Raymond.CC Blog

Category: Computer

  • NEW Winner of 1 Year RapidShare Premium Account

    It’s been more than a month ago since I ran a contest on “Subscribe and Get 1 Year FREE RapidShare Premium Account“. I’ve reached my goal long ago and I’ve chosen the winner three times but none of them replied my email to claim the prize.

    This will be my FOURTH time randomly selecting the winner from the email list I have. I will email the winner and also announce the winner here. Fingers crossed and hope that this winner will claim his prize otherwise there’ll be a fifth pick. This is no BS and I honestly want to give out this 1 year rapidshare premium account.

    Let’s not waste anymore time. The lucky WINNER is…


    RapidShare Premium Winner

    Miccas has been Raymond.CC Blog’s subscriber since 21 January 2007. Below is the screenshot I taken when I searched for Miccas’ record.
    RSS Subscribed date

    Miccas, I will be sending you an email in a few minutes time. If you see this post but did not get my email, PLEASE contact me. This 1 year rapidshare premium account prize has to go and I hope you’ll claim it!

    If for “some” reason you don’t want the FREE 1 year RapidShare Premium account, you can have anything you want that cost 54.99 EUR or less. I’ll just pay for it and have it shipped to your address. Since I think most of my readers including the winner are computer people, you’ll benefit a lot from the free 1 year RapidShare Premium account.

    Congrats to Miccas!

    P/S: Once the 1 year rapidshare premium account prize is claimed, I might announce a new contest which is to hit 10,000 subscribers. Of course I will be offering a much more BIGGER prize. So if you haven’t subscribe, please do subscribe in order for you to stand a chance to be the lucky winner!

    [ Subscribe to Raymond.CC Articles ]

    Related posts:

  • Winner of 1 Year RapidShare Premium Account
  • Subscribe and Get 1 Year FREE RapidShare Premium Account
  • RapidShare – Free premium-account NOW!
  • RapidShare – Free premium-account NOW! 02/July/06
  • BEST RapidShare Free Premium Account Checker

  • FREE Multi Virus Cleaner That Detects Over 5,500 Common Viruses

    I found a free tool, which claims to detect and remove major viruses. It is able detect and remove the following virus: Sober, MyDoom, Bagle, Sasser, Zafi, Netsky, Nimda, Klez, Mytob, Kelvir, Mabutu, Somefool, Korgo, Openstream, Serflog, Sumon, Crog, Bropia, Conycspa, Assiral, Inforyou, Wallz, Samll, Zar, Phel, Golten, Bofra, Renepo, Funner, Nyxem, Brador, Duts, Scob, Toofer, Cabir, Rile, Puce, Muce, Agent, Bobax, Wallon, Beagle, Gaobot, Agobot, Mimail, Simcss, Magicon, Wintrim, Persis, Francette, Thumbi, Ghosts, Delude, Hatoy, Torvil, Torvel, Swen, Gibe, Sobig, Dumaru, Welchia, Nachi, Msblaster, Blaster, Lovsan, Mylife, Randex, Slanper, Sluter, Sbbot, Bug Bear, Fortnight, Palyh, Fizzer, Lovgate, Rolark, Spybot, Ganda, Codered, Deloder, Slammer, Lirva, Naith, Avril, Gpcode, Wurmark, Eyeveg, Lanieca, Cipie, Adan, Vundo, Virtumonde, Nopir, VB-9, puper, popilos, banwarum, Bifrose, Padodor, SdBot, Sality, Dropper, Lineage, Pakes, Banker, Goldun, LdPinch, Hupigon, Dadobra, Centim, RDevil, Haxdoor, Hotmatom, Mokul, Antinny, Antilam, Banbra, BattlePong, ChodeBot, Mosucker, Okanpi, Winshell, Blackmal (Nyxem), Yamanner, Mocbot, Opanki, Stration, Warezov, Abox, Peacomm/Downloader, Common dialers and Common trojans.

    Did you get blinded by the list of virus that it’s able to detect and remove? The above list is NOT even the comprehensive list of virus that can be detected and removed. Best part is, it’s free and I can confirm that it’s portable so you can carry it in your USB flash drive.


    Multi Virus Cleaner is a free, stand-alone utility used to detect and remove major viruses.
    Free Antivirus Cleaner
    It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when cleaning infected systems. Multi Virus Cleaner is regularly updated and can detect over 5,500 common viruses, worms, trojans and dialers (including all variants of the Sober, MyDoom and Bagle viruses). The program boasts a fast, user-friendly scanner that requires minimal processing power and is an excellent choice for repairing a compromised system.

    Even though Multi Virus Cleaner is able to detect over 5,500 common viruses, worms, trojans and dialers, but I don’t think it is able to detect and remove Brontok virus. Nevertheless, it’s still a very good and useful tool for a computer guy to carry with.

    If you want to carry this tool in your USB flash drive, locate the following location “C:\Program Files\AxBx\Multi Virus Cleaner 2007″ and copy the whole Multi Virus Cleaner 2007 folder to your USB flash drive. You only need to run MVC.exe to start Multi Virus Cleaner 2007.

