All PC Tips

Even wondered how to download youtube videos to your computer hard disk? If you did a search on google to find out free applications that can download youtube videos, there are quite a few of them available.

But some of them add advertisement, or only download 60 to 70 % of the video, and if you want to download the 100% video, you may have to buy it.

Here is a free 100% online download site which enables you to download in two different formats. MPEG4 and FLA formats. All you need to do is goto youtube.com and find your favourite video.

Eg. http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY9793NCGxI

Now replace y in youtube with 3

So the URL now becomes

http://www.3outube.com/watch?v=yY9793NCGxI

This will bring you to a page where you can select which file format you want to download. MPEG4 or FLA.

Just click on the file format you want and the youtube video will be downloaded to your hard disk. It is that simple.

Microsoft has released the trial version of MS Office 2010 in its website. Within 15 days of its release more than a million people have downloaded the trial version. Microsoft has announced that it is proud of the interest Office 2010 has generated.  MS Office 2010 will be available commercially in June 2010.

Microsoft will market this in 6 editions. Starter, Home and Student, Home and Business, Standard, professional and Professional Plus. One of the editions will be a free edition which consists of simplified version of Word and Excel and will contain advertisements. So far there is no indication of how much MS Office 2010 will cost.

If you are interested in downloading the trial version of 2010 you can download from http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/default.aspx

When you are browsing the internet, you stumble upon a program, shareware or freeware that you would like to download and install on your computer. Just follow these steps to do that.

1. First bring the cursor on top of the file or program that you wish to download. The arrow cursor will turn from ‘arrow’ to a ‘hand’. Then click on that place.
2. Then, click on ‘Save’ or ‘Save to disk’. You will be prompted to select the location in your computer harddisk where you would like to store this file. A good practice is to make a folder in your C drive with the name ‘downloads’ and then use this folder for all your downloaded files and programs. Otherwise, you can choose your desktop as the destination, so that when the download is finished you can easily locate the file from your desktop.
3. Now the file will start downloading. While it is being downloaded a small dialog box with the title ‘Saving Location’ will show the % of the file that is already downloaded. Once it is fully downloaded the dialog box will show ‘Download completed’. You will also get a ‘Beep’ sound.
4. Once the download is complete, you can click on the ‘open’ button on the ‘download competed’ dialog box.

   4.1 If the file you downloaded is an .EXE (Executable) file then the application will install itself on the computer.
   4.1 If it is a .zip file then the WinZip program will open the file with its contents. In this case you can extract all these files to any of your local folders and then look for an .EXE program such as install.exe or setup.exe and double click on it install the application.

Downloading, uploading and installing are some of the frequently used terms in computers and Internet. For computer and Internet newbie, these terms are puzzling and intrigues them. Here we will see what these terms mean.

Downloading

Downloading refers to bringing a file from a computer in the Internet to your own computer and copying it there. Many websites have this facility. When you are viewing websites in your browser, just bring your cursor on top of links (usually links are in blue color underlined text) , the cursor will now transform into a hand. If this link is pointing to another webpage then clicking on this link will bring you to the page the link is poiting to. But instead of pointing to another webpage if that link is pointing to a file in that server then by clicking on it, you will see a ‘Save As’ dialog box. In this dialog box, you can select the folder in your computer where you want to save the file and click on ‘OK’. Now a small ‘File Download’ box will open and you can see a progress bar showing the file you selected being downloaded to the selected folder. Once the file is fully downloaded to your computer you can start using that file.

Uploading

Uploading is just the opposite of downloading. Uploading refers to the transfer of a file from your computer’s hard disk to another computer in the internet or network. Generally this is done using an FTP client (File Transfer Protocol). But some websites allow you to upload using the internet browser. For example when you send emails using webmails such as yahoo or gmail, if you want to attach a file to the email then this is done using the browser. This is also called uploading.

Installing

Some get confused with the term Installing with Downloading. Take for instance you want to use a free software that is available somewhere in Internet. In order to use that software, you need to download the program file from internet and store it locally in your computer. But just saving to you computer is not enough. You will have to install it in your computer by running the setup.exe or install.exe file that you downloaded. Once you double click on the exe file that you downloaded the installation wizard will start and you can follow the instructions provided in the wizard to install the program and then start using it.

