Raymond.CC Blog

Category: Computer

  • The new iPad Replaces iPad 3 or iPad HD

    There were so much rumors about the new iPad which can be found all over the Internet but no one really guessed the name of the new iPad correctly which is just “The new iPad” instead of iPad 3 or iPad HD. I was actually excited on the announcement of the new iPad yesterday because my wife and I are sharing the first generation of iPad which we both find it a bit heavy and slow. I stayed up until nearly 3AM last night because I wanted to know what is new in the new iPad. If comparing The new iPad with iPad 1, there are definitely a lot of changes and it is worth the upgrade. However if I had the iPad 2, I may just continue using it until the fourth of fifth generation of iPad is out.


    There are a couple of major updates on The new iPad such as the Retina Display which is four times more pixels than iPad 2 thanks to the new custom A5X chip with quad-core graphics. Everything looks and feels incredibly lifelike and perfectly detailed with razor-sharp text and richer colors. Next is the 5-megapixel iSight camera with advanced optics that lets you shoot gorgeous photos and 1080p HD video.There’s the 4G LTE connectivity, voice dictation (but not the voice action called Siri) and bluetooth 4.0 technology.

    The new iPad 3 HD

    With all the upgrades, The new iPad still manages to maintain up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music and up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network. The measurement of the new iPad is exactly the same as the previous generation except it is slightly thicker (+0.03′) and heavier (+0.11pounds).

    People from United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are able to pre-order the new iPad from Apple Store now and will be delivered on March 16. I guess we Malaysians will just have to wait for it. What do you think about The new iPad? Are you going to get one for yourself?

    The new iPad Malaysia

    Visit The new iPad Webpage

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  • Workaround for Unable to Add Other Mail Account on iPad
  • iSWiFTER vs Skyfire vs AlwaysOnPC on iPad for Flash Websites
  • Mess Patch Generation 5 for Windows Live Messenger is here!
  • Fix Blank White Icons at Home Screen or SpringBoard on iOS
  • Program Install and Uninstall Troubleshooter Tool Replaces MSICUU2

  • Copy and Click to Favorite Application with click.to

    There are a lot of information can be found on the Internet but unfortunately we cannot believe all of them which is why we need to do further research to see if the information is true or false. Performing research from the Internet normally requires a lot of copying and pasting which saves us the trouble from typing the sentence or words again and again. However in the middle of the copying and pasting process, there are still a few more mouse clicks to be done in between programs and detours.

    One example is you’ve heard a lot of good reviews about this restaurant and the official website has their address. Instead of opening a new browser tab/window, typing http://www.google.com/maps address and then pasting the address to locate it in Google Maps, you can simplify all that by copying the address from the website and a click of a button. This is all made possible with a free software called click.to.


    Basically click.to simplifies your daily work significantly by helping you to skip a few steps in between. As long as something is copied to the clipboard, the click.to action satellites will show allowing you to choose as much as 45 different actions ranging from posting a picture to Facebook which takes normally takes 11 clicks to do it but only 1 with click.to to as simple as saving the clipboard data to a text file.

    Click.To

    At click.to Actions options, you get to select the actions that you normally would want to use to show at the satellite while the rest is still available through the menu. Other than the 45 actions that comes by default, you can add customized web action or Windows application call.

    click.to options

    You can also configure the location of the action satellites from the Appearance option because by default it is located on top of you screen. You can set it to show on top of your mouse cursor so you don’t need to move your mouse cursor all the way to do top to activate the satellite bar and select an action. It is also possible to set a shortcut key to show the satellite.

    Do take note that when copying to a document such as Notepad, Word or Excel, the files are created and temporarily saved to clickto folder in My Documents. When you manually close the click.to application or restart Windows, the clickto folder will get cleaned automatically. So if you want to keep any of the files in that folder, you have to extract them and save it to somewhere else.

    click.to is a huge time saver if you’ve set up the actions that you normally use. click.to takes up over 40MB of memory usage during testing. click.to is free and will remain as free according to their FAQ page. It runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and also Mac OS.

    Download click.to

    No related posts.

  • Official Desktop Facebook Messenger for Windows

    Instant messengers such as ICQ and MSN Messenger used to be a great way to keep in touch with old friends that we no longer see very often but that has all changed today because everyone is on Facebook. As you may have already know, Facebook has a chat feature where it allows you to chat with your friends in real time. One good useful feature found on the Facebook chat is you can go offline so that no one will bother you while you are still logged on to Facebook and able to go through your friend’s profile. If you chat very often in Facebook but don’t want to keep your Facebook account logged in in your web browser, then the official Facebook Messenger for Windows will be very useful to you.

    Facebook has finally released an official version of Messenger for Windows operating system that allows Facebook users to chat with each other, see the latest updates from your friends in ticker and get quick notifications about what’s going on right from your desktop without logging in from the web browser.


    After logging in to Facebook Messenger, your friends will be loaded and all you need to do is double click on their names to bring up a chat window. The ticker simply provides a very simple information on the updates but you cannot view them. Clicking on any of the updates at the ticker will launch your default web browser to view it from there. I would say that there is an advantage to this because nobody will be able to access your Facebook profile and mess with it even if they had physical access to your computer.

    Facebook Messenger Chat

    The Facebook Messenger seems to be like a web messenger because everything is pulled from the Facebook website which would cause a bit of delay in loading your contacts, unlike the Windows Live Messenger or Google Talk where they are true desktop based instant messaging software that everything is loaded instantly. Other than that, Facebook Messenger is a very simple application solely for chatting and it lacks of many configuration options such as the inability to disable Facebook Messenger from auto startup, saving the Facebook login credentials and auto login. The only thing you can do is enable/disable chat sounds and dock to the right of your screen.

    Currently the Facebook Messenger only run on Windows 7 and they are working on a new version that will support Windows Vista. As for Windows XP, the Facebook Messenger developers do not support it. Video calls is also not yet supported.

