Raymond.CC Blog

Category: Computer

  • Call Oversea Cheap using Skype from Nokia Mobile Phone

    One of my wife’s closest friend resides in Texas and she has been there for many years already because she’s married to an American. She comes back to Malaysia once a year during the US summer holidays and my wife would be out with her pretty often to catch up on life. When she’s back in the US, the cheapest way to keep in contact is via phone call from Malaysia to US using Skype. I’ve checked Malaysia’s local telecommunication services such as iTalk, Ring-Ring card, IDD 132 and none of them cost as little as 2.3cents per minute.
    Skype Mobile
    The only annoyance is my wife has to turn on the laptop, sign in to Skype and then use a headset with microphone and headphones to have a clearer conversation compared to the built-in mic and speakers on the laptop. Her mobility is very restricted and I started to look for another solution. I found Belkin WiFi Phone for Skype which I thought it’s very convenient because it connects via wifi network and is like a cordless phone except that it cost about $180US.


    Then I thought that maybe she could use her existing old Nokia N73 N82 mobile phone to do that by installing a Skype application (if there is one). I referred to the Skype compatible phone models webpage and N73N82 is not listed there. I was about to give up and go ahead to purchase the Belkin wifi phone until I read that I can use the mobile phone to access http://skype.com/m and install the Skype application.

    So I turned on my wifi on the router, made the Nokia N73 N82 phone connect to the wifi and open the mobile site of Skype. There’s a Download button and clicking on it instantly downloads the Skype for Nokia N73N82. I also had to press on the Accept button a couple of times to allow Skype to install a few necessary application to run Skype on Nokia phone. Now my wife can use her Nokia N73N82 mobile phone to call her good friend in US using skype via wifi. Do note that if you’re not connected to wifi, your mobile will attempt to connect using 3G which is normally chargeable by the mobile operator.

    I guess many new mobile such as iPhone, Blackberry and newer generations of Nokia already comes with Skype application pre-installed. However for people that are still using older version of mobile phone such as my wife with Nokia N73N82 and me with HTC Touch 3G, be informed that you may be able to install Skype mobile by opening the mobile site directly from your phone. If you get the error “Sorry, Skype is unavailable for your mobile. We add new handsets all the time so check back soon”, then you will have to wait for Skype to add support to your phone.

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  • USBDummyProtect Fills Up Empty Space to Protect USB Drives from Viruses

    Last year I had to deal with a lot of computers that gets infected by viruses which spreads through USB drives. Most of my virus cleaning tools are in my USB flash drive and whenever I plug in my USB flash drive into the computer, the pendrive is at risk of being infected by virus or even worst, the cleaning tools gets injected by malicious code, making the cleaning tool a virus itself! My Corsair GT flash drive doesn’t have a write-protect switch, so I researched and found out that I can prevent virus from being infecting my USB flash drive by filling up the empty space so that it will be full and there will be no space for the virus.

    There are a couple of utilities plus manual method on how to fill up the space by creating a dummy file from this article. One of such automated tool that I’ve tested before is PenProtector which is a shareware and the official website is no longer selling it. Fortunately there is a replacement for such a tool called USBDummyProtect and it’s complete free.


    Basically what USBDummyProtect does is the same as PenProtector. Simply copy the executable file of USBDummyProtect to the USB flash drive. Whenever you want to fill up the empty space, run USBDummyProtect and a “dummy.file” will be created until the drive shows 0 bytes free. There will be a blank command prompt window opened and will auto close when it’s done.

    If you need the space, you can either manually delete the dummy.file or double click on the USBDummyProtect.exe which will auto delete the dummy file. There is no graphical user interface for this tool and it’s free. This trick works but the only problem is it may take a long time to create the dummy file if you have a large USB flash drive. I know for a fact I won’t do it on my 128GB Corsair GTR USB flash drive.

    You wouldn’t want to use this tool all the time because too much reading and writing will make your USB flash drive wear out faster, or in another words, shorten its lifespan. I personally only use it when I know I am going to use it to fix a computer that has virus problems. Do note that it is important for you to run USBDummyProtect tool on a computer that is free from viruses.

    [ Download USBDummyProtect ]

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  • Bypass Hard Disk Encryption Software and Format Your PC

    There is more and more people concern about their system security, beside installing antivirus programs on their system, they want more stuff to ensure the system is secure, such as malware removal programs like Spybot, HijackThis or something such as hard drive encryption program which can protect your hard drive data using encryption method to create a secure safe box surrounding your hard drive. With this method of encryption, unauthorized user are not allow to access your system without access key, and they cannot even simply format your system by just inserting the OS installation CDs.

    Recently I am creating standard OS image for a company and I have to work with few demo units to perform the OS image creation. Unfortunately, one of the Table PC was installed with encryption software. The worst is, the customer forgot the administrator password for the encryption software and if I cannot do anything on this, we will need to replace the hard drive, after that will need to send the encrypted hard drive back to the manufacturer and perform a low level format on it… Definitely I do not want this happen and I tried to search online for solution.


