On the older versions of Windows Live Messenger, you get to see a lot of interesting fancy names on your contact list. However logging in to the latest Windows Live Messenger 2011 today shows a lot of “real” names on the contact list rather than nick names. If you haven’t noticed, you can no longer find an option to change your display name as you want others to see it on Windows Live Messenger 2011. That is because the developing team has decided to remove it and make it to show your first name and last name that is set on your Hotmail or Live ID profile. To me, Windows Live Messenger is used for chatting with friends or probably with people that you are not so familiar with and there is no reason for them to know both my first and last name so that they can “Google” me.

I read somewhere on the Internet that it is possible to change your display name in online messengers. I spent hours testing the possibility of changing the display name with Meebo, eBuddy, ILoveIM and they are able to do that but somehow connecting back to Windows Live Messenger 2011 will revert the display name to show your first name and last name. I can only think of 4 options to prevent your real first name and last name from displaying on Windows Live Messenger 2011.


The first method is if you would like to continue using Windows Live Messenger 2011. Sign in to Windows Live Messenger 2011, click on your display name, select “Edit your name” which will open the default web browser asking you to log in to your Windows Live ID and then you get to can change your first name and last name. Do note that changing that would make all outgoing emails to reflect the changed name.

The second method is to downgrade and use Windows Live Messenger 2009. I have written a tutorial on how to do that.

As for the third method, use only online messengers such as Meebo, eBuddy or ILoveIM.

As for the final method, use a Windows Live Messenger clone called aMSN.

I’ve also tested A-Patch, Messenger Plus! and MessengerDiscovery but none of them is able to change the Display Name at Windows Live Messenger 2011.

I have a client with thousands of HTML files with contact form embedded to it. However it doesn’t have CAPTCHA function to prevent spam. A CAPTCHA (an acronym for “Completely Automatic Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart”) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human. An example of CAPTCHA is like the image below. The numbers and letters are random each time you refresh the page.

Now my client’s inbox is exploded with hundreds of spam emails everyday. To fix this problem, I have to include a new CAPTCHA function into the HTML files. Problem is, can HTML files parse PHP? Usually if you want to parse PHP codes, it will have to be .php extension for the webserver to identify that it’s a PHP file. So after added the CAPTCHA function, I have to rename all thousands of HTML files to PHP extension.

Thankfully I can save all the trouble of renaming thousands of HTML files to PHP by editing the .htaccess file. Here’s how I did it to parse PHP in HTML or HTM files.


Go to your WWW root, usually it looks like this:
path: /home/username/public_html

Look for the file named .htaccess. If it’s not there, create a blank page using NotePad and save it as .htaccess

Now edit this file by adding the following lines:

RemoveHandler .html .htm
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .htm .html

Save and close the .htaccess file. Upload it to your webserver (to your WWW root) and that’s it! Now your webserver will parse PHP codes even in HTML files!

And here it is, the latest Mess Patch for Windows Live Messenger! This is probably our best release so far, with a couple of cool new *original!* features, improvements and comebacks. With a total of 76 messy options you will not be disappointed, and just look at that changelog for Mess Patch 8.0.0787 Generation 4:

– Added “Translucent Dashboard” option (Mess Patch Original, check out the screenshot below).
– Added new “Add Personal Settings Button To Upper Panel” option (Mess Patch Original).
– Re-added “Switch Tabs To Right Side” (Mess Patch Original).
– Lots of you are gonna enjoy hearing this: Patching Messenger doesn’t stop you from sharing folders anymore.
– Enhanced auto-update feature: The downloading process is done through the patch itself.
– Fixed multi-line nicknames feature, now fully compatible with the yet to be released Messenger Plus! Live (the “Formatting Codes” button appears properly).
– Fixed “Remove Bottom Text Advertisement” option, now removes the advertising space as well (as requested by Pure_BY).
– Detects if there are any backups and offers to restore them before patching.
– Detects if Windows OneCare Live is installed and shows a warning to the user.

