Add network activity indicator to Windows 7/Vista

The new network activity icon in the system tray for Windows 7/Vista only shows the list of network connections and doesn't work like how it used to in XP.

The 2 tiny monitors, constantly blinking would let us know when our router had crashed or wasn't responding. Also, it would blink whenever there was any network activity on your machine thereby letting you know of the same.

I badly missed this feature in Windows 7 since ever so often some update program would launch itself in the background and start downloading updates without my notice. Atleast if I had those blinking monitors I'd know about the activity.

Anyway, so if you're missing the network activity indicator as much as I do (or even if you don't) try out this ultra-tiny 57kb app!

Simply download from here. Unzip it to any folder and run the NetworkIndicator.exe file.
You should have the 2 blinky computers on your system tray right away!
To have the app load up at startup each time, simply right click the tray-icon, click Settings, and check the box that says 'Load on startup' and you're golden! :)

via DownloadSquad

Watch TV (especially the Champions League matches that you miss) on your computer using Sopcast!

So I wanted to watch Arsenal's Champion's League match against Standard Liege yesterday however Zee Sports and Ten Sports (who usually telecast the CL matches where I live) were telecasting other matches and the Arsenal match was scheduled for a late-telecast.

And late-telecasts aren't fun, I wanted it live! And live I watched it, on my computer using live-streaming of the match via SopCast.

If you're a football fan, you may have watched matches online inside your browser itself using links like www.justin.tv/ etc. However, the problem with these links is that as the number of viewers increase, the quality of the live-stream-video decreases, i.e. it will start stuttering and lagging. Eventually the link may shut down all together due to an overload of viewers on the same link!

P2PTV (peer-to-peer-television) however allows several users to watch the same link without any such problem! Infact, with an increase in the number of users, usually the live-streaming gets smoother!

And to use P2PTV you could use a software like SopCast!

Sopcast is P2PTV! It works very much like how torrents do. While streaming a channel, you download a bit of the video and at the same time you upload it so that others can stream the same on their computer and thus the availability of that live-stream is increased!

Now that you know what SopCast and P2PTV is, lets get to HOW do we use it to enjoy Champions League football!

First, download SopCast from here and unzip the contents to a directory of your choice.

Run the SopCast setup (.exe file) and install it to your computer.

Now fire up SopCast and check the radio button that says: Login as anonymous.

Also check the checkbox 'Autologin on this computer' so that you don't have to perform this step every time.

Now click the 'Live Channels' tab and you can view a list of channels that are currently available for viewing categorized according to 'Sports', 'News', 'Education' etc.

The CL match that you wish to watch may not always be available under the Sports section, so you may have to search for your channel on the net first.

Head over to Live-Football, a site dedicated to posting live-stream links to all football matches around the world!

Click the 'Champions link' to head over to the page listing all of the upcoming CL fixtures.

Now select the match you wish to watch and click the link.

And there you will see a list of channels that are available to be viewed on SopCast! (Note that some of the channels may not work only until kickoff)

Just click the live-stream link that has 'SopCast' written next to it (which means that the particular link is a SopCast channel).

SopCast will automatically start and begin playing the given channel.

Another method is, you acquire the SopCast channel no. and simply enter it into the Address field in Sopcast. For e.g.: "Channel - 30931"

You're done! You should have your match streaming for you within seconds! :)

In case you've got any queries regarding this, leave a comment and I'll get back to you asap!

NOTE: If you are on a limited broadband connection, watching live-streams can account for a lot of bandwidth so take care.

Also, if you are on a slow dialup connection, the video may appear laggy and slow. This is not a problem with SopCast or the channel, it's your internet connection.

Credits to OneTipADay for showing me how its done!

Standalone Stack lets you pin stacks to your Windows Taskbar!

If you use RocketDock you probably also use the Stack-docklet for saving docklet-real-estate. And if you don't use the docklet already, maybe you should! Check it out now!

With the awesome Windows 7 toolbar, you may have already gotten rid of your Dock, however you must be missing the stack-docklet that you had earlier.

Well with 'Standalone Stack' from Chris'n'Soft you can have stacks on your taskbar!

Just download Standalone Stack from here. Unzip the files to C:/standalonestack/ and run the standalonestack2.exe file to fire it up!

Now in the left side bar, select 'New Stack'. On the right, enter a name for your stack and enter a Path name'. Which ever folder you point to here, the contents of that folder would appear in your stack. For example, you could create a folder of all your game shortcuts and then have your stack point to that folder. Consequently you get a stack pointing to all your games on your PC just as I've done in the screenshot above.

