Hawkscope - Single Click Access To Any File Through System Tray Icon [Productivity Improvement]

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK_2dGYPW0ppD4ljk6BgI82sVeGWD79M7WmSs523LLCdTNevdG3lnBVP90B7Eda9PqUklKbc6WQGjlrz3wtzkOg7fC7r5miYORpoARZ4ISf7Ok3BDUFp6iXUmgzAsEL43285yY_DeGisk/s1600-h/hawkscope-screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK_2dGYPW0ppD4ljk6BgI82sVeGWD79M7WmSs523LLCdTNevdG3lnBVP90B7Eda9PqUklKbc6WQGjlrz3wtzkOg7fC7r5miYORpoARZ4ISf7Ok3BDUFp6iXUmgzAsEL43285yY_DeGisk/s400/hawkscope-screenshot.png" width="495" /></a></div><br />Windows, Linux, Mac: Hawkscope is a Java based free and open source tool that adds a little icon to your system taskbar, clicking on which opens a pop-up menu using which you can browse your hard disk contents and open them.<br /><br />For the keyboard junkies, there is an option to set a key combination that'll open up this pop-up menu. You can set folders as your favorite ones for much faster quick access. You can also blacklist certain folders so that they are not included in the pop-up menu listing.<br /><br />The application is quite extensible via plugins. Currently, there are plugins to search of Google, check Gmail and (obviously) a plugin to post to Twitter.<br /><br /><a href="http://code.google.com/p/hawkscope/">Download Hawkscope</a></p>

Windows, Linux, Mac: Hawkscope is a Java based free and open source tool that adds a little icon to your system taskbar, clicking on which o...

Snapper – An Easy to Use Firefox Extension to Take Website Screenshots

<p><p><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Firefox" target="_blank">Firefox</a> (Windows, Linux, Mac): Snapper is a new Firefox extensions that can capture web pages as images. After installing Snapper, you’ll get a fish icon in your status bar. Clicking on this icon causes the fish to open it’s mouth! Now you are in capture mode. Click and drag around the portion that you want to save as image and a file save dialog pops up asking you the location to save the image.</p> <p>Snapper makes it too simple. Watch this screencast.</p> <p><embed src="http://blip.tv/play/tTaBkuJjAA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="350" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2703" target="_blank">Snapper Mozilla Addons Page</a></p> </p>

Firefox (Windows, Linux, Mac): Snapper is a new Firefox extensions that can capture web pages as images. After installing Snapper, you’ll g...

Prevent NoScript From Displaying the Updates Home Page Every Time it is Updated

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cpa1mZ8lx8XT1vjZhZlT10XzDws1dI2NWr2VHUSOr1vwzwQ3SDlHl-tPlMRlp9atRJIxKanJC4AzhpOovo6loARLh3JcXCNjEJZa_b8okvx42ehE368mKetDHqOuhkMhSZYjnDb6jYQ/s1600-h/noscript-icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8cpa1mZ8lx8XT1vjZhZlT10XzDws1dI2NWr2VHUSOr1vwzwQ3SDlHl-tPlMRlp9atRJIxKanJC4AzhpOovo6loARLh3JcXCNjEJZa_b8okvx42ehE368mKetDHqOuhkMhSZYjnDb6jYQ/s200/noscript-icon.png" /></a></div>We really love <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722">NoScript</a> Firefox extension. In our quest to explore even the dark and unknown realms of the internet to gather news for our beloved readers, noscript has been a faithful companion, protecting us from many malicious Javascript coders out there.<br /><br />But still, we shake our heads in despair when NoScript opens its welcome page each time it updates itself. And with the extension author releasing a new version before and after his meal everyday, we are seeing this page too often these days. <br /><br />So we were glad when we found this section hidden in the <a href="http://noscript.net/faq">FAQ</a> section of NoScript:<br /><blockquote>Q: I don't like NoScript redirecting the browser on its release notes page every time I upgrade it. Is there any way to prevent this?<br /><br />A: First time you install NoScript and every time you upgrade it to a newer major version, Firefox opens an additional tab containing the NoScript welcome page, where you can read the release notes, the latest announcements and an introduction to the most important NoScript features (plus a link to this very FAQ...) If you feel you don't need such heads up, you can disable this feature by clicking the NoScript icon, selecting Options and unchecking "Display the release notes on update" in the "Notifications" tab. </blockquote><br />That's it. There is an option in the Options dialog, just for this.<br />For the geeks out there, you can also do this by going into the about:config window and changing the value of <code>noscript.firstRunRedirection </code> to false.</p>

We really love NoScript Firefox extension. In our quest to explore even the dark and unknown realms of the internet to gather news for our ...

