Windows Tip: Simulate "No to All" in file copy dialog

When you try to copy a group of files from one folder to another,
Windows will bring up a handy little window if it notices files in the
target directory with the same name as files from the source directory.
You can manually choose which files to overwrite or leave be one by
one. Or you can click "Yes to All" to effectively overwrite every file
with a duplicate name in the target directory.

But
what if you want to click "No to All?" There's no button for you, but
that doesn't mean Windows won't let you skip all the duplicate files.
All you have to do is hold down the Shift key and click No. Now Windows
will skip all files with duplicate names and copy the rest of your
files to the new directory, thus saving you a lot of time, heartache,
and repetitive finger motions.

[via Online Tech Tips and Tech Xpress]

Credits: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/04/11/windows-tip-simulate-no-to-all-in-file-copy-dialog/

How To Make A Shutdown Virus

In this tutorial you will learn how to make a virus joke to your friends and shut down their computer. Replace one of their used icons on the desktop with a fake one. And when they try to open it, their computer will close.

1. Right click on the desktop and go to New -> Create Shortcut.



2. Type in the windows that appears: shutdown -s -t 60 -c "Virus Detection. Computer is shutting down." Instead of 60 you can put what value you want. It represents the time in seconds. And also between quotes you can put what message you desire.



3. Click Next and type Internet Explorer. You can write whatever you want.



4. You will have a program like this on your desktop.



5. We need to change its icon to look like Internet Explorer. Right click on it and choose Properties.



6. Go to Shortcut ->Change Icon.



7. You can find the icon in the ones available or go to C:/Program Files/ Internet Explorer and select the icon from there.





8. After the icon is selected press Open.



9. The 'virus' will look like Internet Explorer.



10. And when you open it the computer will be closed in 60 seconds or whatever value you chosed.



11. The only way to stop the computer from shutting down is to go to Start->Run and type shutdown -a, and press Enter



Remember that this is just for educational purposes only and you should not harm computers and their functionality.

If you like this article maybe you are interested on How to Make a Scary Pop-Up.

Credits: http://howto.helpero.com/howto/Make-A-Shutdown-Virus_129.html

Ubuntu 8.04 Brings Power and Polish to the Linux Desktop

By Scott Gilbertson April 24, 2008 | 7:30:00 AM

The
latest version of Ubuntu Linux is hot off the press and ready for
download. Ubuntu 8.04 brings number of important improvements to the
popular Linux distribution. While none of the new features are
necessarily glamorous on their own, together theymake for a significantly more polished Linux desktop.

Ubuntu
8.04, nick-named "Hardy Heron," is the second Long Term Support (LTS)
release from Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company. LTS releases come with
official support for three years on the desktop and five on the
server, making Ubuntu 8.04 an important release for business customers.
It also means that 8.04 focuses on evolutionary improvements that build
on the strength of existing features ratherthan introducing revolutionary new toys.

Which
isn’t to say that this release is lacking in the new feature
department; there’s plenty to love in Ubuntu 8.04. In fact, if you’ve
been considering making the switch to Linux, Hardy Heron is one of theeasiest and best ways to jump on the Linux bandwagon.

The
main distribution of Ubuntu, which uses the Gnome desktop, has been
upgraded to use Gnome 2.22. Although the latest version of Gnome looks
much like its predecessors, it adds some great new stuff under thehood.

The most interesting new feature for those looking to switch from Windows is Wubi,
a single-click Ubuntu installer for Windows. Wubi neatly eliminates
installation hassles like disk partitioning and other details and
allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu (or any Linux variant) justlike any other Windows application.

Perhaps most welcome is the
inclusion of GVFS, which replaces the old GNOME-VFS system. It might
look like acronym soup, but the new Virtual File System offers much
better ways to manage your documents. With GVFS all your mounted
volumes — whether it’s a Samba share, SSH connection or local disk —
behave in a uniform manner. Also new isability to pause and undo file operations in the Nautilus file browser.

Ubuntu 8.04 also features a new
version of Xorg, which offers much better auto-configuration options
for setting up your monitor. The new Screen Resolution utility also
makes it easier to dynamically changeyour screen resolution and control a second or external monitor.

Other significant under-the-hood
changes are aimed at improving security — like the new PolicyKit
interface which makes it easy to allow or deny access to applications
and even specific parts of applications. PolicyKit is a huge step
forward for administratorslooking to maintain tight control over their systems.

There’s also a new version of
PulseAudio in this release. PulseAudio is the background sound system
that applications hook into to provide audio playback. Ubuntu 8.04
improves on previous versions by offeringPulseAudio support for almost all applications.

There’s
also a host of new Gnome applications in Ubuntu 8.04, including the
Brasero disc burning utility, which makes burning a CD or DVD a snap,
as well as Transmission, a new BitTorrent client. Brasero is a much
better program than its predecessor, but Transmission hasn’t impressed
me. I enjoy Transmission on the Mac, but unfortunately the Linux
version isn’t quite up to speed. Naturally you can always swap itout for the client of your choice.

