Google

Opera AdBlock


Easy way to block ads is to disabling the IFrames & JavaScript globally and enabling them for required sites in site preferences.



To block particular JavaScript or IFrame ad in a page, open info panel, note path under Scripts or Inline frames and add it to content blocker. Tools > Preferences... > Advanced > Content > Blocked Content... > Add...



To block flash use Flashblock for Opera 9+.



From Opera 9.50, you can enable/disable content blocker globally using Block Ads button or per site basis using site preferences. F12 > Edit Site Preferences... > Content > Enable content blocking




  • Large urlfilter.ini file will increase startup time of Opera.

  • You will get blank page when you try to visit a site blocked by content blocker.



A frequently updated filters can be downloaded from



Optimized filter to block most of the ads

Add the following under [exclude] section of urlfilter.ini file (see this if you don't have one) after closing Opera.

*-ad.cgi*
*-ads/*
*.2o7.net*
*.ad-*
*.ad.*
*.adbrite.*
*.adrevolver.*
*.ads.*
*.adserver.*
*.adtomi.*
*.advertising.*
*.atdmt.*
*.banner*
*.blogads.*
*.buysellads.*
*.casalemedia.*
*.click*
*.directtrack.*
*.doubleclick.*
*.etology.*
*.fastclick.*
*.google.*/adfetch*
*.googleadservices.*
*.googlesyndication.*
*.kontera.*
*.linkbuddies.*
*.mochibot.*
*.overture.*
*.pheedo.*
*.qksrv.*
*.quantserve.*
*.roar.*
*.slickkicks.*
*.tradedoubler.*
*.tradepub.*
*.trafficzap.*
*.tribalfusion.*
*/accresults.*
*/ad.*
*/ad/*
*/ad_*
*/adbot.*
*/adc_*
*/adclient.*
*/adcouncil/*
*/adframe.*
*/adgifs/*
*/adgraph/*
*/adimages/*
*/adinfo*
*/adlog.*
*/adlog/*
*/adrotator.*
*/ads.*
*/ads/*
*/ads_*
*/advert*
*/adview.*
*/affiliates/*.js
*/banner/*
*/banners/*
*/hotfreebies.html*
*/housead/*
*/liveads/*
*/pagead/*
*/phpads/*
*/pop.cgi*
*/pop.htm
*/pops/*
*/poptest.*
*/popup/*
*/printads/*
*/redir.asp*
*/skyscraper/*
*/softad/*
*/sponsor/*
*/sponsors/*
*/tw/adt*
*120x240*
*120x600*
*120x90*
*160x600*
*234x60*
*336x280*
*468x60*
*728x90*
*_ad.js
*_ad_*
*_ads.js
*_ads_*
*_advert*
*_adx_*
*_banner_*
*_borders/*
*_superad*
*a.p.f.qz.*
*a.r.tv.*
*ad-flow*
*ad.trafficmp.*
*ad_type*
*adbot*
*adclick*
*adclix*
*adclub*
*adcycle*
*adflight*
*adframe*
*adimage*
*adknowledge*
*adlink*
*adlogix.*
*admaximize*
*admex*
*admonitor*
*adpulse*
*adrunner*
*adserv*
*adsoftware*
*adswap*
*adtomi.*
*aureate*
*avenuea*
*banner.*
*banners.*
*bluestreak.*
*burstmedia*
*burstnet*
*clickxchange*
*darkblue.*
*darkbluesea.*
*dbbsrv.*
*exitpopup*
*flycast*
*focalink*
*headerpopup*
*hitexchange*
*hitlist*
*hitsites*
*houseads_*
*i.us.rmi.yahoo.*
*imaginemedia*
*intellitxt*
*jsads*
*linkads*
*linkexchange*
*linkpopup*
*linkshare*
*linksynergy*
*media.fastclick*
*paypopup*
*popieen.*
*popme.*
*popunder*
*popupad*
*ps.interpolls.*
*radiate*
*secure.webconnect*
*smartsize_*
*spinbox.versiontracker.*
*spylog*
*subs.timeinc.*
*toolbar.google.*
*trafic.ro/*
*us.a1.yimg.*
*us.f.yahoofs.*
*valueclick*
*x.mycity.*
*z.about.*
*zdmcirc*





The following will block most of the counters. Don't add the following filters if you want to show Opera in browser statistics.

