wild Tangent games, and MusicMatch, among others.

My Top Five Sports Hightlight at SportsVids

I like sports and I like watching sports videos. I also like watching over and over again moments of glory in the sports I like, like an impossible goal during the last seconds of an important football game . You cannot do it when you watch it on television because you can not rewind television. But with SportsVids, I can now watch again and again sports highlights that I like. SportsVids.com is a one stop shop for all the sports videos a user could possibly want. The site contains many sports clips uploaded by members. It is good to have online sports videos because a true sports fanatic would not be satisfied with just watching a very good action once. If you have sports vids of your own gathering dust in your hard drive, why not upload them to SportsVids and share it to the world. You can also tell your friends to upload their sports clips to the SportsVids site. The more videos uploaded, the more action we see online.

My favorite sport is soccer so I looked for soccer clips in SportsVids. I found a good clip of the highlights of David Beckham's career. You can see it below, I have included it in this post. But of course I am not limited only to watching soccer, I also like basketball, billiards and baseball so I have included videos of these sports too. The billiards clip I have included here shows an unidentified cue artist showing trick shots that would really amaze and amuse even those who are not really into billiards.

My Other Blog is Now PR3

I was quite surprised to know that my other blog, My Freedom Wall, has now a PageRank of 3. I am happy to know this but I would be happier if this blog, which is still PR0 will have a pagerank too. My Freedom Wall is the repository of my rant, raves, and ramblings. I really do not focus on it much because I am so engrossed with this very blog that you are looking at now. My Freedom Wall is about four months old and has only 29 posts and 48 Google indexed pages. I seldom get the chance to post in it.

I also checked the PR of my wife's blog, Pinay Chicken Heart, her blog has now a PageRank of 2. I am very happy for her.

Spice Up Your Digital Life

Digital gadgets are weaved into the fabric of our daily lives; we could not live without our computer, camera phone, and many many other digital media tools and software. But despite the fact that our world breathes digital gadgets, many of us are not really making the most out of what technology could offer us. Gadgets are there to make our lives a lot more easier, its not the other way around. Roxio knows this that is why they are giving us Roxio Extreme Digital Makeover, a show that is meant to help the average folks spice up their digital lives. The show is hosted by Zoey and Chris, two wacky experts in everything digital. I checked their site out and saw the episode they've had; I really like their Wedding Day Crunch episode, it is my favorite episode, it makes me remember my own wedding day, if I could only turn back the hand of time I would and do it the way it was shown in that episode.

Zoey and Chris together will give us fun-filled shows that are sure to enrich your digital experience. What are you waiting for, head now to the show's site and checkout the episodes. You can also join their contest for a chance to be featured in the show. You can also win some prizes that would spice up your digital life.

Falling in Love with the Reaper

For years it was only Cakewalk or nothing. Then I stumbled upon Sony Acid Pro, so it became Cakewalk and Sony or nothing. I started with Cakewalk when their Pro Audio 9 became a hit. A very talented musician friend introduced it to me, he introduced me to the world of home recording. I was addicted immediately and burned many hours in front of my PC to learn how to handle the immense power of the software in my hand. When the Sonar line of Cakewalk came, I became ecstatic. I became obsessed with getting every new release of Sonar. But after Sonar 6 I realized that the software has became too bulky and cumbersome for the kind of work I do with it so I stopped at version 6 and did not care to even read about version 7 and now version 8. My interest in home recording also waned because I had so much work in my hands these days. Ideas also came low so my Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition laid dormant and gathered dust in my hard drive.

But lately a little project came up and I had to use my old friend Cakewalk again. This little project is my first time to really deal with a some real vocals tracks. My experience with home recording was always with instrumental music. While mixing the song I found out that I could not make the track for the vocals sound as if it was part of the mix, it somehow sounded like it has a world of its own. I was frustrated, i spent a whole day and I was not satisfied with how it sounded. So I scoured the internet for lessons and tutorials on mixing vocals. It was there that I stumbled upon REAPER. I noticed Reaper because it was as if all the experts in the field of recording, mixing, and mastering are raving about it. So I set aside the task of learning about how to deal with the vocals track and turned my attention to reading and learning more about Reaper. After reading a lot about it I ended up downloading a trial but fully functional version of the software. I installed it and dove into it.



