Author: Ajay Meher

Ajay is the editor and webmaster of Techie Zone . He is also a Wordpress expert and provides Wordpress consultancy and web services. Recently he has launched his maiden start-up Qlogix Solutions. You can follow him in twitter @ajaykumarmeher

Categories
Tips & tricks Windows

How to use your Keyboard as a mouse

I was always wondering if we can use the computer without touching the mouse. Guess what, we can always do that. I have seen many people, they hardly touch mouse while working on their laptop or desktop. The way they use keyboard is by using the tab key, space bar and shortcut keys. But in reality the keys on the keyboard can be used to control the cursor just like we do with a mouse. The only requirement for this method is a keyboard with numeric keypad. So if you are thinking that you can use this method in your laptop, you need to check if it has a numeric keypad.

Do the following steps, for enabling your keyboard to perform the dual task of keyboard and mouse.

In Windows XP:

1. Go to Start > Control panel

2. Click on Switch to classic view from left

3. Double click on Accessibility options

4. On the new window, click on Mouse tab and check the option “Use Mouse keys”

5. Click on OK

– On the keyboard press the Num Lock key, it will make a beep sound.

Now press the keys on the numeric keypad and see how you can control the cursor with keyboard just like you do with mouse. If you want to make the cursor movement faster, on the step 4 click on settings button and make the chnages.

In Windows Vista/Windows 7:

The accessibility option has been changed to Ease of access center in Windows Vista and Windows 7. So we need to make changes in ease of access center. Do the following:

1. Click on Start and type “Ease of Access center” in the search box.

2. Hit Enter to open Ease of Access center.

3. Click on Make the keyboard easier to use.

4. Check the option ” Turn on Mouse keys“, for changing settings click on Setup mouse keys.

5. Click on OK.

Enjoy the fun….

If you would like to share any such tips related to computers, please do so through comments.

Categories
Tips & tricks Windows

Make your computer greet you with a message

A few lines of VB script code will let your computer greet you every time you login to it. This will look straight out of a sci-fi movie and this is so easy and cool. Your not-so-tech-savvy friends will not only be amazed at this but they will think you as a genius.  Use the steps provided below to let your computer welcome you with a personalized message.

 

 

1. Open Notepad and type the following lines of code (or copy the code below to a notepad) :

Dim speaks, speech
speaks="Hello Ajay, Welcome to your Computer. Please use me with care and Love."
Set speech=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
speech.Speak speaks

2. You can replace the text within quote (” “) in line 2 to any text you wish.

3. Save the file as speech.vbs . To do this, in notepad click on File > Save as,  select All Types for save as type and put file name as speech.vbs . Make sure the file is saved with .vbs extension and not like speech.vbs.txt . If it is correctly saved the file icon will change from a simple notepad icon to a VB script icon.

4. Now the required script file is ready. For the welcome message upon login, we need to load this file at start up. To do this we need to copy the file to start-up folder.

5. To copy to startup folder, click on Start > All programs and right click on Startup, select explore. This will open Startup folder in Windows Explorer. We need to paste the speech.vbs file inside this.

6. To verify that it is working correctly, restart your PC. If you hear your computer welcoming you, the trick has worked perfectly.

This trick has been personally tested by me in Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7 and works perfectly. Please share your experience on using this script.

Categories
Tech News

Google Calling all Junior Scientists Huge scholarship on Offer

The almighty Google is looking for the brightest and the best young scientist around the world to take part in one of it’s kind of a science fair called Google Science Fair. Every student in the age group of 13-18 yrs are eligible to participate either as an individual contestant or as a group.

How to Enter

The application process is rather simple.

– You need to have a google account. If you do not have one, Create a Google Account.

– Complete the Google Science Fair sign up form. After you submit the form, you will see an important link on the confirmation page. This link will create the Google project submission site where you will post your science fair project details.

– If you have signed up but can’t find the link,  Click here to create your Google project submission site.