*.123count.*
*.123counted.*
*.3dstats.*
*.4count.*
*.a-counters.*
*.acestats.*
*.addfreestats.*
*.aflashcounter.*
*.amazingcounters.*
*.analytics.live.*
*.christianstats.*
*.clickcounters.*
*.clickwit.*
*.coolwebcounter.*
*.count-all.*
*.counted.*
*.counter-intelligence.*
*.counter.*
*.counter4all.*
*.counterbot.*
*.countercentral.*
*.counters.*
*.counting4free.*
*.countmypage.*
*.countville.*
*.cqcounter.*
*.dataplain.*
*.debuging.*
*.devstats.*
*.digits.*
*.downloadcounter.*
*.dstats.*
*.easycounter.*
*.evostats.*
*.extreme-dm.*
*.extremewebstats.*
*.fakecounter.*
*.fastcounter.*
*.fastonlineusers.*
*.fhcotn.*
*.fishclix.*
*.flowcounter.*
*.free-hit-counter.*
*.free-hit-counters.*
*.free-stats.*
*.free-web-counters-online.*
*.freehitcounter.*
*.freeinvisiblecounters.*
*.freestats.*
*.freestatscounter.*
*.freeweblogger.*
*.fxcounters.*
*.geo.yahoo.*
*.goldstats.*
*.google-analytics.*
*.gostats.*
*.guesttrace.*
*.histats.*
*.hit-counter.*
*.hit-o-meter.*
*.hit-tracker.*
*.hitbox.*
*.hitmatic.*
*.hits-counter.*
*.hitscreen.*
*.hitstats.*
*.hypercounter.*
*.ideal-tracker.*
*.jellycounter.*
*.linkcounter.*
*.logclicks.*
*.magicounter.*
*.masterstats.*
*.max-stats.*
*.megastats.*
*.metacount.*
*.my-stats.*
*.myfreecounter.*
*.nedstat.*
*.nedstatbasic.*
*.nextgenstats.*
*.okcounter.*
*.onestat.*
*.onlinecount.*
*.opentracker.*
*.our-counter.*
*.paycounter.*
*.pinkcount.*
*.pluslog.*
*.pmstats.*
*.procounter.*
*.prostats.*
*.pstats.*
*.q-counter.*
*.qcounter.*
*.realtracker.*
*.refcount.*
*.reliablestats.*
*.relmaxtop.*
*.rightstats.*
*.s-tracking.*
*.servustats.*
*.shinystat.*
*.shockcounter.*
*.site-stats.*
*.sitemeter.*
*.sitestats.*
*.sitetracker.*
*.sitetrafficanalyzer.*
*.sitetrafficstats.*
*.statcounter.*
*.stats4all.*
*.stats4me.*
*.stats4you.*
*.statsbank.*
*.statsession.*
*.statsforyoursite.*
*.statsrjnc.*
*.statswhere.*
*.stattrax.*
*.supercounters.*
*.superstats.*
*.td-soft.*
*.tdstats.*
*.the-counter.*
*.thecounter.*
*.trackyourstats.*
*.trafficexaminer.*
*.trafficfile.*
*.trafficserverstats.*
*.true-counter.*
*.trustats.*
*.tulipstats.*
*.ultimatecounter.*
*.ultrastatsnet.*
*.urgentclick.*
*.usertracer.*
*.vioclicks.*
*.virtualmall.*
*.vstats.*
*.w3counter.*
*.web-stat.*
*.webcounter.*
*.webhitcounter.*
*.webhits.*
*.websitestatistics.*
*.websitetracker.*
*.websitetrafficreport.*
*.webstat.*
*.webstats4u.*
*.webtistic.*
*.webtrends.*
*.whowasthere.*
*.wundercounter.*
*.wysistat.*
*.xcounters.*
*.xstats.*
*.xxxcounter.*
*.yahoostats.*
*.yourstats.*
*counter*.bravenet.*
*counter.hitslink.*





To block Snap Preview Anywhere bubble, add the following to content blocker.

*spa.snap.com*





To save images from Flickr, add the following to content blocker.

*.yimg.com/*/spaceball.gif





If you don't have urlfilter.ini file, create a text file with the following, place it inside profile and restart Opera.

Opera Preferences version 2.1
; Do not edit this file while Opera is running
; This file is stored in UTF-8 encoding

[prefs]
prioritize excludelist=1

[include]
*

[exclude]
Remove this line and add ad block filters here.





Updates:

2007

Feb 1

Apr 7 (*i.imdb* removed as it blocks CSS.), 22

Jun 12

Sep 3,12

Oct 2 (*popup_* & *.mochiads.* removed), 8 (*_popup.* & */tracker/* removed.)

Nov 16



2008

Feb 24

Apr 13 (*/ads.* blocks Lifehacker CSS), 23

May 20

Jun 15, 28 (*.google.*cleardot.gif & *doubleclick* removed.)

Jul 2,3

Aug 8



2009

Jan 28

Mar 18, 30 (*view.atdmt* changed to *.atdmt.*.)

Aug 14


Flashblock for Opera 9+


UserJS-only version: FlashBlock.js (press Ctrl+Shift+F or Ctrl+Alt+F for permanent unblocking on the site; use Ctrl+Click for saving flash-video).

All versions for Opera 8-10: Flashblocker.zip

Replaces Flash objects with a button you can click to view them. Two variants: with text and graphic buttons. And simple variant, without buttons.

Based on Flashblock for FF and GspuSi Flash blocker for Opera 9.