REAPER is a new generation fully featured multitrack audio and MIDI recording, editing, processing, mixing, and mastering environment. The word "mastering" really hits me there. After installing it and looking under its hood for some hours, I found out that I have stumbled upon the new software that would unseat Cakewalk from its throne in my heart.

What makes Reaper better than the other DAWs I've used? First, it is not bulky and cumbersome; the installer is only 3.4 MB and it runs with the minimum of system requirements. There was no problem (so far) with my 64-bit Windows Vista OS. Second, it has some features that your expensive and bulky DAW could only dream about like incredibly flexible and powerful routing - functions as an entire virtual studio with patchbays, enabling all sorts of effects not possible anywhere else. Drool on its unlimited sound processing - tons of included FX, support for thousands of third party virtual instruments, sample players, audio and MIDI processing plug-ins (VST, VSTi, DX, DXi, JS)

Well, i won't talk too much about Reaper here now because I have a mix waiting for me, just head to its website and download their fully functional and complete 30-day trial version.

Calvin's Hub's Free Domain Name Giveaway Contest

In celebration of it's first anniversary, Calvin's Hub is giving away a one year's worth of domain name from GoDaddy. It is a plus for a blogger to have a domain name of his own because more opportunities could come your way if you have it. If you want to join the contest just head over to this page for the rules.

A Time For Change

For many of us, staying fit and in perfect shape could mean a lot of time spent in the gym. The price of a perfect body and health could be quiet weighty on out time and pockets. Recently I stumbled upon XFLOWSION website and found out about its exercise program that efficiently and effectively gives you all three workouts in one convenient workout, combining the proven best moves from martial arts, power yoga, and dance. What is good about this one is that you only need one third of the time you would need if you do martial arts, power yoga, and dance separately. This beautiful program is the result of the celebrity trainer Eric Paskel's leading-edge fitness and psychology background. For those of you out there who had jumped from one program to another in the quest for the illusive transformation to a perfect shape, here is a program that brings a good promise. With XFLOWSION you'll sweat away all those extra pounds and bulges, you'll sculpt and stretch your body into that hot Hollywood shape that you can only dream about now. This program could change your life, visit their website and grab a copy each of their 4 DVD workouts, 2 guidebooks, and 2 audio CD's for only three payments of $19.95. Shipping and handling is free.

Pump up Your Computer's Power with Windows Vista's ReadyBoost

The common whine we hear about Windows Vista is that it eats a lot of memory. Yes it is true that Windows Vista needs a lot of memory for it to run smoothly. One of the many reasons why Vista "failed" is the failure of Microsoft to properly inform the public that this new OS was not designed for older systems. Anyway, if you happen to have installed Windows Vista in your system and find it a little sluggish I am sure that you are now thinking about choosing between two options : going back to old XP or shelling out some cash for a system upgrade. But if you are on a tight budget I have some tips for you that could help you out with Vista, in the mean time.

There is a simple and cheap way to speed up Window Vista--ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost uses a flash drive (including USB, SD, Compact Flash, and others) to supplement your system’s RAM. New to Windows Vista, ReadyBoost prefetches and stores commonly used files on your fl ash drive.By increasing the size of Windows Vista’s normal prefetch cache (a memory cache that intelligently stores fi les that Vista expects you to need soon) and allowing more data to be stored there, ReadyBoost speeds up Windows Vista's performance. ReadyBoost also frees up RAM that otherwise be used by prefetch. You can see dramatic effect in your system's speed with the right configuration.

But not all flash drives work with ReadyBoost. A USB flash drive must be at least USB 2.0, and any fl ash drive you use must be capable of 2.5 MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads and 1.75 MB/sec throughput for 512K random writes uniformly across the entire drive. If you are not sure if your flash drive is compatible with ReadyBoost, you can visit Grant Gibson for a list of USB fl ash drives that work with ReadyBoost.