Although Windows Live Messenger is now final and it’ll take a while before we see another update, authors of Mess Patch will keep developing Mess Patch.

[ Download Mess Patch 8.0.0787 – Generation 4 ]

I found a very small and lightweight universal patcher for the new Windows Live Messenger called WLM Universal Patcher ++ v0.9.1. It’s specially useful for those people who doesn’t want to mess around with their Windows Live Messenger too much with those fully featured Mess Patch or A-Patch that contains hundreds of tweaks.

The graphical user interface is very simple and no installation needed. Its only 148KB in size and it enables you to patch 6 main Windows Live Messenger restrictions.
They are:

1. Multiple Login (You can run multiple Windows Live Messenger)
2. Banner Ads (Remove bottom banner Ads)
3. Tabs
4. Ad Bar
5. MSN Search
6. Actions Pane

This universal windows live messenger patcher is ONLY for Windows Live Messenger. Please do not use it if you’re still using the old MSN Messenger 7.5. The meaning of “universal” for this patcher is probably able to patch all versions of Windows Live Messenger.

[ Download WLM Universal Patcher ++ v0.9.1 ]

Windows Live Messenger v8.1.0178 final is out!

A few beta testers from mess.be, Ryan “Trunten” Weber, anonymouse91 & Timothy were among the 3009 testers who received an e-mail announcing the conclusion of the Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Beta. 1010 bugs and 456 suggestions were submitted since the beta started on September 7th 2006. The integrated Windows Live Call feature has been updated from 1.1.154.0 to 1.1.161.0.


You won’t see much changes on the interface, but make sure you install this latest version of Windows Live Messenger for better compatibility and stability.

And of course, it didn’t take a lot of time for Mess.be to update their Mess Patch to use with the latest Windows Live Messenger. There are dozens and dozens of options in Mess Patch but I only use it to remove advertisements, “Disable Nudge Protection” (so I can nudge the hell outta my friends *grins*) and also disable “Nudge Window Shaking” so that I won’t feel a thing when I get nudge bomb!

Another alternative to Mess Patch is A-Patch. I checked the official A-Patch website and the author haven’t update it to patch the latest Windows Live Messenger. I’ll keep you up to date on this. Once it’s out, I’ll post the download link for A-Patch.

[ Download Windows Live Messenger v8.1 | Mess Patch ]

I found this hack from Technipages and I think it’s pretty cool. It enables the features found in Windows XP Professional on your Windows XP Home Edition installation with this hack. It will allow you to turn your Windows XP Home CD into a Windows XP Professional CD. Now Microsoft is going to be pissed about this! LOL!



Follow the steps below on how to turn your Windows XP Home edition CD to professional!

Note: If your Windows XP CD does not contain Service Pack 2, you might want to Slipstream Your Windows XP CD first as you will not be able to upgrade an installation after using the CD.

1. Copy the root directory and the i386 directory of the WindowsXP CD to your hard drive.

2. Extract the Bootsector of your Windows XP CD. You can use BBIE to do this.

3. Click START–>RUN–>REGEDIT

4. Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

5. Click FILE–>LOAD HIVE and select the Setupreg.hiv file
This file is located in the i386 folder. Use the one you extracted to your hard drive from your Windows XP CD.

6. Locate the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Homekey\ControlSet001\Services\setupdd

7. Edit the DEFAULT key and change the following values:

01 to 00
02 to 00

8. Change the name to the value HOMEKEY to anything.

9. Locate the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Homekey\ControlSet001\Services\setupdd

Edit the DEFAULT key and change the following values:

01 to 00
02 to 00

10. Highlight HOMEKEY and select FILE–>UNLOAD HIVE

You can now burn the data on your hard drive to a CD to make a new Windows XP CD. Then use the CD to install Windows XP. Be sure to make the CD bootable. You can use the instructions here to help you do that.
The weird thing is your Windows XP Home serial will still be valid.