    Apparently, I called Raymond for help, asking him what are the tools that available at Internet allow me to perform low level format on the hard drive, and also most importantly, the software should be able to intercept Master Boot Record (MBR), as the encryption software already modified the content inside the MBR, so that other people cannot simply insert an OS bootable disk to perform a wipe off on the hard drive.

    Well, there is software called – Darik’s Boot and Nuke, although the name sound very crazy and scary, but it is very useful when you want to perform ‘emergency data destruction’. This tool will wipe off the hard disks of most of the computers during system boot up, and it is easy to use. You guys can go to this website and download the tool from there. The website also provides additional instruction and information on how to use the tool to perform low level format on your hard drive. This is an Open Source solution, which not only available for Intel based system, it also can wipe off Mac system.

    To use this tool, just simply follow below steps:

      1. Download the .iso source, and then burn it into CD
      2. Insert the CD into your system, and allow your system boot using CD-ROM
      3. Wait for the Darik’s Boot and Nuke console to launch, type ‘autonuke’ command (Or you can press the F3 key for additional list of quick commands)
      4. Wait for the program to perform low level format on your hard drive, reboot your system after the format is complete.

    I tried this software and found that is useful, thanks for Raymond sharing this with me, and now I would like to take this opportunity to share with you guys. Hope you guys like it.

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  • Free Advanced SystemCare PRO License Code Active Until 2011

    There seems to be continuous giving out of free license of Advanced SystemCare PRO license by IObit. Although some of the free offers are not meant to be for everyone, the people at IObit doesn’t seem to be very strict by closing the offer immediately whenever they are leaked shared. Getting exposure is more important in the long run. I was very impressed by IObit Advanced SystemCare PRO and managed to get them to sponsor 6 months PRO license for 10,000 activations. Well that was nearly 2 years ago and the license code is already expired.
    Download ASC Pro
    During that time Advanced SystemCare PRO was only at version 3.0.1 and today is at version 3.7.2 with many existing features being improved and also many new utilities added. Some of the new tools are Game Booster, Clone File Finder, Internet Booster, Software Uninstaller utility, Turbo Boost, File Shredder, Disk Doctor and NetworkMon. NetworkMon is still in beta and it would be nice if they can show the source and destination of the traffic.

    IObit Advanced SystemCare PRO 1 year license normally cost $29.95 but they currently selling at a discounted price of $19.95. The good news is that you can get it for free with 300+ days left by following the steps below:


    You can log on to the link below, enter your email address and type in the verification code followed by clicking the Get Free License button. The Advanced SystemCare PRO license code will be displayed instantly if you’ve entered a valid email address and verification code.

    Link removed upon IObit’s request

    Actually, everyone seems to be getting the exact same account name and license code from there to activate the PRO version of Advanced SystemCare. If you’re lazy to even fill up the form, then here’s the registration details for your convenience. This license expires on 2011-08-25.

    Account Name: Removal Requested by IObit
    License Code: Removal Requested by IObit

    You can download the latest version of IObit Advanced SystemCare PRO v3.7.2 by clicking on this link.

    Free Advanced SystemCare PRO license code

    The Turbo Boost feature seems pretty nice because it can easily speed up your computer by temporarily shutting down unecessary background processes and services such as disabling theme, application compatibility cache, windows update, keyboard hotkeys, printer support, tablet input support, scanner & DC support, sharing media to other media devices, auto proxy detecting and closing unnecessary background applications. Maintaining Windows and diagnosing system takes only one click by clicking on the Scan button. Can’t get any easier than that.

    Thanks to Damien for sharing this tip so that we can all continue using the PRO version of Advanced SystemCare.

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  • Modifying PDF files with jPDF Tweak makes PDF editing a snap

    I recently purchased a printer to go with my new computer, an Epson Stylus NX125, which while nowhere near top of the line, prints quickly, with good quality colour photo and black and white text. I’ve not used it too often but it makes a nice addiction to what I’ve already got in terms of making a really nice home system. The only problem I know of that it might have will be under Linux, and that is the fact that Epson makes no official Linux drivers. I’ve done some research in advance and see that CUPS, what most Linux systems use to print, does support it though, so all is not lost for this Linux geek. However, it’s install CD does come with a bloatload of stuff I know for a fact I will never use. This is important to note because Epson’s software does offer resizing tools which I found out after the fact.

    But recently I found a poster that was in A4 paper size and the problem with this comes with the fact that I’m a Canadian, live in Canada, and don’t know anywhere in Canada that sells A4 paper. In fact, our Letter size is 8.5 inches by 11 inches, instead of the A4 size of 8.27 inches by 11.69 inches, for those unaware of the size difference. Sure, it is a minor size adjustment, but when you’re using Letter-sized paper to print an A4 poster, or A4 paper to print out a Letter-sized poster, you will notice cut off spots or that your poster is too small for your paper. In fact, the entire bottom of my poster was cut off due to the A4 size difference that had the information I wished to display. (It’s a game poster, with the bottom with information about the developers, if you must know.)

    So with just the drivers installed for my printer, and none of the bloatware installed, I decided to go looking for a simple way to resize my PDF poster. I went looking though the settings and didn’t see any easy way to resize it, so I downloaded JPDF Tweak, a free piece of software that offered to resize my PDF. Not only did it do that, it offered a lot of different features as you can see below.