FAQ

Q: It don't work.
A: It works :smile: . Please read description (FlashBlocker-info.txt) and do as it is written there. Possibly will become more clear for you, if you will look as it's done in Opera10USB.

Q: It don't work on certain site.
A: It's unlikely, but possibly. Please specify the address of problem site.

Q: Unblock of flash don't work on secure (https) sites.
A: Set UserJavaScriptonHTTPS.

Q: Standard Flashblock strange works in the Opera 10 alfa 1.
A: Try http://lexi.ucoz.ru/userjs/flashblocker.js . About installation UserJS written here. This bug fixed in Opera 10 build 1491.

Q: How to save flash/flash-video?
A: Use button.

Update
Fixed small problem with FlashBlocker.js.
Blocking of Silverlight is added.
Used icons from AVol.
A tooltip is shown with the address of flash (only if cursor of mouse from below).

Update
Added text buttons (for Opera 8 and 9)
A tooltip now is shown and on YouTube.

Update (08.05.2008)
Added variant flashblocker.zip\show flash size\. It looks fully like flashblock for FF.

Update (28.11.2008)
* Fixed problem on video.mail.ru.
* Loading flashblocker images in "Cached images" mode, commented out. Imho, in Opera 9.5 it not very stable.

Update (02.02.2009)
* Fixed rare problem with unblocking.
* Fixed a result deterioration in acid3 in the version for Opera 10.

Update (06.05.2009)
+ Silverlight blocking.

Update (20.05.2009)
+ Saving flash-video with Ctrl+Click. Supported any services with direct links (rutube.ru, world-art.ru, break.com, etc) plus youtube.com, video.google.com, metacafe.com and dailymotion.com.

Make Skype Portable

Skype is one of the more popular VOIP or Voice over IP peer to peer telephony clients. VOIP clients allow you to communicate with others using your internet connection. In the following tutorial, we explain how to run Skype from a USB device and bring the application with you, wherever you go.



Screenshot of Skype running Portably


Screenshot of Skype running Portably


Skype is a trademark of Skype Limited


The Portableskype.zip was created by Rob Loach


How to make Skype portable:



  1. Download Rob's portableskype.zip and extract the contents to your USB device

  2. Download Skype and run the installer

  3. Navigate to where Skype.exe was installed. Typically C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe

  4. Copy Skype.exe to the Skype folder on your USB device

  5. Use the PortableSkype.exe file on your USB device to launch Skype


To Remove Skype from your computer:


Click Start/Run and type APPWIZ.CPL in the run box. Click OK and proceed to uninstall or remove Skype from your PC.

1 Gigabyte is Not Equal to 1024 Megabytes

If you pickup any computer book or a computer magazine and look up the term Gigabyte, chances are that you will find that 1 gigabyte is equal 1024 megabytes, which is equal to 1024 kilobytes, which again in turn is equal to 1024 bytes. That’s what we have been taught and that’s what everyone thinks it is. But that definition of gigabyte, megabyte and kilobyte has changed nearly 8 years ago.

Traditionally, one gigabyte has been defined as 10233 bytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes or 230 bytes. This is the definition commonly used for computer memory and file sizes. Then in December 1998 the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the leading international organization for worldwide standardization in electrotechnology, introduced new symbols and prefixes for binary multiples and changed the earlier ones. According to the new definitions, one gigabyte no longer equals 10233 bytes but 10003 bytes and 10233 bytes is now represented by a new term called gibibyte. The new prefixes for measurement of bytes are shown in the table below.




That explains one common anomaly in size measurement that we notice everyday in our lives, that is, the size of the hard disk. You go and buy a 160GB hard disk, but when you plug in to your computer and turn it on you find your operating system saying that you have only 149GB. That's because hard disk manufacturers no longer use the old convention of measuring sizes but the brand new ones. When a hard disk is labeled 160GB it has a capacity of 160 x 10003 bytes and not 160 x 10243 bytes, because like I explained, 1GB is not equal 10243 bytes. So a 160GB hard disk has a capacity of 160 x 10003/10243 bytes or 149 GiB (gibibytes). The IEC binary naming convention however, is not widespread and most publications, computer manufacturers and software companies prefer to use the traditional units. For instance, the memory (RAM) manufacturers continue to use the old naming convention. So when you buy 1GB of memory you get 10243 bytes of RAM. There is however a good explanation for this discrepancy. Computer memory is addressed in base 2, due to its design, so memory size is always a power of two. It is thus convenient to work in binary units for RAM. Other computer measurements, like storage hardware size, data transfer rates, clock speeds, operations per second, etc., do not have an inherent base, and are usually presented in decimal units.

To add to the confusion, different softwares as well as hardware manufacturers use different unit of measurement. Examples of software that use IEC standard prefixes (along with standard SI prefixes) include the Linux kernel, GNU Core Utilities, Launchpad, GParted, ifconfig, Deluge (BitTorrent client), and BitTornado. Other programs like fdisk and apt-get use SI prefixes with their decimal meaning.