Transferring files in Internet is one of the many facilities Internet provides us. You may be aware that files can be downloaded using HTTP or FTP. Now you can use the ‘Bit Torrent’ protocol to send and receive files.

Bit Torrent protocol functions in a peer-to-peer method. One person can enter into another person’s computer and send are receive files. That is why this type of computers are called ‘Peer’s. But there is a server required to make all these computers work together. This server is called ‘Tracker’.

The tracker just monitors the connections between the peers. Other than that the tracker does not know which files are being transferred between peer computers. Therefore the tracker needs a very little bandwidth to monitor a huge number of peers.

When someone uploads a file from his computer to another computer, he can also download a file from another computer simultaneously.

How Bit Torrent works?

Let us see how Bit Torrent works with an example. A few people are seated in a room. Let us consider that all these people need a complete copy of all the pages in a book. Person A says that he has pages 1-15, 29, 36-40, 55, 74-89 and 94-100. Let us assume that these pages are not with persons B, C, D, E and F. Immediately they contact A and get a copy of all these pages. Now person B announces that he has pages 17-24,32,34,41-50,57,60-70 and 90-93. Then the rest of the persons will get copies of these pages from B.

Likewise all the persons announce the pages each of them have. Those who do not have a page they will get the page from the respective persons

Very soon, all the persons in the room will have all the pages of the book. In that group a person named ‘K’ will be present. He will have all pages of the book. You may ask why not all A,B,C,D and E get all pages for K directly. But if all of them connect to K at the same time then they can just be receivers not senders.

Instead, if A,B,C,D and E share pages from each other then they can be both senders and receivers.

Therefore if everyone needs everything then everyone should be both receivers and senders. This is exactly the method used by Bit Torrent.

K is called ‘Seed‘ in Bit Torrent.

What is special about Bit Torrent?

Generally, HTTP and FTP protocols in Internet use the client-server architecture. Here the client computer will just connect to the server computer. One client will not connect to another client. When many clients connect to the server the speed of the server will slow down. Both installation and usage of client-server is very easy.

Peer-to-peer method was introduced as an alternative to Client-server architecture. Grutella, eDonkey, Kazaa etc used peer-to-peer architecture. Whoever is connected to the network can send or receive files from any computer in the network. When a computer sends some files to another computer it functions as a server and when it receives a file from another computer it functions as a client.

Since a file can be shared between any file and not shared from a central server there is no way to track which files are being transferred. Therefore many started sharing illegal audio and video files using these peer-to-peer software. Peer to Peer software enables speedy transfer of files.

Bit Torrent method uses the best features of Peer-to-Peer and Client-server architectures. Computers get the different parts of a file from the ‘seed’ and then the computers share these parts of the file from other computers and completes the file.

How to get Bit Torrent software?

Bit Torrent is an open source software. Many versions of Bit Torrent which can run on Windows, Linux, Unix or Mac are available.

In Windows there are many Bit Torrent software such as The shadow’s experimental client, burst, ABC (Another BitTorrent Client), Simple BT are some of them.

You can download bit torrent software from www.bitconjuver.org/BitTorrent or www.bittorrent.com

Downloading, Uploading, Installing and Un installing are most favorite words in the usage of computer and Internet. Let’s see about this.

Downloading:

We are copying a file from a network or an Internet to our computer is called downloading. We need not to do so much work for this. In Internet it displays, if you want this facility click here to download. If we click the link it will ask the place to store the file then we select the directory. The file will start to download. It shows the message it contain the rate and time.

Uploading:

This is the reverse process of downloading. That is we can copy the files from can computer to a network or the Internet. Generally the process is run by F.T.P. some of the Internet website provide the way to upload the files through their browsers.

Installing:

Mostly the peoples confuse both downloading and installing. Installing means process of our computer is preparing for run a program. Generally its have a setup program to run when we are executing the setup program it ask some questions. We give to answer for this questions then it start copy the files to your computer for run the particular program. If we want to run the program we may click the icons in the desktop. Otherwise select the program from star/program menu.

