Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts

Aug 14, 2013

How to Lock your PC – but not your screen – with KeyFreeze



If you’re leaving your PC unattended for a while then locking it (pressing Win+L) can be a sensible precaution, as it prevents others from viewing your files or interfering with running programs.
The Windows Lock function also hides the current contents of the screen, though, annoying if you want to leave a movie playing, or perhaps monitor the progress of some lengthy task you’re running. And that’s why might sometimes prefer KeyFreeze, which locks your PC but leaves the screen active, just as before.
The program is tiny – a single 341KB executable – and portable. There are no unwanted extras here, just unzip it and you’re ready to go.
When you need to lock your system, just launch it. You’ll see a five second countdown, just long enough to rearrange any application windows to suit your needs. Once the countdown hits zero then your mouse and keyboard will then effectively be disabled, with a single exception: pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del unlocks your system and you’ll be able to carry on as normal.
Just launch KeyFreeze and your PC will be automatically locked within seconds
If you’re thinking this doesn’t sound too secure, then you’re right. Leaving the screen visible in the first place means you’ll be giving away lots of information to anyone passing, and the Ctrl+Alt+Del is perhaps the first hotkey anyone will guess.
Then again, KeyFreeze isn’t pretending to be a security tool. It’s not about protecting your system from attack, rather just reducing the chance of small children, perhaps wandering pets from knocking the mouse or keyboard and causing problems. And it does this very well.
There are small improvements which could be made here. It’s good that the program has a countdown before locking, for instance, so that you can prepare the system for whatever you want it to do – but 5 seconds may not always be long enough. It would be better if user could choose an appropriate delay.
For the most part, though, KeyFreeze is very effective, and if you need to protect your PC from curious kids then we’d give it a try.

Quickly search and explore thousands of plain text files with Depeche View Lite


Searching one or two plain text files is easy. Windows Search and Notepad will probably be enough. But when you need to browse ten files, a hundred, maybe even thousands, then you’re likely to need a little specialist assistance. And that’s where the free-for-personal-use Depeche View Lite comes in.
Point this tiny portable program at a location and it will open every plain text file in that folder tree (up to a maximum of 10,000 in this build, anyway – the $40 commercial version is unrestricted). These are all displayed in a flat view, one above the other, and that alone can be useful as it’s easy to scroll down and browse them all.
When you do have a lot of files then you’ll soon want to start searching, of course, and this is extremely easy. There’s no need to open a dialog box, just start typing and the screen immediately updates, displaying only matching files and highlighting every occurrence of your keyword.
Should you need more searching power, your text can also include operators like AND, OR and NOT, as well as the * wildcard. And you’re able to define a path mask which restricts your searches to particular files (main*.html NOT .html.old , say).



Just start typing and your search text will be found and highlighted immediately
If you prefer to keep typing to a minimum, you’ll appreciate the program’s many mouse options. For example, just clicking a word highlights it, and displays floating icons with more options (search, copy to clipboard, highlight phrase, and so on). Or right-clicking a word leaves your current window alone, and instead opens a pane on the right hand side with the results of your search.
And if you need to keep track of the various items you’ve found, that’s not a problem. Locations within any file can be bookmarked for speedy recall later.
At some point you may want to edit a file, and life isn’t quite so convenient here: unlike its commercial big brother, Depeche View Lite doesn’t have an integrated text editor. Just pressing Ctrl+E at any point will open the current file in Notepad, though, and you can customise this to have the program use whatever editor you like (Settings > Options > Search, Edit).
There are some issues with the program, and most of them relate to the, well, quirky interface. Features don’t always work as you expect, and it takes a while to find your way around.
Once you’ve learned the basics, though, Depeche View Lite proves an interesting and very capable search tool. And if you regularly work with large numbers of plain text files then it could save you a lot of time and hassle.

Aug 3, 2013

How to speed up your internet connection



Does your broadband seem a bit sluggish? If so, there may just be a simple solution.

You'll need:


    A computer connected to the internet.

Follow these step-by-step instructions to find out how to speed up your internet connection

Step 1: Read our guide on How to check your internet speed and discover what speed your broad connection is actually producing.

Step 2: Find out what speed you’re paying your internet provider (ISP) for. You may have to phone them to get the answer to this. If you’ve had your broadband for some time, it may be time to upgrade.

Step 3: Check what speed is achievable in your area. This is also covered in our guide on checking your internet speed. A number of ISP’s are starting to use Optical fibres instead of copper telephone cables to offer superfast broadband and this may be available through your ISP. But it is not yet available across the whole of the UK. This type of connection can offer up to 100mb as it claims to be able to transfer data at the speed of light. However, this can still be dependent upon your phone line, so check first what speeds you can realistically expect.