NotMyIp - Best Free Proxy Tool Out There [Daily Download]

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUgFfH5aMVdu-OZf9fcOakOwc2yE-HSs_J29dsuZZ7g_2e3OJD6hr9FwzH4s8AQ919W2LEyE7Rg7aG3DXkJgVWKGvZiKJ4mSVcaH7HT_IQ-5pyneO2hWp0Ctj5ypPdbnt9-JHcMk2lW-Q/s1600-h/home-nmip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUgFfH5aMVdu-OZf9fcOakOwc2yE-HSs_J29dsuZZ7g_2e3OJD6hr9FwzH4s8AQ919W2LEyE7Rg7aG3DXkJgVWKGvZiKJ4mSVcaH7HT_IQ-5pyneO2hWp0Ctj5ypPdbnt9-JHcMk2lW-Q/s400/home-nmip.jpg" /></a></div><br />Windows only: There may be many reasons why people have always felt a need to hide their actual IP addresses. The intentions may not be always malicious. It may be to protect privacy, for overcoming censorships, to browse anonymously, to bypass Rapidshare download limit, circumvent the Megaupload country slot limit etc.<br /><br />So people use proxy servers. When one use a proxy server, the outside world would see the address of the proxy server and not the user's actual IP address.<br /><br />NotMyIp is an application that makes it dead simple to mask one's IP address. This is a freeware version of the popular premium product - Anonymity Gateway. NotMyIp doesn't require any manual configurations. It automatically configures all installed browsers like Firefox, IE, Opera and Google Chrome to use high quality US proxies. This takes the pain away from the user as he longer need to search for free proxies in the internet and configure the browsers manually.<br /><br />Not My Ip is a free for non-commercial use tool, available for Windows only.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.privacy-gateway.com/notmyip.html">Download NotMyIp</a></p>

Windows only: There may be many reasons why people have always felt a need to hide their actual IP addresses. The intentions may not be alwa...

Install Latest Version of Firefox in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope the Easy Way With Ubuntuzilla

<p><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Linux">Linux</a> only: It usually takes some time for a new Firefox release to hit the official Ubuntu repositories after Mozilla releases it.<br /><br />For the impatient out there, we present <a href="http://ubuntuzilla.wiki.sourceforge.net/">Ubuntuzilla</a>. Ubuntuzilla is a python script that allows one to install the latest Mozilla products like Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey in a Ubuntu Linux machine. It can automatically download the latest Firefox and install it, integrate the already existing Firefox extensions with the new Firefox version and add/update menu entries in Applications -> Internet. It can also periodically checks for updated version of Firefox, Thunderbird or SeaMonkey and automatically download and install it.<br /><br />Download the deb file appropriate for your system from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/ubuntuzilla/files/">Ubuntuzilla downloads page</a> and install it (<a href="http://ubuntuzilla.wiki.sourceforge.net/#tochome6">Installation instructions</a>). Now, close all running Firefox instances and run <code>ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p firefox</code> from a command prompt to start Firefox installation. Answer a few questions that the installer asks and you are good to go.<br /><br />Ubuntuzilla is a free download for Ubuntu and Ubuntu derived Linux distributions.<br /><br /><a href="http://ubuntuzilla.wiki.sourceforge.net/">Download Ubuntuzilla</a><br /><br />Good Read:<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2009/07/mac4lin-makes-your-ubuntu-linux-look.html">Mac4Lin Makes Your Ubuntu Linux Look Like a Mac OS X</a></li><li><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2008/11/10-things-you-should-do-immediately.html">10 Things You Should Do Immediately After Installing Ubuntu</a></li><li><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2008/04/how-to-have-dvd-playback-adobe-flash.html">How To Have DVD Playback, Adobe Flash Plugin, MP3 In Ubuntu</a></li><li><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2009/07/firefox-351-released-fixes-critical.html">Firefox 3.5.1 Released. Fixes Critical Vulnerability & Slow Startup Issue In Windows</a></li></ol></p>

Linux only: It usually takes some time for a new Firefox release to hit the official Ubuntu repositories after Mozilla releases it. For the...

Set Your Latest Twitter Tweet as Your Forum Avatar Or Email Signature Image with TwitImg

<p><a href="http://twitter.com/anoopengineer"><img border="0" src="http://www.twitimg.com/anoopengineer.png" /></a><br /><br />TwitImg is a brand new <a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Web%20Apps">web application</a> that allows you to convert your most recent tweet into an image. You can see my latest tweet displayed as an image above.<br />TwitImg doesn't force you to use any javascript. That means, you can directly use the provided image url anywhere (like your favourite forum as your avatar or signature).<a href="http://twitter.com/anoopengineer"></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.twitimg.com/">Visit TwitImg</a></p>

TwitImg is a brand new web application that allows you to convert your most recent tweet into an image. You can see my latest tweet display...

Firefox 3.5.1 Released. Fixes Critical Vulnerability & Slow Startup Issue In Windows

<p>Mozilla has released Firefox 3.5.1 version that fixes a <a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2009/07/critical-security-vulnerability.html">critical vulnerability that affected the TraceMonkey javascript engine</a>.<br /><br />This version is also said to solve the extremely <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=501605">slow startup many had faced in Firefox 3.5 Windows version</a>. [Related link: <a href="http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2009/07/09/the-firefox-3-5-fiasco.aspx">The Firefox 3.5 fiasco</a>]<br /><br />If you have Firefox 3.5 already installed, Firefox would be updating itself in the next 24 hours. You can also force start an update by going to Help -> Check for Updates.<br /><br />Readers who had disabled the TraceMonkey engine as a temporary work around should remember to change the value of "<strong>javascript.options.jit.content</strong>" back to True.</p>

Mozilla has released Firefox 3.5.1 version that fixes a critical vulnerability that affected the TraceMonkey javascript engine . This versio...