Un Installing:

This is also the reverse process of installing while installing the program. It will copy the files in your computer. When we don’t want the program it’s hard task find and delete the files. Because of that the developers are create one exe file for uninstalling with that program.

We can see the file in program directory. Otherwise we can uninstall the file by select the Add/Remove Program option in control panel. Here all the installed programs are arranged in alphabetical order. We can select the program from the list, which is wanted to uninstall.

When you are not near your computer other people can enter and read your files in your computer. They may edit them or even delete them. They can read you emails. They can format your hard disk. They can do anything they want with your computer.

In an office environment, this type of computer sabotage is possible. There are many software and applications related to ‘Desktop Security’. If you install a ‘Desktop security’ application in your computer, then you can prevent others from using your computer. If you require you can give permissions for a few.

Here are some of the desktop security software that you can use:

1. Access Denied

   Users of Windows 95/98/ME can use this application. You can install it and be sure that your computer is safe from strangers. When you boot your computer, it will prompt for the username and password. So only you can login to the computer.

   With ‘Access Denied’ you can give a unique username, passwords to your friends to access your computer. Later you can see the log file and see the time logged in and logged out by these users. So you will know exactly who used your computer.

   Another feature in Access Denied software is to block the F4 and F8 keys while the computer is booting. You can do this by choosing ‘Security->No Book Keys’ option.

   Another feature in Access Denied is the ‘Screen Guard’. This ‘Screen Guard’ feature is very handy. You can configure ‘mouse click’ or ‘hot key’ to hide the desktop whenever you want. If anybody tries to access, it will prompt for the username and password.

   Access Denied will also deny booting from floppy or CD.

   You can download ‘Access Denied’ fromhttp://www.johnru.com/accessdenied

2. Lock Out Desktop Security

   Lockout Desktop Security can be used to create policies and permissions for groups and users. You can block access to certain applications. You can block access to CD Drive. You can specify time period when people can access and when they cannot.

   You can download Lockout Desktop security software fromhttp://www.soft32.com

3. Desktop Lock

   You can download Desktop lock fromhttp://www.toplang.com/desktoplock.htm
   Like other Desktop security applications desktop lock allows you to prevent access to specific applications, documents etc.

4. Mouse Trap

   To lock the desktop and to allow access only by logging in using username/password you can use the ‘Mouse Trap’ application. Mouse Trap also prevents the use of ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del’ and ‘Alt+Tab’ and any other system keys. You can download Mouse Trap from http://www.hotwww.com

5. Boot Locker

   You can download Boot Locker from http://www.bootlocker.com/bl . You can use boot locker to create many users and groups. You can use this to disable and change password compulsary at frequent intervals.

   To find the latest available free desktop security software search google with the following search term http://www.google.com/search?q=%22desktop+security%22+download

Is it safe to download skin and themes for my computer?

What is a skin? What is a Theme?

Skin is s most often used word by computer users. You may wonder what can be the relation between a computer and skin? What is the meaning of Skin. Now what is the literal meaning of skin. Skin is used to cover our body. Isn’t it? Similarly, the term skin in computer is used to refer to the interface or look and feel of any program or application. There are many skins available in the internet that can be downloaded freely.

For instance, some popular media players such as WinAmp, Music Match, Real One or Windows media player have many skins provided by third parties. There are many ways you can download these skins and use it in your computer. In any windows software, from the menu choose ‘Options’ or ‘Preferences’. There you may find the option to ‘Change Skin’ or ‘Change theme’. Not all software will have this feature. If the software has this feature to change skin or theme then you can download your favorite skin or theme and apply it on your software.

For example, if you use Netscape version 6 or higher then select ‘View’ and click on ‘Apply theme’ and ‘Get New themes’. This will bring you to the ‘Theme park’. Here you will see many different skins and themes that can be downloaded. Once downloaded you can apply it to your Netscape software and the whole look and feel will change to the new theme.

But beware of one thing. When you download these free skins and themes from internet, the skin developer may embed the ‘spyware or adware’ in these skins to spy on your activities or to steal your personal particulars. For example a company that provides skins namely hot bar, openly states in its website that if you download skins from their website they will monitor the which websites you visit, which search engines you use and other details. Just for the sake of a skin, are you willing to share your personal details. Not only that, they will also show advertisements in your computer. Another such company is Neo Planet. In their website they declare that those who download and use their skins, their emails and browsing habits will be collected and shared with their partner companies. These partner companies who get your personal data will then send you SPAM emails selling and advertising their products.