    For the time being, you’ll need to download the setup package whenever a new or updated version of Multi Virus Cleaner is out. I hope that the author of Multi Virus Cleaner 2007 would include a liveupdate feature to this tool for easy updates rather than downloading the whole setup package and installing it every time when the latest version is out.

    [ Download Multi Virus Cleaner 2007 ]

    Related posts:

  • Fix AOL Instant Messenger Related Viruses with AIMFix
  • FREE Anti-Virus Protection: AOL Active Virus Shield for EVERYONE!
  • How to clean Brontok Virus
  • Meebo, the Web-based Multi-IM client
  • How To Clean or Remove Virus/Spyware/Trojan When You Can’t Boot In Windows

  • Run Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 from USB Flash Drive

    It is a well known fact that Emsisoft Anti-Malware 5 and Avira has been taking the first two spots in virus detection tests. It’s not too bad for Kaspersky as well because they are able to maintain at top position. One of my favorite tool that Kaspersky offers for free to everyone is Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10. Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 is designed to scan and disinfect x86 and x64-compatible computers that have been infected. The application should be used when the infection is so severe that it is impossible to disinfect the computer using anti-virus applications or malware removal utilities running under the operating system. In this case, disinfection is more efficient because malware programs do not gain control when the operating system is being loaded. In the emergency repair mode, you can only start objects scan tasks, update databases roll back updates and view statistics.

    The Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 is in ISO format which you can burn it to an empty disc and boot up the computer with it. With USB flash drive becoming so common nowadays and newer generation motherboards can support booting from USB, Kaspersky development team has came up with a tool to install Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 to USB flash drive.


    Here are the steps to download and install Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 to your USB flash drive.

    1. Download Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10

    2. Download Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk (RD2USB)

    3. Insert your USB flash drive to your computer.

    4. Run rescue2usb_1.0.0.4.exe and click Install. Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk will automatically run and selected your USB flash drive letter.

    Kaspersky USB Rescue Disk 10

    5. Click the Durchsuchen button and browse for the Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 which you’ve downloaded in step 1.

    6. Click the Start button and this tool will first prompt you to format your USB flash drive if it is not empty followed by installing Grub loader and copying the Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 ISO file. When the process has been completed, you can boot up your computer with this USB flash drive.

    This tool is very useful because it can write Rescue Disk (ISO) to USB without KAV/KIS 2011. All you need is a computer with an internet access to download the files and a USB flash drive to have Kaspersky scanning a computer. The current Kaspersky Rescue Disk v10.0.23.14 database release date is on July 22 2010 which is 2 and a half weeks old. You can update the Kaspersky Rescue Disk databases by going to My Update Center tab and click the Start update button. The download speed averaged at 30KB/sec and took about 7 minutes to finish downloading the update.

    Related posts:

  • Integrate Multiple Antivirus Rescue Disk into One Single Disc or USB Flash Drive with SARDU
  • Kaspersky Offers FREE Rescue Disk To Clean Virus Without Booting in Windows
  • 13 Antivirus Rescue CDs Software Compared in Search For the Best Rescue Disk
  • Installing Windows 7 System Recovery into USB Flash Drive
  • Automatic Scan for Virus When Plug in USB Flash Drive

  • Automatically Change Default Sound Device in Windows 7 via Shortcut

    Some of you especially gamers may have more than one sound device such as an external speaker and a headset. You may want to use the headset when it is late at night and don’t want to wake up your family members or if you want to talk to your friends so that it doesn’t transmit the sound from speaker to the microphone. To select which devices to use, you will have to manually choose which device for playback from Control Panel > Sound or alternatively you can right click on the speaker icon at the notification area and select “Playback devices”. The same goes to selection of Microphone to use but at the Recording tab. If you’re looking for an automated way to switch the default playback devices by clicking on a shortcut, here are 2 free tools that can help you achieve that.

    Set default playback device


    The first tool that is easier to use is called Set Sound Device or SSD in short. All you need to do is run SetSoundDevice tool, select which sound device that you want to set as default from the drop down menu and click the Change Default Sound Device button. A shortcut will be created and saved at the same location to where the SSD is. Whenever you want to switch to that particular sound device, simply run the shortcut and the default sound device will be automatically switched. You may want to create another shortcut so that you can also easily switch it back by running the shortcut.

    Set Sound Device

    Download SSD SetSoundDevice

    The second software is NirCmd which is a more advanced tool created by Nir Sofer. NirCmd is a Windows command line tool that allows you to do some useful tasks without displaying any user interface and one of it is setting the default sound device on Windows 7/Vista/2008. The command line to use is as follow:

    nircmd.exe setdefaultsounddevice [Device Name] {Role}

    The [Device Name] is the name of the device, as appeared in the sound devices list of windows, for example: Speakers, Line In, Microphone, and so on… The {Role} parameter is optional and may countain one of the following values: 0 for Console (the default value), 1 for Multimedia, and 2 for Communications. To automate switching of sound devices with NirCmd, you will need to manually create a shortcut with appropriate command line switches.