When someone says Google, I think at least 60%-70% of people reply that it’s a “Search Engine”. Do you know that Google has so much thing going on that we don’t even know it exist? Google has the ability to search for images, news, blogs, music, video, maps, products, answers, notebook, linux, apple, movies, definitions and the list goes on…

One thing I don’t understand is why when we visit Google’s URL (www.google.com), we only see a very simple and clean search page instead of a full featured page like Yahoo? At least now it’s much better with a navigation bar where it shows Web, Images, Video, News, Maps, Gmail and more but it’s still NOT complete.

Here’s a quote taken from Don Norman’s “The Truth About Google’s Simplicity“.

Why are Yahoo! and MSN such complex-looking places? Because their systems are easier to use. Not because they are complex, but because they simplify the life of their users by letting them see their choices on the home page: news, alternative searches, other items of interest. Yahoo! even has an excellent personalization page, so you can choose what you wish to see on that first page.

Take another careful look at Google’s front page. Want a map? You have to click once to be offered the choice, then a second additional time to get to the map page. Want to use Google Scholar to check references? Um, well, is that “Advanced Search” or “more.” What about their newly announced blog search? Why is Google maps separate from Google Earth? (Oh, those were purchased from different companies. Yes, but why should I, the user, care about the history of Google’s acquisitions?)

Anyway, continue reading to check out the list of free and hidden services offered by google in ONE page.


Simply Google has created a page that includes every Google hidden feature.

Chris McEvoy created the original Simply Google but the latest updated version is at the link below. It has more links compared to the original version.

If your web browser’s start page is Google.com, you might want to change it to Simply Google because it’s more complete than the original and simple Google.com page.

[ Visit Simply Google ]

Thanks to paf, I got to know about Crystal Rich Ltd, the company that develops USB Safely Remove has started another round giveaway which will be ending in just 24 more hours. They seem to organize giveaways quite frequently and the free license that they’re giving away to everyone that requests for it only works on the current version 4.7. The registration code will not work on any future versions nor older previous versions. I’ve tried entering the 4.7 registration code on USB Safely Remove 4.1 but was rejected with the error license information is not valid. I guess that is not a big issue since they do giveaways every year.

The last time I reviewed USB Safely Remove was 2 years ago and back then it was version 4.1 with the famous “Return Device Back!” feature. If you go to the Releases category at their blog, you would notice that so many improvements has been made to the program which makes it so solid today. If you don’t know what is the USB Safely Remove software all about, it is basically a replacement for the “Safely Remove Hardware” in Windows with a lot of useful features.


You can read more about what USB Safely Remove can do from the official Feature webpage but I suggest you to request for the free license first, then only read because the feature page contains more than a thousand words!

To get your free USB Safely Remove 4.7.1 lifetime license:

1. Visit http://safelyremove.com/giveawaygaotd11.htm

2. Enter your full name (requires first and last name), email address and click the “I want the license” button.

3. Check your email and note down the registration name and registration code.

4. Download USB Safely Remove 4.7 and install.

5. To register the program, go to Help > Enter License Key… and enter your registration name and registration code.

This is a free lifetime license for USB Safely Remove 4.7. You can continue using it but won’t be entitled for update, downgrade and technical support.

Other than the very useful Return Device Back feature that I like very much, another feature which I personally think that is useful is the ability to power off drives on stopping in Vista & Win 7. In Window Vista and Windows 7, the drive would continue spinning and the flash drive continue lighting even though it has been stopped. This does not happen in Windows XP. USB Safely Remove is able to change this behavior and make the system power down USB ports. Running USB Safely Remove for the first time would prompt you this option, or you can manually enable/disable this from Options > General > Power off the device after device stopping.