    Encrypting a PDF, Rotate it, Resize it, Bookmarks… this tool does it all it seems!

    So, you might be wondering why this tool amazes me so much, especially seeing as Adobe Acrobat or other PDF editors do generally the same thing. The major thing that has me smiling is it’s price tag: free of charge, no matter who you are. And all you need to run it is JRE/Java Runtime Environment, which most people I know of have installed on their computers by default. There is even a portable version that I was using to resize my PDF file before I decided to redownload it for a persistent install. Did I also add that it does batch edits too?

    Long story short, it’s a great application sadly unknown by a lot of people. It can do everything to a PDF shy of editing the text, but for the cost we’re paying, it’s worth a look if you need to do a lot of PDF editing very quickly. I’m glad I found it and might be worth adding it to your PDF toolkits in case you run across files that you need to edit as well.

    jPDF Tweak 2.5 mb

    And finally, our winners of Wondershare PPT2Video are:

    1. JohnnyD
    2. lello siddi
    3. ded
    4. ankur bhardwaj
    5. Paulus

    Congrats to our winners, you’ll be hearing from Wondershare soon with your licenses!

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  • Avast AntiVirus – In English, French, German… and Pirate?

    When the words “free antivirus protection” come together, my normal thoughts are of the freebie antiviruses out on the market. These are Panda Cloud Free, AVG Free, Avira Free, Rising Antivirus Free, and of course, Avast Free. There have been several tests done on them and they haven’t always been star performers, but as of recent tests I’ve seen, Avast and Avira are often top choices in the winners. But many people like myself are very often concerned about resources used by antiviruses. This especially comes into play with my new computer that I purchased during my break in writing, a new 64 bit computer that I use for several different duties, gaming being high on that list, as well as testing different programs. And sure enough, the free antiviruses I’ve noticed are often several times lighter then their paid competition. In fact, according to Raymond’s testing, my favourite antivirus, ESET, is about the same speed as my present free antivirus, Avast!. It says a lot about a company that can give something like this away for free.

    I will be honest though, my first thoughts when coming to Avast! always comes back to pirates. And not to be odd, but I’ve always had a thing for pirates, especially when the internet seems divided in a war of pirates verses ninjas. Don’t believe me? ThinkGeek used to sell Pirate and Ninja batteries that have long since sold out. They used to look like the same batteries below, and actually were one of the things I was debating about picking up… that and a Stuffed Tux.

    In fact, some interesting Internet users have declared this past weekend “Talk Like A Pirate Day” in remembrance of this fad. And for this year especially, some companies took this “holiday” as a perfecting marketing opportunity. I’m aware of a now expired promotion to get a collection of Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate (or the ‘Monkey Island’ games) for about $5. And that’s when Avast! stepped up and offered an interesting new language choice. We know that they offer their services in English, in French, in German… and in Pirate?


    Yep… in Pirate!

    So… if you’re a fan of pirates or just want to use the joke interface for a while, you’ll have to be quick, because after the 22nd, you can’t download the language pack anymore. If you’re using Avast! already, all you have to do is hit Settings, Languge, then hit the Install Additional Langugues, and scroll down until you see Pirate Talk, checking it off and hitting okay. Once installed, select it from the drop down list, and hit okay. Once done, it will look like the above picture. Personally, I’ll be using it until they change it back to their normal language selections which will be the 22nd.

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  • Launchy – Powerful Launching from your Keyboard

    Let me start by saying I love the keyboard. For you people that grew up with a mouse in your hand for your first computers, or don’t enjoy using command line stuff, you might find it odd for me to say this. But I’ve personally found that I can type a lot faster then I can click. I know my girlfriend’s the same way, typing upwards of 100 Words Per Minute (WPM) and I can pull off a still impressive 35 WPM without looking down at my keyboard. And I love shortcuts, like Control+P to print, Control+Z to undo, Control-C/V to copy and paste… my hands when I’m going around the internet are often placed on the keyboard, even to scroll though a page. I credit this love of the keyboard to my first computer, the Commodore 64, because at that point, you had to type everything in by hand. It was not something you could master without lots of trial and error, and if you mistyped that one special command, you just hoped to heck you didn’t delete something important.

    Even today in Linux and Windows, like I said, I find myself using the command line a lot. If a site might be down, I ping it, I still compile some programs from source because I have to, and I wrote a batch file to help those who don’t wish to learn the command line. But Launchy is my lifeblood and lifeline under Linux and Windows, helping me in ways I can’t even begin to understand how I did without it for so long.