    Download NirCmd

    Related posts:

  • Easily Change or Switch the Default Audio Sound Output in Windows Vista and XP
  • The Easiest Way to Automatically Install Device Drivers on Any Windows XP Computer
  • How To Change Windows Default Save As or Open Location
  • Disable UAC for Specific Software in Windows 7 with UAC Trust Shortcut
  • 6000 Sound Effects

  • How to Automatically Start Downloading During RapidShare Happy Hours

    On 17 April 2008, RapidShare has again updated their CAPTCHA system and brought back the happy hours. The new CAPTCHA code now contains more than 4 characters and it ask you to enter all letters having a cat. It says “No premium user. Please enter all letters having a CAT below.” If you look carefully, you will find all the animals are not Cats. Some are Dogs which is very similar looking and confuses people. Sometimes even I have problems identifying which is cat and which is dog and can only get it right after a few tries.

    Rapidshare CATS letters

    Next, I want to talk about the RapidShare Happy Hours. You will get a message that says “The RapidShare Happy Hours are active right now. Have fun!” Their happy hours means that the download ticket waiting time and CAPTCHA will be totally disabled. However, after you’ve finished downloading a file, you will still need to wait for X amount of minutes before you can download the next file from RapidShare. I do not see a point in their happy hours… I don’t think they have a specific time when the happy hours will start or end. RapidShare only mentioned that when their servers have enough spare bandwidth, they will make it easier for free users to download from RapidShare.

    These updates are meant to break all those third party tools (Cryptload, (E)lephant, RSD, USDownloader) that can download from RapidShare as a free user as if they were a premium user.


    I’ve spoken to Apokalypser, the creator of Cryptload, he mentioned that it is tough to crack this current CAPTCHA code with CATS and he is unaware of any method that can automatically recognize cats inside rapidshare CAPTCHA image. However, there is a method I know called CaptchaExchangeServer which can help to automate inputting rapidshare captcha code with cats.

    recognize cats inside rapidshare captcha image

    CaptchaExchangeServer is not a software, but a service. When you are downloading something from RapidShare and you are not in front of the PC, another user (who is somewhere on the net) is writing the CAPTCHA for you. The user will help you because every time he writes a correct CAPTCHA for another user, he gets 1 point. So when he wants to download something, some other user, by the same idea is writing the captcha for him. He will then loose a point. Currently there is a bonus in this system. If you have less of 1 points, and waited for more then 5 minutes in queue, and there is no captchas for recognition, you’ll get 1 point automatically. This system currently only works on USDownloader. From what I experienced in CaptchaExchangeServer system, there are not many people spending their points but many trying to earn points. I had to wait more than 30 minutes for my CAPTCHA recognition turn.

    I also heard of people saying that it is possible to recognize CAPTCHA code with ABBYY FineReader. I’ve tried it but did not work. If you know how, perhaps you can share it with me.

    Good news is during RapidShare Happy Hours, we can use Cryptload, RSDownloader and USDownloader to automate the downloading. The author of those tools has updated their program to support RapidShare Happy Hours. As for (E)lephant, it hasn’t been updated since 16th March 2008 and it doesn’t work with Happy Hours. There’s only one small problem that is we have to wait till RapidShare Happy Hours is active, then we can proceed downloading from RapidShare without limitations using those third party tools.

    Instead of manually checking for RapidShare Happy Hours, I found a small tool which automatically checks for RapidShare Happy Hours. If the tool detected that the RapidShare Happy Hours is active, it will notify you via popup and you can configure it to run Cryptload, RSDownloader or USDownloader and start downloading. Very useful so you can go to sleep and let everything run by itself.

    The tool is called RapidShare Happy-Hour Checker.
    RapidShare Happy Hour Checker

    I couldn’t find any information about this tool. I don’t know who created it nor where is the official website. I scanned it with 31 types of antivirus in VirusTotal and it detected nothing at all.
    [ Download RapidShare Happy-Hour Checker ]

    Another tool I found is called HappyCat by Perrin and 20lives.
    HappyCat rapidshare happy hours detector
    I couldn’t find the official website for this tool as well. Tried it but it doesn’t work as it reports “Not a Happy Hour” during Happy Hours. Another thing I don’t like about this tool is it requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. I’ve included the download link in case you’d like to try it yourself.
    [ Download HappyCat ]

    Cryptload can automatically start downloading when it is launched provided if you set it to start Immediately when adding the links.
    CryptLoad immediately start downloading
    In short, it means you add the links and set it to start Immediately and then close Cryptload. Then open up RapidShare Happy-Hour Checker and set it to run CryptLoad.exe when it detects rapidshare happy hours. There’s a small bug in CryptLoad which is there must be more than 1 files in queue. If you only have 1 file queued in Cryptload, it won’t automatically start downloading when it is launched.

    RS Downloader too can start downloading immediately when launched but it is not configured as default. You’ll need to go to Einstellungen tab > Sonstiges, CHECK Downloads beim RSD start starten and click Speichern button to save the setting.
    RS Downloader automatically start downloading

    As for USDownloader, it will automatically start downloading the links when it is launched. No configuration needed. I will update you all again if there are new methods to recognize cats inside RapidShare CAPTCHA images.