In this world nothing comes free. How can someone give you skins and themes free after spending so much of their time on programming and developing the skin. Who will pay for their programming effort. Their only way to get money is to gather your personal details and sell it to companies.

Therefore, be very cautious and careful while downloading these skins to your computer.

Computers do not function alone. There are many external devices that are connected to the computer for various reasons. For example, Modem, Sound Card, Network card, printer, scanner and many other devices are connected to the computer. When we buy these hardware devices they come with the drivers (usually in CDs). The manufacturers of these devices develop these drivers. Because to use these devices these drivers are necessary. We usually keep these CDs safely when we buy them. But as time passes, we may forget where we kept those CDs. When these drivers are required later where do we look for such drivers. Consider these scenarios:

1. You formatted your hard disk and reinstall the OS. So you need to reinstall all the drivers for your external hardware.
2. You buy a used computer from someone but forget to get the driver CDs.
3. Your computer has all the drivers, but you want to upgrade the drivers. But you are not sure about the driver name and the device manufacturer.

To solve all these issues you need to download drivers from somewhere. There are many websites such as

• www.windrivers.com
• www.windowsdrivers.com
• www.driverguide.com
• www.pcdrivers.com

If you know which driver you need you can goto any of these websites and download the appropriate driver.  If you don not know which driver you want then these websites will not be of any help. Therefore you should first know about the drivers in your computer.

Driver upgrade utilities:

If you would like to test the drivers in your computer and see if they are functioning properly or needs to be updated then you can use the Driver Detective utility. Goto www.drivershq.com . You will see the ‘Driver Detective’ link. If you click on this link, this utility will check all the external devices that are currently connected to your computer and list all the drivers. If the list shows ‘Bad’ for any of your device such as scanner for example, then the driver for your scanner needs to be installed. If you click this link the appropriate driver will be installed.

Another such utility is Driver wizard software. You can download this utility from http://drivermagic.com/p/nph-home.php This utility will also check all the drivers in your computer and you can install any drivers that is BAD.

Belare Advisor is another utility that can be used to detect all your hardware from your computer. You can download this utility from www.belare.com

What is a PDF?

PDF (Portable Document File) is a often used file in computers. After creating a file you may like to bring this document to show someone. Or you may want to print the document. But there are many problems and issues while doing so.

1. The other computer maynot have the same application program that you used to create the file. For example you may have created the file using Page Maker. If Page Maker is not installed in the computer where you want to view the file then you cannot open this file in that computer.
2. Or the FONT that you used in your computer maynot be available in the other computer and therefore not viewable.
3. If you had sent the file via email to your friend and your friend does not have the application program to open the file then he cannot view it.

To solve all these problems PDF (Portable Document File) is used. When you create a PDF, the file is created exactly the same way it will appear on the print out. PDF can contain images, tables and graphs. In order to view this file Adobe Acrobat application is required. Adobe provides this software free at www.adobe.com .

But the problem with the PDF files is how to create these PDF files? The PDF writer that Adobe provides is not free. However many other companies have developed PDF writer software and provides it free. There are many types of PDF writers. Some of them inserts the company’s advertisements in the created PDF documents. Some give evaluation copies that are free for use for a limited period of time only. Some may have spyware embedded inside. But there is a free PDF writer available in the internet that is totally free. The name of the application is PDF Redirect v2.1.1. You can download and install this software within few seconds. Here are some tips on how to use this PDF ReDirect software.

If you have created a file in MS Word document and you want to convert this word document to PDF then open MS Word and open the file that you want to convert to PDF. Then From MS Word goto ‘File->Print’ option. This will open the Printer dialog box. In the printer list select the ‘PDF Redirect’ and print it. Now PDF Redirect will convert the word document to PDF and then open the ‘File dialog box’ to choose the folder where you want to save the converted PDF file. Once the file is created you can open it using Adobe acrobat reader.

You can download this software from http://www.download.com/PDF-ReDirect/3000-6675_4-10255233.html?tag=nl.e415