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

Screenshots of Gnome Partition Editor, fdisk (Linux) and Windows Disk Management show how different software utilities use different measurement for hard disk capacities

Floppy disks uses the binary system of measurement. A 1.44MB floppy disk has a capacity of 144,000,000 bytes which is equal to 1.38 MiB (mebibytes); notice that the operating system reports this as 1.38MB.

CD capacities are always given in binary units. A "700 MB" (or "80 minute") CD has a nominal capacity of about 700 MiB (approx 730MB). But DVD capacities are given in decimal units. A "4.7 GB" DVD has a nominal capacity of about 4.38 GiB.

Network speeds use the binary units of measurement. A 1Mbps internet connection has a throughput of 1,000,000 bits (125 kB, approx 122 KiB) per second assuming an 8-bit byte, and no overhead.

All these ambiguity in measurements have led to consumer confusion and there actually have been two significant class action lawsuits against digital storage manufactures by consumers. One case involved flash memory and the other involved hard disk drives. Both were settled with the manufactures agreeing to clarify the storage capacity of their products on the consumer packaging. But most hard disk manufacturers still continue to use decimal prefixes to identify capacities, with no mention of capacities in terms of gibibytes.

Resources:
Prefixes for binary multiples
Wikipedia: Gigabyte
Wikipedia: Gibibyte

WinXP Manager, The comprehensive Windows XP maintenance suite

There are very few softwares available like the one I'm going to mention today - the WinXP Manager. WinXP Manager isn't just one software, it's many. It has a bunch of tools that helps you optimize, tweak and clean up your Windows XP.



When you open the program you will find the tools categorized into 7 major groups - Information, Optimizer, Cleaner, Customization, Security, Network and Misc Utilities.

The Information sections give you a comprehensive report of your whole computer, both hardware and the operating system. It has a Process Manager that shows you all the running processes, memory usage of each process, the PID and some other information. It also has an Optimization wizard that takes you through 10 steps to fully optimizes your system including adjusting your monitors refresh rates.

The Optimizer has five tools - Speed System, Service Manager, Multimedia, Startup Manager and System Repair.

The Speed System has four components that take care of your system's setting affecting running speed (turning off Indexing Service, disable Dr. Watson, unload DLLs from memory and more), RAM and Disk Cache, Startup Speed and Shutdown Speed. The Service Manager is similar to Process Manager the only difference is that it works with system services instead of processes and threads. The Multimedia tool has three components that handle multimedia devices, DirectDraw and Direct3D setting, and Media Player settings.

The Startup Manager and the System Repair are the last tools to be found inside the Optimizer menu. The first one doesn't need any comment, while the latter can repair hardware, system and file association issues.

The Cleaner section has a Registry cleaner, a Junk file cleaner, Unnecessary file cleaner and an Uninstaller. I would like to mention here that the junk file cleaner is the best that I have ever used. It is able to clean files that are often overlooked and missed by other popular junk file cleaners like CCleaner.

The Customization section has context menu tweaker, wallpaper changer and other tweaking utilities. There is also an Icon Manager which is an excellent component that lets you change your system's icons and repair icon related errors

The Security area has a lot of useful features, including access restriction to Control Panel or some of its applets only and, of course, custom programs, a file shredder and encryptor, a tracks removal tool and many more. You don't have parental control filtering for Web sites, but you can disallow access to the browser for your kids, or ban unwanted sites using the hosts file in the next area.

The Network menu has three tools taking care of your network settings, with excellent network acceleration and tweaking features, Outlook Express backup and tweaking options or the outstanding IE Manager.

The Miscellaneous Utilities is like a universal store where you can find almost anything that has been missed so far. The Windows Utilities opens an external window containing three tabs filled with tools built into your operating system, like Dr. Watson, Magnifier, NetMeeting, Remote Desktop Connection, Indexing Service and many, many more.

WinXP Manager is a great program. With more than 30 utilities built into it, it's the ultimate Swiss Army Knife. As a user of this program for more than two users, I highly recommend this program to you.

Price: $39.95. But a Free one is available for download.

Download WinXP Manager v6.0.3 Here

9 places where you could lose hard disk space and how to regain it

Hard disk space is precious, no matter how large a hard disk you own. You have paid for it so you would want to use every bit and bytes of it. With broadband becoming cheaper and faster, the need for space is becoming even more urgent. Unfortunately, Windows has a habit of slowly eating into your hard disk space as your system gets older and soon you may find gigabytes of space mysteriously lost. When you find that happening, just look for your missing disk space at the following places.

1. Temp folder: This is the primary place where most of the hard disk space is lost. The temp folder (Windows\Temp) is the place where temporary files are stored. In any application setup program, the files necessary to perform the installation are compressed and packed into a single setup file. When you run this setup file to install the application, the setup file is unpacked and decompressed into the temp folder from where the installation is carried out. After the installation is over the setup files are not required and some programs automatically delete these files. But not all programs do that. These files just sit on your hard disk and wastes space. Apart from installation files this temp folder is used by various application to temporarily save files during run time. This folder can consume enormous amount of space if not cleaned. These junk files can be removed by application like CCleaner, though I recommend WinXP Manager.