One of my friend called me the other day and told me that she has a problem with her laptop. When I asked her to try to explain the problem, she said she couldn’t run any programs from her desktop. Then I ask her to try running any shortcuts from start menu, and still the same problem. She said maybe virus deleted all her programs but I doubt that because if a virus is able to delete all her programs, it should delete Windows as well and made it unbootable. I find this problem interesting and I went to check on her laptop.

First thing I see after Windows being booted up is a lot of popup windows with the error message “Windows cannot open this file: Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher.lnk. To open this file, Windows needs to know what program created it. Windows can go online to look it up automatically, or you can manually select from a list of programs on your computer.”

This error means that Windows couldn’t find the program where the shortcut is pointing to. Either the program has been deleted or there is something wrong with the association. I check Program Files and all programs are still there.

Immediately I know that the LNK file association is broken and the place to confirm this problem is the Registry. I go to Start, Run and type regedit, again I got the error popup window saying Windows cannot open this file: regedit.exe. I even tried to run regedit.exe directly from C:\Windows and also got the same error message. Looks like .EXE association is broken too! Finally I found out that almost all file association can’t work. I can’t run anything from her laptop. So how do you fix a computer with broken association when you can’t run anything?


In short, all EXE files including CMD, Regedit, MSCONFIG are inoperative. LNK shortcuts also doesn’t work, which means desktop icons, quick launch icons, start menus all don’t work. Those nice icon images are no longer being displayed as you only get the standard unrecognized file type icon that look like the image below.

There are registry files that is able to fix .COM .LNK .EXE and other extension associations but the problem is if .REG association is also broken, you won’t be able to import the reg file to Windows registry.

The most important extension to fix is of course the .EXE extension. Once you have the .EXE extension fixed, you are able to run registry editor and other tools to start fixing other broken extensions. Here’s how to fix .EXE extension.

1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC simultaneously and it will bring up Windows Task Manager

2. Click File menu and move the mouse cursor over to New Task (Run…)

3. Press and hold the CTRL button and click at the New Task (Run…)

4. Command prompt will appear.

5. Type assoc.exe=exefile and hit enter.

That would fix the EXE extension. You can now run any executable file.

Here is a list of other file extensions that you might want to restore. I recommend you to restore whatever you need and not all at once.