Critical Security Vulnerability Discovered In Firefox 3.5

<p><p>A critical security vulnerability affecting the latest <a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Firefox" target="_blank">Firefox</a> 3.5 release has been identified by Mozilla. This vulnerability is caused by the TraceMonkey Javascript engine and allows malicious websites to execute code in your PC.</p> <p>To get protected from this vulnerability, disable the TraceMonkey optimizer by following these steps.</p> <ol> <li>Type about:config into the Firefox address bar and hit enter.</li> <li>Hit “I’ll be careful, I promise” button.</li> <li>Type in “<strong>javascript.options.jit.content</strong>” into the Filter bar. Double click on it to change its value to False.</li> </ol> <p>Doing this may affect the browsers performance on Javascript intensive websites like Gmail. However, it is advised to disable TraceMonkey until Mozilla releases a patch for this vulnerability.</p> <p>[<a href="http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2009/07/mozilla-confirms-critical-security-flaw-in-firefox-3-5/" target="_blank">via</a>]</p> </p>

A critical security vulnerability affecting the latest Firefox 3.5 release has been identified by Mozilla. This vulnerability is caused by ...

Check Whether Your Computer Can Run Windows 7 With Microsoft’s Upgrade Advisor

<p><p>Windows Vista was a bit greedy when it came to minimal system requirements to run it. Windows 7 is supposed to change that. According to Microsoft, Windows 7 will be able to run on most humble of system configurations without affecting the user experience.</p> <p>Now, if you are someone with an old PC and are wondering whether you will be able to run Windows 7 on it, Microsoft has released a tool just for you. </p> <p>This tool named “Windows 7 upgrade advisor beta” will scan your system and let you know whether you’ll be able to run Windows 7 in it or not. We ran Upgrade Advisor on a pretty old Windows XP machine and have captured the screenshots here.</p> <p>This is the screen that you’ll get on running Upgrade Advisor:</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz9GkT3jcVYjoZLQO7FGFFB8jhnAidqqsWacTo1sEdIL8StuNwOXOh0bWSINT7Ldkn-B-D_dYc430ZvS29uMmQM8BSWYM7RVoTmajFTk02xZXHlvbV_Ze_22CHQK6di3Snn3LqGsmv5k8/s1600-h/image%5B5%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieb99-3LmzFLa9suI396ps33uWWdhyphenhyphenq1ai4N35o8aZT9yj7xe0KanEV5pz045S_9zULUatOyTqzOKtkP1CXhbI0mwM2aIqUFndlKTZ1Y7by0IKIgHPSq08Lb0E2OdZ6P1BVDiZFBUt36M/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="image" width="499" /></a> </p> <p>Click Start Check to begin the system scan:</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijsDXhfc94WfnW7QZJwQvGmtm54g9IOp1VqDRTVGmT-blbNCWM4mUSiGhii4hmneiVduBE-GJ_Mp0V1GFQkylQgz8kR8tFdmULLJslPCttWzU1ArgJO7WaYjo1jz7nyBLQSWiyRXRzpR0/s1600-h/image%5B9%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwlQ9TQ5MJiWi3PcB1OGw8yr3HsWSiYIX7sgkMiyHB_swRBCTEwdvmysmkbRH7D0PDtdibQYT95XfTPQuhoqWHIfJVKX4U3a4x-ZMi3psjiSLib1Ty-TcTQmamhuEr_bfc3AqxxLxEkMA/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="image" width="499" /></a> </p> <p>When the check is over, you’ll be presented with a nice report on what all will work and what will not. For eg: Upgrade Advisor found that the PC we tested was a bit low on Hard Disk space and the current graphics card will not be able to support the Windows Aero user interface. It also listed the softwares that will be problematic once you switch over to Windows 7.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KnuDqHHFiaoFWyTVKffdCHUK_YiNMmanqH9EfwZtaKvoMMOCivMmKVhFBXkP76HU3gWIMx6a1zUwL5Vjkq7oR7cOw-Lh0S2_Xl2rBiw0w-KlkagGpNVW_VuJ9ewtN12_uROKoJqsTUM/s1600-h/image%5B13%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5nUJdkuDMHLzShDRPd4EeWIVhl5pfsiCAstjAsMEFd7sjnzIIMTyyyZW59pIs4GO5aNbVxq57jTcaaEfULLCQOtgZohUpKsylZEDsjCkZ4xsxZ_mMTO3dcDCvC8uQY4pFNE_KpVBr_Wg/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="image" width="494" /></a> </p> <p>In case you want to save this report for future use, just hit the Save Report button and it will be saved as an HTML page.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15">Download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor beta</a></p> </p>

Windows Vista was a bit greedy when it came to minimal system requirements to run it. Windows 7 is supposed to change that. According to Mic...

How To Search Google & Bing Simultaneously [Web Apps]