Third
party apps have been updated for this release as well, including
Firefox 3, despite that fact that the browser is still in the beta
stage. However, by including the beta version now, it will be much
easier for Ubuntu users to upgrade to the final release when it’savailable in June.

In
my review of the beta version of Ubuntu 8.04 I noted that the planned
new look for Ubuntu 8.04 had been pushed back until the next release.
But while that’s true, as FOSSwire points out in their review, the new theme is included,
it just isn’t the default. If you head into the Appearance panel you
can enable the new look (or customize things however you’dlike).

For
those that prefer the KDE desktop, the new Kubuntu 8.04 has also been
released and features KDE 4, with the Dolphin file manager and other
KDE 4 goodness. If you’re not ready to make the leap, KDE 3 is still
included and now has the Compiz desktop effects enabled by default. The
latest versions of the Amarok music player and otherpopular KDE apps are included as well.

Also
updated are the other Ubuntu variants, Xubuntu (Xfce desktop) and
Edubuntu (aimed at the education market), as well as two new versions
that join the Ubuntu fold — UbuntuStudio (multimedia edition)and Mythbuntu (DVR and more).

Existing users can upgrade their systems using these instructions.

If you’d like to take the latest version of Ubuntu for a spin, you can grab a live CD or DVD from the Ubuntu download site. Other variations can be downloaded from their respective websites.

Linux
still isn’t for everyone (and probably never will be), but if you’re
unhappy with your current OS and looking for a change, Ubuntu 8.04
offers enough hand-holding and easy-to-use apps to make anexcellent and comfortable introduction to Linux.

Credits: Wired.Com

By Scott Gilbertson April 24, 2008 | 7:30:00 AM

The latest version of Ubuntu Linux is hot off
the press and ready for download. Ubuntu 8.04 brings number of
important improvements to the popular Linux distribution. While none of
the new features are necessarily glamorous on their own, together they
make for a significantly more polished Linux desktop.

Ubuntu 8.04, nick-named "Hardy Heron," is the second Long Term
Support (LTS) release from Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company. LTS
releases come with official support for three years on the desktop and
five on the server, making Ubuntu 8.04 an important release for
business customers. It also means that 8.04 focuses on evolutionary
improvements that build on the strength of existing features rather
than introducing revolutionary new toys.

Which isn’t to say that this release is lacking in the new feature
department; there’s plenty to love in Ubuntu 8.04. In fact, if you’ve
been considering making the switch to Linux, Hardy Heron is one of the
easiest and best ways to jump on the Linux bandwagon.

The
main distribution of Ubuntu, which uses the Gnome desktop, has been
upgraded to use Gnome 2.22. Although the latest version of Gnome looks
much like its predecessors, it adds some great new stuff under the
hood.

The most interesting new feature for those looking to switch from Windows is Wubi,
a single-click Ubuntu installer for Windows. Wubi neatly eliminates
installation hassles like disk partitioning and other details and
allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu (or any Linux variant) just
like any other Windows application.

Perhaps most welcome is the inclusion of GVFS, which replaces the
old GNOME-VFS system. It might look like acronym soup, but the new
Virtual File System offers much better ways to manage your documents.
With GVFS all your mounted volumes — whether it’s a Samba share, SSH
connection or local disk — behave in a uniform manner. Also new is
ability to pause and undo file operations in the Nautilus file browser.

Ubuntu 8.04 also features a new version of Xorg, which offers much
better auto-configuration options for setting up your monitor. The new
Screen Resolution utility also makes it easier to dynamically change
your screen resolution and control a second or external monitor.

Other significant under-the-hood changes are aimed at improving
security — like the new PolicyKit interface which makes it easy to
allow or deny access to applications and even specific parts of
applications. PolicyKit is a huge step forward for administrators
looking to maintain tight control over their systems.

There’s also a new version of PulseAudio in this release. PulseAudio
is the background sound system that applications hook into to provide
audio playback. Ubuntu 8.04 improves on previous versions by offering
PulseAudio support for almost all applications.

There’s also a host of new Gnome applications in Ubuntu 8.04,
including the Brasero disc burning utility, which makes burning a CD or
DVD a snap, as well as Transmission, a new BitTorrent client. Brasero
is a much better program than its predecessor, but Transmission hasn’t
impressed me. I enjoy Transmission on the Mac, but unfortunately the
Linux version isn’t quite up to speed. Naturally you can always swap it
out for the client of your choice.

Third party apps have been updated for this release as well,
including Firefox 3, despite that fact that the browser is still in the
beta stage. However, by including the beta version now, it will be much
easier for Ubuntu users to upgrade to the final release when it’s
available in June.

In my review of the beta version of Ubuntu 8.04 I noted that the
planned new look for Ubuntu 8.04 had been pushed back until the next
release. But while that’s true, as FOSSwire points out in their review, the new theme is
included, it just isn’t the default. If you head into the Appearance
panel you can enable the new look (or customize things however you’d
like).