    Default skin for Launchy, text that you see behind it, is this actual review

    After installing Launchy, it should come up by default, and a simple right click on the window will allow for you to configure the options, allowing you to see how much it can do without any problems. You can change the skins, where it looks for shortcuts and things to launch, as well as what you want it to load up for you (which I’ve personally added in .lnk extensions for shortcuts and a custom folder for launching Iron and other stuff that won’t launch normally by default with Launchy) and many many more. What’s absolutely amazing is if you wish, Launchy can also be used for a highly competent tool, because you can use it to Google something, which will load up in your standard browser, perform quick math without a calculator because it has one built in, and you can also use it to open a certain directory without having to go searching for it. And that’s not all, you can also add in more add-ons to add in more functionality, like ampy which allows for you to control WinAmp, iTunes, AIMP2 and other players from the Launchy interface. You can also have a skin for it and make it look the way you’d like it to look. I’m personally using one from deviantART that you can see below.


    J-Glassy custom skin, you can download and add them into the Skins folder to add new skins

    Many people argue there are better alternatives, like Executor.tk and Enso, but I’ve personally used them and find them rather lacking. Enso I actually stuck with for a bit, nearly three months of use, but in the end, went back to Launchy simply because I missed having the ability to type in folders and directories, to open automatically, rather then one at a time. I highly recommend Launchy to anyone out there whom would love to have an application that helps you get more done faster. It works for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux distros, so no matter what platform you use, Launchy is at least worth a look, especially because it feels like a power-user’s best friend to me.

    – Launchy –

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  • Oops! Backup syncs your files and prevents data loss

    Lately I’ve been looking for some backup software to do what SyncBack Pro does, seeing as my father purchased a copy for himself when I posted the coupon a little while ago. I’ve been simplistic in the features, at least compared to Dad, because of the fact that he needed something that ran on his time and something he would do manually, without having to worry about resources being wasted on his computer. So I’ve been trying a few backup programs, among them, Oops! Backup stood out as a program that might do what I needed it to, and in testing, it has. In fact, what I find really ‘funny odd’ is the fact that it does exactly what I need it to do, but my dad’s still not impressed with it because of some minor issues I faced with it, seeing as my experience wasn’t flawless with it, but was mighty nice to see the help I got from the software vendor.

    Let me just start by saying my computer is an unusual one to begin with, so I’m not surprised I came across a bug when I was trying it out. Under Vista, I was forced to deal with a reinstall every week or every other week, and once going to Windows 7, the blue screens and errors stopped. I also randomly lost recently my Networking Troubleshooting tools, the built-in troubleshooter in Windows 7 (though if anyone’s used it, you know it’s not really that helpful and the script I wrote does better then that). Either way, I’m used to oddness to begin with. So with no surprise from me, when trying out Oops! Backup and backing up about 6 gigs worth of data, one being a 4 gig ISO I had downloaded of drivers, it froze on me. I sent an email to their support and asked them what might be going on, and expectantly, they didn’t understand why it froze. However, I was asked to let it try to continue running and oddly enough, while the interface was frozen, it still backed up the data fine! Puzzling, but standard with this laptop.


    Main Screen

    I did notice that it was also felt lighter then SyncBack Pro, but this was because it was only doing Incremental Backups, and not complete 1:1 ones like I had set up with SyncBack. Once I realized this, I tried both of them and found they both did the exact same job in nearly the exact same time. SyncBack was only faster by a few moments, barely noticeable if you ask me. But the fact alone that it would auto-backup every once in a while, was a blessed touch. I “accidentally” deleted some files off my desktop, and with Oops!, was able to recover them only very quickly. So to say the least, I was rather impressed with what it could do. I also found out what caused it to work even though the GUI was frozen: Oops! implements two processes, and only one does the actual backing up, which didn’t freeze even though the other did. So this is a great example of great programming, and thinking of what might be when your computer has frozen. In the end, I found Oops! Backup to be solidly built and light, while still offering enough functionality to be perfect for any user, advanced or newbie. Despite it’s hiccup with my laptop, on my desktop, it was perfectly fine and you shouldn’t have any problems with it. Contacting support was easy and I was able to get an answer to all my questions with next to no delays and certainly no insults, unlike some tech firms I’ve had to deal with.


    Restoring files: I’ve never had it this easy!

    I also contacted David Vella, the CEO of Altaro, and he’s agreed to give away five keys to five lucky readers of Raymond.cc, to let them use and try out the program for absolutely free. I’m also throwing in a single, one year Hitman Pro license as well, to even out the combination, allowing for you to scan the files you use before you back them up. The rules are very simple: comment below which one you’d like to win, and on August 4th, I’ll announce the winners. Considering that’s also my birthday… consider it a birthday present from me to you! Best of luck to all whom enter!

    – Oops! Backup –

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  • Open DOCX without Microsoft Office Installed

    Once in a while, believe it or not, I’ve called up for help in providing something to open a certain format. Even some of the more common formats like PDF, I’ve been called up for. And although it seems hard to believe these days, a common thing that I’ve been asked about is how to open the Microsoft Office DOCX format, due to the fact that even with the release of Microsoft Office 2010 rolling out around the corner, most people I have to help haven’t even updated to 2007, because of the confusing ribbon interface. Then when they receive a DOCX file, they haven’t heard of online converters or anything of the like, because unlike what I consider to be most of the techs that read Raymond.cc, they simply don’t Google for help: they reach for the phone instead and call me.