Step 4: Now that you know what speed you’re paying for and what your hardware is capable of producing, there are a number of things you can do that are likely to make your internet run faster:


    Check that you haven’t exceeded your monthly download allowance. Some ISPs cap internet speeds as a penalty for doing this.
    If possible, always use the master telephone socket for your broadband router.
    Don’t use a telephone extension lead with your router. If it’s unavoidable, use the shortest one you can.
    Make sure that all other telephone sockets in use are fitted with microfilters (see right). Not doing this can result in loss of internet speed and interference on the line.Microfilters
    Is your computer running any unnecessary applications in the background? This can slow things down considerably, but finding out if it’s happening can be a bit complicated. It might be best to ask an expert for help.
    Make sure your antivirus software is kept up to date. Viruses and adware can slow down your computer and the internet a lot.
    If you’re using wifi (wireless internet), make sure it’s password protected. Otherwise you could be providing your neighbours with free wifi!
    If you’re using a laptop with a wireless connection, try using it in a different room or consider using a network cable to connect to the router instead.

- See more at: http://digitalunite.com/guides/using-internet-0/connecting-internet/how-speed-your-internet-connection#sthash.LPJBPX9R.dpuf

Jun 11, 2013

How to hide your important data from other users?

 Normally when you need to secure your important data from other users, then your first choice is to burn it on CD or put it to removable drive instead of hard drive. But imagine if your data size is more than 100 GB then it is not easy to burn it on CD. No worry, you can save your full drive from other users access using this trick.

Perform the given steps to hide your system data partition:

    To enable this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
    
    First click on Start button to open "Run" and type "CMD" (without the quotes) then press Ok button to open Command Prompt.

Now type diskpart on the blinking cursor and wait for 5 seconds to appear diskpart> utility.


To show the list of volume, type list volume command after the diskpart> prompt, this command will show you all system drives detail.

 Now first select the volume that you want to hide, for example,

if you need to hide F drive then first type select volume 2 (in this case) and press enter button
After loading volume, type remove letter F (in this case) to hide F drive


  Now exit from command prompt and open My Computer to verify drives.

But next time, when you want to unhide the D drive, just run assign drive F command after loading volume 2.


How to increase your system performance?

Window Disk Cleanup is very useful tool to increase the performance of your system. You can increase also the free space on the hard disk, because Disk Cleanup utility searches many unnecessary programs and files on your hard drive that you can delete. This tool perform many useful tasks to cleanup your hard disk. For example 


Delete the temporary internet files
Delete the old windows programs that you are not using.
Delete all temp Downloaded Program files
Delete Office Setup files
Delete Old Chkdsk file
Delete the Recycle Bin items
Delete all Setup log files
Delete the windows temporary files
Delete the Web Client or Publisher Temporary files.
Delete all Catalog file for the content indexer
You can remove the optional windows components that you are not using.

  
To run the Disk cleanup utility follows the given steps:

Click on Start button, Programs, go to Accessories, and go to System Tools and then click on Disk Cleanup.

Now a window popup will appear to select the hard disk partition with option "Select the drive you want to clean up" for example C, D drive, but you can choose partition one by one for scanning.


Now Disk Cleanup will takes some time to access your system then open a window to show "You can use Disk Cleanup to free up to 112,151 of disk space on drive C" (in this case) available after deleting temporary files. On this window a button "View files" is used to check the detail of the files that you are going to delete.

 If you scroll down with in that window, you will get many options to choose, select the all options to clean your system in detail, and then click OK to continue.

On the same window another tab is available with the name "More Options".

 Under the more options tab, there are three clean up buttons to clean "Window Components, Installed Programs and System Restore" , select any one of them and press OK to run it.


How to clear your sensitive information on system shutdown?

During data processing some operating systems use the hard disk as memory, called virtual memory. During processing, operating system transfers some data and programs from RAM to hard disk and reloads again when required. The data or programs are stored in hard disk in temporary file called the swap file. This technique of swapping data between memory and hard disk is called paging. Operating system spends a lot of time in paging process, instead of executing the application software. But the problem is that while working you use different software programs on computer and page file may contain your confidential information or stored in non encrypted format. To reduce this risk, you can set your computer to clear out page file automatically each time you shutdown your computer.
 
Perform the given steps to set your system clear page file automatically:
 
  • To enable this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
  • First click on start button to open control panel and then click here on "Administrative Tools" option.  
 
Now "Local Security Settings" panel will appear, on lift side of this panel click on "Local Policies". 

Here click on "Security Options" then double click on "Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile" option


 

    Now small dialog box will appear with options, "Enabled or Disabled" the page file.

    Select the "Enabled" radio button to set clear page file each time you shutdown computer.

Press Apply button to save settings and then click on Ok button to finish.



How to disable/enable the usage of USB storage devices?

 
USB drives (also known as flash drive, mobile disk or pen drive) are becoming the most popular standard in these days to store and move data. USB support is available in PCs of both IBM-compatible and Apple computers. USB port support hot plugging and plug & play. The USB allows up to 127 devices to be connected to the bus via a single port. The driver name "usbstor.sys" is used to communicate any USB drives to the operating system.
 