Now, let's assume that your flash drive is compatible with ReadyBoost, how are you going to use it? Here's how : connect the flash drive to your PC. Windows Vista will recognize the device, then it will ask whether you want to use your flash drive to speed up your PC with ReadyBoost, you may be presented with some options from which to choose from. But if you want to use the drive for ReadyBoost, select “Speed up my system”. If the device meets ReadyBoost specs, a confi guration screen appears letting you set the amount of space on the device that you want to devote to ReadyBoost. (The RAM on the device that you don’t use for ReadyBoost is available for normal storage.). Make sure that you’ve selected “Use this device”. Then move the slider to the right to increase the amount of space or to the left to reduce it. Click OK, and you’re done—get ready for your PC to speed up.

If you remove the flash drive and plug it back in again, Windows Vista will automatically recognize that you want to use it for ReadyBoost, so you won’t have to reconfigure it. At any point, you can change the amount of RAM for ReadyBoost, or you can use the flash drive entirely for storage instead of for ReadyBoost.

Take That Breath Away

I kiss my wife and little boy before I go to the office every morning. I kiss them when I reach home early in the evening. This is second nature to us. But there are times when I do not go straight home because it is my duty as a sociable human being to be with friends every now and then. And "to be with friends" is not complete without a few bottles of cold beer. This usually happens Fridays or Saturdays. When I have downed some bottles of beer a problem presents itself; I could not kiss my wife and kid when I reach home because they will smell my beer-laced breath. If I won't kiss them upon reaching home they will wonder why. My wife do not like it when I drink beer outside our home (it's okay when I drink with her once in a blue moon inside our house). Thanks to technology, it is now possible to eliminate bad alcohol-laced breath with antipoleez. This new breath freshener is very different from the traditional breath fresherners that we know, antipoleez does not just mask the stale odor of alcohol in your breath with heavy mint or other fruit scent but it eliminates it and does not leave any other. What is good about antipoleez is that even if the level of its effect is very good, it does not contain any chemincal or artificial flavors but only natural ingredients that comply with FDA regulations. Now I can take away those bad alcohol breath and kiss my wife and kid upon reaching home after a good night out with friends.

Is Your Networking Technology Maturing Faster than Your Staff?

Forrester Principal Analyst Rob Whiteley discusses how most organizations are updating their network technology, yet few are maturing their network staff at the same pace. Network operations are no longer about simple device management—network managers must be skilled at understanding the implications of shifting toward more process- and business-oriented network management.

To fill this skills gap, today's enterprises are looking to process frameworks like ITIL to define network management practices, and investing in better network management tools to help automate the routine, daily network tasks to free up time to learn new skills and technology to close the gap. This presentation explores these trends with key takeaways including:

* The external forces reshaping network operations and creating a skills gap
* How companies are looking to frameworks like ITIL to mature processes
* How network management tools and automation help close emerging skills gaps
* Recommendations for maximizing your network management strategies

Request for your Free On-Demand Webinar Here.

About PageRank Leakage

A few minutes ago I stumbled upon a blog post about "pagerank leakage". This is actually my first time to hear about such a term. The bottom line of this pagerank leakage thing is that out-going links are always a bad idea for SEO because it creates what the SEO community call SEO hemorrhage. In short, outbound links bleed off good PR. It is said that "somewhere in Google's webmaster guidelines is a warning about having more than 100 outbound links on a page." It means that 101 outbound links on a page could lead to an immediate decrease in absolute PageRank even if it's not demonstrated in the toolbar." SEO is still a mystery to me despite the number of hours i have burned reading books about it. But I think this idea of PR leakage is somewhat faulty, I could not believe it. If bloggers will take this seriously no one would be linking out to other blogs and sites because everyone would think that his pagerank will suffer if he puts an outbound link in his blog. All bloggers would think of ways to get an inbound link while making sure not to get some out. The blogosphere will become a very unsociable place. Whoever conceived of this PR leakage thing was probably just making some funny joke but people are taking it seriously. Every blogger is aiming for a higher pagerank and of course when you hear something like this you will be affected. But before we get affected by things like this, we must look at it from many angles to see if it could hold truth. What is the PageRank of Wikipedia? I guess it is 10, I havent checked it out though. Now, how many outbound links does it have? Probably thousands. Where would PR leakage figure in this? Linking is the very essence of the internet. I don't think that Google is so crass as to count my blog's outbound links against my blog. A blog with more links is more useful than a blog with lesser links. SEO is a mystery to me but I don't just believe is ideas as short-sighted as PageRank leakage.