    Download Facebook Messenger

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  • Remove Skype from Taskbar and Minimize to Notification Area

    Recently I had to get online in Skype a lot because one of the CSS expert which I have been talking to is mostly online there. It is hard to catch him online as we’re both at total opposite time zones so I had to connect to Skype first thing in the morning and then leave it on until I shut down my computer at night. Doing research on software and writing articles involves in opening a lot of programs which causes the taskbar at Windows gets filled up quite easily. Since I spend most of the time waiting in Skype, it is certainly a waste of space when it sits at the Taskbar doing nothing. Moreover I am a traditional guy that has set the taskbar button to never combine so there are really not much space left in Taskbar. Here is how remove Skype from Taskbar when it is connected and minimize to the notification area.
    Skype Taskbar


    Fortunately the latest version of Skype has a built-in option to disable Skype in Taskbar while I’m signed in.

    1. Click on Tools at the menubar and select Options.
    2. Go to Advanced Settings in Advanced and uncheck Keep Skype in the taskbar while I’m signed in.
    3. Click the Save button.

    Keep Skype in taskbar while I'm signed in

    Now whenever you click the X icon at the top right of the Skype window, Skype will be minimized to tray and no longer shows in Taskbar. Alternatively you can also use the compatibility mode trick which will also remove Skype from Taskbar and minimize to system tray area if for some weird reason Skype is still in Taskbar even after disabling the “Keep Skype in the taskbar while I’m signed in” option in Skype Settings.

    Related posts:

  • Fix Taskbar, Quick Launch and Notification Area Problems
  • How to Force Unpin Windows Live Messenger 2009 from Taskbar in Windows 7
  • Call Oversea Cheap using Skype from Nokia Mobile Phone
  • Minimize Running Application to Desktop as Thumbnail
  • Messenger Plus! for Skype Records Video Calls for Free

  • Babylon Toolbar Adware Information and Complete Removal

    Recently I am seeing a lot of software embedding Babylon Toolbar into their setup installer. Some of the example software that contains Babylon Toolbar are SUMo NoRK, AnVir Task Manager, ViStart, and The Web Blocker. In fact CNET Download.com Installer used to have Babylon Toolbar but it has been replaced with Blekko. Whether it is Babylon, Blekko, MyStart by Incredibar or any other brands of toolbar, they are all the same. Some people may label these browser toolbar as virus or trojan but in fact it is simply an advertisement software (adware). Although browser toolbar such as Babylon Toolbar are optional but the biggest problem is they are enabled by default and unless you select the Custom installation method, the installer may not even tell you that they’re going to install the toolbar. So after installing the software that you wanted to install, miraculously your web browsers started to show an extra bar below the address bar and you’re searching on some unknown search engines by default.

    Uninstall Babylon Toolbar

    I wanted to check out and test the Babylon Toolbar myself to see why are people complaining about the Babylon Toolbar.


    As a test, I have 5 latest web browsers (Opera 11.61, Safari 5.1.2, Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox 10.0.2, Google Chrome 17.0.936.65) installed on my test system and then install the Babylon Toolbar from ViStart. First I noticed that SUMo NoRK installer downloads a file called KCBundle_2778.exe from the link below and drops it to temporary folder.

    http://www.bestdlzone.com/nsi/nsis-2.46/KCBundle_2778.exe

    That file icon is invisible which looks like it is trying to hide itself from non-attentive users. Scanning the file at VirusTotal has a detection ratio of 2 / 43 with Avira and DrWeb detecting it as Adware. The Babylon Toolbar installer doesn’t have a cancel button and the X button to exit the window is also disabled. The only way to skip the installation of Babylon Toolbar is to select Custom installation and uncheck all 3 checkboxes. Take note of the 3 options which are Install Babylon Toolbar, Make Babylon search my homepage on my browsers, and Make Babylon my default search engine at the Babylon Toolbar installer.

    SUMo Babylon Toolbar
    SUMo recommends to install Babylon Toolbar by default

    After installing the Babylon Toolbar, I noticed that Opera 11.61 and Safari 5.1.2 is safe from the adware while parts of Internet Explorer 9, Mozilla Firefox 10.0.2 and Google Chrome 17.0.936.65 contains traces of Babylon Toolbar.

    Remove Babylon Toolbar in Internet Explorer 9
    When you run Internet Explorer 9 after the installation of Babylon Toolbar, at the bottom of the web browser shows a bar saying “Several add-ons are ready for use”.

    Several add-ons are ready for use

    If you click the Don’t enable button, the Babylon Toolbar will be disabled. If you’ve accidentally enabled the Babylon Toolbar, you can easily uninstall the Babylon Toolbar by going to Control Panel > Programs and Features > and uninstall Babylon toolbar on IE.

    Babylon Toolbar on IE

    Unfortunately after uninstalling the Babylon toolbar on IE in Programs and Features, the Babylon Search page which resembles the Google Search will still open by itself when you launch Internet Explorer. Moreover when you perform searches from the address bar, Internet Explorer will also search from Babylon Search. This is because the option “Make Babylon search my homepage on my browsers, and Make Babylon my default search engine” from the Babylon Toolbar installer are not uninstalled.

    Remove Babylon Search homepage on IE9.
    1. In Internet Explorer, press Alt+X, select Internet Options
    2. At Home page, click the Use default OR Use blank button and click the OK button.
    Reset Internet Explorer 9 Home Page

    Remove Babylon default search engine on IE9.
    1. In Internet Explorer, press Alt+X and select Manage add-ons
    2. Click Search Providers at Add-on Types, select Bing and click the Set as default button.
    3. Alternatively you can now select on Search the web (Babylon) and click the Remove button to delete Babylon Search from IE9 Search Providers.
    Manage Add-ons Internet Explorer 9

    Remove Babylon Toolbar in Firefox 10.0.2
    This is one reason why we should always use the latest version because of improvements. Firefox 10 no longer allows automatic installation of add-ons. So when you launch Firefox the first time after installing Babylon Toolbar, you will be prompted a software installation window. Simply click the Cancel button.