USB drives are indeed very useful in these days but a user can easily use to transfer any confidential information from your computer to others and can also upload viruses affected files to your computer by accidentally or deliberately. But you can prevent the users to connect any USB drives in the computer by disabling the ability of "usbstor.sys" (USB driver) to load in system. It will block the USB storage devices only and your system USB keyboard, mouse and others USB devices will work properly. 

Perform the following steps to block the USB storage devices: 

To edit this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights. 

First click on Start button to open "Run" and type "regedit" then press Ok button to open the Registry Editor. 


In registry editor locate the given path: 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR

Here select the "USBSTOR" folder and in right side of the registry editor panel find the value with name "Start".

Double click on "Start" and then set its value 4 under "Value data" section.

Close the Registry editor and restart your computer for changes to apply.

Now when you want to restore the default setting, open the Registry Editor and set its value back to 3. 

Now again close the Registry editor and restart your computer for changes to apply.





May 28, 2013

How to Block Websites By Editing the HOSTS File in Windows

DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, can convert the elusive IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to meaningful names, and then translate the characters back to IP addresses. For example, when you want to visit a website, DNS will tell your web browser the real IP address of it, and then web browser will download the web page directly from that IP address.
As you may expect, the process of translating IP addresses to website names will consume some time, which could cause access delay. Particularly, if the DNS servers are down, you will not be able to visit most websites through their URL, which isn’t uncommon.
Hence, it is necessary to make a list for mapping hostnames to IP addresses. That is what Windows HOSTS file does. On most Windows systems, the HOSTS file content is used preferentially over other methods, such as the DNS.

With the proper use of Windows HOSTS file, you can accelerate the access speed of favorite websites, test a website locally and even selectively block certain websites
In fact, blocking websites through the HOSTS file is an effective way to do it because it blocks it across all the browsers (we’ve previously discussed methods to block sites in Internet explorer and Google Chrome).
This article has some tips to manage the HOSTS file and block websites with it. The two methods I’ll discuss here are:-
  1. How to manually edit the HOSTS file.
  2. How to use a tool called HostsMan editor to do it easily.

1. Edit HOSTS File Manually

Windows NT platform systems including Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7 have their HOSTS file in the path %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\ (“%SystemRoot%” is relative path, which depends on the system-wide environment variable, it should be C:\Windows or C:\WINNT in most cases).
Basically, you just need to type the above mentioned path in Windows search bar (or run box) to get to the “etc” folder where you’ll find the HOSTS file.
You can use any text editor to open the file and edit it manually.

 Note: For Windows 7 users, there’s one more step. Type “Notepad” in Start Menu search bar, and then right click on the “Notepad” item, choose “Run as administrator”. Now you can open HOSTS file with “File -> Open” menu in notepad.

 The HOSTS file contains lines of text including an IP address and one or more hostnames. You can add the mapping relationship of each websites. The comment lines are indicated by a hash (#) character, which will be ignored by system.


To block a website, simply add a line like this:
127.0.0.1 example.com
127.0.0.1 (or Localhost) is the standard hostname given to the address of your computer. You mapped the website name to your PC, hence you can’t visit the site any more. So if you want to block Facebook, just add this line: 127.0.0.1 facebook.com

How to Burn a Data CD or DVD in Nero

  1. Launch the Nero Kwik Media™ application. The application should be installed and the burning functions should be activated as described in the tha article that focuses on installing the Nero® Burning ROM free version.
  2. Insert a blank CD or DVD into your optical drive.
  3. In the “Burn & Copy Disc” section, click on the “Burn a data disc” link.
  4. Click on the “Add” button at the top navigation bar.
  5. On your computer, locate the file or folder you wish to burn and click on the “Add” button.
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you add all the data.
  7. Click on the “Burn” button located in the bottom right corner.
  8. When the burning process finishes, click the “OK” button.
  9. Close the application. Congratulations! You have burned your CD or DVD in Windows®!

How to Burn a CD in four ways

Method One

1. Open your optical drive drawer. On the front of the computer (or side of your laptop), there will be a small "drawer," with a rectangular button to the lower right. This is your CD-burning device (It might be a CD or it might be a DVD, which can burn both). If you don't see this, your computer doesn't have the capability of burning a CD directly. However, an external CD or DVD burner can easily be hooked up through the USB slot.