  • Fix AVG Incompatible Software Problem During Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 Installation

    Yesterday I’ve posted a trick on how to obtain Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 license key for free and I believe many has successfully got the key. From the comments on the article and forum, I found out that many people is unable to install Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 due to an incompatible software that is installed on the computer, specifically AVG 8. The error windows shows a message “Attention! Some incompatible software is installed on your computer. These applications cannot be used together with Kaspersky Internet Security 2009. In order to proceed with the installation, remove these applications.”

    Fix AVG Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 Incompatible Software

    Selecting the incompatible software from the list and clicking the Remove button will launch Add or Remove Programs. Then another error “In order to proceed with the installation, please remove incompatible software (it is recommended to reboot your computer after uninstallation). Then run the installation again” The weird part was, AVG 8 has already been uninstalled on my test system!

    After investigating the Windows registry, I found cause of the problem (registry keys) that is causing AVG incompatible software problem during Kaspersky installation.


    I noticed that the Next button is blurred or grayed out. So I thought maybe I can use TurnItOn or DM2 to enable and access the restricted Next button. Tried but it doesn’t work.

    The method that Kaspersky suggested on how to skip scan for incompatible Software when installing Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 or Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 is at this link. This way of fixing the problem can be somehow confusing for computer beginners because it involves folder options setting, going to a hidden All Users application data folder, open up command prompt and launch the setup.exe via command line switch.

    I think the fix that I found myself would be much easier. Just launch Windows registry and navigate to the keys involved, back it up and then delete it. Here it goes.

    1. Go to Start > Run.

    2. Type regedit and click OK.

    3. Navigate to this following registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\

    Delete AVG registry Kaspersky Incompatible software
    right click the key, select Export and save it on your computer. Then delete AVG key. Try installing Kaspersky (kis8.0.0.357.exe) again. If it still doesn’t work, then run regedit again, navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

    Kaspersky Incompatible Software
    right click the key, select Export and save it on your computer. Then delete AVG8Uninstall key. You should be able to install Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 now without getting the incompatible software prompt. This is fix is only if AVG is listed in the incompatible software window. If you have Norton, you can look for Norton/Symantec registry key at the same location above and delete it.

    This option is recommended ONLY if you are absolutely sure that the third-party software was deleted but is still detected by the Setup Wizard of Kaspersky Internet Security version 2009. Otherwise after the program installation the operating system may malfunction and even crash.

    For a list of incompatible software with Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, you can visit this page.

    I actually had this problem when I was installing KIS 2009 on my test system but was somehow able to install KIS 2009 over it even if I got the incompatible software message. I can’t really remember how but I got through it. But if you’re unable to, you can use the solution above. Enjoy Kaspersky Internet Security 2009!

  • Microsoft Offers Free Hard Drive Virtualization for Windows

    Hard drive virtualization is very important when you’re managing hundreds of computers at a library, cybercafe or a school institute. One of the place where I am working at has more than 500 workstations and is used by students. Even though the students are on restricted limited account, some smart virus still manage to infect the whole computer. I’ve spent countless of hours just by scanning and removing virus. Some virus even made it impossible to clean that I had to reinstall the whole system.

    Antivirus don’t really help much because new undetected virus can still infect the computer. So the best is to use a virtualization software. Previously I’ve mentioned about Returnil Virtual System which is able to restore everything to its original state by a reboot. They have a free version but it is only for personal use, not commercial use. The finance people checked the price and told me that they couldn’t afford it. So I had to use another solution…


    Windows SteadyState is a tool developed by Microsoft that gives administrators enhanced options for configuring shared computers, such as hard drive protection and advanced user management. It is primarily designed for use on computers shared by multiple people, such as internet cafes, schools, libraries etc. SteadyState is the successor to the Shared Computer Toolkit. SteadyState is available free of charge from Microsoft for computers running genuine copies of Windows XP and Vista.

    Download Windows SteadyState

    There are Global Computer Settings and User Settings. For global computer settings, you can set computer restrictions, schedule software updates and protect the hard disk using Windows Disk Protection. When Windows Disk Protection is turned on, it has the ability to revert a computer to a previously stored state every time it reboots, or when an administrator sets it to. The good thing about it is the user’s My Document would not be affected by the virtualization, which allows the user to save their work there.

    As for User Settings, you can find 4 tabs which is General, Windows Restrictions, Feature Restrictions and Block Programs. In General, you’re able to configure session timers to define the duration of a logon session or of the idle time before a session terminates. On the Windows Restrictions tab, you can set restriction levels that define the content of menus and the Windows XP or Windows Vista tools and features that a user has access to. As for the Feature Restriction tab, you can select restrictions that will prevent users from accessing a program attributes that could damage or clutter the computer. Finally on the Block Programs tab, you can select the software you want to prevent the user from accessing.