    If you’ve ever had a time opening this new format from Microsoft Office and don’t have it or trust the several online converters, this will be an article for you then. If you’re new to computers, you might also want to archive this post due to the fact that they are slowly becoming a standard in the world, taking over for DOC.

    OpenOffice.org

    My first option for you, if you’re looking for an full office suite for free that will open this insane format, OpenOffice.org (also known as OOo) is the first and last choice I offer everyone. It is open source, free of charge to anyone, including corporations, and implements 95% of what Microsoft Office does for free, plus some options that are exclusive to OpenOffice.org, such as cross-platform compatibility and the ability to make a PDF file without needing a PDF printer, as well as having a portable version available for anyone to use. All you need is Java installed on the machine you are using OOo on.

    DevVicky Word 2010

    DevVicky Word 2010 is a freeware application that can also open DOCX formats as well. It leaves a much smaller footprint on the system compared to OpenOffice.org, and is much lighter when compared to MS Office as well. It does also suffer from a Ribbon interface, so if you’re not a Ribbon fan like myself, it won’t be an option to consider. This was recommended on our forum by one of our moderators, Safeguy. It can also save to DOCX if you so choose… but personally, I still don’t see much of a point to changing over to the new format, personally.

    Zoho Office / Microsoft Office Web Apps / GoogleDocs

    Your final option lies with online services such as Zoho, Google Docs, or the Office Web Apps, all of which are able to open DOCX online, on their servers for you, saving you the hassle of having to install any applications at all or having to carry around a USB stick with an application on it.

    If you have to deal with DOCX files, there’s no real need for Microsoft Office anymore, and the new standards are getting adapted as OpenOffice.org moves along, though at present the web applications support them fine. In case you would rather not use any of these routes though, there is a fourth and fifth ways of opening a DOCX file without any of these options. You can open a DOCX inside Wordpad, so long as you’re using Windows 7, or you can uncompress it with your favourite uncompressing software, like WinZip, WinRAR, ALZip, etc, and open up the file in the Word folder it makes.

    So the next time you have to open a DOCX, don’t worry much about trying to convert it because you’re using an old version: use one of the many ways I’ve listed here and save yourself the time and the hassle of downloading Microsoft Office just to open that one file.

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  • Puppy Linux 5.0 Review – Lightweight, Fun, Fast!

    One of the earliest distributions that I switched to from Ubuntu was Puppy Linux, and at that point in time, I was new and inexperienced with Linux. I remember using 4.2.1, which released in May of 2008, and thinking it looked dated and wasn’t very user friendly. At that time, it was also using PET packages (think of executable file types) and only dreaming of using Ubuntu as a base. It’s been about two years since that dated release that I tried Puppy Linux the first time, and I have learned to love the Pup, but it also marks a highly important release due to the fact it is now using Ubuntu 10.04 as a base. I figured this would be a fair time to retry a distro that I have tried several times and have learned to enjoy it’s perks that it offers over it’s eye candy.

    Puppy Linux seems to have started as a ‘pet’ project (pardon the pun) of the lead developer in making an extremely lightweight Linux distribution that was also easy to use. The major thing I must note here is that ‘easy to use’ in this sense isn’t like the way that Ubuntu uses it, in that it helps you though it 100% and doesn’t teach you much. Puppy offers you an interesting chance to learn and adapt to something that doesn’t hold your hand all the way. While to some people this is not something you would want to do, especially because it can be very difficult, their forums are much like Ubuntu’s in that they will help you if you want help. I’ve managed myself without having to use their forums, but to a first time user or someone who needs/requires a certain application, the offer of help being there is much better then to be by yourself.

    The first thing you’ll no doubt noticed on your first boot of Puppy 5 is the amount of text that will be streaming down your computer. Unlike Ubuntu, Puppy takes the approach of making you well aware of any and all errors that Puppy might run into. So if there is a Kernel Panic (think Blue Screen of Death for Windows), you won’t be waiting eons for a system that never loads. [I call out Ubuntu on this only because it did that to me when I wrote my post two days ago.] After booting into your ram (which I might add, if you have more then 128 mb of Ram, you’ll find it speedy, though be careful with your CPU: the slower it is, the less you can do before it starts slowing down), you have to select your keyboard, language, time zone, then your driver to use for your video card. I’d suggest Probing and seeing what it autosuggests and use that for your first boot, especially seeing as how when you have install, you will have to reapply these settings on the first installed boot anyway. After this, it will drop you to the standard Puppy desktop which you will see below.

    Once on the desktop, either if booting off the liveCD or the installed version, you’ll notice two things different from any other distro I’ve used: it automatically logs you in, and it automatically logs you in as Root. Unlike other Linux distros that force you to use a ‘User/Superuser’ or ‘User/Root’ structure, Puppy can succeed in a Root environment because it’s different from any Windows or Linux OS out there presently for three reasons. The first reason is that every time your computer is booted, it’s like you’ve a fresh install, thanks to all data being saved to two files in your root folder. It does keep all your settings in those two files… but just the fact that it does that, makes it very different from the norm. The second reason is that Puppy was originally intended to be a “client only” environment, which is fairly easy to make secure when surfing. In fact, out of the box, it’s more secure then Windows and equal if not better then Ubuntu. The third reason is if Puppy was used as a server, they have a special ‘DidiWiki’ package that helps you set up the security you need.