For those that prefer the KDE desktop, the new Kubuntu 8.04 has also
been released and features KDE 4, with the Dolphin file manager and
other KDE 4 goodness. If you’re not ready to make the leap, KDE 3 is
still included and now has the Compiz desktop effects enabled by
default. The latest versions of the Amarok music player and other
popular KDE apps are included as well.

Also updated are the other Ubuntu variants, Xubuntu (Xfce desktop)
and Edubuntu (aimed at the education market), as well as two new
versions that join the Ubuntu fold — UbuntuStudio (multimedia edition)
and Mythbuntu (DVR and more).

Existing users can upgrade their systems using these instructions.

If you’d like to take the latest version of Ubuntu for a spin, you can grab a live CD or DVD from the Ubuntu download site. Other variations can be downloaded from their respective websites.

Linux still isn’t for everyone (and probably never will be), but if
you’re unhappy with your current OS and looking for a change, Ubuntu
8.04 offers enough hand-holding and easy-to-use apps to make an
excellent and comfortable introduction to Linux.

Credits: Wired.Com

The Best-ever Freeware Utilities

The Best-ever Freeware Utilities

"A kind of WikiPedia for Freeware"

There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as
good as or better than their commercial alternatives. This
community-based site features our pick of the "best of the best." If
you disagree feel free to add your own suggestions or comments for the
benefit of others.

Select the broad class of freeware program you are looking for

• Security / Privacy / Encryption
• Internet: Email / IM / FTP / File sharing / Download managements
• Enhancements to Windows / Desktop
• Computer maintenance / Performance
• System utilities / Backup / Data recovery
• Audio / Video / CD / DVD­
• Office / Administration / Personal productivity
• Digital imaging / Photo software­
• Technical / Programming
• Applications

Light A Flame Under Firefox's Memory Usage

Firefox Too Fat

Hunting around a bit I found an excellent little post that explains how to stop this memory vacuum from getting away from you.

1. Simply type about:config in your browser’s address bar.
2. On the resulting screen, right-click and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the input box that appears, type config.trim_on_minimize. Press enter.
4. Select True, and hit enter.

What this does is causes Firefox to dump to your hard drive when you
minimize it. Upon re-maximization, it loads back into RAM, but at a
fraction of the bloated size it was. As an example, I just checked
Firefox’s memory usage. With three tabs open, I was sitting around 80
MB of RAM being used. On minimization, this immediately dropped to
under 10 MB. The upon maximization, it went up to 40 MB or so.

As I often have a lot of application open at once, the ability to
control their memory usage like this is fantastic. If you use
Thunderbird as your mail program, you can make the exact same
modification. To get into the About Config, simply navigate to Tools / Options / Advanced / Config Editor.

Firefox is too slow

If you’re on high speed Internet, you’re also going to want to
consider this little speed-up trick. By default Firefox is set to only
download pages to your browser with four simultaneous connections. This
is alright if you’re on dial-up, but broadband can handle a lot more
than that.

1. Again type about:config in your browser’s address bar.
2. On the config page, look for these three entries: network.http.pipelining, network.http.proxy.pipelining, and network.http.pipelining.maxrequests.
3. Change network.http.pipelining and network.http.proxy.pipelining to True.
4. Change network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to a higher number based on your net speed - somewhere between 10 and 30 ought to do it.
5. As a final step, right-click the screen and select New-> Integer. Name it nglayout.initialpaint.delay and set its value to “0″. This sets the amount of time the browser sits on its ass before acting.

See the original article at Forever Geek. And if you are using IE, bang your head against your desk five times and then check out this video for a solution just for you.

And finally, if that’s not enough - check out this nifty tool for tuning up Firefox. Appropriately named FireTune, the free application from Totalidea Software tunes up Firefox to work faster (very likely by implementing some of the above).

Clocking the results

So to test if any of these tweaks did anything but make me feel like it should be going faster - I put it through the Stopwatch - a neat little Web app that clocks a site’s load time. The results?

9.0s - With original (non-modified) setup.

8.2s - After FireTune automatic tweak.

9.3s - After the Forever Geek mod (faster, huh?).

7.0s - Combination of the FireTune and Forever Geek mod.

Now, it should be noted, that as I’m located in China, my load times
are going to be a bit slower due to sheer distance in accessing most
(US-based) sites. Whatever the case, a 1 to 2 second improvement isn’t
much to e-mail home about.

Let me know if you have any tricks or tips that you find improve your Firefox or browser experience.

Source: http://www.daobydesign.com/blog/2007/09/light-a-flame-under-firefoxs-memory-usage/

The 100 top Web apps for 2008

These are the 100 best Web 2.0 applications, chosen by Webware readers and Internet users across the globe. Over 1.9 million votes were cast to select these Webware 100 winners:

These are the 100 best Web 2.0 applications, chosen by Webware readers and Internet users across the globe. Over 1.9 million votes were cast to select these Webware 100 winners:

Rafe's analysis of the results

Webware 100 Navigator!

Music

Browsing

Commerce and Events

Communication

Productivity

Publishing and Photography

Search and Reference

Social

Utility and Security

Video

Source: http://www.webware.com/html/ww/100/2008/winners.html?tag=nefd.lede