<p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrdmjIPvC9P_go1HorpLoDcvbEWyGftWn6XEHu_g3oIjZz2U6qDg3GGav3iNjZmrarNyq6GZS6X1bZtv3IwwQEP6aTFuaWLqJQ_OQhmoH9dmVGX6Pt8RdOAd-nshS-OJgD1HAfWp2QryM/s1600-h/google_and_bing4.png"><img alt="google_and_bing" border="0" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKydGGvu1WbfRAg5qaHHccPeG8fU5RW4_RM0lKe3FRbHICVwo6UilswgYONgo0DJ_B68M7cJaxpmQDbBME_zcFBxJVjwrBicltcIismldQi02KfkO5aLg6OEvMh1z0LPXTvcFMmLylfEw/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="google_and_bing" width="495" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.bing.com/" target="_blank">Bing</a> is becoming the new Google. Who would have guessed that the yet-another-search-engine-attempt-from-microsoft-to-beat-google would really turn successful?</p> <p>Well, it surely seems that Microsoft has finally worked its magic this time as Bing has become the 13th most visited site on the web. According to <a href="http://compete.com/" target="_blank">Compete</a>, Bing’s traffic has overtaken that of other prominent sites like <a href="http://digg.com/" target="_blank">Digg</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/home" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p> <p>Now, for those people who would like to switch to Bing, but finds Google to be unavoidable, we present you two new web services that allows you to search both Google and Bing together in a shot.</p> <h1>1. AskBoth.com</h1> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwJ68XqVONfA-yknpE0D1t2jyvqpZDtRZpl6jyf3WVzGMmXVvG7DGVMMm0XnwfR5RI8HuM6nlGSFbxoGXpJ6TC35WPeRUWJ4VfkA8NFLyb4ODrFtSGx-RzlcizAD6RVGHuTIzARY2-ik/s1600-h/image%5B1%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrErFrhjwRcgWzd-1Xqa7v6dBvFaFjazEu0O9g76pRqndlBSKQgi5xjHYghlvaEhyphenhyphenFLL7mo2fY4YgdK6tSFer2_R4IvbyupetDhHruQIluaDOwjiNpjNXCR1vyu_UkVLFlG5Vj46o1fN8/?imgmax=800" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; display: inline" title="image" width="499" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.askboth.com" target="_blank">AskBoth.com</a> is a new Web 2.0 search engine that combines the results from Google and Bing and displays them side by side. Note that entire Bing page or Google page is not displayed, but just the results are displayed here.</p> <h1>2. Bing-Vs-Google.com</h1> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcG_mNbUARFjZoKoccfwozTfKAwuDtN-tQd78V0h_oBwO-jFoRbHxzwL_nxGI65AeHwJhBWW8eKCQ3sa5eMjTPJAPWMaszDmY5cml0tR-hX0HnqQFwWAaECq0sj_7mi3guYaGJ2kHixZ8/s1600-h/image%5B2%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjHexM4N9jGhE7SMBQx7Wc3LIGMJ3g9eYayx4kDhwyyd-ofIqw1PQCfx-TB2o1pUJCGHLtIOkuIbo_KoTRaRdckFa4RnaXrXMauLLa2t1FJQc73F_WYotkmN9lq8saOHuE5VtBRUUBfI/?imgmax=800" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; display: inline" title="image" width="499" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.bing-vs-google.com" target="_blank">Bing-Vs-Google.com</a> is another similar site. The difference is that it displays the actual Google and Bing page itself side by side and you can scroll down both the sides using a single scroll bar. Pretty neat if you want to compare Google and Bing for a particular keyword.</p> <p>By the way, can you spot something fishy on comparing the two screenshots?</p> </p>

Bing is becoming the new Google. Who would have guessed that the yet-another-search-engine-attempt-from-microsoft-to-beat-google would r...

Get Windows 7 Superbar in Windows XP & Vista with ViGlance [Daily Download]

<p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0PMHhJRDGSxmyqBkmGWEg1-3O2kUBErgQcfhZ4eIn0lR-jtOFI8XlyavdP187gfDazomkpfFrHaisVz-5aFGOCcQZE-vuYYtkFAdHEmJGmLSPZzVVi3MOsxCwjZn4qm9360dOtSpOT4/s1600-h/viglance%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="viglance" border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuuho0S7uruXFThi86rojMVWq8iKl9fNg0o3CGtNOoE2mCA2PMfUUrFP0SjK8j7t3wgCVTMOfcC7VXLBm9fQnyDlz4Q2yoClIyAbr0t_HOki2Kgnw5269wMg0-52ogyTOeG2sXInXsjOA/?imgmax=800" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; display: inline" title="viglance" width="499" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Windows" target="_blank">Windows</a>: Official Windows 7 release is still a couple of months away and if you are eager to try out the awesome superbar of Windows 7 that everybody keeps talking about, without installing the beta version of Windows 7, try ViGlance.</p> <p>ViGlance brings the Windows 7 superbar features to Windows XP and Vista. Once installed and run, you’ll find your taskbar more cleaner, organized and usable. All windows of same process are grouped together. Taskbar items are shows as large 48X48 icons instead of the earlier 16X16 icons displayed in XP and Vista. Users of Windows XP will find the change from the bulky start menu button to the stylish small start orb quite refreshing. The start orb is now enhanced with a smooth rollout transition effect which is quite a change from the Vista orb. The information about taskbar entries are shown as a sliding animation as you mouse over the taskbar icons.</p> <p>ViGlance is a free download for Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7.</p> <p><a href="http://www.lee-soft.com/viglance/" target="_blank">Download ViGlance</a></p> <p><em>Good Read:</em></p> <p><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2009/03/download-every-default-windows-7.html">Download Every Default Windows 7 Wallpapers For US, UK and Australian Regions In One Shot</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/2009/03/reduce-clutter-on-your-windows-desktop.html">Reduce Clutter On Your Windows Desktop With Desktop List View</a></p> </p>

Windows : Official Windows 7 release is still a couple of months away and if you are eager to try out the awesome superbar of Windows 7 t...