 2. Get a recordable CD disc. There are two types of CDs that you can use.
  • A CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) can be burned once, and can not be erased. This type disc is usually used for permanent storage. For example; a music CD, a picture CD, or any other type of data that you want to keep permanently.
  • A CD-RW (Compact Disc Re-Writable) is a rewritable optical disc format. This type of disc can be burned, erased, and then burned again. This type disc is usually used for temporary data storage.
3. Decide on the type of CD you plan to burn. There are many different types of CDs that can be burned and how you proceed depends on which type you are going to burn:
  • Music. This is the type of CD that is normally burned for use in a home or automobile CD player.
  • Data. This type of CD is most often used to store files that can be used by a computer, and is similar to a standard hard disk. Use it to store writing docs, spreadsheets, databases, and any other file type. Note that while you can store music files on a data CD, you cannot use it in a standard home or automobile CD player.
  • MP3. This is a data CD containing only .mp3 compressed music files. Because it is actually a standard data CD, only CD players that specifically support .mp3 playback will be able to play the music on this CD. The advantage is that you can about five times as many .mp3s on a data CD as you can on a music CD.
  • Disk image. A disk image file is a file that contains an exact copy of a disk. The most common type of disk image is an .ISO image (International Standards Organisation) , which simply means an exact copy of the original disc, stored on your hard drive. One can then burn a CD from the .ISO image and create a usable CD.
4. Decide on what software you will use to burn your CD. There are many different programs that are designed to burn CDs. Some are built into the computer's operating system, while others are individual programs. These programs range from very simple to very complex. Some of these are free, while others have to be purchased. As this varies by manufacturer, it's best to check the documentation that came with your computer to get the details from the user's guide.

5. Burn your CD. Once you've figured out that you can burn a disc, and that you've got the software to do it, it's time to get down to the actual burning. The actual steps will vary depending on what software you use, but the general process goes like this:
  • Open your CD drive drawer. Press on the small rectangular button on the lower right of the drive, on the front of your computer.
  • Place the CD-R into the tray, face up.
  • Press the drawer to close it.
  • Launch your CD-burning software.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions to add content to the CD-burning software.
  • Click the "burn" button, and wait while the computer does its CD-burning thing.

 Method Two Burning a Music CD With iTunes (Mac and PC)

1. Create a playlist. From the File menu, select New>Playlist or type Command-N (Mac) or Control-N (PC). 
2. Name your playlist. Then drag the songs you want to add to your CD to the playlist area.
3. Sort your playlist. From the Sort menu at the top of the playlist's songs, choose the type of sort you want to perform. You can choose an automatic sort order, or you can arrange the songs manually.


 When you're finished populating and sorting your playlist, click the blue Done button shown in the top right of the Playlist window.

4. Insert a blank disc into your drive. Click on the gear icon at the bottom left of the playlist, and select Burn Playlist to Disc.
 Alternately, you can select Burn Playlist to Disc from the File menu.

5. Adjust your settings. In the resulting window, set your burn speed and disc format.


  • Preferred speed: by default, iTunes will use the fastest speed the burner can handle. If you have problems with the burn, try selecting a slower speed here.
  • Disc format: Burn an audio CD, MP3 CD, DVD, or data CD.
  • Gap between songs: sets an audio gap between each song of the duration you select.
  • Use Sound Check. This analyzes all the tracks you've selected, and adjusts the volume of each track so that they all are of the same apparent volume. This is especially handy if you're burning a disc for your car.
  • Include CD Text: Enable this if your CD player can display track information.
6. Click on "Burn." The playlist will be burned onto the CD. When you're notified of completion, remove your CD and enjoy!

Method Three: Burning a Data CD on a PC

 

  1. Insert a blank CD into the CD/DVD drive. In the resulting dialog box, click Burn files to data disc.
    • Name the disc in the Burn a Disc dialog box.
    • If you need a disc that will play in computers with an older version of Windows, or in media devices such as CD and DVD players that can read digital music and video files, click Show formatting options.
    • Click the Next button.
    • Your disc will be formatted for burning using the default LFS (Live File System) format. When finished formatting, an empty disc folder will open.
  2. Add content. Into the empty disc folder, drag the files you wish to burn.
    • You can drag the files onto the disc icon, or into the disc folder. The files are copied as you drag them.
  3. Click Burn to Disc. If you chose the Mastered format option, you will need to burn your files to disc. From the toolbar, click Burn to disc. When the process is complete, the drawer will open, and you can use your new CD.

Method Four: Burning a Data CD on a Mac

 

  1. Determine if you have an optical drive on your Mac. Many of the new models require an external optical drive connected to the Lightning port. If you're using a tower, press the CD Open/Close key on your keyboard (above the Delete key—an upward-pointing arrow with a thin line below it), and the drive drawer should open up. If you have a drive, it will be able to burn a CD.
    • Still not sure? From the Apple menu, choose About This Mac. Click More Info to open System Profiler, then click on System Report.
    • Under the Hardware list, click on Disc Burning. If you see a drive there, and in the CD-Write: row it says -R, -RW, then you can burn CDs.
  2. Create a Data CD. Place a blank disc on the tray, and close the drive either by pressing the front face, or by pressing the Open/Close key. If you see a dialog pop up, choose Open Finder from the pop-up menu, and select "Make this action the default" if this is how you will usually burn blank CDs.
    • The disc will appear on your desktop.
  3. Double click the disc icon. This will open a window that you can drag files and folders into. This will not remove the files from your computer, but will only copy them onto the disc.
  4. Organize your files on the CD. Arrange and rename the files as you want them to appear when you insert the burned CD. Once the disc is burned, the location and names of the files cannot be changed.
  5. Burn the disc. From the File menu, select Burn [discname], and then follow the instructions.