– Plan your science project, conduct your experiment, and write up your results. – Complete all of the sections of your Google project submission site (see sample project submission site).

– Create either a two-minute video or 20-slide presentation giving an overview of your project and embed it on the Summary page of your project submission. A video or presentation is required to enter. – When your project site is done, make sure to submit it via this form by 4 April 2011.

Notes: * The last date for submission is 4th April 2011.

* The entries must be submitted only in English.

* There are huge amount of scholarship, national geographic expedition as well as gadgets and goodies for the winner.

Categories
How to

How to fix: Windows 7 sidebar gadgets not working

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This post is based upon my personal experience while solving the issue with my brother’s laptop. Yesterday my brother called me up saying that the clock, CPU meter etc that appear on right side of desktop is no longer working. I got to know that he is speaking about the sidebar gadgets. I asked him to start a remote session using our favorite client Team Viewer. While working remotely on his laptop, I had some interesting findings, which I will describe in the next paragraph.

First of all let me tell that Sidebar was introduced in Windows Vista and it holds mini applications called gadgets. These gadgets are very useful as they provide useful information like time, usage of processor/RAM etc. There are many gadgets available which serve different purpose. The technology behind sidebar gadgets in Windows Vista and Windows 7 are slightly different. in Windows Vista this was independent of User Account Control (UAC) but in Windows 7, it is tightly tied to UAC. So if you have disabled the UAC ( to prevent those unwanted pop ups about permission for each and every task you perform) than the sidebar gadgets will no longer work.  And this was the issue in case of my brother’s laptop.

To fix this issue, we can either enable the UAC which is the easiest method or do some hardcore registry editing steps that will enable the sidebar with UAC still disabled. So let’s discuss about the second method. The following steps will help you in fixing the issue:

As the following steps involve modifying the registry, we strongly suggest you to backup the registry. Techie Zone is not responsible for any issues caused to your computer after following the steps. Read our disclaimer for further details.

– Click on Start > Type regedit in the search box and hit Enter. It will open Registry editor.

– In Registry editor Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings

– In the right pane, double click on DWORD value AllowElevatedProcess and set the value to 1.

– If the DWORD value is not present, right click on the right pane and click on New > DWORD

– Create a new DWORD called AllowElevatedProcess

– Set the value of the new DWORD to 1

– Close the registry editor.

If you are not confident enough to perform the steps, you can download the following ready made registry file:

AllowElevatedProcess registry tweak

Save the above file (AllowElevatedProcess.reg) on desktop, Right click on AllowElevatedProcess.reg and select merge. This will fix the issue and does not require a restart.

If you have such tips to share, please let us know and we will be glad to publish it.

In the right pane, double click on DWORD value AllowElevatedProcess

Categories
Tips & tricks

How to fix Audio & Video out of sync issue using VLC player

Many of the time when we download a video clip or a movie, we find that the audio does not sync with the lips movement of the characters or the audio and video does not match. This kind of video clip/movie is very frustrating to watch.  However we can use VLC Player to fix such issue and make our video clip play in sync with the audio. And this method of using the VLC player is by far the easiest and cheapest method to fix an unsync video during playtime.

Solution:

– Download and install VLC media player (if you do not have it). It is Free.

– Open the downloaded Video Clip in VLC. Right click on the video clip and select Open With..Select VLC from the list.

– If the Audio comes before Video, we need to slow the audio, so press fn+K key (On laptop). Each combi keystroke will reduce the audio speed by 50ms. So keep dong it until you see the video and audio are sync.

– If the Audio comes after the video, we need to make the audio fast, so press fn + J (On laptop) key. When you invoke the shortkey the screen will show the delay amount as shown in the below image:

If you have a desktop, you can try the Ctrl + K and Ctrl + J key respectively for the same result. If the shortkey key does not work , we can change the settings from preferences as follows:

– Open VLC player and click on Tools > Preferences

– On preferences window, click on All under Show settings, Select Audio from left.