Google Chrome OS and How the Web Went Nuts Over It

<p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCe01qBpmA0122bYzscRrPkxuPU4m0hqYrR7RNCtGQEgaqpr8tMc-MWqM631Q21pzztxt4e9MZh26Pd90l6eDlo6hoQvkWJMaJRAuMu2OgSs5wMThIpHTlSInD6iWRTsSnGlZhAaTVl70/s1600-h/chromecartoon4.jpg"><img alt="chromecartoon" border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnCmilR5pKZ9-LB-1Oj3Ah5j8J-xqmAkivIX33BIaTML-ijSxIU6aA84EJgJCGfvH23e01WLnx7hQSS4HAHrYN_INOVxv3Kra8DxT2dmGI6EOwr5YYdvJaY6iJv0oD1fFbalSyRxTa4A/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="chromecartoon" width="499" /></a> </p> <p>Official Google blog broke the news to the world last Tuesday — Google will be releasing an Operating System soon.  And it would be based on their popular product Chrome browser.</p> <p>The news spread like wild fire. Many seemed to be in a hurry to jump into conclusions. Many predicted that this move would be the first nail in the Microsoft coffin. Linux enthusiast seemed to be in a bit of a dilemma. Should they rejoice that the new OS is having a Linux kernel or should they worry over the fact that Google Chrome OS would be eating into the market share of their favorite Linux distribution?</p> <p>In today’s <a title="Daily Feature articles in http://www.DailyGyan.com/" href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Daily%20Feature">Daily Feature</a>, we take you through a fantastic ride through all the stuff that happened in 5 days of Google breaking the news.</p> <h1>July 7th 2009</h1> <p>It all began with <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html" target="_blank">Google officially releasing information</a> about a new venture — Google Chrome OS. This is what the blog said:</p> <blockquote> <p>Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.</p> </blockquote> <p>So Google proposes to take their Chrome browser, add a Linux kernel into it and release it by 2010. This OS will run on netbooks and is supposed to give the users a better experience than the current one.</p> <p>TechCrunch was one of the first blogs to comment. In a post named <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/07/google-drops-a-nuclear-bomb-on-microsoft-and-its-made-of-chrome/">Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome</a>, they say:</p> <blockquote> <p>But let’s be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft. It even says as much in the first paragraph of its post, “However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.” Yeah, who do you think they mean by that?</p> </blockquote> <p>So basically, MG Siegler of TechCruch thinks that this is going to be a big blow for Microsoft. However, he ends the post saying that all is not lost for Microsoft:</p> <blockquote> <p>But there is a wild card in all of this still for Microsoft: Windows 7. While Windows XP is 8 years old, and Windows Vista is just generally considered to be a bad OS for netbooks, Windows 7 could offer a good netbook experience. And Microsoft had better hope so, or its claim that <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216402927">96% of netbooks run Windows</a> is going to be very different in a year.</p> </blockquote> <p>The Technologizer site came up with <a href="http://technologizer.com/2009/07/07/eleven-questions-about-googles-chrome-os/">Eleven Questions About Google’s Chrome OS</a> in which they ask some pretty strong questions.</p> <blockquote> <p>Google isn’t revealing much in the way of specifics, other than that the OS is an open-source project based on its Chrome browser with a Linux kernel, and that it’s working with multiple hardware manufacturers to bring it to x86- and ARM-based netbooks in the second half of next year. It says the goal is to build an OS that boots in seconds and runs Web apps really well.</p> <p>Like many big Google announcements (such as the u<a href="http://technologizer.com/2008/09/01/ten-questions-about-google-chrome/">nleashing of Chrome itself last September</a>) this one prompts more questions than it answers. </p> </blockquote> <p>They ask some questions that are in every common mans mind like — Why Chrome and Not Android? Just how Web-based can an OS be? Will consumers buy a Google netbook? Just how serious is Google about this? </p> <h1>July 8th 2009</h1> <p>On this day, Mashable brought out an interesting article – <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/07/08/chrome-os-photoshop/">Chrome OS: But Will it Run Photoshop?</a> In this article, the author Stan Schroeder argues why it won’t be an easy ride for Google Chrome OS.</p> <blockquote> <p>Let’s look at some problems Google will inevitably face. Details aside, Microsoft’s domination of the OS market is due to two reasons:</p> <p>1. It’s very hard to get all the hardware makers to create drivers (or create them yourself) for your OS. </p> <p>2. It’s very hard to get all the software makers to create versions of their software that’ll work on your OS. </p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>When it comes to software, there’s the ancient “Photoshop argument,” which can be summed up in this way: if you’re a long time Windows user, chances are you’ve got a favorite piece of software that won’t run on Linux. It can be a game, or it can be Photoshop (and no, GIMP is not that good), it can be something else, but there will always be something missing. I can live with that. I’ve always got at least three working computers at home; I can run many different OSs if necessary; many users don’t have the time or the will to do that. They want to have one computer that runs all of their stuff, period. Yes, I know Chrome OS is all about web apps. But not all apps can be web apps just yet; between the apps already supported on Linux, and all the wonderful web apps available out there, will it be enough for the average user? We’ll have to wait and see.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Windows 7 will come out before Google Chrome OS will; if it performs up to users’ expectations, it’ll be harder for Google to push through. By the time Chrome OS supports enough hardware and software to be deemed really usable by a significant portion of users, Microsoft will have a lot of time to fix things.</p> </blockquote> <p>Wired featured <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/five-things-googles-chrome-os-will-do-for-your-netbook/" target="_blank">Five Things Google’s Chrome OS Will Do for Your Netbook</a>, where they mention how the Chrome OS will revolutionize the cost, speed, compatibility, portability and applications of the current netbook market.</p> <p>Zdnet said <a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/No-thanks-Google-we-ve-got-Ubuntu/0,139023769,339297306,00.htm" target="_blank">No thanks Google, we've got Ubuntu</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>The growing dominance of Ubuntu (at least on the desktop, the server room seems to have been won by Red Hat) has delivered the Linux community a serious advantage in its ongoing war against the incumbent Windows and Apple platforms because of its ability to give software developers a single platform to concentrate on, <a href="http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Ubuntu-as-slick-as-Win7-Mac-OS-X/0,139023769,339296121,00.htm">and polish to a degree not seen previously</a>.</p> <p>In this context, Google's decision to create its own Linux distribution and splinter the Linux community decisively once again can only be seen as foolhardy and self-obsessive.</p> </blockquote> <p>Fake Steve Jobs, in his hilarious blog wrote the article <a href="http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2009/07/lets-all-take-deep-breath-and-get-some.html">Let's all take a deep breath and get some perspective</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>First of all, nobody seems to appreciate how goddamn hard it is to make an operating system. You don't just wake up one day and fall out of bed and make one. Not even the smarty pants kiddies at Google can do that. These things take years. Decades, even. Ours started out 20 years ago, at NeXT. You could say it goes back to 1977, with the BSD guys. Heck, you could even say it goes back to 1969 with Dennis Thompson and Lionel Ritchie. Even Windows is -- what? Twenty years old? Something like that. For that matter, look at Linux. Correct me if I'm wrong -- and I'm sure you fucking freetards will find something to correct -- but I think Linus Tordalv started working on Linux back in 1991 when he was a high school student in his native Denmark. That's nearly twenty years ago, and the shit still doesn't run right. Point is, whatever Google might release in the second half of next year, it will just be a starting point. It won't come close to what we've got.</p> </blockquote> <p>The All Things Digital blog featured <a href="http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090708/google-chrome-os/">Chrome OS, Huh? Will It Be Based on a Google Analytics Kernel?