 


 


Apr 4, 2013

50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

Windows 8 is finally here, and if you're used to previous versions of Windows then you're going to notice that quite a bit has changed. In fact, Windows has seen the biggest changes since the jump from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95.
Out goes the Start menu, in comes the new touch-oriented Start screen, new apps, new interface conventions - even experienced PC users may be left feeling a little lost.
Don't despair, though, help is at hand with the following Windows 8 tutorial. We've been investigating every part of Windows 8, uncovering many of its most important tips and tricks, so read our guide and you'll soon be equipped to get the most out of Microsoft's latest release.

1. Lock screen

Windows 8 opens on its lock screen, which looks pretty but unfortunately displays no clues about what to do next.
It's all very straightforward, though. Just tap the space bar, spin the mouse wheel or swipe upwards on a touch screen to reveal a regular login screen with the user name you created during installation. Enter your password to begin.

2. Basic navigation

Windows 8 launches with its new interface, all colourful tiles and touch-friendly apps. And if you're using a tablet then it'll all be very straightforward: just swipe left or right to scroll the screen, and tap any tile of interest.
On a regular desktop, though, you might alternatively spin the mouse wheel to scroll backwards and forwards.
And you can also use the keyboard. Press the Home or End keys to jump from one end of your Start screen to the other, for instance, then use the cursor keys to select a particular tile, tapping Enter to select it. Press the Windows key to return to the Start screen; right-click (or swipe down on) apps you don't need and select Unpin to remove them; and drag and drop the other tiles around to organise them as you like.
50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

3. App groups

The Start screen apps are initially displayed in a fairly random order, but if you'd prefer a more organised life then it's easy to sort them into custom groups.
You might drag People, Mail, Messaging and Calendar over to the left-hand side, for instance, to form a separate 'People' group. Click the 'minus' icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to zoom out and you'll now find you can drag and drop the new group (or any of the others) around as a block.
Right-click within the block (while still zoomed out) and you'll also be able to give the group a name, which - if you go on to add another 20 or 30 apps to your Start screen - will make it much easier to find the tools you need.
50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

4. Quick access menu

Right-click in the bottom left corner (or hold down the Windows key and press X) for a text-based menu that provides easy access to lots of useful applets and features: Device Manager, Control Panel, Explorer, the Search dialog and more.
50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

5. Find your applications

The Win+X menu is useful, but no substitute for the old Start menu as it doesn't provide access to your applications. To find this, hold down the Windows key and press Q or either right-click an empty part of the Start screen or swipe your finger up from the bottom of the screen and select 'All Apps' to reveal a scrolling list of all your installed applications. Browse the various tiles to find what you need and click the relevant app to launch it.
50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

6. Easy access

Get more
Sony AIO
If there's an application you use all the time then you don't have to access it via the search system. Pin it to the Start screen and it'll be available at a click.
Start by typing part of the name of your application. To access Control Panel, for instance, type 'Control'. Right-click the 'Control Panel' tile on the Apps Search screen, and click 'Pin to Start'. If you're using a touchscreen, press and hold the icon, then flick down and select 'Pin to Start'.
Now press the Windows key, scroll to the right and you'll see the Control Panel tile at the far end. Drag and drop this over to the left somewhere if you'd like it more easily accessible, then click the tile to open the desktop along with the Control Panel window, and press the Windows key to return you to the Start screen when you're done.

7. Shutting down

To shut Windows 8 down, just move the mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of the screen, click the Settings icon - or just hold down the Windows key and press I - and you'll see a power button. Click this and choose 'Shut Down' or 'Restart'.
Some of the tricks available in previous versions of Windows still apply. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, for instance, click the power button in the bottom right-hand corner and you'll be presented with the same 'Shut Down' and 'Restart' options.
And if you're on the desktop, press Alt+F4 and you'll be able to choose 'Shut Down', 'Restart', 'Sign Out' or 'Switch User' options.
50 Windows 8 tips, tricks and secrets

Mar 31, 2013

Running Windows 8 From a USB Flash Drive

You can install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a USB flash drive and run it from there. The performance of the system when booted from an USB attached device depends on the performance of USB port.
This post gives step-by-step instruction on how to setup Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a USB drive.

Before we start

What we need:
Since we are going to do low level system stuff you should make sure that you have a current backup of the PC you are working on.