– On the right pane look for the option Audio desynchronization compensation

Put a negative or positive value in the box towards right…depending upon the situation. See the image below:

Majority of the audio and video out of sync issue are because of improper encoding format while ripping the video. The solution has been tested with downloaded video clip, so I am not sure if it will work with such issue in a DVD video. If you have issue with a newly purchased DVD than Microsoft has a nicely explained solution in it’s knowledge base.

I have not been able to test this in Desktop, so please put your comment, how you have been able to correct this in desktop..

Categories
Windows

How to easily convert Microsoft Office Documents to PDF

Do you have a Word document or a Power Point presentation and you wish it to be in pdf format? Or you ever wonder how those pdf documents are made? No worry at all, as you can have any of your Word document or Power Point presentation or an Excel spreadsheet (supports upto 8 MS Office files) in pdf format right from your Office 2007. There are various other methods to convert a Word document to pdf like using a converter program or using a virtual printer like Primo pdf or cute PDf writer. But none of them offer the flexibility offered by Microsoft Office 2007. It is the easiest method of converting your document to pdf in just one click. If you wish you can even save your document as XPS (Another pdf like document standard called XML Paper Specification developed by Microsoft and introduced with Windows Vista)

By-default this feature will not be available in Office 2007. We need to download add-ons from Microsoft Download center and install it to get this functionality working.

Installation & Usage:

Depending upon what functionality you want to add, download the appropriate add-ons by clicking one of the following link:

For Save as PDF or XPS For save AS PDF only For Save as XPS only

After download, double click on the file and follow the onscreen instruction to install the program.

Once this add-on is installed, to use it, open any document and simply click on Save As or Publish To option from File menu.

Removal Process:

In case you, no longer want to use this functionality, you can always uninstall it from your computer without affecting your Office installation. Do the following for removal:

– Go to Control Panel.

– Double-click on Programs and features or Add/remove Programs.

– In the list of currently installed programs, select Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS Add-in for 2007 Microsoft Office programs and then click Remove or Add/Remove. If a dialog box appears, follow the instructions to remove the program.

Techie Zone will keep on providing such tutorials on a daily basis. So keep visiting.

Categories
Internet

The future of the SaaS (Software as a Service) market

SaaS has come a long way in the last few years – but it’s got a lot further to go.  It’s anybody’s guess what will happen in the future, but here are some of the possibilities:

Integration becomes the norm.

‘Joined-up’ software is better for the consumer, and vendors know it and hence why over recent years vendors have collaborated in an unprecedented way. SaaS systems lend themselves to integration – software working harmoniously increases acceptance by potential users, take-up rates and thus improves the bottom-line. Given that, it follows that the industry standard for SaaS will be integration.

Small businesses carry on innovating.

Smaller companies are the main SaaS innovators. Being smaller means being able to respond quickly to demand, and iteration is logistically more straightforward. The result will be flexible, dynamic software, built quickly in response to demand. A good example of this is Workbooks.com, who have lead the way in SaaS CRM software, bringing innovative customer care with their system.

Big business gets in on the act

On the other hand, big software companies are already starting to offer many SaaS systems. The trend for them will be towards moving traditional offerings into the cloud. This is happening right now, with major companies releasing SaaS offerings.

Private clouds will emerge

‘Private’ clouds work in a similar way to the normal Cloud, but sit, closed-off, behind firewalls. They offer many of the advantages of SaaS but are more individual and, well, private. The principle of serving software from a central location over the internet applies, but access is restricted. Most importantly the SaaS business fails because there is no universality for the software.

This would be a threat to the SaaS vendors, but past experience says they will raise their game to meet it. The end result of this could be even better software.

Overall, there is a clear move towards SaaS and many people say it will become standard in the near future. This is the real prediction – most software will be SaaS in years to come.

Soon the word processor I’m writing this on will be held on a server somewhere else – I simply call it up when I need it, then save the document in the cloud, possibly in a completely different place to the software.   The software is available right now, it’s just not the norm yet. But it will be.