    Firefox Software Installation warning

    However if you’ve accidentally clicked on the Install button, to remove it, press CTRL+SHIFT+A in Firefox, go to Extensions and then click the Remove button for Babylon. The Babylon Toolbar also automatically modifies the default Home Page for Firefox and also setting “Search the web (Babylon) as the default search engine.

    Remove Babylon Search homepage on Firefox.
    1. In Firefox, click the yellow Firefox button at the top left, go to Options and select Options.
    2. At the General tab, click the Restore to Default button and click OK.
    Firefox Restore to Default

    Remove Babylon default search engine on Firefox.
    1. In Firefox, click the drop down arrow at the Babylon icon and select Manage Search Engines
    2. Select Search the web (Babylon) and then click the Remove button.
    Firefox Manage Search Engines List

    Remove Babylon Toolbar in 17.0.936.65
    Google Chrome is slightly safer because Babylon Toolbar failed to install any extension. However, Babylon Toolbar still manages to modify the default home page to Babylon Search and also the search engine.

    Remove Babylon Search homepage on Chrome.
    1. In Chrome, click the wrench icon at the top right of the window and select Options
    2. At the Basics tab, you can either select “Use the New Tab page” or replace the Open this page URL with the website that you prefer to open when you launch Google Chrome.
    Chrome Home Page

    Remove Babylon default search engine on Chrome.
    1. In Chrome, click the wrench icon at the top right of the window and select Options
    2. At the Basics tab, click the Manage search engines… button
    3. Set Google, Yahoo or Bing as default search engine by clicking the Make default button.
    4. Move the mouse cursor to Search the web (Babylon) and click the X button at the end to remove Babylon from the search engines list.
    Chrome Search Engines

    The methods above should also work on resetting other adwares or toolbars that overwrites your default home page and also search providers. As you can see that many computer users are disgusted with these adware because they don’t provide a complete uninstallation when the user decides to uninstall it. I personally think that including ad-ware into a freeware is fine because the programmer needs to pay the bills but then they could have selected a more genuine adware rather than some pesky ones.

    No related posts.

  • AnVir Task Manager Review with Exclusive License Key for Raymond.cc Readers

    Windows Task Manager is one of the most important tool that is built-in to Windows. You are able to discover which process is hogging on to the CPU or eating up all the memory on your system and also perform basic investigation on running processes such as where it is located, etc. Actually Microsoft could have done a much better job on the Windows Task Manager because it still lacks of many features to help in investigating running processes plus the Windows Task Manager missing tabs and menu problem is still there in Windows 7. There are a few good Windows Task Manager alternatives out there such as Process Explorer and Process Hacker but we’ll be taking a look at AnVir Task Manager today. Actually I’ve mentioned AnVir Task Manager in some of the articles which I’ve written but has never really put it to a full test.


    AnVir Task Manager is a powerful alternative/replacement to the Windows Task Manager. At first look it would seemed a little overwhelming because there are information everywhere. Firstly, there are 5 main tabs on the program that allows you to view and edit startup entries, running applications, active processes, services and log.

    AnVir Task Manager Key

    If you want to investigate a running process, go to the Processes tab, click on the process that you want to investigate and then look at the bottom “Detailed Information” window. The Properties tab for Processes provides a security risks analysis based on the program behavior for reference which should not be used as final verdict. AnVir Task Manager can also tell if the process is a startup item or service. The Process Properties shows the path of the process, the command line that is used to run the process, resource usage and elevation.

    AnVir Process Properties

    There are a lot actions which can be performed on an entry by simply right clicking on the process. Some of the actions are sending the file to VirusTotal to scan with multiple antiviruses, adding a running process to startup, freeing the memory used by process, terminating and blocking process and etc.

    Other than being an excellent task manager that provides very detailed information on running processes, AnVir Task Manager also comes with some miscellaneous feature such as startup monitoring, IE home page guard, adding list of recent folders to save as and open dialogs of all programs, adding extra buttons in the titles of windows to to put the program window on top, hiding to tray, creating floating icon and rolling the window up. You can also find a Tweaker for Windows under the Tools menubar which allows you to easily enable/disable hidden features without manually editing the Windows registry. You can even configure AnVir Task Manager to completely replace Windows Task Manager so when you press Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Anvir Task Manager will launched instead of the Windows Task Manager. This can be done in Tools > Options > Program settings.

    AnVir Options

    AnVir Software has generously offered an unlimited AnVir Task Manager v6.5 license exclusive to raymond.cc readers for 7 days. If you are interested in getting a free license of AnVir Task Manager that normally cost $29.95, first download (taskman.exe) and install AnVir Task Manager, then use the key listed below to activate the software.

    Name: www.raymond.cc
    Key: TN2M-HQLZ8Z-PW6GLN-JUJ611-13CF2U-3PTR8P-JK8Z1

    However if you prefer the PRO version of AnVir Task Manager which allows you to permanently block undesired processes, write TCP/UDP traffic of a process to file (sniffer), save changed priority of processes, run programs as services on Windows startup before user login and monitor threads, handles, performance counters, together with technical support, then simply enter the discount coupon code as www.raymond.cc to get a 30% off.

    Do take note that during installation of AnVir Task Manager, after clicking the I Agree button, you will find Full installation and Custom installation options at the 2nd step of installation. Selecting the Full installation will allow the setup to automatically install a third party Reg Organizer software on your computer. So if you don’t want Reg Organizer to be installed on your computer, select Custom Installation and uncheck the “Install Reg Organizer” option. Somewhere in the middle of the installation, an InstallManager Setup window will appear asking you to install Babylon Toolbar. Clicking the Decline button will avoid installing the Babylon Toolbar adware.

    Visit AnVir Task Manager

    No related posts.

  • Automatically Backup Webserver Files and Databases using Pull Method with myRepono

    Backup is very important but is not complete if you simply save the backups on the same machine. If the server is hacked and the the hacker deletes both the data and backup, everything is lost. The same situation is also possible if a nasty virus is programmed to delete everything on the hard drive or even an unpredictable hard drive failure can cause you to lose everything. That is why it is important to have an offsite backup where the backups are stored outside of the server so no matter what happens to the server, you can restore the data to another server anytime.