</a> an article which looks into the privacy related issues posed by the Google chrome OS.</p> <blockquote> <p>“Competition in the OS market should always be welcome, but Google is the special case,” Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told Digital Daily. “It has become dominant across many essential Internet services–search, mail, video, online apps, and advertising. Coupled with Google’s growing profiles of American consumers and reluctance to adopt meaningful privacy safeguards, we expect that antitrust authorities in the US and Europe will view Google’s entry into the OS market with enormous skepticism.”</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/08/chrome-partners-acer-adobe-asus-freescale-hewlett-packard-lenovo-qualcomm-texas-instruments/" target="_blank">TechCrunch had a post</a> giving details on the device manufacturers that have partnered with Google to roll out the Chrome OS.</p> <blockquote> <p>Yesterday Google said they were already working with device manufacturers to roll out Chrome OS devices late next year. Today they announced at least some of those partners: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard<img src="http://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.89.0.1/t.gif" />, Lenovo<img src="http://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.89.0.1/t.gif" />, Qualcomm<img src="http://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.89.0.1/t.gif" />, Texas Instruments<img src="http://i.ixnp.com/images/v3.89.0.1/t.gif" />.</p> <p>Acer and ASUS are the no. 1 and no. 2 netbook manufacturers worldwide. HP and Lenovo are also large netbook manufacturers. Freescale, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are chip companies that Google is likely working with to ensure a good user experience. </p> </blockquote> <p>The <a href="http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090708/tc_pcworld/googlesossecurityclaimscalledidiotic" target="_blank">Google's OS Security Claims Called 'idiotic'</a> post published in Yahoo Tech news was a great read.</p> <blockquote> <p>Bruce Schneier, the chief security technology officer at BT, scoffed at Google's promise. "It's an idiotic claim," Schneier wrote in an e-mail. "It was mathematically proved decades ago that it is impossible -- not an engineering impossibility, not technologically impossible, but the 2+2=3 kind of impossible -- to create an operating system that is immune to viruses."</p> <p>Redesigning an operating system from scratch, "[taking] security into account all the way up and down," could make for a more secure OS than ones that have been developed so far, Schneier said. But that's different from Google's promise that users won't have to deal with viruses or malware, he added.</p> </blockquote> <h1>July 9th 2009</h1> <p>The most interesting post of the day was Register slapping TechCrunch hard with <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/09/dzuiba_google_chrome_redux/" target="_blank">TechCrunch dubs Linux a 'big ol’ bag of drivers'</a></p> <blockquote> <p>The pundits are losing their shit all over again, which is fairly impressive, because multiple Googasms from a single product are very rare. Last year, I highlighted the glorious incompetence of writers who fancy themselves tech journalists. Much in the way that everybody who saw Sideways is now an expert on wine, the tragedy of blogging is that anybody with a laptop and a Gmail account is an expert on technology. So now that Chrome will actually be a full-fledged operating system, let's see what the experts have to say.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>The canonical example of failure in tech journalism is <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/"><i>TechCrunch</i></a>, a blog that once declared Google's MapReduce to be a system that "reduced the links found on the web into a map that search algorithms could run over." Yes, this will do nicely. <i>TechCrunch</i> embodies all that is wrong with blogging as journalism: shoddy fact checking, writing that would fail a high school English class, and a pre-adolescent in-the-brain-out-the-mouth reporting style</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>As Mike Arrington says: "The Internet Is Everything. All the OS has to do is boot the damn computer, get me to a browser as fast as possible and then stay the hell out of the way."</p> <p>Indeed. That's probably why desktop Linux machines with Firefox have already taken such a foothold in the consumer market.</p> <p>Oh, wait.</p> </blockquote> <p>Another interesting thing was a couple of fake Chrome OS screenshots that were published: <a href="http://chromeosleak.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/the-first-pics-of-the-chrome-os-beta-for-devs/">THE FIRST PICS OF THE CHROME OS BETA FOR DEVS!!!</a></p> <h1>July 10th 2009</h1> <p> </p> <p>John Gruber in his Daring Fireball blog raises a few interesting points. A few snippets from the post <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2009/07/chrome_os_context" target="_blank">Putting What Little We Actually Know About Chrome OS Into Context</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>it’s not weird that Chrome was announced. But what is weird is how it was announced. And, despite the title of the weblog post in which the announcement was made — “<a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html">Introducing the Google Chrome OS</a>” — nothing has actually been introduced. There aren’t even any screenshots, let alone a demo or any specific technical information. With an expected ship date of “the second half of 2010”, it’s a textbook example of vaporware.</p> <p>I don’t get the timing. Why announce it now, when it clearly isn’t close to ready? Why not at I/O, Google’s developer conference six weeks ago? Or why not wait until it’s ready to release to developers? I like facts, demos, and best of all, shipping products. I don’t like vague promises.</p> </blockquote> <p>Martin of gHacks.net posts about <a href="http://www.ghacks.net/2009/07/10/why-google-chrome-os-will-have-no-huge-impact/" target="_blank">Why Google Chrome OS Will Have No Huge Impact</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2009/07/some-microsoft-thoughts-on-chrome-os.html">Some Microsoft Thoughts on Chrome OS</a> published on Marketing Pilgrim blog gives details about interview with Abu-Hadba, Microsoft’s VP of Developer and Platform Evangelism.</p> <blockquote> <p>Some of his remarks about Chrome consisted of entertaining bluster: “I love competition.” But he also had thoughts about why Google is trying to muscle into the operating system business. And no, he said, it’s not because Google wants to make computing simpler and faster (as Google executives claim), nor is it part of a grand plan to undo Microsoft’s dominance .</p> <p>“Most of what Google does is defensive,” Abu-Hadba said.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>Abu-Hadba said it’s not about operating systems at all; instead, Google is trying to distract competitors from attacking its cash cow, search. He argued that whenever Google enters a new market, like releasing mobile operating system Android, it’s trying to force competitors to focus on existing products, rather than challenging Google in search. And the company may actually feel threatened for the first time in years.</p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <h1>July 11th 2009</h1> <p>Mashable is back with another interesting post: <a href="http://mashable.com/2009/07/11/google-equation/">The Google Revenue Equation, and Why Google’s Building Chrome OS</a>.</p> <blockquote> <p>Google generated about <a href="http://investor.google.com/fin_data.html">$21 billion</a> in revenue last year. The vast majority of that revenue, well over 95%, comes from advertising via its search engine and its AdSense program, which places ads on millions of websites, including Mashable. </p> <p>You probably already knew that, though. The key to understanding why Google is building an OS based off Chrome though isn’t about how it generates revenue, it’s about where. The answer’s simple: anywhere on the web.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p>As long as you’re on the web, Google wins. So we need to stop framing the Google-Microsoft battle in the context of “Chrome OS vs. Windows,” because Google will not win a straight up battle. And guess what? That’s not Google’s goal. We need to frame it in the larger context of the Google Revenue Equation and how much time we spend on the web.</p> <p>Chrome OS is just another step in getting us online, both directly and indirectly. If you view the battle with this in mind, then you realize that Google will almost certainly succeed. Google will have won once again.</p> </blockquote> <p>So that’s it guys. 5 days of Google Chrome OS juice combined in one post. What do you thing of this new OS? Tell us in the comments.</p> </p>