2. Temporary Internet Files: When you browse the internet the page you open get stored in the temporary internet folder, called the browser cache. This folder can occupy a lot of space if ignored. The default maximum size of this folder for Internet Explorer is 256MB which is a lot. You can allocate a lesser amount of space for temporary files to save disk space. 50 MB is enough. You can access this option through Tools>Internet Option and then clicking Settings under the Browsing History section. Clicking on the Empty button empties the folder.

3. Windows update uninstallation folders: When you install any windows update, it keeps a backup of the files that were changed by the updates. These backup are placed in the Windows folder and begin with the name "$NtUninstall". If you don't plan to uninstall the updates, you can safely delete these folders. The folders are remained hidden by default so you have to enable "Show hidden files and folders" in order to view them. Remember, that once you delete these folders you won't be able to uninstall the updates. These folders occupy a huge space.

4. System Restore: The default space allocated for system restore is 12%. Which means that if you have a 160GB hard disk 19GB space is reserved for system restore. You do not need to be told how much a waste of space that is. The ideal amount is around 500 MB which is enough to keep at least 2-3 restore points. If you wish to keep more restore points then you can increase the space a bit more. To change the system restore disk allocation space, go to Control Panel>System>System Restore. Move the slider to adjust the disk space. You could even turn off System restore for selected drives like the ones where you save your songs and movies. System restore never works on data files anyway. You can also remove unnecessary system points by following these steps. Go to My Computer, right click on the drive from where you want to remove restore points. Click Properties>Disk Cleanup>More Options and then click Cleanup under System Restore.

5. Page File: During earlier days of computers, memory was expensive but hard disk was relatively cheaper, so the concept of virtual memory came to implemented where part of the hard disk was used as the main memory. Now, with 1GB and 2 GB or more becoming the de facto standard of all personal computers, virtual memory has become useless. But no matter how much memory you have on your system, Windows always use virtual memory on your hard disk. The object of concern is that it allocates 1.5 times the amount of RAM you have to virtual memory by default. So if you have 1 GB RAM, 1.5 GB is reserved to page file even though you will never use that much of space in your life. A total waste. If you have 1 GB memory and don't use memory intensive applications like Flash, 3ds Max, Maya etc you can set your virtual memory to around 500 MB (even that is big enough). If you have 2 GB RAM, you can actually turn off virtual memory but I wouldn't recommend that. Around 200-300 MB should be enough. To access the virtual memory setting, go to Control Panel> System>Advanced. Under the Performance tab click on Settings. Then again click on Advanced tab and then click Change under the Virtual Memory section.

6. Recycle Bin: The recycle bin is allocated 10% of your total hard disk space. Another potential space losing place. You keep on deleting files but you never seem to gain any. Because your Recycle bin has enough space (remember 10%) to keep them. I recommend you reduce this to 1%. I assure you it's more than enough. Right click on the recycle bin on desktop, click properties and set the disk space.

7. Hibernate: If you do not use the hibernate feature, there is no point of keeping this feature turned on. The hibernate function uses the same amount of hard disk space as the amount of RAM you have. To turn off this feature, go to Control Panel>Power Options>Hibernate and then uncheck "Enable Hibernation"

8. Left over files: When you uninstallation a program, rarely the uninstallation is complete. Some files are left behind on your hard disk which could be anything from a few KBs to a couple of dozen MBs. Places to look for these files are the program installation folder and the %systemroot%\Documents and Settings\username\Application data. Before deleting these folders make sure you don't have any important saved files in them.

9. Downloaded programs folder: I'm not talking about the folder where you save your downloaded files but another folder that is present inside the Windows folder by default and contains all the setup files and other files that you downloaded through Internet Explorer like AvtiveX component, Java runtime etc. Apart from that even some other programs setup files can end up in there. Once I opened that folder and some 100MB worth of setup files of various programs that I installed on my system but never downloaded. I'm not sure how those files ended up there, but I'm not alone. I have heard reports from others as well who have found similar files hiding inside that folder. So open the folder Windows\Download Program Files and see if it's eating your hard disk space without your knowing.

Extract installed drivers from hard disk, backup and restore with Driver Magician

Driver Magician is a software that provides an easy solution for device drivers backup, restoration, update and removal. It identifies all the hardware in the system, extracts their associated drivers from the hard disk and backs them up to a location of your choice. Then when you format and reinstall/upgrade your operating system, you can restore all the "saved" drivers just as if you had the original driver diskettes in your hands.

With Driver Magician, you won't have to pop two three driver discs one after the other installing drivers. All your drivers will be backed up at one location and reinstalled whenever required with one click, all of them.

Not only that. Driver Magician has the ability to update drivers right from the Internet. It saves lots of time to find the correct drivers and mature drivers will obviously increase the performance of hardware. If there are unknown devices in your PC, Driver Magician helps you detect them easily and quickly with its built in hardware identifier database.