    One of the only things I hate if anything about Puppy is how it connects to the internet, in that you have to hit the Connect button, then select the type of internet you’re using to connect out, then if you’re able to, you can put in the information you need or select a DHCP server to connect to. After it connects, it offers to save it and after that, it shouldn’t need to be run again until after install. But it has one major advantage now over the older version of Puppy Linux in that when you hit browse, it offers you your choice of Browsers, from Firefox, SeaMonkey, Chromium, Opera, and Puppy Browser. It doesn’t take too long to download, install, and start browsing the internet again though your favourite browser!


    Puppy Linux’s Logo

    A new interesting feature I found in 5.0 is the ‘Quickpet’ addition to the desktop, and offers one click installation of the most common options wanted and/or needed after install. However, unlike Ubuntu and more like Mint, it has Flash, MP3, NTFS drivers, and even DVD playback preinstalled for you, so you don’t have to hunt anything down out of the box unless you’d like to change a default package!

    Overall, if I had to give Puppy Linux 5.0 a numerical value out of ten, I’d certainly give it a well deserved NINE AND A HALF. While it is extremely fast and lightweight on every computer I’ve ever used it on, and the fact that it works with everything I use out of the box, I do have to subtract marks due to dated graphical looks. However, it is extremely easy to do everything that Puppy can offer you, if you aren’t afraid to poke around. I have never once had an issue with Puppy Linux and if you need a Linux distro that is extremely lightweight and fully featured, don’t bother looking at a Ubuntu spinoff – look for a Puppy instead! Woof!

    – Puppy Linux Site –

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  • Theming Ubuntu 10.04 To How You See Fit

    Seeing as a lot of my customization posts are often covering Windows, such as the alternative shells or ways of making Windows look different, I figure it’s time I came back to one of my passions: Linux. And while there is a fair amount that you can still do in Ubuntu that you can’t do in Windows, since 10.04, there has been a lot more that has been locked off to prevent slower starts.

    For example, back in 8.04, the first release of Ubuntu I used and learned from, we were able to change the log on screen though the System -> Administration -> Log in Window options, but these days, the Login Screen settings are so very basic, they manage to disappoint me in such a way that I’ve never felt before. This on top of the fact that it also changed the easy package manager to something that won’t allow you to install more then one application at a time. (I’m referring here to the old GNOME Add/Remove Applications that was a nice front-end to Synaptic, which still exists thankfully in Ubuntu.) However, a big part of Linux has always been to allow you, the end user, to do what you see fit, no matter how illogical it might be. So today, I’m going to show you how.

    Theme Change
    Personally, I find the default theme in Ubuntu 10.04 strikes me very much like a Macintosh clone, and while I have nothing against them myself, I’m one that prefers my Linux box looks like it hasn’t tried ripping off another OS. So the first thing to go is the theme. To modify this, right click on your desktop and select Change Desktop Background, and from there, jump to the theme tab. You should see something like below.

    Going though the themes that are pre-installed, I find them a tad disappointing, so I can visit one of several locations to find extra themes for my Ubuntu install. The first place we can check is Art.GNOME.org but rather then use that one, I’ll be using GNOME-Look myself. This is only because there are more themes there, but either site will work. If you do go with GNOME-Look like myself, be sure to choose GTK 2.x or GTK 1.x. Whichever one you decide to go with, download it, and check it’s file extension. If it is a .tar.gz, or a .tar.bz2, it can be used as a theme file, meaning you can hit the Install button on the Appearance Preferences and direct it to where you downloaded it to. (If you haven’t changed the defaults, it will be /home/USERNAME/Downloads). Once installed, it should tell you it was successfully installed and then clicking on it will change your theme over! And if you’d like to change your wallpaper, then that’s done very simply by loading up a picture, and right clicking on it, selecting ‘Set As Wallpaper’.

    Move The Control Buttons
    Most of us are used to the Windows standard: Close, Minimize, and Maximize, and a menu on the right side. However, Ubuntu 10.04 broke this standard and now has moved them all to the left hand side. Since I’m personally not a big fan of this, I’m going to show you how to change this.

    Simply hit Alt + F2, and type in the box that comes up, gconf-editor. Then navigate to apps/metacity/general. In the right pane look for the entry for button layout and change it to menu:maximize,minimize,close and then close it. This will change it back to the way it should be under Windows for you.

    One Panel Under Linux…
    If you’re like me, you don’t need two panels as much as Ubuntu insists. And personally, the default menus are somewhat confusing to a lot of Windows newbies, though help a lot in learning where things can be hidden. If you feel you should have a KDE/Windows styled interface, it doesn’t take much in the way of configuring GNOME to work the way you want it to.

    Simply right click on the top Panel and hit Delete This Panel. Then on the lower Panel, remove the Show Desktop Button via a right click and in it’s place, right click and hit Add To Panel, and add Main Menu to it’s place. You can also remove the Trash and Workplace Switcher and in their places, add the Indicator Applet and the Clock. You can also add the weather if you so chose or any other options you’d like that are in the list.