assoc.323=h323file
assoc.386=vxdfile
assoc.aca=Agent.Character.2
assoc.acf=Agent.Character.2
assoc.acs=Agent.Character2.2
assoc.acw=acwfile
assoc.ai=
assoc.aif=AIFFFile
assoc.aifc=AIFFFile
assoc.aiff=AIFFFile
assoc.ani=anifile
assoc.aps=
assoc.asa=aspfile
assoc.ascx=
assoc.asf=ASFFile
assoc.asm=
assoc.asmx=
assoc.asp=aspfile
assoc.aspx=
assoc.asx=ASXFile
assoc.au=AUFile
assoc.AudioCD=AudioCD
assoc.avi=avifile
assoc.bat=batfile
assoc.bfc=Briefcase
assoc.bin=
assoc.bkf=msbackupfile
assoc.blg=PerfFile
assoc.bmp=Paint.Picture
assoc.bsc=
assoc.c=
assoc.cab=CLSID\{0CD7A5C0-9F37-11CE-AE65-08002B2E1262}
assoc.cat=CATFile
assoc.cda=CDAFile
assoc.cdf=ChannelFile
assoc.cdx=aspfile
assoc.cer=CERFile
assoc.cgm=
assoc.chk=chkfile
assoc.chm=chm.file
assoc.clp=clpfile
assoc.cmd=cmdfile
assoc.cnf=ConferenceLink
assoc.com=comfile
assoc.cpl=cplfile
assoc.cpp=
assoc.crl=CRLFile
assoc.crt=CERFile
assoc.css=CSSfile
assoc.csv=
assoc.CTT=MessengerContactList
assoc.cur=curfile
assoc.cxx=
assoc.dat=
assoc.db=dbfile
assoc.dbg=
assoc.dct=
assoc.def=
assoc.der=CERFile
assoc.DeskLink=CLSID\{9E56BE61-C50F-11CF-9A2C-00A0C90A90CE}
assoc.dib=Paint.Picture
assoc.dic=
assoc.diz=
assoc.dll=dllfile
assoc.dl_=
assoc.doc=WordPad.Document.1
assoc.dos=
assoc.dot=
assoc.drv=drvfile
assoc.dsn=MSDASQL
assoc.dun=dunfile
assoc.DVD=DVD
assoc.emf=emffile
assoc.eml=Microsoft Internet Mail Message
assoc.eps=
assoc.exe=exefile
assoc.exp=
assoc.ex_=
assoc.eyb=
assoc.fif=
assoc.fnd=fndfile
assoc.fnt=
assoc.Folder=Folder
assoc.fon=fonfile
assoc.ghi=
assoc.gif=giffile
assoc.grp=MSProgramGroup
assoc.gz=
assoc.h=
assoc.hhc=
assoc.hlp=hlpfile
assoc.hpp=
assoc.hqx=
assoc.ht=htfile
assoc.hta=htafile
assoc.htc=
assoc.htm=htmlfile
assoc.html=htmlfile
assoc.htt=HTTfile
assoc.htw=
assoc.htx=
assoc.hxx=
assoc.icc=icmfile
assoc.icm=icmfile
assoc.ico=icofile
assoc.idb=
assoc.idl=
assoc.idq=
assoc.iii=iiifile
assoc.ilk=
assoc.imc=
assoc.inc=
assoc.inf=inffile
assoc.ini=inifile
assoc.ins=x-internet-signup
assoc.inv=
assoc.inx=
assoc.in_=
assoc.isp=x-internet-signup
assoc.its=ITS File
assoc.IVF=IVFFile
assoc.java=
assoc.jbf=
assoc.jfif=pjpegfile
assoc.job=JobObject
assoc.jod=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0
assoc.jpe=jpegfile
assoc.jpeg=jpegfile
assoc.jpg=jpegfile
assoc.JS=JSFile
assoc.JSE=JSEFile
assoc.latex=
assoc.lib=
assoc.lnk=lnkfile
assoc.local=
assoc.log=txtfile
assoc.lwv=LWVFile
assoc.m14=
assoc.m1v=mpegfile
assoc.m3u=m3ufile
assoc.man=
assoc.manifest=
assoc.MAPIMail=CLSID\{9E56BE60-C50F-11CF-9A2C-00A0C90A90CE}
assoc.mdb=
assoc.mht=mhtmlfile
assoc.mhtml=mhtmlfile
assoc.mid=midfile
assoc.midi=midfile
assoc.mmf=
assoc.mmm=MPlayer
assoc.mov=
assoc.movie=
assoc.mp2=mpegfile
assoc.mp2v=mpegfile
assoc.mp3=mp3file
assoc.mpa=mpegfile
assoc.mpe=mpegfile
assoc.mpeg=mpegfile