Now hit the 'Create Stack' button and then the 'Create shortcut on desktop' button.

You will now get a stack icon on your desktop that does just the same task. If you wish to, you may now pin that shortcut to your taskbar and then delete the shortcut.

And you're done! You've got a stack docklet on your task bar now!

Standalone stack works on XP/Vista/7.

Automatic Drive Icons on your Desktop

If you've used ubuntu, you must have noticed that as soon as you enter a flash drive or disc into the machine, you instantly get a helpful little icon on your desktop that points to your newly plugged in drive.

You can have the same functionality on your Windows machines using Desktop Media.

On downloading this tiny app (350kb) just unzip the contents and run the application.

You'll get a tray application and on double clicking it you're presented with a menu with a wide variety of options regarding how you want the app to behave.

You can download Desktop Media from here.

Search your desktop real-time using Everything

Of late I've been using Everything a lot to search my desktop for files!

It's a really cool software that indexes all your hard disks (as long as they're in NTFS) and lets you search files instantly.

Instantly meaning; hardly you press a key, it will list all files on your system that contain that keyword. And as you key in more characters, all the relevant search results would get filtered.

That is, you get to search real time!

The software is just 334 kb and it beats the default Windows Search hands down!

A must have on your XP system methinks!

How to use 2 (or more) LAN settings on the same LAN card.

I recently got myself an MTNL Triband connection along with which I also had a local broadband connection.
Now I had just one LAN card and consequently just the one "Local Area Connection" in my network connections.
Each of the 2 had separate IPs, masks and gateways and I had to find a quicker way to switch between the 2 LAN-TCP/IP settings. Manually editing the settings each time is obviously too troublesome.
This little trick is pretty useful also if you're constantly swapping between several connections (maybe home and office) on your laptop.

Google to the rescue it was. Here's a neat trick that uses "netsh", a command-line command to change the tcp/ip settings.
Here's how you do it,

Create a text file and copy the following lines of code into the file.

netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" source=static addr=IP_ADDRESS mask=SUBNET_MASK
netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" gateway=DEFAULT_FATEWAY gwmetric=0
netsh interface ip set dns name="Local Area Connection" source=static addr=PREFERRED_DNS
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr=ALTERNATE_DNS index=2
pause

Replace the yellow text with the respective details of either one of your connections.

Make sure the name of your LAN connection is same as the one specified in the text file (as in this case it is 'Local Area Connection').

(Make sure that file extensions are not hidden and then) Change the extension from .txt to .bat so that it is saved as a batch file.

Do the same thing once more and this time enter the details of your second connection.

You can name the files whatever you want. For e.g., I named one as MTNL connection.bat and the other as localnet.bat

When you want to swap to another connection, just run the relevant .bat file and you're good to go. If you want to revert to the previous settings, run the other .bat file.

In case you come across any difficulties post away and I'll try my best to help you asap!

Download an offline installer of Google Chrome in a jiffy!

Google Chrome is awesome. Period.

However, if you're on a very slow or do not have an internet connection, the default Chrome installer (which is an online installer) is a pain.

I'd rather have a large download file for a completely offline install rather than a small file with an online one.

And you can get an offline installer for Chrome really easily. Here's how:

Head over to http://filehippo.com/download_google_chrome/ to get to know the latest version of Chrome available. Or you can just google that.

As of today, the Beta version is currently at

3.0.196.2

Now we've only got to take note of the last two parts of that version number. In this case: "196.2".

And then simply enter the following address into your browser and replace the xxx.xx with the version no.

http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/xxx.xx/chrome_installer.exe

In my case, it would be http://dl.google.com/chrome/install/196.2/chrome_installer.exe

Go to the link and you should get a prompt box telling you to save the file. It would be around 10mb. Just save the file and you're done.

The next time you've got to install Chrome, you can do it without an internet connection. Just fire up the newly downloaded installer and you're golden!

Start copying using TeraCopy!

TeraCopy is a tiny freeware program that is an alternative for the default Windows XP (or Vista) file-copying tool. It copies files at the maximum possible speed, providing the 'current status' of the copying (which includes the estimated time of completion, %left, no. of files completed in batch copying etc..) and it also has an error recoverability feature which is a terribly missed feature in the default copying application.

In case of a file-copy error, it will try several times again to copy the file. And incase a copy still isn't possible it will not terminate the entire copying process (unlike the default copying application in Windows which abruptly stops the copying), but it will just skip the faulty file and copy the rest of the files successfully.
Teracopy also displays the speeds at which files are copied and also offers a unique feature of pausing and resuming a file-copying process.