Preparing the USB drive

  • Connect the USB device to your PC
  • Open cmd.exe in administrator mode
  • Create the boot partition on the USB drive:
    • Go to folder c:\windows\system32
    • Run diskpart
    • Get the USB drive’s disk number: list disk
    • Select the USB drive as active drive: select disk <disk number>
    • Purge existing partions from the drive: clean
    • Create a new primary partition: create partition primary
    • Quick-format as bootable NTFS: format fs=ntfs quick
    • Set partition as active: active
    • Close diskpart: exit

Extract the image file for Windows 8 Consumer Preview from the ISO file

  • Mount the ISO file
    If you are running Windows 8 you can mount it as virtual disk.
    On Windows 7 you need the help of a third-party utility like MagicISO or you could burn the ISO on a disk.
  • Copy the image file
    The image file image.wim can be found in the sources folder of the ISO image.
    Create a new folder on your local hard drive (e.g. c:\ win8onusb) and copy the image.wim file to that folder.

Installing the image on the USB drive

  • Install the AIK
  • Get imagex.exe from the AIK
    In C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools you find three versions. Select the one that matches the architecture of the Windows image you plan to install.
    E.g. when you want to install a 32-bit Windows 8 version get the version from x86 folder.
    Copy imagex.exe to the folder (e.g. c:\win8onusb) which already has the image.wim file.
  • Install the image
    Check which drive letter is assigned to the USB drive (e.g. g:).
    On the command prompt cd to the folder containing the image.wim file (e.g. c:\win8onusb)
    Run the following command to install the image:
    imagex.exe /apply install.wim 1 g:\ (replace g with the drive letter of your USB drive)
    This will take some time…
  • Add the boot record
    At the command prompt enter:
    bcdboot.exe g:\windows /s g: (replace g with the drive letter of your USB drive)
That’s it.

First boot

  • Make sure that your PC’s BIOS is setup to boot from USB.
    In addition you might have to tweak the order of the hard disks listed in the BIOS, if the USB device is listed there.
  • During the first startup the PC hardware will be detected.
    This might take some time. It will then reboot and present the screen requesting the product key.

Mar 19, 2013

HowTo: Connect Two Wireless Router Wirelessly ( Bridge ) With Open Source Software

ou can setup a wireless connection between two routers only so that it will link a wireless network to a wired network allowing you to bridge two networks with different infrastructure. You can find wireless access points products that offer either a "bridge" mode or a "repeater" mode. In this post I'm going to explain three popular open source choices that can be used for setting up a wireless bridge.

Sample setup

Consider the following network diagram:
Fig.01: Wireless client setup
Fig.01: Wireless client setup
  • You connect to the Internet using standalone ADSL2 modem with 202.54.1.1 public IP address.
  • SSID set to nixcraft on wireless # 1 and an IP address set to 192.168.1.2. This router is located in downstairs and connected to ADSL2 modem.
  • SSID set to nixcraft on wireless # 2 and an IP address set to 192.168.1.1. This router works in client bridge mode and located in upstairs.
  • All computers and devices connected to wireless router #1 and #2 can share files and other resources with each other.
Fig.02: Access point as a wireless bridge
Fig.02: Access point as a wireless bridge

Where,
  • This setup saves electricity and resources by removing standalone ADSL 2 modem.
  • You connect to the Internet using combo ADSL2 modem plus wireless router (AP) with 202.54.1.1 public IP address. This router is called wireless #1 and SSID is set to nixcraft. This device has two IP address and it is located in downstairs.
  • SSID set to nixcraft on wireless # 2 and an IP address set to 192.168.1.1. This router works in client bridge mode and located in upstairs.
  • All computers and devices connected to wireless router #1 and #2 can share files and other resources with each other.

Software (3rd party firmware)

You can use the following software / firemware to get the addition features which are not typically included in a manufacturer's router firmware such as client mode wireless bridge. You can either setup a full WAP or just bridge your LAN so that wireless devices can get access to all LAN resources transparently.
  1. DD-WRT : Linux-based alternative OpenSource firmware for wireless routers. It works for several routers, most notably the Linksys. It works great with variety of wireless routers and embedded systems. This is recommend for new users as it comes with easy to use web-gui.
  2. Tomato : Another simple and easy to use replacement firmware for Linksys' WRT54G/GL/GS, Buffalo WHR-G54S/WHR-HP-G54, Asus and other Broadcom-based routers. It features a new easy to use GUI, a new bandwidth usage monitor, more advanced QOS and access restrictions, enables new wireless features such as WDS and wireless client modes, raises the limits on maximum connections for P2P, allows you to run your custom scripts or telnet/ssh in and do all sorts of things like re-program the SES/AOSS button, adds wireless site survey to see your wifi neighbors, and more. This is recommend for new users as it comes with easy to use web-gui.
  3. OpenWrt : OpenWrt is not just firmware but it is often described as a complete Linux distribution for embedded devices. Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application. This firmware is recommend for advanced users only.
  4. DIY option - You can install Linux or FreeBSD/OpenBSD based operating systems and create a full WAP or just a bridge. This option requires good understanding of Unix, networks and embedded devices.
I strongly recommend DD-wrt for new users and openwrt for advanced Linux users.