A Look at Windows 7

Microsoft has recently released the M3 build of Windows 7 to selected partners and of course screenshots of it are now hitting the web. There are 20 screenshots of this upcoming OS in Windows 7 News website so I grabbed some to put here. If you are a Vista user you will notice that Windows 7 will not look very different from Windows Vista. There are rumors that this new OS will be available by June 2009, much earlier than what was expected.

The welcome screen looks like what we have in Vista but of course this is just a draft. Nothing's final yet.

This is the "light" Windows Media Player. Looks cool.

And look at what we've got here, the Desktop Personalize.

Okay, and those are the programs that will come with the new OS.

And Internet Explorer 8



the overhauled MS Paint

A Glimpse of the New Yahoo Homepage

Yahoo! is having a new face and the first to see this new face are selected users in the USA , France, India and UK. The rest of the 314 million users from around the world will see it later. Yahoo! says that to help users get more out of the Internet, make more of their precious time, and make sense of all the things going on in the world, a change in its homepage's look is necessary. So what are the changes in Yahoo's homepage? The first thing that you'll notice (see the image above) is that it is more streamlined. A customizable menu that gives quick access to what we commonly look into first has replaced the link list on the left side of the page. The email section is no longer just for Yahoo! mail only, users can now link their Gmail account. Other services will be added in the future.

The new face of Yahoo! is meant to "simplify your life" through one easy check-in point and enhancing the "Featured" area with more and more fresh and timely content. But there is a buzz that says that simplifying the users' life is not the only reason for the renovation of Yahoo's homepage. One reason is to make Yahoo's homepage look less like the AOL homepage. AOL has the habit of copying Yahoo.

Clean Your RAM and Get Some Speed

Here's an old trick that may help some of you who do not have that much RAM. You may have noticed that your PC gets slower and slower when you do a lot of things with it like playing games, then using different applications. The reason for the slowdown is that your RAM is full of remaining progress pieces you do not need any more. You need to free it to gain some speed. Here's a simple trick  to do it : open Notepad and type FreeMem=Space(128000000). Save it as RAMcleaner.vbs then run it. It could could free up some RAM. You can edit the code to have a better cleaning power. You can type FreeMem=Space(256000000) and see the result. 

The New VirtualBox

The latest major release of VirtualBox brings us improved performance for systems that run on AMD processors. It also supports 64-bit guest operating systems provided that your host operating system is also 64-bit. The user interface now looks better with Qt4 than the previous version. Support for Fedora 9 Linux distributions and Ubuntu 8.10 are among its important additions. There is also an experimental support for attaching a real serial port to the guest for Mac OS X hosts. Python support is also added for Mac OS X hosts. See the complete list of fixes and new additions here.

Automatically Shrink Images with Shrink Pic

I do not use anything special when it comes to resizing images for my blog posts; I just use my fingers, the keyboard, the mouse and good old MS Paint (that default Windows paint program that you can access via All Programs>Accessories>Paint). I can process an image in about 8 seconds if I am in a real hurry. I have been using this process for some time now. But not everyone finds my process easy to follow (it took my wife three good tutorials from me to be able to figure out how I do it and why I do it that way). But why bother with my process when you can have something that would spare you from the trouble of using good old boring but reliable MS Paint? For bloggers and those who use the internet on a daily basis, it is important to have a handy software that could automatically resize images that are sent by email, instant message or uploaded via browser to a blog account. There are many good software out there that can do wonders with resizing images but nothing beats a freeware that performs as good as those apps that cost a dollar more than what it does. Shrink Pic is a free software that resizes your images on -the-fly; it won't bother you with dialog boxes and interface that could confuse you if you are not that technical. This program has the ability to automatically detect it whenever you are on the verge of uploading an image and replace the it with resized copies. It does not modify the original image. It offers three compression profiles to choose from and you can alo opt to disable the resizing engine during times when you need to upload a full-sized image. The program can also copy a portable version to your digital camera memory card (or USB drive) that can be used without installation from another computer.