Official Google blog broke the news to the world last Tuesday — Google will be releasing an Operating System soon.  And it would be based...

Mac4Lin Makes Your Ubuntu Linux Look Like a Mac OS X [Linux Gyan]

<p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn4vDrIJDA2lGd_uUd47cFfxed6ArKOME_4ybsJk0KtI-TfWauRXx_hpPSF85tpKmVSLeOxNirB06mWwVf-dE5_GVjFxCxWk90288tinK7vSUt822UXxC6Q3PbzlqcVtDuX3KS9kSCp1M/s1600-h/fileexplorer1%5B5%5D.png"><img alt="fileexplorer1" border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2T2z4IgBS1f-h28eznGvSQmynV6IYscz76tmLUTcRHWlTZ5ZwC9dtGWy_NrbMbLrASqDYymcKK5D2ZDreeJas8AW-DUCy-8Fghyphenhyphen2H1d2t8n52KbgpUzl6FYEbuSzBcfmxwyAqKnuAUfI/?imgmax=800" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; display: inline" title="fileexplorer1" width="499" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Linux" target="_blank">Linux</a> only: Mac4Lin is a bundle of icons, themes and wallpapers that can transform the look of your normal Gnome desktop to look exactly like a Mac.</p> <p>In his blog, Tanveer gives us a nice little tutorial on how to install Mac4Lin and tweak your Ubuntu to make it look like a Mac OS X Leopard. The steps consist of downloading the Mac4Lin package and installing it, installing the AWN theme, installing the OS X cursors and fonts and changing the Firefox theme to a Safari theme.</p> <p><a href="http://tanu.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/transform-ubuntu-into-os-x/" target="_blank">Transform Ubuntu into OS X</a></p> </p>

Linux only: Mac4Lin is a bundle of icons, themes and wallpapers that can transform the look of your normal Gnome desktop to look exactly...