There is no way of knowing exactly how this will happen. All the above could happen – or none of them. One thing is certain, SaaS is not going away.

This article was written by Workbooks, leading supplier of web-based CRM software.

Categories
Tech News

Protect your notebook from being stolen

When we look at the statistics, it can be noticed that thousands of notebooks are reported as stolen every year. So many time we wish, there should be a way to protect those notebooks from being stolen. I am sure some of the geeky readers might have come across some software based solutions to track the stolen laptop. But all those softwares have some sorts of limitations. However Intel has come up with a hardware based solution to help the laptop owners.

This new technology developed by Intel is called Intel Anti-Theft technology and it is a hardware based solution with software configuration. Notebooks having this technology pre-built to them can disable themselves if they got lost or stolen.

Technology Overview:

– It is hardware-based anti-theft technology with software configuration using LoJack by Absolute software or any other compatible service provider.

– Requires Intel chipset support (not a software-only solution)

– Hardware-level theft detection and data encryption.

– Can disable laptop completely if owner reports as stolen.

– The system periodically checks with LoJack server and verify report status.

How it Works:

– System will regularly check with LoJack server and verify the report status.

– If it finds any stolen report it will disable the laptop.

– The disabling of notebook occurs if system detects suspicious behavior like excessive login attempts or counter expiry or stolen report in LoJack server.

– Once system is disabled the data access from hard drive is also restricted even if hard drive is removed and connected to a different system.

– The timer expiry might occur in case of OS re-installation or BIOS flashing, HDD wiped or removed or laptop being disconnected from Internet. In order to prevent this there is an option to disable lockout timer using the LoJack software.

– Once laptop is recovered, it can be unlocked using a pass code or  a security token obtained from the software vendor.

– By default the Anti-Theft technology will be disabled in the notebook when you purchase it. So first thing you need to do before you start using it is to enable it.

How to check if Anti-theft technology is supported:

In order to verify the support of Anti-theft technology in your notebook, you need to go to your BIOS configuration page. (Refer to notebook manual for the correct key to use to go to BIOS). Look for Intel AT under Security. If supported and enabled it will be set to ON, if supported but disabled it will be set to OFF.

If you have purchased the laptop long back, then theer is high chance that it does not support Ant-theft.

The hardware based Anti-theft technology is more secure and provide better result. Being a hardware based technology it comes pre-installed with a new notebook purchase.

Categories
Giveaway

TechieZone Giveaway: Get MacX DVD Ripper Pro for Mac and Windows

As we have re-launched TechieZone with a complete overhaul of the design and structure of the site, we are offering our esteemed readers a treat in the form of a giveaway. We are offering a couple of licenses of Professional version of MacX DVD ripper for Mac and Windows. The original price of this software is USD 49.95 and now available at a discounted price of USD 34.95. So it’s a nice opportunity to grab a license.

Brief Description:

Before I tell you, how to win a license, let me provide you a brief review of the software. MacX DVD Ripper Pro is the ultimate DVD backup and ripping software available for both Macintosh and Windows. This is not like any other available ripping program but offers tons of features as described below:

1. Ripping DVD to MP4, H.264, MOV, FLV, MPEG, M4V, AVI, QT(QuickTime) with high quality video/audio.

2. The New DVD-Backup feature let you copy DVD to single video file with original video quality and 5.1-channels AC3/DTS Dolby audio.

3. It can backup/rip copy protected DVDs released by Disney, Paramount, Warner etc..

4. It operates at a much faster speed as compared to any other solutions addressing the same need.

5. Available for both Mac and Windows.

Rules to Participate:

In order to enroll yourself in the giveaway, you need to do any of the following:

1. Like our Facebook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/TechieZone

2. Follow us in Twitter at http://twitter.com/techiezone

3. Retweet the following:

#TechieZone has re-launched & offering MacX DVD ripper pro worth $34.95 for free as relaunch giveaway at http://bit.ly/hNtnBC

4. Update the details, you did as a comment here. For example, your facebook user name (if you did 1) or twitter user name (if you did 2) or the tweet status URL (if you did 3).