    Actually I got to know about Windows SteadyState early this year. Tried it and it made my computer really slow. Other than that, my computer takes more time to boot in Windows. Well, I was using Windows SteadyState 2.5 Beta back then which is unstable. Few days ago Microsoft released stable final version of Windows SteadyState 2.5, which adds support for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. I believe they’ve fixed the “hang” problem as well.

    I’ve tested the latest SteadyState 2.5, it is much better than the BETA version and I noticed it increased my computer’s boot up time by a few seconds. I am willing to give up the few seconds rather than spending hours in scanning and cleaning up virus. Here’s how a high restrictions limited account desktop looks like.

    SteadyState Desktop

    One important note, any administrator is able to run Windows SteadyState because it doesn’t have the ability to password protect itself. So make sure you create a limited user account and let them log in as limited user, not administrator.

    [ Download Windows SteadyState 2.5 ]

  • Another Easy To Use Remote Access Software – ShowMyPC

    I am always on the look out for a good and easy to use remote access software because I very frequently provide computer help remotely to users in other part of the world while I am sitting at home or office. Sometimes seeing the problem with my own eyes is much more easier than explaining it over the phone or via forum.

    Here is another easy to use free remote access software called ShowMyPC which works with firewall and without port forwarding. Pretty similar as Crossloop and TeamViewer. Let’s see if ShowMyPC is good enough to beat my favorite remote access software TeamViewer…


    ShowMyPC Remote Access Control
    ShowMyPC combines VNC remote access technology with an open-source SSH forwarding client to provide you with the option to allow other users to view and control your desktop. The remote user needs to download the standalone ShowMyPC application and can access your computer with just a password (no IP address needed). The temporary session password is automatically generated when you start the viewing session and must be provided to the remote user by email, phone or other means. If you have access to your own SSH server, you can use it instead of the one provided.

    ShowMyPC Features:

  • Free
  • Desktop and single Application Sharing
  • Screen Recording
  • Built using standard SSH and VNC software
  • Use Private SSH server
  • Schedule Meetings

    • I will again use the same scenario as I’ve used before in TeamViewer and Crossloop article. Let’s say Joe wants to connect to Sharon’s computer to help her troubleshoot some computer problems.

    1. Both Joe and Sharon must download the latest ShowMyPC.

    2. Joe and Sharon will have to run the downloaded ShowMyPC. It will automatically extract the files in temporary folder and run the program. No installation is required.

    3. Since Sharon is the one getting help, she will click the “Show My PC Now” button. A 12 digit random access code will appear and she’ll give it to Joe.
    ShowMyPC Generate Password

    4. Joe clicks the View a Remote PC button and enters the 12 digit random access code.
    Enter ShowMyPC Password

    5. Joe is now connected to Sharon’s computer and able to view and control her computer.

    ShowMyPC application and the service, both utilize VNC for desktop sharing over SSH for secured communication. ShowMyPC software uses its pool of servers in the middle located across the globe to interconnect users. ShowMyPC doesn’t have to worry about the file transfer because this feature is already built-in to TightVNC.

    TightVNC also has another great feature which is Java Viewer. Now the person who is providing computer support can be on Windows, Mac OS or Linux because it runs on web browser through Java. Currently only Mac OS can support both Viewer and Desktop Sharing and I am sure it will support all platforms in future.

    The only advantage that ShowMyPC has over TeamViewer and Crossloop is the scheduled meetings. This feature enables multiple remote access connections rather than only one. ShowMyPC also tends to be slow because it uses SSH connections.

    My favorite is still TeamViewer but no harm having another alternative in case TeamViewer doesn’t work for some clients.

    [ Download ShowMyPC ]

  • Using Gmail or Non Hotmail/MSN/Live Email Address in Windows Live Messenger

    I am sure most people have a Hotmail email account. For me, Hotmail was my first email account and my cousin helped me registered it 16 years ago. Back then the 2 most popular free email service provider was Hotmail and Yahoo. Google’s Gmail is still unheard of because they only started in year 2004. Back then most people were using ICQ messenger and for some unknown reason everyone started to switch to Windows Live Messenger (back then it was called MSN Messenger). As long as you have a Hotmail, MSN or Live account, you can instantly sign in to Windows Live Messenger.

    However if you’ve noticed, some people uses their Gmail account or even their own personal domain name (such as raymond@raymond.com) to sign in to Windows Live Messenger. I never had the interest to know how to do that because I have my personal Hotmail account which I use to sign in to Windows Live Messenger. Recently one of my old friend that is not very good in computer wanted to use Windows Live Messenger to talk to his kids in overseas. He already have a Gmail account and he didn’t want to register an extra Hotmail account just for that as he claimed that old people find it harder to remember login names and passwords.

    Gmail login Windows Live Messenger

    If you try logging in to Windows Live Messenger with your Gmail username and password, it won’t work and you will only get the error “We can’t sign you in to Windows Live Messenger. The Windows Live ID or password you entered is incorrect. Error code: 80048821″. The trick is, you will still need to do a one time sign up for a Windows Live ID with your Gmail address.

    1. Go to http://www.passport.net

    2. Scroll down a bit and click on the Get started now link for Use an e-mail address you already have.

    3. Enter your Gmail for email address, your password, secret question and answer and finally the verification code, then click the Continue button.