    Conky
    Conky is pretty much the Rainmeter of Windows, that it is fully configurable and can report on a multitude of different aspects of your computer. It is a great option to be running on your desktop, especially if you’d like to keep track of how hot your computer is running. It can be highly complex to setup but if you follow the tutorial linked here, it’s nowhere near as hard as it could be. There is also a Conky Wizard as well, if you’d like an even easier time. I personally don’t use Conky myself, but for other power users out there, it can be insanely helpful.


    My end result

    These tips should work with anyone using GNOME, hopefully it was helpful for those running Linux and still learning how to adapt. Though trial and error is the best way to learn, but sometimes, we just need to ask for help.

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  • Fedora 13 “Goddard” Review – Gnome Desktop

    Over the past two weeks, I’ve been playing around with Fedora, and trying to see what makes it tick, how can I break it, how can I fault it for being something I don’t want it to be. Unfair, I know, but that’s how most reviews these days try to aim to do, to slam a product for not being exactly what the person who reviewed it wanted. I received a lot of backlash by a certain individual for not taking advantage of virtual machines, but the truth of the matter is the operating systems I’ve tested are not supported by virtual machines. As well, it’s meant to be harder to install actual drivers and see how the program works under not ideal conditions, but in the worst conditions, to provide a fair review. So I scrapped the first test I did in on a real machine to install Fedora in a VM, then once I found out it was buggy that way, I installed it to my desktop computer. And while my desktop is by no means powerful or new, I did find some things out about Fedora and how it works. And believe me, it works well.

    Since this is the Fedora review, I’ll be covering the case against the virtual machines at the bottom of this article. But long story very short, Fedora has impressed me. Completely. I downloaded the Gnome Desktop edition because I have a slower internet speed, and because I had no DVDs to burn the DVD edition. That on top of the fact that GNOME with me is usually a hit or a miss at the best of times, I figured it would be worth a shot to see how Fedora might have made it their own. Booting off the liveCD and installing it was extremely easy as was installing it, much like installing Ubuntu on the ease of use. Nothing caught any problems and I certainly didn’t have any hiccups setting it up. After setup completed, the reboot to get into the main system was painless though also took a bit of time to do some auto-tuning. After that first little bit, I noticed it had gotten a lot of it set up correctly and was working extremely smoothly and quickly, the only problem being my ATI card but that’s because the current Xorg doesn’t work well with the ATI Radeon cards.


    Fedora 13′s Desktop [not mine, though I customized mine heavily so I couldn’t show mine]

    Setting up the restricted extras was rather unique though, because the documentation offered only the Fluendo MP3 plugin, which while free, getting the rest of them going isn’t so cheap. In this sense, it seems, if you are not using open formats before switching to Fedora, you will be forced to once in Fedora, as the wiki suggests paying for the closed formats. Ditto on the DVD playback.

    Turns out that restricted formats are in a third party repository, as reported in the comments. The wiki page I have linked to has been updated and now explains how to install all the restricted formats you’ll most likely need, such as MP3 and DVD playback. There is also EasyLife to install the restricted extras for you as well. So in the end there is a way to play your restricted codecs! Seeing as my music is in many formats, including the open OGG and FLAC formats, I persisted and found it to be a rather easy time to play the music. Unlike OpenSUSE, the music sounded nice and fair, and wasn’t grating on the ears. I found Fedora to be extremely responsive unlike Ubuntu on the same system, and was quickly impressed by the fact I could still get so much done, even without the codecs. Installing programs was a breeze using their Add/Remove software, which you can see below.


    It’s not everyday you get something this easy!

    I faced only one ‘serious’ bug during my time in Fedora, but only because I didn’t think about it. One of Fedora’s defining features is SELinux, which is a Security Enhancement for Linux, and I forgot to add an exception into the Firewall/SELinux to allow me to connect to it. Otherwise, Fedora was completely uneventful and great. I’d rate it about an eight and a half out of ten. I was rather impressed and if there was a better way then paying for the closed source codecs in the official documentation, I would have given it higher, however, seeing as Fedora tries to stick perfectly to the ideas of Open Source, it is completely understandable why they weren’t included. However, to many people that aren’t so lucky to have a varied library, they will no doubt be turned off by this factor. Ciao until tomorrow!

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  • Battery Should Be Replaced Issue in Windows 7

    As a laptop user, I’ve had my fair share of problems under Windows Vista and then under Windows 7 once I upgraded, though most of them were resolvable issues. The one major thing I’ve had issues with with Windows 7, however, is it’s support for laptop batteries. As I found out on my previous post on laptop batteries, there are several problems under Windows 7. And shortly after that post, I ran into another. You see, I’m one of those that takes his laptop pretty much anywhere he can get away with it, even though it’s not an ultra-portable. I’ve got a Gateway M-6750, so I can’t speak much for other laptops in this problem which is as follows: using the laptop on the battery until you get down to the point that it forces a hibernation on you. Once plugged in, Windows 7 reports that your battery is broken and must be/should be replaced. If you tried the previous trick and found out it didn’t work, I did the same thing and didn’t work here either. But I’ve officially got my laptop working perfectly with the battery now, and with more charge then before too.