    A lot of backup scripts can do offsite backup by uploading the backups to another server via FTP. This method is called push backup and it seems fool proof but if a hacker that managed to hack in the server can also obtain the FTP login credentials. Which means they can connect to your FTP server, download your backups and even deleting them. So the best method to backup your server files and databases is by using pull back. I have been looking for a very long time and finally found myRepono which does pull backup and store backups at an affordable price.


    The backup method used by myRepono works the other way round with their servers connecting to your server and downloading the files and database specified by you, then storing it for a duration that is also set by you. With this pull backup method, hackers won’t have access to your backups even if they managed to hack their way in to your server.

    1. After sign up, go to Domains tab and click Add New Domain.

    2. Enter your domain URL and click the Add Domain button.

    3. Next you will need to install a small, simple and secure program on your web site, which enables myRepono servers to connect to your sever in order to retrieve file and database information. There are 3 methods to do this and the easiest is by using the automatic installation method which requires you to enter the FTP information so that myRepono can install the script for you. In fact at a later time you will still need to provide myRepono your FTP login information or else you cannot transfer files bigger than 64MB. The FTP details stored at myRepono are using 256-Bit AES encryption.

    4. After installing the API and it shows connected, then you can now go to the Files tab to select the folders and files that you want myRepono to backup. You can also backup mySQL tables and databases at the Database tab but you will need to provide the database name, username and password.

    myRepono Backup Files

    5. Once you’ve done all that, go to Overview and click the Backup Now! button to manually run a first time backup so that you will get an estimated backup size and cost.

    myRepono Backup Now

    6. When the first time backup is successful, go to Settings and the page will show the estimate backup size and estimated cost. Changing the backup frequency and stored backups value will instantly calculate and display the new estimated cost. When you are comfortable with the amount that you’re willing to spend on the backup, make sure the Status shows Active (if not click the change link) and then click the Save Settings button.

    myRepono Estimated Backup Size and Cost

    7. You can view, download and restore your backups from the Backups tab. For your information, your backups on myRepono servers are encrypted with their own custom encryption algorithm used for improved efficiency, compatibility and reliability. Alternatively, you may choose to enable Rijndael 256-Bit encryption for optimal security if your server supports the mcrypt library/extension.

    At only $1.39 to $4.18 USD per month for daily backup frequency with 30 days backup storage, I would say that it is a good deal to put my mind at ease. No matter how useful myRepono is, nothing is perfect and no one cannot guarantee if myRepono will ever get hacked or the company will get shut down. So it is still your responsibility to download the backups to your computer at least once a week and burn them to CDs. I’ve also tested other website and database backup companies such as CodeGuard, Backup Machine and Dropmysite but ended up going back to myRepono.

    Visit myRepono

    Related posts:

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  • Oops! Backup syncs your files and prevents data loss
  • Automatically Backup Firefox Bookmarks
  • Backup Files from Dead Windows using Linux Live CD
  • Backup Files from Dead Windows to FTP

  • Easily Reset Windows Settings to Default State with RefreshPC

    On my quest in searching for a tool or software that can actually restore deleted services that belongs to Windows and not just simply restoring the startup settings, I found a tool called RefreshPC which claims to refresh system services. RefreshPC is a free tool created by the same company that develops XP Smoker or 7Smoker that is able to reset registry settings, system services and clean up temporary folders and prefetch files. RefreshPC works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 on both 64bit and 32bit versions. The screenshot of the program shows that RefreshPC is an easy to use tool that is able to automatically perform all 4 actions by simply clicking a button.

    RefreshPC

    I tried clicking the Refresh My Windows 7 Settings button on my test machine and within seconds a report window pops out telling me that it has reset 169 Windows 7 registry entries to their default values, reset 144 Windows 7 services to their default values and cleaned all of temp folders and prefetch files.

    RefreshPC Report

    That’s it. I can’t find any log nor information on what was being “refreshed” after clicking the button on RefreshPC. As we all know that the Windows registry is a very sensitive area where if you wrongly deleted an important registry key, Windows may not work properly. So before even attempting to use this tool on my client’s computer, let us investigate which registry entries and services that RefreshPC resets.

    The easiest way to check which registry values are being modified by a process is to use RegFromApp. First run RefreshPC, then run RegFromApp as administrator. Select the RefreshPC process listed in RegFromApp and click the OK button to start injecting. Click the Options from RegFromApp menubar and select “Add Only Modified Values” to uncheck that setting. Go back to RefreshPC and click the “Refresh My Windows 7 Settings”. When RefreshPC has finished refreshing the registry settings and system services, go to RegFromApp and you will see a list of registry values that is modified by RefreshPC.

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace\{D20EA4E1-3957-11d2-A40B-0C5020524153}]
    ""="Administrative Tools"