Learn How to Design Great Websites and Logos

Many of us know about Adobe Photoshop but very few know how to use it. I am fortunate to be among the few who feel comfortable using this great graphics software. I know that many people would like to learn Photoshop but the thought of it intimidates them; they think that the software is too complicated for them to tame. But it is not really as intimidating as it looks if someone will help you with good instruction.

I have found a website that can help those who want to learn Website Design and logo design using Adobe Photoshop. How.todesignyour.com features video tutorials that show people exactly how to build great looking websites and logos from within Adobe Photoshop. These videos are probably the best and most comprehensive in its kind. Beginners and veteran graphic artists will surely glean a lot of Photoshop wisdom from these videos. Visit the site now and start learning Photoshop from their free tutorials and sample video clip.

The Clash of The Browser Titans

In the battle of browsers, four or five names are in the ring but only two or three have the good punches that could win the crown. I am talking about Firefox, IE, and Chrome (You can put in Safari too if you want). In the past two weeks the buzz was around Chrome, the new comer. I have talked much about this new comer in this blog so I will refrain from talking more about it while I am still on the process of knowing this new chap. We'll focus the spotlight on the Dinosaur in the group, Internet Explorer. Will Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 outpunch Firefox and the shiny new gladiator in the ring? The promise of IE's newest version is better security, better look, and better compatibility with Net standards. But Firefox and other browsers are actually delivering these things to users so what would make the newest version of IE better than Firefox and the other browsers? 

Let's take a look at the features of the newest IE. Tabbed browsing. Well, it is not something that IE could boast about because everyone has it. But IE 8 has improved on this feature. IE8 groups related tabs together and with color coding. If you open a link in IE it will open as a new tab adjacent to the original tab where you've clicked the link. And you can even move tabs around, change their position. But these things are also possible in Chrome and Firefox. But wait, IE8 is not a total dino when it comes to innovations of the tab, is has another tab trick in the bag. Microsoft calls this "tab isolation". We all have experienced clicking a bad link that opens a new page in a tab that causes the browser to stop working and crash. This happens to Firefox. With IE 8's tab isolation, you don't have to worry about a bad webpage in one of the tabs causing the whole program to crash. In IE 8 only the problematic tab will close. Yes Firefox has yet to have 

an answer to this but Chrome is also free from such crashes caused by a single problematic page in a tab. 

How about IE 8's security features? Well, IE 8 Beta 2 has InPrivate feature. With this feature, you can opt not to save your sensitive data. But Safari has its own version of this feature also and so does Chrome. Firefox will surely have this (not through an addon) in the next release. IE 8's Phishing filter (smartScreen) is not also something new in this game, Chrome has it and as thorough as what IE8 has. 

When it comes to web compatibility, IE8 offers better support for W3 Web standards. But IE8 has the tendency not to display correctly some pages that were designed for earlier versions of IE. But Microsoft has an antidote for this, there is a compatibility button in IE8's toolbar which comes handy whenever a page does not display good. I've noticed that some pages do not display good with Chrome, but display fine with IE and Firefox. 

Well, no matter what IE will do, I am one of the thousands who do not use (and do not have any plans of using) Internet Explorer because it is like using a pair of shoes that does not fit well ( i don't know, I love Microsoft's OS but I could not love the little important apps that come with it). I am happy with Firefox and Chrome. 

VLC Player, Getting Better Every New Release

When it comes to media players, I have only two in my list. The first is VLC Player, the second is Winamp. VLC Player is number one for me because it is free and it plays almost any media file type you want to play. It even plays broken files. Winamp is number two because I like its look and of all the media players I've tried, it is the one that could give me the best sound every time I play mp3's. Probably I am just used to the magic of its equalizers.

