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.