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
    "NoControlPanel"=dword:00000000
    "NoAddPrinter"=dword:00000000
    "NoDeletePrinter"=dword:00000000
    "NoThemesTab"=dword:00000000
    "NoChangeAnimation"=dword:00000000
    "NoViewContextMenu"=dword:00000000
    "NoDFSTab"=dword:00000000
    "NoSecurityTab"=dword:00000000
    "NoHardwareTab"=dword:00000000
    "NoToolbarCustomize"=dword:00000000
    "NoDesktop"=dword:00000000
    "NoBandCustomize"=dword:00000000
    "NoFileMenu"=dword:00000000
    "NoNetHood"=dword:00000000
    "NoFolderOptions"=dword:00000000
    "NoPropertiesMyComputer"=dword:00000000
    "NoFileAssociate"=dword:00000000
    "NoLowDiskSpaceChecks"=dword:00000000
    "NoSetFolders"=dword:00000000
    "NoStartMenuMyGames"=dword:00000000
    "NoSetTaskbar"=dword:00000000
    "NoCommonGroups"=dword:00000000
    "NoStartMenuNetworkPlaces"=dword:00000000
    "NoFind"=dword:00000000
    "NoTrayItemsDisplay"=dword:00000000
    "NoToolbarsOnTaskbar"=dword:00000000
    "NoSimpleStartMenu"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
    "NoDispSettingsPage"=dword:00000000
    "NoDispCPL"=dword:00000000
    "NoDispScrSavPage"=dword:00000000
    "NoDispBackgroundPage"=dword:00000000
    "NoDispAppearancePage"=dword:00000000
    "NoVisualStyleChoice"=dword:00000000
    "NoColorChoice"=dword:00000000
    "NoSizeChoice"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows]
    "SecureDesktop"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel]
    "Accessibility"=dword:00000000
    "GeneralTab"=dword:00000000
    "SecurityTab"=dword:00000000
    "ContentTab"=dword:00000000
    "ProgramsTab"=dword:00000000
    "PrivacyTab"=dword:00000000
    "AdvancedTab"=dword:00000000
    "CertifPers"=dword:00000000
    "CertifSite"=dword:00000000
    "CertifPub"=dword:00000000
    "SecChangeSettings"=dword:00000000
    "Privacy Settings"=dword:00000000
    "Connwiz Admin Lock"=dword:00000000
    "Settings"=dword:00000000
    "Advanced"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\USBSTOR]
    "Start"=dword:00000003

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\cdrom]
    "Start"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\flpydisk]
    "Start"=dword:00000003

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\sfloppy]
    "Start"=dword:00000003

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
    "MenuShowDelay"="400"
    "WindowArrangementActive"=dword:00000001
    "LowLevelHooksTimeout"="5000"
    "HungAppTimeout"="5000"
    "AutoEndTasks"="1"
    "DragFullWindows"="1"
    "SmoothScroll"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
    "Max Cached Icons"="500"
    "AlwaysUnloadDLL"="0"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Executive]
    "AdditionalCriticalWorkerThreads"=dword:00000000
    "AdditionalDelayedWorkerThreads"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
    "EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000001
    "DisablePreviewDesktop"=dword:00000000
    "TaskBarAnimations"=dword:00000001
    "Start_ShowRun"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
    "SecondLevelDataCache"=dword:00000000
    "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000000
    "LargeSystemCache"=dword:00000000
    "DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\FileSystem]
    "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000000
    "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000000
    "NtfsMemoryUsage"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters]
    "EnablePrefetcher"=dword:00000002
    "EnableSuperfetch"=dword:00000002

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\PriorityControl]
    "Win32PrioritySeparation"=dword:00000026

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OptimalLayout]
    "EnableAutoLayout"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control]
    "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="20000"

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects]
    "VisualFXSetting"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]
    "MinAnimate"="1"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
    "NoFavoritesMenu"=dword:00000000
    "NoRecentDocsMenu"=dword:00000000
    "NoNetworkConnections"=dword:00000000
    "NoRecentDocsHistory"=dword:00000000
    "NoSMMyDocs"=dword:00000000
    "NoSMMyPictures"=dword:00000000
    "NoStartMenuMyMusic"=dword:00000000
    "NoCDBurning"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
    "StartMenuAdminTools"="Yes"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa]
    "DisableDomainCreds"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
    "AllocateDASD"="2"
    "AllocateFloppies"="0"
    "AllocateCDRoms"="0"
    "AutoRestartShell"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System]
    "DisableGPO"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CrashControl]
    "AutoReboot"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Script Host\Settings]
    "TrustPolicy"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager]
    "ProtectionMode"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\eventlog]
    "RestrictGuestAccess"=dword:00000000
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
    "EnableLUA"=dword:00000001
    "EnableInstallerDetection"=dword:00000001
    "PromptOnSecureDesktop"=dword:00000001
    "EnableVirtualization"=dword:00000001
    "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"=dword:00000005
    "ConsentPromptBehaviorUser"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\PhishingFilter]
    "EnabledV8"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_SECURITYBAND]
    "(Reserved)"="1"
    "explorer.exe"="1"
    "iexplore.exe"="1"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Security]
    "DisableSecuritySettingsCheck"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\BFE]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\EventSystem]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\CryptSvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\UxSms]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Dhcp]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Dnscache]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\FDResPub]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\iphlpsvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\MMCSS]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\NlaSvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\nsi]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\CscService]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\PlugPlay]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Power]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Spooler]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\RpcEptMapper]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\wscsvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\LanmanServer]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\ShellHWDetection]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\sppsvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\SysMain]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\SENS]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Schedule]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\lmhosts]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Themes]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\ProfSvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Audiosrv]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\AudioEndpointBuilder]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\WinDefend]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\MpsSvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Winmgmt]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\WSearch]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\wuauserv]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\dot3svc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Wlansvc]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\LanmanWorkstation]
    "DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000000

    RegfromApp shows that RefreshPC does reset a lot of Windows settings back to default which can be quite useful but as for system services, it merely resets the DelayedAutoStart which I wouldn’t consider it as really “resetting system services”. If a service has been removed by a virus, simply adding back the DelayedAutoStart value alone will not restore the service.

    During installation, please take note that RefreshPC setup installer by default enables installation of WareSoft Search Toolbar. Uncheck all 3 checkboxes to prevent the installation of WareSoft Software Toolbar, setting home page to waresoftsearch.com and Yahoo! as default search provider, then only click the Next button.

    Download RefreshPC

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  • Create Alternative Internal Portable File Association with eXpresso

    Have you ever wondered how does Windows determine what software to use to open a file? One example is Windows opens text (.txt) files with Notepad by default but if you’ve installed a third party text editor such as Notepad++, it would probably allow you to set it as the default text editor during the installation so in future whenever you open a text file, it will be opened with Notepad++ and not the Windows Notepad. Windows keeps the file association reference in registry and you are able to view it in Control Panel > Default Programs > Set Associations.