    4. Review and sign the agreements by typing your email address in the box and click I Accept.

    5. Login to your Gmail and you should receive an email from Windows Live Team asking you to confirm your email address for Windows Live ID. Click on the confirmation link to complete the process.

    You can now sign in to Windows Live Messenger using your Gmail or non hotmail/msn/live email address. If you want people to add you to their Windows Live Messenger contact list, just give them your Gmail email address instead.

  • Keep Your Email Address Private and Secure While Still Able To Use It

    Let’s say I have a really cool and hard to get email address username such as raymond@hotmail.com or raymond@gmail.com. I would be so proud but then I dare not simply use it to sign up on any forms or let everyone know to prevent spam or even someone hacking it. When a Hotmail or Gmail email account is hacked, it is nearly impossible to get it back after the hacker changed the secret question and answer or the alternative email address. If you send an email to Hotmail support, they will only reply you with a ready written email template that ask you to try recovering your account through the secret question and answer or just sign up a new email account.

    To solve this problem, a lot of people including me have more than 1 email account. I have a Hotmail which only my close friends and family knows about it, a Gmail for everyone else to contact me and finally, my domain email address for my customers.

    Another solution which I recently discovered is we can have only 1 email address with multiple email addresses. How cool is that?


    akapost is a simple and easy way to protect your email identity from being exposed on the Internet. With akapost, you can send and receive emails from any of your existing email accounts but still keep your actual email addresses private. akapost works with any email client or device such as computer, cell phone, or handheld, etc. No software download or installation is required. Simply sign up and register your email address, it’s ready to go. Protecting email identity has never been so easy – and yet it’s FREE!

    Protect your email with akapost

    The below example scenario would help you understand akapost’s concept better:

  • 1. Brian would like to send an e-mail from his company e-mail account to Lisa. But he doesn’t want Lisa to know his actual e-mail address.
  • 2. Brian signs up with akapost, creates an akapost e-mail address “JediMaster@akapost.com”, and associates it with his actual e-mail address “Brian.Jones@company.com”.
  • 3. Next Brian appends the extension “.akapost.com” to Lisa’s e-mail address and sends a message to this customized e-mail address “LisaW82@yahoo.com.akapost.com“. The message is then redirected to akapost.
  • 4. akapost substitutes Brian’s e-mail address with Brian’s akapost e-mail address, strips all personal information in message headers ties to Brian’s actual e-mail account, and delivers the message to Lisa.
  • 5. When Lisa receives Brian’s message, she doesn’t know Brian’s actual e-mail address because the original sender address has been replaced with Brian’s akapost e-mail address. To Lisa the message seems to be sent directly from Brian’s akapost e-mail address. When Lisa replies this message, the replied message is sent to Brian’s akapost e-mail address “JediMaster@akapost.com”.
  • 6. akapost receives Lisa’s replied message and forwards it to Brian’s actual e-mail address “Brian.Jones@companycom”.

    • akapost currently offers three types of services: akapost Basic, akapost Plus and akapost Premium. akapost Basic is completely free, which allows you to create one akapost email address and protect one your actual email adddress. akapost Plus cost $22.95 per year and you can create up to 5 akapost email addresses and protect up to 10 registered email addresses. As for akapost Premium, it cost $9.95/month. You can create up to 25 akapost email addresses and protect up to 50 registered email addresses. You can also create customized email addresses (for example, sales@yourcompany.com) with an additional fee.

    [ Sign Up for a FREE akapost Account ]

  • All In One Windows Repair Tool Fixes Majority of Known Windows Problems

    Every feature in Windows works perfectly after installation but unfortunately after installing and uninstalling a dozen of third party software and drivers, Windows will start to act weird and behave abnormally. This is mostly caused by third party software or malware leaving traces behind and not reverting back to the changes that it was before. Not every Windows user knows how to analyze the problem in order to logically figure out a solution, so the best option is to look for possible solutions that are posted on the Internet.

    If you’ve tried every single suggested solution out there but they don’t seem to fix the Windows problem that you’re experiencing, then you may want to consider using the Windows Repair (All In One) tool created by Shane from Tweaking.com. There is a case where one of our forum user named MindDoctor was having problem with Internet Explorer not detecting Silverlight even though Silverlight is already installed. He tried every possible solution that he could find in Google but all failed to fix the problem. Then he found Windows Repair tool, decided to give it and the problem is fixed!


    Windows Repair is an all-in-one repair tool to help fix a large majority of known Windows problems including registry errors and file permissions as well as issues with Internet Explorer, Windows Update, Windows Firewall and more. Malware and installed programs can modify your default settings and you can easily restore them back to the original settings with Windows Repair.

    When you launch the program, it introduces four optional steps which you may want to perform before starting the repair as it may help fix the problem.

    Windows Repair Tool

    The first step is to make sure your computer is clean from virus infection which can be causing the problem. There are 4 recommended tools which you can use to check if your system is clean from infection. The second step checks the file system for errors using check disk. The third step is check the system files for corruption or mismatched versions using the Windows built-in SFC command. As for the final fourth step, you are advised to create a system restore point before running starting the repair.