A portable version of Teracopy is also available incase you're running a slow system.

So, XP and Vista users, stop just copying and start teracopying now!

Fixing iKernel.exe/Installshield error

I recently ran into this iKernel.exe error while trying to install Dreamweaver on my lappy.
It read "The Installshield engine could not be launched. %1 ikernel.exe is not a valid Win32 application"
The same error popped up while trying to install another application. So I decided to look it up and I managed to find a simple solution for the same and this solution works for most of the other iKernel.exe or Installshield errors as well!

Simply head over to C:/Program Files/Common Files/Installshield and delete the 'Engine' folder. Then empty it from recycle bin!
Try the installation again and you should be golden! :)

Protect your Pen-drives from viruses by disabling autorun!

Well most of the times that your pen drive get's infected is usually due to plugging in a previously infected pendrive to a PC and then plugging yours to the same.
If you've got your "Folder Options" missing, "Regedit" missing or your usb devices not opening in Windows Explorer, it's most usually because you're infected with a virus.
Well, an anti-virus scan and a spyware removal tool would help you get rid of the virus, but then you've got to be careful not to get infected again!

Most viruses spread by utilizing the autorun.inf file that autmatically runs every time you plug-in your pen drive to your computer. They configure the autorun file to launch the virus-executables that may be bundled along with the autroun.inf file on your pendrive. And thats how they spread from machine to machine, cripplings systems along the way.

So how I'll try to help you here is by disabling the autorun feature which would minimize the chances infection considerably incase an infected pendrive is plugged into your comp.
Also, we'll see how to prevent viruses from infecting pen drives that are plugged into your computer.

1. Disabling the Autorun feature.
Simply fire up your registry editor. (Start>Run>regedit)
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Now double click the value ""NoDriveTypeAutoRun" and set the Hex value to "ff" or the Decimal value to "255".
Hit F5 (to refresh your registry editor) and you're done.
Autorun.inf will no longer be executed automatically.

2. Prevent Autorun.inf files being writted to your pen drives.
All you've got to do here is create a folder named "Autorun.inf" without the quotes!

(Headover to folder options and unhide file extensions incase it isn't already.)
These files should prevent malicious autorun files from infecting your pendrive.

Thats it! :)
These 2 steps should minimize (if not immunize) your pendrives from viruses to quite an extent!
Incase you still need some more help on this topic, ask away!


Get rid of the shortcut-arrow from Shortcut Icons.

Well, this tip is mainly for the desktop conscious, the ones who like to flaunt their sleek looking desktops with the magnificent wallpapers, smooth looking themes and arty icons.
But the little shortcut-arrow that shows up on shortcut icons always seem to blemish the beauty of your icons.
So this little tweak here helps you get rid off these ugly marks.
All you've got to do is edit a single registry value.
Here's how its done...


Head over the the Registry Editor (Start>Run>"regedit">OK)
Navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile".
Backup the key just incase you would want the shortcut-arrows back in the future. To do this, right click on "lnkfile">Export>and save the .reg file to a directory with an appropriate name like "Show shortcut arrows".
Now that you're done backing up,
Delete the "IsShortcut" string. Hit F5 (To refresh).
Log off. Log back on.
Your're done! :)

View your Folder Sizes in the Details section of your folders

It's always a pain to not be able to view a folder size directly in the Details-view of a folder. Right-clicking>Properties and then waiting for the folder size to show up isn't the only way out anymore.
You can now use the application Folder Size 2.4 to enable the folder-size attribute to show up in the Details section as seen in the screenshot below.

All you've got to do is download the 228kb .msi file from here. Close any open explorer windows. Run the installer and you're good to go.
Now, just rightclick the Details tab and check the Foldersize attribute to view the folder sizes.
The app also lets you see the number of Folder Children, File Children and All Children.
Enjoy the tweak! :)

Prevent Firefox from Hogging Memory When Minimized

Got this tip off of Lifehacker.. Head on over there to hack life better.. :)

Heres another handy little tip for those of you who are low on RAM. You could prevent Firefox from taking up RAM when it's minimized into your taskbar.
Just like earlier, all you need to do is only enter a new value in the about:config page.

So heres how its done..
Type about:config into your address bar.
Hit Enter.
Confirm to your browser that you'll be careful messing with your configuration.
Right-click somewhere outside all those period-separated values and choose New/Boolean.
In the window that pops up, enter config.trim_on_minimize
Hit OK.
Then select "True" in the next dialog.
Close out your about:config window, restart Firefox, and you're done! :)

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