Hardware

I've used the following devices in last couple of years for personal usage:
  1. Linksys WRT 54 with DD-WRT firmware.
  2. Dlink DIR-615 with DD-WRT firmware.
  3. Asus RT 16 with Tomato firmware.
  4. Soekris net4801 with DIY option. You can use Debian/Ubuntu/CentOS Linux and FreeBSD/OpeNBSD. This option is only recommended for advanced hardcore unix users.
You can find list of supported router hardware by visiting the following pages:

Example: Configuring Asus RT-16 as a wireless bridge

Let us see how to configure a wireless connection between two routers only as discussed earlier with tomato firmware.

Wireless # 1: ADSL2+router configuration

This is my ADSL 2 modem + wireless router (netgear N600) that connects to my ISP. This is my primary router and it is called wireless #1. Open a browser and type:
http://192.168.1.2
Make sure LAN setup is as follows:
Fig.03: Netgear N600 (DGND3700) Static Lan IP Configuration For Wireless Bridge
Fig.03: Netgear N600 (DGND3700) Static Lan IP Configuration For Wireless Bridge
  1. Set the IP address of your router in dotted decimal notation to 192.168.1.2 (factory default: 192.168.0.1).
  2. Also set IP subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. Your router will automatically calculate the subnet mask based on the IP address that you assign. Unless you are implementing subnetting, use 255.255.255.0 as the subnet mask (computed by the router).
Setup wireless as follows:
Fig.02: Prepare Netgear N600 / DGND3700 For Wireless Client Bridge Mode
Fig.04: Prepare Netgear N600 / DGND3700 For Wireless Client Bridge Mode
  1. Set SSID to nixcraft.
  2. Setup mode as per your requirements. I set it to 300Mbps performance mode, with a maximum Wireless-N speed.
  3. Set security options to WPA2-PSK standard encryption with the AES encryption type.
  4. Finally, set the WPA passphrase (network key) as per your requirements. For demonstration purpose I set it to "Neil_Armstrong".

Wireless # 2: Router client bridge configuration

I'm assuming that you've already replaced your default firmware with DD-WRT/Tomato/Open-WRT. In this example, I'm going to use tomato firmware.

How do I use Tomato firmware as wireless ethernet bridge?

Fire a web browser and type the following url:
http://192.168.1.1
Click on Basic > Networking. Make sure LAN is setup as follows:
Fig.05: Totmato USB firmware LAN setup for wireless bridge
Fig.05: Totmato USB firmware LAN setup for wireless bridge
  1. Make sure router IP address is set to 192.168.1.1.
  2. Make sure subnet is set to 255.255.255.0.
  3. Make sure default gateway is set to 192.168.1.2 (IP address of wireless # 1).
  4. Make sure static DNS is set to 192.168.1.2 (IP address of wireless # 1). However, you can set it to OpenDNS or Google DNS.
Scroll down to the Wireless section and set it as follows:
Fig.06: Tomato wireless settings for br0
Fig.06: Tomato wireless settings for br0
  1. Set wireless mode to "Wireless Ethernet Bridge".
  2. Set wireless network mode to "N only" or as per your requirements.
  3. set SSID to "nixcraft".
  4. Set security to "WPA-2 Personal" and encryption to "TKIP/AES".
  5. Set shared key to WPA passphrase In this example set it to "Neil_Armstrong".
Click on Advanced > Routing:
Fig.07: Setup tomato in gateway mode
Fig.07: Setup tomato in gateway mode
  1. Set mode to "Gateway"
  2. Make sure RIP1 & v2 set in "Disabled" mode.
  3. Turn on "DHCP routes" for dhcp relays i.e. send all dhcp requests to DHCP server located at 192.168.1.2 (or any other server on LAN)
Click on Advanced > Firewall. Set it as follows:
Fig.08: Firewall settings for br0
Fig.08: Firewall settings for br0

You are done. Configure any other settings you wish at this point. To see current router status click on Status > Overview:
Fig.09: Tomato status page - running in a bridge mode
Fig.09: Tomato status page - running in a bridge mode
Have any advice for better 3rd party firmware or software? Let's hear them in the comments.

How to block Facebook


How to block Facebook in Internet Explorer only


1. Open Internet Explorer and click Tools
2. Click Internet Options and then click on the Content tab
3. Click the Enable button
4. Click on the Approved Sites tab
5. Enter facebook.com in the box
6. Click Never and then OK
7. In the appeared window enter and confirm your new password
8. Click on the General tab and make sure to select Users can see websites that have no ratings
9. Click OK

How to block Facebook using the Hosts file

The location of the hosts file depends on your operation system.
Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Note! Make a backup of the hosts file and put it somewhere safe, in case you mess up.

1. Open the hosts file using Notepad or other plain text editor.
2. Copy the following:
   # block facebook
   127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com
   127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
   127.0.0.1 blog.facebook.com
   127.0.0.1 apps.facebook.com
3. Paste it into the Hosts file after 127.0.0.1 localhost
4. Save and close the Hosts file.
5. Reboot your computer to apply the changes.
6. Try to open Facebook in a browser.