    If you’ve used Q-Dir and XYplorer, you may have noticed that it comes with a very handy feature which is their internal file association or some people call it portable file association. This feature allows you to maintain any number of private portable file associations independently of the global ones defined in the Windows registry. For example, if you’ve set Q-Dir to associate AVI video files with VLC media player, running any AVI video files from Q-Dir will play it with VLC media player. However when you run the AVI file from Windows Explorer, then it will continue to use the default Windows Media Player.

    If you find this feature very useful but don’t want to do it from Q-Dir or XYplorer, you can give eXpresso a try.


    Obviously you will need to configure and associate the program that eXpresso should use to open the files. This can be easily done by simply double clicking on a file and it will prompt you that the files are not yet recognized by eXpresso and asking you if you would like to set an association. Clicking the Yes button will open a window asking you to choose the application that will open the file.

    eXpresso Associate Files

    If you click the No button, the file will open using the default program set in Windows and eXpresso will never prompt you to create an association for that type of file anymore until you delete the extension from Extension Configuration options.

    eXpresso Associate Files

    You may have noticed that you can set an alternative application for the extension from the image above. Do note that it does not automatically fall back in using the alternative application when the main application is not found but rather allowing you to use another program other than the main application by pressing and holding the Alt key on your keyboard and launching the file.

    The convey feature is probably the most confusing option because the description wasn’t really clear what was it all about. After testing, I found out that the Convey feature in eXpresso actually creates a temporary Send To shortcuts when eXpresso is active. You will need to first drop the send to shortcuts to eXpresso\Data\Links\ folder and then when you run eXpresso, the shortcuts are automatically copied to the user’s SendTo folder. Try right clicking on a file and you will notice that there are additional shortcuts in Send To menu. When you close or terminate eXpresso program, the shortcuts are automatically removed.

    eXpresso Convey SendTo

    You can either double click on the eXpresso icon at the notification area to pause the internal file association or use the hotkey Win+Alt+P. To resume, either double click on the eXpressor icon at the notification area again or right click on the icon and select Pause. Unfortunately the hotkey only works for pausing eXpresso but not for resuming.

    Download eXpresso

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  • CactusVPN Review and Giveaway

    VPN is very useful and once I’ve had an account, I honestly can’t live without it. There are so many advantages for having a VPN account and here are some of examples which I use a VPN for. Malaysian ISP throttles P2P bittorrent downloads so using VPN is able to bypass that restriction. A lot of freebies are offered to US, UK and European countries so using a VPN allows me to grab the free license. Only allowed IPs can connect to my dedicated server via SSH so using a VPN service that provides a dedicated unique IP address solves this problem. Encryption when surfing the Internet using a public Wi-Fi to prevent sniffing and also FireSheep attacks. Access block websites and also contents such as streaming full videos on Hulu, CBS, Netflix and etc. VPNs can also help to load up a web page faster when your ISP is having routing problems. Last but not least, you will be anonymous during surfing the Internet and the websites that you visit can’t see or know your real IP address. I was contacted by Sergiu from CactusVPN to review the VPN service offered by their company.


    CactusVPN is a new company that provides VPN service which started operating early this month. Unlike other popular VPN companies, CactusVPN only has servers in three countries which is US, UK and Netherlands which in my opinion is sufficient. The US server allows you to stream full episodes in CBS, Hulu, Netflix and etc. The UK server can be used to watch BBC iplayer, ITV on Demand, 4oD, Zatoo and other British TV. As for the Netherlands server, it is used for torrents and P2P. I’ve had a HMA! Pro VPN account before which has servers in 40 countries but never really needed to connect to countries other than US, UK, and some European countries such as Germany and France.

    What I like about CactusVPN is I can connect to their servers using various methods. If you already have OpenVPN installed on your computer, you can simply download the OpenVPN configuration files from the client area and drop it to the OpenVPN config folder. If you cannot install any third party driver or software, you can use PPTP/L2TP/IPSec which is supported in Windows XP, Vista and 7. If you are confused by the installation and configuration steps, simply install their CactusVPN software.

    CactusVPN

    All I need to do is enter the user name and password then followed by clicking the Login button. Then I get to select which server that I want to connect to and the protocol (PPTP, L2TP, Open VPN). Clicking the Connect button and the manager automatically configures and connects according to the settings.

    One of the unique feature offered by CactusVPN is proxy. This is very useful if you only want certain applications such as your web browser Firefox to go through their servers while leaving other applications directly connected via your ISP. Their proxy is of course password protected so you will need to enter the username and password you own from CactusVPN.

    CactusVPN Proxy

    Upon testing, I am able to stream the latest full episode of Survivor from CBS without any lag or buffering problems. The Netherlands server also bypasses Streamyx filter allowing me to download at full speed. There isn’t any major slow down when surfing the web with any of their VPN servers connected.

    Watch CBS

    CactusVPN charges differently depending on the servers that you want to use. Their US, UK and Netherlands VPN cost $4.99 monthly each and offers further discount on longer subscription. If you want all 3 servers, then it will be $9.99 monthly. Head on to their Blog page where you can find their latest promotional codes.

    Unlike most VPN companies, you can sign up for a Free UK VPN at CactusVPN by clicking on the blue colored TRY VPN FOR FREE button. The free trial VPN account is valid for 24 hours and anyone can sign up for it. My mother is a huge fan of the Survivor series and I think I’ll just subscribe the US VPN account for her to watch it online rather than going through the whole painful process of searching for the links, downloading, extracting, and playing the video file.

    CactusVPN has offered 10 accounts for 3 month on their P2P/Torrents server to be given away to raymond.cc verified users. Head on to the forum to join the raffle.

    CactusVPN VPN Service

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  • AwayFind Monitors Urgent Email Messages and Notify via Voice Phone Call

    I use the Pingdom to check the availability of my website because it is very important to keep a website up and running all the time. So far Pingdom does an excellent job by checking my website every minute and notifying me via email or SMS after it is down consecutively for 5 minutes. During the day, I can immediately respond to the notification because my cellphone is turned on but when it comes to at night while I am sleeping, I personally do not like having a cellphone beside my bed because of the radiation emitted by the cellphone. Although some may argue that the emitted radiation is within the safe range, I just do not want to take the risk.