    Finally we’ve reached the last tab which contains 3 repair modes, Basic, Advanced and Custom. Unless your computer is so badly corrupted, I would suggest you to use the Custom mode and only select the necessary repair option. For example, if Internet Explorer is working fine, then you should uncheck Repair Internet Explorer from the repair options.

    Fix Internet Explorer, Firewall

    When you start the repair with Windows Repair tool, you will see a lot of black command prompt windows opening and closing by itself which is normal. Wait till everything is complete and then restart your computer for the fix to take effect.

    Although the Windows Repair tool doesn’t fix every problems in Windows, but it is still a very useful tool to both computer users and technicians that automatically helps to fix problems in Windows. This program is constantly being updated so make sure that you have the latest version before using it to repair Windows. Windows Repair tool is free and compatible with Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008 & 7 (32 & 64 Bit). I personally prefer the portable version over the installer so that I can run it from my USB flash drive 😉

    Download Windows Repair (All In One)

  • Raymond.CC is 3 Years Old Today! 60 Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 License Giveaway!

    That’s right folks! This technology blog site is officially 3 years old today. The date that I installed WordPress was on 3rd of October but the actual date when I started writing my first article was on the 11th of October. Time passes so fast nowadays and with a blink of an eye, it’s been 3 years already. The main reason why I created this site at that time was to record down what I discovered and learned about computers and I have no problems in sharing it to everyone. From a site with merely less than ten visitors a day turned into 60,000. I’d say that’s quite an achievement as I did not spend a single cent on advertisement and marketing.

    Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 License giveaway
    I believe the main reason how this blog site has got so popular with many visitors per day is probably because of YOU telling other people about my site. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and as an appreciation, I am giving out 10 Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 genuine license that is valid for 1 year and another extra 50 Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 genuine license that is valid for 2 years! That’s a total of 60 KIS 2009 license to be given away! If you’re wondering where did the license came from, they are purchased with my own money and NOT sponsored by anyone.


    Since there are two types of KIS 2009 license (1 year and 2 years), I thought of a fair way to give out the license. Users or subscribers that has personally emailed me before to thank me for what I’ve done and also active forum members that has spent hundreds of hours in helping other people with their computer problems will have priority for the 2 years KIS 2009 license first.

    As for the other 10 unit KIS 2009 license that is valid for a year, I will randomly give out to my newsletter subscribers. Let’s say if there are any remainders for the 2 years KIS 2009 license, it will be added to the 10 units of 1 year KIS license to be given away. I hope this is fair enough…

    To be eligible for the Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 license lucky draw, you will need to:
    1. Be a subscriber
    2. Write a comment at the end of this article to let me know that you would like to take part in the Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 lucky draw. (Please don’t email!)

    The deadline for this draw is a week later on the 18th of October and winner will be announced on the same day at this page. So go ahead and press Ctrl+D to bookmark this page and check back on the 18th of October to see if you’ve won the Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 license. Imagine this, if you manage to get the 1 year KIS license from Barclay’s promotion few months ago plus winning this 2 years Kaspersky Internet Security license, you’d have a total of 3 years subscription and that should last you until Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 or even KIS 2011.

    Thanks for all your support, good luck to everyone on the giveaway, and happy birthday to Raymond.CC!

  • Office 365 with Cloud Services

    Microsoft Office is considered a must install software on most of the personal computer. It is a very useful program to help you on documentations, reports, presentation, or some calculation work. The early version of Microsoft Office provides only very few basic functionality such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Schedule + (I am not sure how many of you recognize this) and Microsoft Access.

    After few versions of enhancement, Microsoft Office extended some of the programs such as Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project, One Note, FrontPage, or even Microsoft Office Server to provide a comprehensive documentation solution. Personally I like to use Microsoft Outlook as email client as with Outlook I can efficiently manage my emails, calendar, tasks, and most importantly, all these information can be synchronize to my phone.


    In previous articles, Raymond mentioned the possibility of using cloud antivirus solution. It is not easy for lots of people to allow those antivirus engines to scan your computer virtually on real time through Internet. But with the new Microsoft Office 365, if we can access our documents, emails, communicate with others virtually anywhere and on any device with browser, everything seems to become possible, as our local machine will no longer store all these sensitive information and we might store all these information virtually on the Internet. Therefore, you may think of installing antivirus agent on your local computer will waste your computer resources.

    Office 365 includes Microsoft Office Professional Plus, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Lync Online (Services such as Communicator, video conferencing, etc). With all the capabilities listed above, we know that Microsoft not only turning Microsoft Office to be cloud enabled, also they are looking at total cloud computing solutions, such as emails (Exchange), communication (Office Communicator Server), SharePoint, and cloud computing platform named as Windows Azure.

    Cloud computing is an evolution for the computing world. I foresee the above solution will become more popular for the next two years. If the cloud computing widely use by everyone, I believe lots of IT specialist in the world will lose their job. Let’s imagine all the resources are managed centrally and the local machines will just need minimal resources to execute every programs. Also, it will be a lot cheaper to host the entire solution centrally rather than manage by a own self. This really reduce total cost of ownership and also manpower to manage the entire IT infrastructure. Anyway, this is just my thoughts.