DriverMagician

The key features of Driver Magician can be summed up as follows:

  • Back up device drivers of your computer in four modes.
  • Restore device drivers from backup in one mouse click.
  • Update device drivers of your PC to improve system performance and stability.
  • Uninstall device drivers
  • Live Update device identifier database and driver update database.
  • Detect unknown devices.
  • Back up more items such as My Documents and Registry.
  • Restore more items from backup.
  • Get detailed information of the hardware drivers.
  • Clone all drivers to an auto-setup package (.EXE), so you can restore drivers without installing Driver Magician. 

Download Driver Magician

How to find drivers for Unknown Devices

Usually, when you buy any hardware the drivers come along with it on a disc. If you lose the driver disc you can always download the necessary drivers from the manufacturer's website. But what do you do when you are not sure of the manufacturer of the hardware? This is quite a possible situation and blogger Vinod Chandramouli provides an excellent trick to deal with it.

Every device has a Vendor and Device id associated with it. If you can find this ID, you can find the manufacturer. In Windows it's easy to find the vendor and device id.

  1. Open Device Manager (Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager)
  2. The hardware whose drivers are missing will appear as Unknown device, so it's easier to locate the device.
  3. Right click on the unknown device and click on Properties.
  4. Under the Properties window click on Details tab and select Device Instance Id from the drop down box.
  5. You should see a code similar to this

    PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27DC&SUBSYS_30868086
    &REV_01\4&1E46F438&0&40F0

  6. The portion of the code highlighted in RED is the Vendor ID and the portion highlighted in GREEN is the Device ID. In this example:

    Vendor ID = 8086
    Device ID = 27DC

  7. Once you have obtained both the IDs, proceed to PCI Database. There you can either search for the vendor from the vendor ID or directly get information about the device along with the vendor name by searching with the device ID.

Great isn't it? Now you will never have to go hunting for correct drivers.

120+ sites to watch TV and movies online

You can't be a computer addict and a TV addict at the same time, not unless you start watching TV on your PC. Don't bother to connect your TV tuner card. No TV tuner card is required, when you have something called the Internet. So order your popcorns and settle down for your favourite shows.


http://www.24world.tv/
http://www.alluc.org/
http://www.blinkbox.com/
http://www.bored.com/watchfilms/
http://www.boxsweeper.com/
http://www.chooseandwatch.com
http://www.coolstreaming.us
http://www.craftytv.com
http://www.dailymotionmusic.com/
http://www.divxcrawler.com/
http://www.divxtube.ca/divx/
http://www.download-tv-now.com/
http://www.findago.com/series/
http://www.findtvlinks.com/
http://www.flickthat.com/
http://www.free-tv-video-online.info/
http://www.freetvsearch.com/
http://www.greatstufftv.com
http://www.joost.com/
http://www.joox.net/
http://www.live-online-tv.com/
http://www.lordoftv.com/
http://www.moviemann.org
http://www.movienetx.com/
http://www.movierumor.com/
http://www.movies-on-demand.tv/
http://www.myfaveps.co.nr/
http://www.myturn.tvheaven.com/
http://www.onlinemoviestream.tk/
http://www.ovguide.com/
http://www.peekvid.com/
http://www.phimsg.com/
http://www.piggymoo.com/
http://www.rapetheweb.com/cartoons/
http://www.showstash.com/
http://www.siblu.ca/
http://www.sidereel.com
http://www.streamick.com/index.php
http://www.streamscreen.org/
http://www.streamshack.uk.tt/
http://www.surfthechannel.com/
http://www.teevee4me.com/
http://www.thephoenixproject.co.uk/
http://two-movies.com/
http://www.tubezoom.com/
http://www.tv-earth.com/
http://www.tv-links.co.uk/
http://www.tv-nation.com/
http://www.tv-streams.net/
http://www.tvlinkvault.com
http://www.vdo4free.com/
http://www.videolemon.com
http://www.watch-movies.net/
http://www.watchmoviez.com
http://www.watchtvsitcoms.com
http://www.weeteevee.com/
http://www.wwitv.com/
http://www.xvid.ro/filme.html
http://www.yourtvlinks.com/
http://www.youtvpc.com/
http://www.zendurl.com
http://www15.alluc.org/alluc/
http://66stage.com/
http://alkaos.com/
http://all-fg.com/
http://allfuturama.com/
http://alloftv.net/
http://allsp.com/
http://beeline.tv/
http://channelchooser.com
http://dailymotionepisodes.com/
http://dodigg.com/media/movies.html
http://emuduel.com
http://flickpeek.com
http://www.freetubetv.net/
http://freetvlinks.net/
http://go4ent.com/Movies/index.php
http://grab-videos.com/
http://indexu.org/
http://iptvtome.com/
http://movie6.net/
http://moviedump.org/
http://movieforumz.com/
http://movies.eyebum.com/
http://movies.nabolister.com/
http://moviesdesk.com/
http://mytheater.org/
http://networkoneaustralia.tk/
http://online-television.tv/
http://piggymoo.com/
http://pullmylink.com/
http://quicksilverscreen.com/
http://showstash.com
h
ttp://streamingtvepisodes.com/
http://teevee4me.com
http://tv-nation.com/
http://tv-video.net/
http://tvlinks.voodeedoo.org/
http://tvunderground.org.ru/
http://ummyeah.com/channels
http://videolemon.com/
http://watch0nline.info/
http://wetbroadcast.com/
http://wheeya.com
http://wwitv.com/
http://www.dontwatchme.com/
http://www.floors4u.net/
http://www.tv-links.cc/
http://moviealien.com/
http://www.veoh.com/
http://www.stage6.com/
http://www.onlystreaming.com/
http://davidmovie.com/
http://cinecast.us/
http://www.smashingtelly.com/
http://www.alltimetv.com/  (Indian TV Channels)
http://www.movie-pro.com/
http://www.anytvplayer.com
http://tvunetworks.com
http://testcard.tv/watch-live-tv
http://www.openhulu.com/