    My bedroom has a port for landline which gives me two options. The first one is to subscribe to SMS service on my landline and the second option is to use a service that can check for the down time notification and then call my landline to report about it. As for the first option, Telekom Malaysia (TM) offers such service called Homeline SMS for only RM4 per month where I can send and receive SMS from my landline. I will need to register the Homeline SMS service at TMpoint and also get a phone that supports SMS. Gigaset cordless phones by Siemens seems to be a good option because some models offers radiation-free ECO Mode Plus function. As for the second option, I found a website service called AwayFind which is able to check an email’s inbox, converts the text to speed, call up the specified number and play it to the user. So by using AwayFind service, I can get immediate notification via calls from my landline.


    Here are the step by step instructions on how to setup AwayFind to call me up when there is an important email.

    1. Create a free AwayFind account. If you’re going to monitor your Gmail, you can sign up AwayFind using your Google Account.

    2. Setup Email Accounts for AwayFind to Monitor. AwayFind supports Gmail, Exchange and IMAP. Enter your email address select the account type and click the “Add Email” button. If you’ve selected IMAP, you will need to enter the IMAP Mail Server, username, password and click the Save button. It will then try to access your email to see if it is accessible. Click the Next button.

    Monitor email for urgent messages

    3. The next step is to configure where to reach you with urgent emails. Click “Add a Different Method” and select “Voice Phone Call” from the drop down list. Then select your country, phone type and enter the phone number excluding the country code or numbers that starts with 0.

    AwayFind Voice Phone Call

    For example in Malaysia, the country code is 60 and normally a cellphone number format is 012-345-6789 and landline is 03-4567-8901. For cellphone number, you should only enter 12-345-6789 for cellphone and 3-4567-8901 for landline. Notice that the first number 0 is being excluded. Once you’ve added the phone number, click the “Add & Send Test” button. You should receive an automated call from AwayFind robot giving you 2 random numbers to enter into the box followed by clicking the Verify button.

    4. Once you’ve successfully verified your phone number, click the Next button to continue. The final step is to configure when should AwayFind alert you by specifying one person’s email or words or phrases that are present in the email subject. For example, I want AwayFind to alert me when Pingdom sends me a down alert, so I set alert@pingdom.com at “My Important People” and DOWN alert: raymond.cc (www.raymond.cc) is DOWN at “Topics I’m following”. Both of these information are taken from the previous Pingdom alert which I’ve received at my inbox.

    When Should AwayFind Alert

    5. Click the Finish Setup button and now I can receive down alerts via voice calls at night without worrying about radiation. The above scenario uses AwayFind’s service as email to voice.

    There are a few plans for AwayFind. Unfortunately the basic plan which is free doesn’t allow Voice calls and has a 20 minutes delay in delivery speed. Only the Pro plan that cost $14.99 per month or $149.99 per year allows voice alerts. When you create a free AwayFind account, it will automatically give you a 30 days Pro plan to test it out and then automatically reverts back to the free plan once the 30 days is up.

    Visit AwayFind

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  • Setting Adobe Flash Player Auto Update Check Interval

    I wasn’t really satisfied with Flash’s auto update feature because it is not fast enough to inform me to update to the latest version when Flash is one of the common method for drive-by attacks. Manually checking and updating Flash version is also quite troublesome because there are a few steps to go through. While I was reviewing Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater software, I had to do some research on how Adobe Flash Player update mechanism works. If you go to Control Panel in Windows, you should see a Flash Player icon. At the Advanced tab of Flash Player Settings Manager, you can only set it to automatically check for update or never check for update. Unfortunately there is no way to know how often does Flash checks for update there.

    Flash Player Settings Manager

    When I continued researching, I found that we can actually select how frequently we want Flash Player to check for updates at the online Global Notifications Settings panel. The default selection is 7 days which I think is rather too long and shockingly I couldn’t set or select any number smaller than that.


    Flash check for updates every 7 days

    My first idea was to locate where the setting is saved to so that I can hack the file and manually change the update interval to 1 day. Using SysTracer, I found out that the Flash Player settings are saved to a file called settings.sol located very deep inside Windows.

    C:\Users\Raymond\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\

    Fortunately there is already an editor called Sol Editor that can be used to edit .SOL files. I opened the settings.sol file, changed the autoUpdateInterval value to 1 and save it. This seems to work but the problem is whenever I access the online Global Notifications Settings panel, the autoUpdateInterval value will be automatically reverted back to 7.

    I researched further by going through the Adobe Flash Player administration guide and found that there is an official way to configure Flash Player auto-update notification that is meant for IT administrator. All we need to do is create a mms.cfg file with the update interval settings and store it to Flash directory in Windows.

    1. Run Notepad.

    2. Copy and paste the two lines below into Notepad. You may want to change the AutoUpdateInterval value according to the amount of days you want it to auto check.

    AutoUpdateDisable=0
    AutoUpdateInterval=1

    3. Click on the File menu and select Save As. Set the file name as mms.cfg and make sure you select All Files (*.*) for Save as type or else you will end up with mms.cfg.txt which will not work. Set the Encoding to UTF-8.

    4. Browse to the following location according to your Windows version. %WINDIR% refers to your Windows directory name.

    32-bit Windows – %WINDIR%\System32\Macromed\Flash
    64-bit Windows – %WINDIR%\SysWow64\Macromed\Flash

    Save MMS.cfg flash config file

    5. Click Save.

    The mms.cfg file will override the users settings and users cannot change it through the online Global Notifications Settings panel. If you set the the AutoUpdateInterval value to 0, it will check for updates every time the player launches and the player is normally launched when you’re logged in to Windows.

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  • Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater

    Many of the popular applications such as Firefox, Chrome, Java, Skype, etc offers an easy way to automatically update the program to the latest version. Unfortunate this is not the case when it comes to Adobe Flash Player. Recently a new version of Flash Player 11.1.102.62 was released to patch plugs at least seven security holes, including one reported by Google that is already being used to trick users into clicking on malicious links delivered via email. Adobe Flash Player has an auto update mechanism but unfortunately it doesn’t work quite well as I did not receive any upgrade notification after days of the new release. As long as the old version is still installed, my computer will be vulnerable to attacks through the Flash Player exploits.