assoc.mpg=mpegfile
assoc.mpv2=mpegfile
assoc.msc=MSCFile
assoc.msg=
assoc.msi=Msi.Package
assoc.msp=Msi.Patch
assoc.MsRcIncident=MsRcIncident
assoc.msstyles=msstylesfile
assoc.MSWMM=Windows.Movie.Maker
assoc.mv=
assoc.mydocs=CLSID\{ECF03A32-103D-11d2-854D-006008059367}
assoc.ncb=
assoc.nfo=MSInfo.Document
assoc.nls=
assoc.NMW=T126_Whiteboard
assoc.nsc=
assoc.nvr=
assoc.nws=Microsoft Internet News Message
assoc.obj=
assoc.ocx=ocxfile
assoc.oc_=
assoc.odc=
assoc.otf=otffile
assoc.p10=P10File
assoc.p12=PFXFile
assoc.p7b=SPCFile
assoc.p7c=certificate_wab_auto_file
assoc.p7m=P7MFile
assoc.p7r=SPCFile
assoc.p7s=P7SFile
assoc.pbk=pbkfile
assoc.pch=
assoc.pdb=
assoc.pds=
assoc.pfm=pfmfile
assoc.pfx=PFXFile
assoc.php3=
assoc.pic=
assoc.pif=piffile
assoc.pko=PKOFile
assoc.pl=
assoc.plg=
assoc.pma=PerfFile
assoc.pmc=PerfFile
assoc.pml=PerfFile
assoc.pmr=PerfFile
assoc.pmw=PerfFile
assoc.pnf=pnffile
assoc.png=pngfile
assoc.pot=
assoc.pps=
assoc.ppt=
assoc.prf=prffile
assoc.ps=
assoc.psd=
assoc.psw=PSWFile
assoc.qds=SavedDsQuery
assoc.rat=ratfile
assoc.rc=
assoc.RDP=RDP.File
assoc.reg=regfile
assoc.res=
assoc.rle=
assoc.rmi=midfile
assoc.rnk=rnkfile
assoc.rpc=
assoc.rsp=
assoc.rtf=rtffile
assoc.sam=
assoc.sbr=
assoc.sc2=
assoc.scf=SHCmdFile
assoc.scp=txtfile
assoc.scr=scrfile
assoc.sct=scriptletfile
assoc.sdb=appfixfile
assoc.sed=
assoc.shb=DocShortcut
assoc.shs=ShellScrap
assoc.shtml=
assoc.shw=
assoc.sit=
assoc.snd=AUFile
assoc.spc=SPCFile
assoc.spl=ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash
assoc.sql=
assoc.sr_=
assoc.sst=CertificateStoreFile
assoc.stl=STLFile
assoc.stm=
assoc.swf=ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash
assoc.sym=
assoc.sys=sysfile
assoc.sy_=
assoc.tar=
assoc.text=
assoc.tgz=
assoc.theme=themefile
assoc.tif=TIFImage.Document
assoc.tiff=TIFImage.Document
assoc.tlb=
assoc.tsp=
assoc.tsv=
assoc.ttc=ttcfile
assoc.ttf=ttffile
assoc.txt=txtfile
assoc.UDL=MSDASC
assoc.uls=ulsfile
assoc.URL=InternetShortcut
assoc.VBE=VBEFile
assoc.vbs=VBSFile
assoc.vbx=
assoc.vcf=vcard_wab_auto_file
assoc.vxd=vxdfile
assoc.wab=wab_auto_file
assoc.wav=soundrec
assoc.wax=WAXFile
assoc.wb2=
assoc.webpnp=webpnpFile
assoc.WHT=Whiteboard
assoc.wk4=
assoc.wll=
assoc.wlt=
assoc.wm=ASFFile
assoc.wma=WMAFile
assoc.wmd=WMDFile
assoc.wmf=wmffile
assoc.wmp=WMPFile
assoc.wms=WMSFile
assoc.wmv=WMVFile
assoc.wmx=ASXFile
assoc.wmz=WMZFile
assoc.wpd=
assoc.wpg=
assoc.wri=wrifile
assoc.wsc=scriptletfile
assoc.WSF=WSFFile
assoc.WSH=WSHFile
assoc.wsz=
assoc.wtx=txtfile
assoc.wvx=WVXFile
assoc.x=
assoc.xbm=
assoc.xix=
assoc.xlb=
assoc.xlc=
assoc.xls=
assoc.xlt=
assoc.xml=xmlfile
assoc.xsl=xslfile
assoc.z=
assoc.z96=
assoc.zap=zapfile
assoc.ZFSendToTarget=CLSID\{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}
assoc.zip=CompressedFolder