South Park Stream Sites:

http://www.allsp.com/
http://www.stansdad.com/
http://allabout-sp.net/
http://www.southparkx.net/
http://southparkzone.com/


The Simpsons Stream Sites:

http://simpsonseps.com/

http://www.simpsonsfree.com
http://www.watchtvsitcoms.com/simpsons.php


Family Guy Stream Sites:

http://www.watchfamilyguy.net/
http://www.familyguyx.net/
http://www.familyparkworld.com/


Prison Break Stream Sites:

http://www.prisonbreakcrazy.com
http://www.prisonbreakaddict.com
http://prisonbreakforum.info
http://www.watchprisonbreak.org/


Lost Stream Site:

http://www.lostcrazy.com/
http://www.viewlost.com/


Heroes Stream Site:

http://www.heroescrazy.com/

Horror Movies

http://www.asian-horror-movies.com - Awesome site!


Cartoon Network:

http://cnonline.iifree.net/


Wrestling Stream Sites:

http://www.evolutionwrestling.piczo.com/
http://www.dailymotion.com/
http://hardcoretv.info/cat/37.html


Disclaimer: Some of these links might be unavailable. I have tried as much as I can to post active links, but keeping track of all of them isn't possible. If you find any broken link, please report here.

Last Updated: 13/8/2009

11 places to get University courses for free

Not everybody can go to the MIT or the Oxford or the Yale university, but you can get courses from these universities for free. Such courses are popularly know as Open Courses and are perfect for people with jobs, children, disabilities, or commitments that make attending regular classes an impossibility. So here is a list of 11 places where you can get access to thousands of courses and lecture notes from some of the top universities of the world you wish you were able to study at.

1. MIT Open Courseware provides 1800 courses on diverse subjects from history to biology, from physics to astronomy. This site is a huge resource for students.

2. Berkeley Webcasts provides webcasts and podcasts of courses from the Unversity of California, Berkely.

3. Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to seven introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University namely, Astronomy, English, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology and Religious Studies.

4. University of Utah courses on about 14 different subjects

5. University of Washington courses for computer science & engineering

6. The Open University is a distance learning university founded to bring higher education to people who are unable to study at a conventional university.

7. Notre Dame OCW is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners throughout the world.

8. The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 100 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared model.

9. Osaka University Open Course Ware Pilot is a collections of Osaka University's educational materials which is actually used in the courses taught at Osaka University. The materials are published so that they may be accessed by those who are interested in higher education at Osaka University.

10. The Web Lecture Archive Project is a joint venture between the UM-ATLAS Collaboratory Project, the University of Michigan Media Union, and CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. Its goal is to implement this electronic archival system for slide-based presentations on the Internet.

11. John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health specializes in topics from medical science.

 

How to create Windows XP Live CD, complete with preinstalled programs

To create a Windows XP Live CD we will require

1. Bart PEbuilder
2. A CD burner like Nero
3. A bootable Windows XP CD and
4. Some pebuilder plugins to customize the CD.

Step 1: Download PeBuilder from here and install it. Make sure you have enough free space on the drive where you install the program. After you have finished adding all programs it will create an ISO to be burned into a disk. The size of the ISO will depend upon how many programs you add to your live CD. I would recommend atleast 700MB of free space.

Step 2: You may want to set a wallpaper that will appear on the desktop when you boot the CD. For this open the folder where you have installed PEbuilder and replace the file bartpe.bmp with the wallpaper of your choice.

Step 3: Download XPE plugin from here (direct download link). It's the GUI shell of the XP Live CD that will create the XP start button and taskbar. You are free to download as many plugin (applications) you want. Currently there are more than 500 applications to choose from. Both freewares and commercial applications are available. Antivirus programs like Kaspersky, NOD32, Avast; burning program Nero; media players like VLC; OpenOffice, Foxit PDF reader, Acrobat Reader etc are available.