Note! Pay attention that when you block Facebook using the Hosts file users can access Facebook through the HTTPS protocol

Note! Pay attention that Google Chrome may ignore the Hosts file.

Mar 12, 2013

How to set up an ip camera step by step

special price for ip camera

First to know

This tutorial about installing an ip camera covers almost all of our ip cameras,so you can use this tutorial to install any ip camera bought from our website.

Three connection ways:

  1. Installation in LAN.

    This is the most popular network access way. As long as there is a router, using internet cable directly connect router to IP Camera, then IP Camera can be connected to Internet as normal PC, as the following picture shows:
    installation in Lan
  2. PPoE Installation

    Under this condition, users need to set PPPoE dialing parameter in IP Camera: input the username and password which ISP supplier�?offer, the users permit to connect the IP Camera to Internet by dialing connects. As to set the PPPoE dialing parameter, you can connect device to network through the first way, then write parameter to the device, also through following third way, direct process parameter written to device. The way how to set PPPoE, please refer to 3.4.5.for detailed steps

    PPoE Installation
  3. IP Camera PC connection

    This method does not use frequently, when you process machine write parameter or program shift, we suggest you adopt the first connect network way, to process the modification of machine parameter.
    ip camera connect to pc directly

 

Begin to setup

STEP 1 Use Finder
Open the disk, double click "F series" folder,and double click "software" folder,"DevFind" search bar icon will be found ,double click search bar, then appear the following interface:
ip camera tool

If the internet cable power connect is correct, it appears device styles, name, and IP address in the device list, (if it doesn’t appear, please confirm power & internet cable work normally).
As the interface, left side is the current computer configuration information; right side is the selected device network configuration information. Default IP camera address is 192.168.1.126, HTTP interface is 80.
Note:
1. Device information indicates IP camera information.
2. When current computer is the stable IP, (none DHCP IP), the first time use IP Camera, you could click auto set, to sync local Information to the IP camera IP address, gateway and DNS
3.If it needs manual modify camera name, HTTP interface, IP address, sub-net mask, gateway, main DNS server, backup DNS server, etc. please click apply after modification, enter IP camera username and password, click confirm is OK.
4. Inner visit address is LAN visit address; outer visit address is WAN visit address.
5. When IP camera connects to outer net by the first way, before outer net visit IP camera, port forwarding is necessary in the senior router: analog server set. e.g., IP address of one device in the LAN: 192.168.1.126, port is 80, so it’s necessary to open IP: 192.168.1.126 port 80(TCP) in router, besides, in the same LAN, different camera should come with different port, to make sure there is no port interference in LAN;
6. About port forwarding in the router, please refers to other chapter in router port forwarding set.
STEP 2 Logging and Active X Installation
Open the disk, double click "F Series" file, and double click "Software" file, "DevFind" "search bar icon will be found, double click search bar, then appear the following interface:
ip camera finder
If the internet cable power connect is correct, it appears device styles, name, and IP address in the device list, (if it doesn’t appear, please confirm power & internet cable work normally).
As the interface, left side is the current computer configuration information; right side is the selected device network configuration information. Default IP camera address is 192.168.1.126, HTTP interface is 80.
Note:
1. Device information indicates IP camera information.
2. When current computer is the stable IP, (none DHCP IP), the first time use IP Camera, you could click auto set, to sync local Information to the IP camera IP address, gateway and DNS
3.If it needs manual modify camera name, HTTP interface, IP address, sub-net mask, gateway, main DNS server, backup DNS server, etc. please click apply after modification, enter IP camera username and password, click confirm is OK.
4. Inner visit address is LAN visit address; outer visit address is WAN visit address.
5. When IP camera connects to outer net by the first way, before outer net visit IP camera, port forwarding is necessary in the senior router: analog server set. e.g., IP address of one device in the LAN: 192.168.1.126, port is 80, so it’s necessary to open IP: 192.168.1.126 port 80(TCP) in router, besides, in the same LAN, different camera should come with different port, to make sure there is no port interference in LAN;
6. About port forwarding in the router, please refers to other chapter in router port forwarding set.
STEP 3 Operation Keys
Enter device, on left side displays monitor image, right side is control used for operations:
  1. Equipment Status
    When login name or password is wrong, it will show the following hint:
    fail to connection to ip camera
  2. Administrator Operation
    Click Sign in, a pop-up will show

    ip camera window
  3. Operation
    1. Image mirror indicates a reverse image
    2. Resolution, mode, brightness, contrast default setting are: 320*240,50HZ,6,4,mode is mainly for the adjustment of Light strength, please adjust to 60HZ when light is poor or in dark.
    3. There are 3 browse modes in IE mode: visitor, operator, administrator, the authority of administrator is the highest, log in different authorities, the operation will be different. Regarding to 3 user authorities, please refer to 3.4.4. Equipment User Administration.


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