After fixing the broken file association, the next thing I did was installed the FREE version of AVG anti-virus to scan and remove any existing virus. One thing you should know is Anti-Virus programs only good at removing virus from computer but it can’t restore the damage done by Virus.

Doug Knox’s Windows XP File Association Fixes page helped me a lot when I was trying to fix the broken association.

If you’ve just purchased a second hand laptop or computer from eBay or from a friend, you’d get VERY frustrated when you’re prompted to enter password before you can enter the BIOS when you don’t even know the password!
Even if you’re a computer technician, sometimes you need to access the BIOS to do some configuration. When you ask the customer for the BIOS password, and he’s like.. err… uh… he’s not sure what’s that.

BIOS is basic input output system. The set of routines stored in read-only memory that enable a computer to start the operating system and to communicate with the various devices in the system, such as disk drives, keyboard, monitor, printer, and communications ports.
Basically, if you plug in an IDE or SATA hard drive, sometimes you’ll need to access the BIOS to detect the hard drive. Well, nowadays it’s all auto detect. There’s also a whole lot of things you can configure in BIOS.

There are ways to reset the whole BIOS configurations by opening and short out pin your the motherboard, or can pull out the battery for a few minutes, and also there are some third party software that claims to reset or crack the BIOS password.
For Dell computers, there’s a Dell specific BIOS Boot Erase Disc to remove Dell’s computer BIOS ADMIN password.


This boot disc resets Dell BIOS to default erasing all admin and protection passwords saved by the BIOS.

I believe this disc is what DELL people uses to fix their own systems.

This file is in .iso format. ISO files are actually images of complete CDs compiles as one whole image, just like Ghost does for hard disks and partitions. ISO images can be loaded into several different CD recording software packages to create CDs.
To write ISO files to CD, if you have Nero, just launch Nero, select Open and locate the dellbiosboot.iso file. Enter a CD-R or CD-RW disc and click Burn.

[ Download Dell PC’s BIOS Boot Erase Disc (ISO) ]

Just a thought… I don’t think it’s possible to use this disc if the computer BIOS is password protected and the CD booting order sequence is disabled. In this case, you’ll have to use the old-school method that is opening and short out pin on your motherboard, or can pull out the battery for a few minutes.

I have an old 512MB PenDrive USB flash drive. When I bought it few years back, it was considered quite large in size and it’s pretty expensive. It was my first USB flash drive and I really loved it because it’s so convenient. I no longer need to waste time in burning data to CD to bring it out and afraid of scratching the disc. Years went by and today I found that the 512MB PenDrive USB flash drive is quite small and I couldn’t put in more things. That’s the con in technology. You must constantly keep up with it. I did a little research on which brand to buy, performance and etc…

Nowadays there are so many USB flash drive brands. Kingston, Apacer, Corsair, PenDrive, SanDisk, Toshiba, Imation, TwinMOS and so on… I always look for a reliable brand and also the fastest read/write speed and this is what I found.


Corsair, currently has the fastest read and write speed for USB flash drive and it is a reliable memory brand. Corsair itself has a few types of USB flash drive. The fastest one is called Flash Voyager GT which was released on February 28, 2007.

The Corsair Flash Voyager GT USB drive is rugged, stylish, compact, and reliable, making it ideal for transporting MP3s, digital images, presentations and more. Flash Voyager drives are fully Plug and Play with most operating systems and are backward compatible with USB 1.1. It also has a rubber casing for easy to gripping and water resistant. The Flash Voyager has been shown laundered, baked, frozen, boiled, dropped, and even run over by a SUV in many third party reviews. After all the punishment it receives, the drive continues to work! AMAZING!