Pebuilder plugins repository
More Plugins here

Step 4: After you have finished downloading all your favourite programs, open PEbuider and specify the source path to the Windows XP installation bootable CD. You can copy the CD to your hard disk and point the source to the copied file.



Step 5: Click Plugins and add all the plugins you have downloaded. Since we have added XPE, disable nu2shell and the startup group from the list of plugins.

Step 6: Specify the ISO image file and click Build. The program will integrate the plugins and create an ISO image.

Step7: Burn the image into a disk using any burning software and your live CD is ready.



The Live CD Desktop



Running Abiword



Running VLC Media Player


Source: Digit magazine Nov 2007 issue.

20 (most) beautiful themes for Windows XP

Do you know what I hate most about Windows XP? It's look. It's painful combination of blue and green. So one of the first thing I do after every Windows install is patch the Uxtheme file so that I can apply a visual style of my choice. I hope you are not using the default theme, are you?

The following is a list of some of the choicest visual styles that can give Windows XP a total makeover. Pick any!

Note: This list contains only shell styles that can be applied directly by patching Uxtheme or through StyleXP. No Window Blinds skins here.

Also see
Another 25 beautiful Windows XP themes (A fresh new collection)
25 beautiful Windows Vista themes (For Windows Vista users)
25 beautiful icon sets for Windows
21 most beautiful mouse cursors for Windows

Watercolor Arrow - This theme looks so cool with a light colored taskbar, blue menu and funny hand-drawn type icons.

Watercolor_Arrow_by_pigmonkey2

download_button


Wood Visual Styles
- Transforms everything to wood! This theme is tested in Windows XP SP2. A few people reported problems with SP3. (This theme is no longer available. Sorry.)

Wood_Visual_Styles_for_WinXP_by_SaaanDp


Kupo XP 2.0
- A very minimalistic design available in 5 colors.

Kupo_XP_2_0_by_lassekongo83

 download_button


Luder
-  Another minimalistic theme with a clean green look.

Luder_for_XP_by_lassekongo83

 download_button


Aurum VS 1.1
- A bit of Vista's Aurora look.

Aurum_VS_1_1_by_GeorgeHarrison

 download_button


Delta VS
- A silver gray theme with mild colors.

Delta_VS_by_OmART

 download_button


DUO
- A mixture of Vista and Mac.

DUO_by_GensouRay

  download_button


Ubuntu XP
- This is the closest Windows XP can get to Ubuntu! Brilliantly done.

Ubuntu_XP_by_ShamusHand

  download_button


Simplebox
- This time it's Fedora. (This theme is no longer available)

Simplebox_by_JoJoMaMa


Clearlooks Gummy
- This theme pack gives a "Gnome" look to Windows XP. Available in 14 different colors!

Clearlooks_Gummy___Colors_by_WinGNOME_XP

  download_button


Cadoo Visual Style 1.0 - A smooth whitish theme that gives a great contrast to any icon set.

Cadoo_Visual_Style_1_0_by_icube001

  download_button


animus -  A Mac like blue and white theme that works great with Mac icon set.

animus_by_chiwou

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OSX Tiger V
- Give Windows the Mac look. Very nicely done.

OSX_Tiger_V_visual_style_by_dobee

download_button


Leopard X
- Another Mac theme with a slightly darker look.

Leopard_X_by_kspudw

download_button


VistaPerfection X4
- One of the best looking Vista theme for Windows XP.

VistaPerfection_X4_Msstyles_by_kayeirene

download_button


Dream LH 1.0
- Another theme with the Vista look, but darkish and black  explorer window and task panel.

Dream_LH_1_0_by_deskmundo

download_button


EX2008 Visual Style
- A darkish theme with a tinge of green. Very minimalistic.

EX2008_Visual_Style_by_alocal

download_button


SlanXP 2.0
- Another dark theme for Windows XP.

SlanXP_2_0_by_lassekongo83

download_button


GAIA
- A very simple yet elegant theme with mild colors.

GAIA_VS_by_novoo

download_button


Greenius.VS
- Another beautiful green theme. (Green seems to be the preferred color for designers)

Greenius_VS_for_GAIA_1_1_by_aMADme

download_button

P.S: This is how to install the themes:

1. Download and install Uxtheme patcher. During install a message will be displayed that important Windows file are being replaced and will ask you to insert the windows CD to fix it. Just ignore and click "continue"

2. Download the theme pack and copy the folder containing .msstyles and shellstyle.dll (this is inside another folder) to C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\

3. After this is done, right-click on desktop and click Properties. Now click on the Appearance tab. Under Windows and Buttons you will find the list of all the themes you installed. Select one from the list and click Apply.

Sometimes, the downloaded pack contains additional utilites like Styler and Rocketdock etc to bring other changes to Windows. It's up to you whether you want to install the additional stuff. You can visit the original page of the theme author for more instruction on how to use those.

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