Now VLC Player has a new version out, the VLC 0.9.2 which has a new user interface version each for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Of course it's not the only thing that is new in this version, it also got more video formats supported, new filter, and simplified setting menu. The older version of VLC (0.8.6) can play FLV files (the format for the ones you download from Youtube and other like sites) but it was not as good as how the new version (0.9.2) supports FLV files; you can now jump anywhere in the timeline without the software closing down on the video. But of course you can now choose to refrain from downloading videos from Youtube because VLC player now supports playback YouTube, Google Video , and Daily Motion videos.

For more information about this new release just visit their website. Don't forget to download the best media player in the world :)

Private Browing With Firefox?

There's a good thing about having giants fight for the throne. We benefit each time one of the giants give a blow to another giant. IE8, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome (a relatively new comer but strong enough to level with the old players) are now fighting for the throne fit for the king of the browsers. They give each other blows and every blow they give each other our browsing experience becomes better. When Chrome entered the scene it was already equipped with private browsing feature. The people at Chrome saw that IE8 and Safari have this feature in their bags so it was natural for them to think that it would help Chrome a lot to have it also. But Firefox do not have this feature built into it in its native state. Of course there's the Stealther addon but Firefox is now toying with (or actually working on) the idea of implementing this feature in the 3.1 release of the mighty Firefox browser before this year ends. Firefox's idea is to avoid writing data from private browsing sessions on your disk. This could be achieved by storing as much data from private browsing sessions as possible in memory. Here's how Mozilla explain it :

"The purpose of private browsing is to put Firefox into a temporary state where no information about the user's browsing session is stored locally. Firefox currently handles the user's privacy with a feature in preferences to clear all private data. This feature forces the user to choose between having privacy (even if only momentary), and other useful features like browsing history, and saved passwords. Users should be able to go "off the record", they shouldn't have to shoot the reporter. As we improve the functionality of history to include full text indexing, and possibly capturing thumbnails of sites visited, the need to respect user's privacy only increases."

But what's the point of adding this feature? If IE8, Safari, and Chrome have a form of this feature in them, probably they know that a lot of people (for various reasons, like viewing pr0n and downloading bootlegged stuff) do not want to leave traces of their online activities. Here's how Mozilla explain the use cases of private browsing :

"Many people believe that the primary use case for private browsing mode is viewing pornography. While viewing pornography may be a popular use case due to the nature of content on the Web, assuming that this is the only reason that users need private browsing trivializes the overall feature. For instance, users may wish to begin a private browsing session to research a medical condition, or plan a surprise vacation or birthday party for a loved one. Use cases will range from users cheating on their spouse, to users buying engagement rings. Given the breadth of our user base, specific use cases are likely to be extremely varied."

This feature is very much welcome though as of now I do not have reason to use it but it would be cool to have it handy in case I suddenly have the need to have it.

The Growing Importance of E-Discovery on Your Business

E-discovery is becoming much more important in the context of civil litigation – for example, roughly three out of four discovery orders today require email to be produced as part of the discovery process. E-discovery today represents 35% of the total cost of litigation, and companies that fail to produce emails in a timely or appropriate manner face the risk of paying significant sanctions and fines, not to mention loss of corporate reputation, lost revenue and embarrassment. All businesses, regardless of size, face the same challenges.

This free white paper should be part of every businessman's library so if you want to have a free copy just make your request here.

Phishing, Phaxing, Vishing and Other Identity Threats: The Evolution of Online Fraud

Fraudsters and scammers are finding increasingly devious ways of stealing financial and other confidential information. Anything they can learn about online credentials can seriously undermine an organization's profile and bring considerable risk to its reputation, incurring legal liability. This paper describes the online fraud of phishing, looks at other methods it has spawned, and gives advice on how organizations can prevent the theft of their identity.

This white paper is really a must for us who do online transactions every day. If your are from the USA or Canada, you can request your free copy of this important paper here.