Flash Voyager GT Features:
– Blazing-fast performance: Read speed up to 34MB/s, write speed up to 28MB/s

– Maximum durability: Proprietary all-rubber housing
– Drive integrity: Water resistant and shock resistant
– Data security: TrueCrypt encryption software offering AES 256-bit encryption
– Windows Vista ReadyBoost compatible
– User warranty: 10 years, with on-demand customer support

I bought the Corsair Flash Voyager GT 4GB for USD54 and I think it’s worth the price. It might be a little expensive compared to other brands but with the durability, fastest speed and also backed up 10 years warranty, it’s worth the money. Corsair includes freeware TrueCrypt which can be downloaded free from the Internet. If you’ve never used TrueCrypt before, it’s one of the most powerful encryption software that’s free but it’s not easy to use. Make sure you read the manual before using TrueCrypt.

If you’re looking for a USB flash drive, I hope you’ll try out Corsair Flash Voyager GT. I guarantee you will not regret it!

[ Corsair Flash Voyager Website ]

As an advanced computer user, I need to convert my files to different formats very frequently. A lot of file conversion softwares are sharewares. If you search “WAV to MP3” in Google, at least half of them are sharewares and it can only be used to convert music formats. If I need to convert from Word Document to PDF, I need document conversion software. Generally, there are 4 main category formats. Document, Image, Music and Video. Each main category has more than 10 file formats.

Don’t you think that it is troublesome to have 4 types of conversion programs installed on your computer? I tried looking for a free universal file conversion program but couldn’t find any.

Here’s a solution on how to convert any types of files without the need to install any conversion software. Sort of like a universal converter that supports hundreds of file formats.


I manage to find 2 free online file conversion website. Both websites is able to convert the file that you upload or from a link easily and instantly. The online file conversion services offered by both websites is 100% free and anonymous. No software installation is required, thus preventing users from spyware and virus infections. It can also save your money from buying unnecessary file conversion sharewares! Why pay when you can get it for free?

1. Zamzar

Maximum File Size: 100MB
Converted Files Storage Time: 24 hours
Immediate Download Converted Files: NO (Download link sent to email)
Bulk Conversion: YES (If same format)
Resize Converted Image: NO
Output Format: 53

1. Media Convert

Maximum File Size: 150MB
Converted Files Storage Time: 24 hours
Immediate Download Converted Files: YES
Bulk Conversion: NO
Resize Converted Image: YES
Output Format: 179

I don’t think I need to show the steps on how to convert the files because it’s way too easy. Just provide the link or browse the file that you want to convert from your computer, choose the format to convert and click the Convert button. For Zamzar, you need to provide your e-mail address because after conversion, Zamzar will send the link of the converted file to the email that you specified. If you provide a bogus email address, sorry to let you know that you won’t be able to download the converted file. If you’re concern about simply giving out your email address, consider using a temporary email address or use MediaConvert.

If you ask me which is better, I’d say both. Both has its own pros and cons but it’s no big deal because the main function, that is file conversion works well.

Clean Messenger is a small program which makes it possible to remove/hide practically all the elements of the interfaces of MSN Messenger. There are 34 features in total for you to clean your Messenger. You can remove advertisements, remove any buttons and etc… It’s very easy to use compared to Mess Patch or A-Patch because Messenger Cleaner has a “preview” window. If you’re unsure what’s the feature in Messenger Cleaner is for, just click on it and the preview window will show what will you be modifying or removing.

The latest Clean Messenger version 2.7.0178 is compatible with the following Windows Live/MSN Messenger:


– 8.1.0178
– 8.1.0168 beta
– 8.1.0106 beta
– 8.0.0812
– 8.0.0792
– 8.0.0787
– 8.0.0689 beta
– 8.0.0683 beta
– 8.0.0566 beta
– 7.5.0324
– 7.5.0322
– 7.5.0311
– 7.5.0306
– 7.5.0299
– 7.0.0816

To check the version of your MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, go to Help -> About Messenger.

No installation is needed. Just download and run the executable file. To modify, just check on the checkbox, click Apply change button and it will automatically close your Messenger, make the changes and rerun your Messenger. Too bad there’s no “NUDGE” protection in Clean Messenger 😛

[ Download Clean Messenger ]