5. Each activity above will give you 1 entry. So more number of activity you do, more is the chances of winning. You can use any/all of the above activity only once per user name.

6. Winners will be selected randomly using random number generator service.

Contest Deadline:

The contest will be open till 25th February 2011, afterward any entries posted through comment will not be entertained. Winners will be declared on 27th February 2011. The name of winners will be posted here and will be contacted via email with the license keys. So use correct email ID while commenting here.

Please look out for lot of other giveaways like premium WordPress themes, WordPress plugins, Premium software license, web hosting, domain names etc.

Thank you Sarah for providing the license.

Categories
General

Evolution of Techie Zone

Hello World…Welcome to the re-incarnated version of Techie Zone. Now this erstwhile popular blog has not only a completely revamped design but also it is sitting on a new location. The original version of Techie Zone is still living in the Internet at it’s old location. Many of you must be thinking why I kept the old name Techie Zone where I could have simply switched to a new name and started everything fresh. I could have done that, in fact at some point in time, I had decided to sell my erstwhile popular website the original Techie Zone. But I did not do that instead wished to keep the name and do a complete revamp.

To answer Why I did that, let me start from the beginning. I got the taste of blogging and started working on Internet in the year 2006. Initially in my learning phase I started with blogger platform like majority of newbie bloggers do. I posted my first post on 27th July 2006. After sticking with blogger for sometime, I learned about WordPress.com and started exploring that. By this time I was getting a good grip on both blogger and WordPress.com and started exploring money making option from Internet. I came across a website called MyLot and made my first earning from Internet in the year 2006. As I had money with me earned through MyLot, I decided to buy a domain and bought TechieZone on 9th Sep 2006. But I did not know how to create a website the easiest way on my own domain. That is when I learned about the self hosted version of WordPress. I could not have dreamt of any better option than that. The flexibility it offered and support of millions of users/theme and plugin developers made me fall in LOVE with WordPress. Finally in the year 2007, I switched over completely to self hosted version of WordPress and my first self developed website Techie Zone was borned. Switching to a self hosted version of WordPress was never an easy task and I had to learned a lot of things and I am still learning. During it’s journey from 2007 till date Techie Zone has seen lots of ups and downs. The visitor count of Techie Zone increased from 20-30 in a day to 1000s and it was being featured in first page of google for many Windows related search term followed by the movement of Page Rank from PR 0 to PR 4. But destiny had something else for Techie Zone. I did the mistake of moving it from the subdomain blog.techiezone.in to techiezone.in and that is when the downfall started. I followed all the SEO specialists recommendations, tried many tactics but nothing worked. PR went down to N/A..the earning from adsense started declining, direct advertisers withdrew themselves. In the mean time I was so much engaged in my day-to-day job that I hardly found time to update any new posts. Frankly I started loosing interest because of all the negative growth Techie Zone saw. Later on I was able to manage my time and tried fixing things to regain the status of Techie Zone, nothing worked. I was hurt and decided to sell the site and start a new tech related website. But when I thought of my journey to this blogging world and how Techie Zone played a pivotal role in it, I could not sell it nor did I dare to abandon the name. And as Techie Zone is my brain child, it will be there with me for ever.

Future Plans:

Going forward, this address will be the permanent location of Techie Zone. The original Techie Zone will still be there but I am not going to update it any more. I still get 150+ visitors a day to this blog, which is decent looking at the fact that I am not doing anything to it for couple of months.

I will be a professional blogger. Having said that I am going to dedicate more time to blogging here and some of my other online ventures.

This blog will cover topics ranging from Desktop computing, Internet, Hosting, SEO, Blogging etc..

Friends, please do not forget to share your blogging journey in comments.