    Office 365 is still under beta testing. For those who are interested, you can visit below URL to register become a beta tester. I already registered myself, but so far haven’t get any response yet. Wish you luck.
    [Register as Beta Tester for Office 365]

  • FREE 100 Genuine Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 License for 183 Days

    I bet many people were very excited last week because Windows 7 was officially launched plus Kaspersky and PandaSecurity joined in by giving away free license. PandaSecurity was very generous in giving 1 year Panda Internet Security 2010 to everyone including those are not from the United States although it stated that this offer is only for people from US but for as Kaspersky, it is strictly for attendees and hosts of Windows 7 launch parties. To redeem the free 1 year Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 license, all they need is a valid host email address and it’s easy guessing or even googling the host’s email address from their username.

    Since this promotion is very limited (15 license codes are available for each launch party and 1 code per attendee), I did post any tricks on the blog or forum on how to get the codes nor support the actions of people who got the codes illegally. I personally felt that it’s not right. Anyway, Kaspersky stepped up by deactivating fraudulently obtained codes and the attendees will have to get the free KIS 2010 license from the host.

    Actually I wanted to post a method which Björn Söderberg shared with me 3 days ago where everyone is able to request for a 6 months KIS 2010 key. I was out of town and has scheduled to post it today but unfortunately it has already started circulating yesterday night and causing the offer to close. I believe some of you probably stay up because of what I said yesterday, so now I will instead give out 100 KIS 2010 product key valid for 6 months to the first 100 people who write a comment with the condition of ONLY ONE REQUEST PER PERSON.


    Although the method below no longer works, but I will still share it with you in case if it ever re-opens again. It is working now!

    1. Visit http://www.pctidningen.se/kaspersky

    2. Enter your email address at the “E-postadress:” box.
    free kis 2010 license

    3. Type in the correct CAPTCHA code. Some of the characters are Swedish characters. You can use this online swedish keyboard to create the letters, then copy and paste it to the box.

    4. Click the Skicka button. The KIS 2010 serial number will appear and will also be sent to your email address. Yes, it’s THAT SIMPLE!
    free KIS 2010 serial

    This offer was way too easy without any restriction at all. You can use any email address whether it’s valid or not as long as it is an email format. It doesn’t check your IP address nor drop a browser cookie to recognize that you’ve requested for a free KIS 2010 key. True enough, this offer only lasted 1-2 hours.

    Note: The offer page says that the license is for Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, it can also be used on the latest Kaspersky Internet Security 2010. Thanks anyway to Björn Söderberg and Hogge for sharing this tip with me! As for the FILEminimizer Pictures, I’ve already closed the comments and will start to randomly select the 200 winners.

    *****************************************************************
    UPDATE: The promotion has reopen! You will need to type in the correct CAPTCHA code but there are some Swedish characters. You can use this online swedish keyboard to type the letters, then copy and paste it to the CAPTCHA box. Good luck!
    *****************************************************************

  • Fix FlashGet Default .torrent File Opener/Handler Association

    Fix Flashget torrent association
    If you’ve installed the latest version of FlashGet v1.8 Beta 1, you’ll notice that it can support download torrent files which is great news to all torrent downloaders! However, because it’s still in Beta, I wouldn’t want to download torrent files using FlashGet. I prefer to use the smallest torrent client which is µTorrent. Problem is, when I installed FlasGet 1.8 Beta 1, it overwrites the default file opener or handler association for .torrent files with FlashGet. I checked the options on FlashGet and found a box where I can uncheck to disassociate FlashGet with .torrent file. After unchecking the box, weirdly FlashGet will again overwrite the default .torrent file association to FlashGet even though I’ve disabled it.

    If you’ve encountered this problem, read on for a fix on how to stop FlashGet from overwriting your default .torrent association.


    First of all, you’ll need to DOWNLOAD and install the latest version of FlashGet v1.8 Beta “2″.

    Next, go to FlashGet’s Options from your Tools menu.
    FlashGet option menu to disable torrent association

    When the options box is out, go to “Other” tab, scroll right to the bottom and you’ll see a checkbox that says “Associate FlashGet with .torrent file“. Uncheck that box.
    Associate flashget with .torrent file

    That’s all. Run your favorite Torrent client such as uTorrent, BitComet, Azureus, Mainline, and etc to make it the default torrent handler.

    FlashGet 1.8 beta 1 has problems with that checkbox. Even if you’ve uncheck that box, it still wouldn’t work. After much complain from users of 1.8 beta 1, the author has fixed this bug and released beta 2.

    Update 8-DEC-2006: FlashGet 1.8 Beta 3 is out! It claims to fix the bug “Check the Downloaded BT File Completely”. Download link is updated to FlashGet 1.8 Beta 3.

    Update 12-DEC-2006: Final version of FlashGet 1.8 is out! Download link updated.

    [ Download FlashGet 1.8 Final ]