    You can manually check for updates from Control Panel > Flash Player > Advanced tab and click the Check Now button. However doing this will launch your default web browser and brings you to a web page that shows the Flash Player version installed on your computer and the latest version available. You will still need to go to the Player download center to download the Adobe Flash Player Installer which it will automatically download and install the latest version of Flash Player. The Adobe Flash Player Installer does all that without even checking if you already have the latest version. Other than that, the installer file is automatically deleted upon running. This makes the official Adobe Flash Player Installer only suitable for reinstallation purposes.


    Sujay has suggested a third party software called Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater which provides automatic version checking, downloading and installation feature which is currently missing in Adobe Flash Player.

    Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater

    Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater is capable of checking the installed version of Adobe Flash Player on your computer and determines if it requires to update. If the Flash Player is outdated and needs to be updated, the program will automatically download the correct version (32bit/64bit and IE/Non-IE) and prompt you to install it. Clicking the Yes button will launch the Adobe Flash Player installer and all you need to do is check the agreement checkbox and click Install.

    Install Flash Player Update?

    At the Settings tab, you get to configure if it should check for available Flash Player updates at start, or starting the application invisible, keep latest installers, auto check intervals, and even installing updates without user interaction. The 2nd Settings tab allows you to configure the program to use a specific administrator account and proxy server.

    Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater Settings

    If the system doesn’t have Adobe Flash Player installed, Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater can still continue to work. Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater saves the settings and downloaded flash players installers in Documents folder. Would be great if they can provide a portable version that does not require installation. In fact you can actually copy the Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater folder from Program Files to another computer and run it there without installation. Another method is to use innounp to unpack and extract the setup installer to the application files in the {app} folder.

    Download Alternative Flash Player Auto-Updater

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  • Unable to View Pictures in Archive with 7-Zip

    I have been experiencing this small annoying problem ever since I started using the popular and free 7-Zip archiver. Basically 7-Zip is used to create and extract compressed archived files such as ZIP. When we open an archive file such as ZIP that is associated with 7-Zip, the files inside the archive will be listed in the program and we can double click to view the files. When we do that, the files are actually extracted to the temporary folder and then ran using the default program that is associated with the file. So far I never had any problems opening text files such as readme.txt from an archive but weirdly when I tried opening picture files such as PNG, JPG, BMP, TIF and ICO format, they all cannot be viewed and show the following error message.

    Windows Photo Viewer can’t open this picture because either the picture is deleted, or it’s in a location that isn’t available.

    Windows Photo Viewer can't open this picture because either the picture is deleted, or it's in a location that isn't available.

    After investigating the problem, I found the cause of the error and also what can we do to view images directly from archived files.


    Windows Photo Viewer is not an independent program that runs from an executable file. If you go to Program Files folder, you will see the Windows Photo Viewer folder but only containing DLL files such as PhotoViewer.dll. That DLL file contains the code to view the images. As we all know that a DLL file cannot be ran alone, so Windows has a file called “rundll32.exe” which allows you to call or run DLLs on your Windows operating system and perform certain functions. The full command for Windows Photo Viewer to open an image file is the following:

    rundll32.exe “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll”, ImageView_Fullscreen c:\raymondcc.png

    You will have to change the c:\raymondcc.png to the location of the image for the command above to work. Now back to the error. It seems that this is a bug in 7-Zip because when I tried setting a different software as the default image viewer, I have no problems opening the pictures in archive with 7-Zip. In fact I’ve even tried using other archiver software and they all don’t have problems opening images in archive with Windows Photo Viewer. I can confirm that both current v9.20 and beta v9.22 versions of 7-Zip has this bug.

    Until the 7-Zip developer decides to fix this bug, we are only left with three options which is to use a different image viewer and associate the following image formats (PNG, JPG, BMP, TIF and ICO) to the image viewer or use a different archiver such as ALZip, HaoZip, Hamster Free ZIP Archiver, IZArc, PeaZip, WinRAR, WinZip, ZipGenius which I’ve tested working with Windows Photo Viewer or extract the image to your hard drive first and then manually opening the image file.

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  • Advanced SystemCare PRO 5 License Code Disabled, New Instructions Here

    IObit has disabled the Advanced SystemCare PRO license code from further activations, thanks to many inconsiderate people posting the Advanced SystemCare PRO 5.1 license key publicly even though I’ve stated very clearly not to do that. Try searching for “9C98A-D3624-7CC7E-137D4” in Google and you will see it is widely posted but only a handful of them that referred back to the original post. For those that has already activated the PRO license, don’t worry because the license will continue to work as it is not blacklisted, only disabled from further activations.

    This is the main reason why for the past few months I’ve only allowed verified registered users in forum to join giveaways and raffles because they are genuine users who agree to abide by the terms of the giveaway which is not to share the license that they’ve received. Although IObit was a bit unhappy of the whole incident, they are still willing to offer new licenses to raymond.cc readers but with one extra step which is to be a member of the forum by going through a one time free registration. There is no need to go through the verification process, just registration will do.


    You can register here: http://www.raymond.cc/forum/register.php

    Once you’ve filled up and submitted the form, check your email and click on the activation link to activate your account. Do check your spam/junk box if you don’t receive an email from us.

    Once you’ve done that, if you’re not logged in, you can do so by entering the username and password at the top of the page in forum. Once you’re logged in, visit the giveaway link below and click the “Get My License!” button to request for the new Advanced SystemCare PRO v5.1 license code and the license will be sent to you immediately via Private Message (PM).

    Advanced SystemCare PRO 5

    If you are seeing the error “You’re in a usergroup that’s not allowed to participate in this giveaway. Contact the giveaway administrator for details”, make sure you’re logged in first.

    http://www.raymond.cc/forum/giveaways.php?do=giveaway&id=3

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