Themes and Scripts For Google's Chrome Browser

The magic of open source is working really good for Google's Chrome browser. Just barely a week after its birth, this baby is enjoying the attention that is being poured on it, it is basking on the heat of the spotlight. But aside from just the spotlight many third party developers are swarming on this new browser to help make it better every day. If you go to ChromeSpot, you will see what I mean. If you want to create your own theme, someone has come up with a theme creator for Chrome so if like me you love tampering with some things under the hood of whatever software you are presently enamored with, download the package and start experimenting. And after you've created your Chrome themes you might find Chromium Automatic Theme Switcher handy.

Resize and Move Partitions in Windows Vista Without Fear

You probably know that tinkering with the partitions in Vista could lead to big problems like refusal of your machine to boot. But nature has it that every problem has a corresponding hack. Vista has a built in tool that helps you with the resizing of your partitions, the diskmgmt.msc. But when you want to move your partitions around, that's another story that needs some help from outside Vista. I know what you are thinking about but don't think about Partiton Magic because this tool is useless with Vista. There's a better tool that works well with Vista, GParted. This free tool "allow the individual to take a hard disk and change the partition organization therein, while preserving the partition contents". GParted, allows you to create, destroy, resize, move, check and copy  partitions, and the file systems on them.  Before attempting to use this software on your machine read the instructions carefully here because tampering with your partitions is not child's play.

The Business of Blogging

Blogs are well beyond the days of being just for fun; they are truly a business now. I know about some bloggers who raise an eyebrow at this because they think that blogging is journalism and journalism is not business. These school of bloggers believe that blogging is sacred and it's goal is purely the expression of one's thoughts and views. They believe that when a blogger starts thinking about earning money from his blog he loses the purity of thought to function as a true blogger because his words would be tainted with the color of money and his credibility among other bloggers and the world in general would take a hit over time if it becomes too obvious that his posts are paid and therefore not really comingfrom within him. I don't see it exactly that way. 

Yes, blogging can be considered journalism but journalism, like blogging, is business. Business and journalism are two different words with the same meaning. No one can deny that. Business makes the world go round; without business the world will wither and die. Of course I would not deny the fact that a blog with more paid posts than non-paid posts loses credibility. We’ve already seen that with some bloggers who aggressively push paid posts. There is nothing wrong about selling your writing skills as long as what you write about is within the perimeter of your interests. It is not actually "selling out". It is just a matter of seeing the good in everything and writing about that good. 

On Online Freelance Opportunities

Gem, of The Lady Programmer, has written something about Convincing People to Online Freelance Opportunities. After reading her post I decided to add a  comment because I share her views on this issue but after a few minutes of typing the comment i realized that I had written not a comment but an article. What you will read below started out as a comment to her post but ended up as a post here. 

  

Despite the fact that we are now in the computer age, many people are still intimidated by the idea of using the computer. Many of the average computer users today are satisfied with just knowing the basics of using the browser, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint--just enough for them to function in the office. They see that going beyond that is going into the realm of the IT professionals who deal with mysterious codes and complex processes that could make the average Joe dizzy. They dare not venture into that realm because they are too lazy or too intimidated with the idea of harnessing the power of the computer. Online freelancing is just in its infancy, five to ten years from now we will see it stand up on its own and start to walk. Give it 20 years and more than half of us would be working at home, in front of the computer. I am fortunate to be one of those who are into it now while it is still early. By the time online freelancing becomes a big boom I would have learned all the ropes and be at par with others. 

I have tried convincing people I know to jump into the vast field of opportunities which is the internet and earn money online but they have doubts about it. The first question most of them ask me is: "And how do you get the money? You do not know or see the people you are dealing with, how can you be so sure about being paid?". Most of the questions they raise is along this line. They think that typing away in front of your PC a few hours a day for the bucks to flow in is too good to be true. I could not understand why they could not see it the way I see it; no matter how hard I explain to them the light of it, they see the dark side. I realized later that it is impossible to explain color to the blind. So far I have convinced only two persons to try making money online. One is my wife (who would be cashing out her very first blogging earnings two weeks from now) and the other one is my cousin who is now starting to blog, she is not earning yet but I know in the next few months she will start to reap the rewards for her perseverance. 