    My first thought was to check and see if it was only Windows suffering from this issue. Ever since I found Salix, I’ve installed it to a dualboot with my Windows 7 OS on my laptop, so it was just a quick reboot away. Once in Salix, I added the battery monitor to my taskbar, only to find out that it was broken under Linux as well. I then checked to see how much a new battery was for my laptop, to find out that it would have cost me about $100 for a brand new, six cell battery. As much as I love technology, I’m afraid even for me, that was a bit too pricey for my liking. I debated about opening a support thread in the forum but I decided against it when I checked the BIOS for a different issue. This is because in my BIOS, it had the option to enable what it called a Battery Auto Learning Mode.

    It was basically a controlled charge, controlled discharge, then another controlled charge. When I ran it to see if I could get more then two hours worth of battery life (which I find extremely short myself), I not only solved my problem of having to replace the battery but have also bumped the time up to a highly impressive 2 hours from 1 hour, 45 minutes. Your results might vary because of the fact that every laptop’s BIOS is different, and there is no one guide on how to do this. But if you’re using a computer, there is always a way to show the BIOS, the most common being a command to hit a key like F2, Delete, or F10. From there, look for an option along the lines of ‘Battery Auto Learning Mode’ or something along those lines like I showed here. It will take some time, and I did it while I was sleeping, so I can’t say how much or how little time it will take, but it should be able to repair the problem you’re facing, which would be Windows 7 reporting you have to replace the battery.

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  • Installing Sun Java in *buntu 10.04 Long Term Support

    I was asked two days ago on how to install Java in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, and to my surprise, it no longer installs with a simple sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre like it did in versions 9.10 and 9.04.

    For those not in the know, Java is an application which is required for some games, such as MineCraft and Dust, some programs such as Project Wonderland and ThinkFree Office. And to make matter even worse…

    when you try looking for Sun Java in Synaptic, you quickly find out that it has completely vanished.

    So where has it gotten to? Well the answer to that lies in the release notes. For those that don’t want to bother reading them, I’ll tell you: they removed it to a partner repository. So to install it, you need to add the repo and download from there. If you follow the instructions I posted yesterday, you can add the repository which is:

    deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner

    Or if you’d rather run this all in one step, the adding and the installing of Sun Java, open the terminal and copy and paste this one line command:

    sudo add-apt-repository “deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner” && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk -y

    This will add the repository, refresh the repos, and install Sun Java for you. Now, you might ask, what do they have in the repos instead that’s so bad that we have to go though all this? Well, the official repos that are installed by default have the IcedTea, or what’s more commonly known as the OpenJava. While it too, deserves it’s own right for being a decent Java clone, in this case, the non-Open Java does a better job. I’ve personally experienced lockups and freezes using OpenJava/IcedTea. If you wish to use it, go right ahead, that was why they included it by default, for those who want to use it.

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  • How to Manually Preview Videos from RapidShare Links

    Pirated movie release types such as BDRip, DVDRip, TC, R5, Screener, TS and CAM allows downloaders to easily identify what type of quality you would be expecting. For example, if you download a CAM release, you are going to expect a really bad quality because it is a copy made in a cinema using a camcorder, possibly mounted on a tripod and the sound source is the camera microphone. Even though there is supposed to be a standard where the movie rippers should follow, there are some that doesn’t care and release a bad quality movie with a DVDRip title to the filename.

    Downloaders will surely be pissed because they have spent hours downloading the so called DVDRip but gotten a lousy quality instead. One way to make sure that it doesn’t happen to you is by manually previewing the videos without finishing the download. All you need is a Firefox web browser, 7-Zip file archiver and a media player that can play incomplete or corrupted videos such as VLC.


    It’s actually pretty straight forward as long as you have the correct software that I mentioned above. Normally a full movie would consist of a few parts because of the file hosting size limitation. You MUST download the first part because if you start with the later parts, the media player cannot decide what codec to use to play the video file.
    Pause download in firefox

    Allow the download of the first part to reach at least 5MB and then click the Pause icon at the Firefox download manager to pause the download. Go to the location where the file is saved (by default it is in a folder called Download in My Documents), right click on the .part file, go to 7-Zip and select Extract Here.
    Preview incomplete video
    If the video file is passworded, enter the password which is usually found on the site where you got the links from. Ignore the CRC failed in encrypted file wrong password error in 7-Zip. Click the Close button.

    Simply play the extracted AVI file with VLC media player, GOM player or KMPlayer and you get a short preview of the video that you wanted to download. Do not use Windows Media Player because it does not support playing incomplete video file and gives you the error popup saying “Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file.”

    The above tip is more suitable for advanced users that doesn’t like to install unnecessary software on their computer. The reason why I’ve chosen Firefox, VLC and 7-Zip is because all 3 of them have portable versions which can be downloaded on PortableApps.com and I can run it without installing it on my computer. This method also works on any other file hosting websites. There are automated ways of previewing videos using third party software which I will share with you tomorrow.

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