I am not saying that we all quit our day job and do freelancing. I haven't quit mine although I am contemplating it now. Day jobs are boring. Probably i am just the kind of guy who could not live under the shadow of a boss nor could  I be satisfied with casting my shadow on my subordinates forever. I love working independently, be my own boss and get to deal with other people as my equal. 

The internet is a vast field of opportunities, much of it is still untilled. Now is a good time to claim your portion of that field. 

Withdrawing Money Again

I withdrew money from my Paypal to my credit card last sunday (August 31). That money was my blogging earnings for the month of June. It is not much but it makes me happy. This morning, when I checked my bank account online, the amount I withdrew from Paypal was already reflected in my account. It took , again, just four days for it to arrive into my Eon account. Wow. When I withdrew it, Paypal informed me that it will take 5-7 days for the amount to be reflected in my bank account but it only took four days to happen. Wow. Fifteen days ago I also withdrew some of my earnings from blogging. That was smaller compared to what I have now. This is my third time to withdraw money I earned from blogging and each time it gets bigger.

Malware From Ad Widget

While visiting one of my many blogs (not this blog), a warning message suddenly popped up covering the whole page in red. It was a message from my browser. Shown below is the screenshot of the message.

What? Malware in my blog? So that's what I get from taking ad widgets from just anyone out there. The culprit is Pay-Ads.com . The message from Chrome browser says :

Warning: Visiting this site may harm your computer!
The website contains elements from the site www.pay-ads.com, which appears to host malware – software that can hurt your computer or otherwise operate without your consent. Just visiting a site that contains malware can infect your computer. For detailed information about the problems with these elements, visit the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page for www.pay-ads.com.

I installed an ad widget of pay-ads.com three or four months ago in one of my blogs (not this blog) and completely forgot about it. Now that I get this warning message from my browser I immediately uninstalled the bloody widget but Chrome continues to tell me that that blog has malware.

What is the moral lesson of this story? Never ever install widgets to your blog if you are not really sure about the source.

Adobe Lovers, Watch out for September 23

No, Adobe CS4 won't be released on that date. September 23 (that's a tuesday) is the day when Adobe formally announces Creative Suite 4.  The announcement will be streamed by Adobe to those who are interested. Signup for it here  : adobe.istreamplanet.com.

We have seen the beta version of some of the titles in the Adobe CS4 lineup back in May popping up in some forums, especially  Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash and Photoshop.  Adobe CS4 will be available in 32 and 64 bit versions (this is for Windows users only). Sorry Mac users you won't be able to enjoy the 64-bit version, you'll just have to wait for the coming of CS5.

Google's Chrome Browser

Though I am a Firefox lover it doesn't mean that I do not notice other browsers (guys notice other worth noticing chicks even if they have the best girl in the world). Two days ago I posted a review of the Safari browser and I am sure that I would be posting follow-up reviews for it as I am still on the getting-to-know-you-stage in my relationship with it. Now here comes another browser from the giant Google, the Chrome browser. Google claims that it is "a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better". Would it be better than Firefox? That remains to be seen as I'd devote three or more days of my time just to use this browser. As of now I only have a two sentence review for it: It looks very clean and it runs faster than your average pussycat. Wow!

Update...

After an hour of using Chrome browser here are some things I'd like to tell :

The default homepage of Chrome will show you large thumnails of your most visited webpages (see the screenshot I took of it a while ago). I find this feature very useful because it speeds up my browsing. I am always in a hurry and I find typing the URL in the address bar a very tedious process even if I only need to type the first few characters. On the same tab you will also see  the recent searches you've made and the latest pages you've bookmarked. The recently closed tabs are also shown here. By opening a new tab you will have access to this feature of Chrome. I like this feature.

Another thing I find cool about Chrome is something that Gem brought to my attention a while back. It is the "incognito window". If you want anonymity while browsing just hit Ctrl+shift+N. When you use the incognito window the pages you view won't appear in your browser history or search history. 

More on this in a few winks :)