VLC Media Player Version 1.0 Released [Daily Download]

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitW_8x5z58xrxgiAPkv19TzUFwSzHRjG2ScokcW7SqRctHYp-nI5EoDMDFhKm9OkA_7Ow9r-qwKunJUQv_EmEumsLC0jyg2fZTPxfn6gKY4rzCsL2pBNB-0Rb39F1V6DM2KzF1L1h4qBI/s1600-h/vlc_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitW_8x5z58xrxgiAPkv19TzUFwSzHRjG2ScokcW7SqRctHYp-nI5EoDMDFhKm9OkA_7Ow9r-qwKunJUQv_EmEumsLC0jyg2fZTPxfn6gKY4rzCsL2pBNB-0Rb39F1V6DM2KzF1L1h4qBI/s400/vlc_logo.png" /></a></div>The player that plays it all – VLC Media Player got an upgrade today. Version 1.0, code named 'Goldeneye' adds many more reasons to try out VLC, if you haven't done that already.<br /><br />VLC 1.0 adds support for even more formats - AES3, Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD, Blu-Ray Linear PCM, Real Video 3.0 and 4.0, incorporates a number of bug fixes, supports MTP devices in Linux and AirTunes streaming. Some of the other noteworthy features are Live recording, Instant pausing, Frame-by-Frame support, Finer speed controls, Video scaling in fullscreen and Zipped file playback capability.<br /><br />VLC is a free download available for Windows, Linux and Mac . Have you tried Goldeneye yet? Tell us in the comments.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/">Download VLC Media Player</a><br /></p>

The player that plays it all – VLC Media Player got an upgrade today. Version 1.0, code named 'Goldeneye' adds many more reasons to ...

12 Great Must-Have Softwares For Your Newly Bought Laptop

<p><p>So you bought a new laptop and probably it came preloaded with Windows. Now what?</p> <p>In today's <a title="Daily Feature articles in http://www.DailyGyan.com/" href="http://www.dailygyan.com/search/label/Daily%20Feature">Daily Feature</a> section, we give you 12 softwares that every new Windows PC should have. All the softwares mentioned here are freewares that you can download and use without spending a penny.</p> <p> </p> <h2>1. PC Decrapifier - Remove All Pre-Installed Trial Version Software</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvdBR94jWbdng8nzR1GgDSOCbK0d8fmdMUZIcvyWNk30D8u7qyT9hZH1zDL5dpgfUZ5Rv1oCus532ngWYVnWB3IqaKUvvyVtInl3Uaq25lc8qcHo91HlhVtCZ_M0DR8qCXRgqO1J4Fp8I/s1600-h/pcdecrapifier0415.png"><img align="left" alt="pc-decrapifier-04" border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9x8eqly_1Q2Jp59EGaSXIEd9QoY8dle8oVU9Co3Xcpkvqo0bq0D9GGp25kn7B99zKJ-7s-3yMgpZN8d-emTtFIrPK4-s3xUXI7yuZoUswE2b3rU7gAflF96lDE8Zi6-cdNfBs0lCoT1A/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="pc-decrapifier-04" width="239" /></a> Thanks to certain diabolical agreements made between your laptop manufacturer and software companies, your laptop comes with numerous trial version softwares pre-installed, whose icons will be found littered on the fresh desktop that you boot into. Now would be a good time to kiss goodbye to all those pre-installed bloatwares and install something useful.</p> <p>It would have been a real pain if you had to manually uninstall all those programs. But thanks to <a href="http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/home">PC Decrapifier</a> that this process is now a two click affair. This little tool can automatically detect and remove <a href="http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/apps">a large number of trialwares</a> from your PC without your intervention. </p> <p><a href="http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/download">Download PC Decrapifier</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>2. AVG Free Anti Virus</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHXSZiwvCEHTRQE9J90gG3Oz64VE5rqfGgiUWJuZha_E4olg2cu67swJYJER4eIPRnV2S4Mu2iah8loauNWr7aEp_rGx7V11WKF5QQ1Xni7YCqD7keoHwP5X6h6l9SB0fzoVl3BiV3EA/s1600-h/image5.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEih0Ym9a51LaEjIXMhcg8xx-vmT1d9Pc5_hJSEQeqxRAXpj_Kqx3R-UXr9Blx20y-br0GKo0QglVrsNmo_GF7VrV7LjddZOwu-IZxgcv5s6_6vvI1KYgr5W3-RRO_ssGlPvneGKFo9k/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="image" width="239" /></a> Now you need to protect your Laptop from viruses, worms and trojan horses. AVG Free is the best free antivirus program out there that gives best protection consuming very little system resources.</p> <p><a href="http://free.avg.com/" target="_blank">Download AVG Free</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>3. Comodo Personal Firewall</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGwbqFoQAG8HjMkczvhwq9ncScMrR3FhTVroziMhVijN97AJULY7h0THJu9aUQK9YvzKHHPEiwNxDmGBNE4XJQFhqr-7NPKGeNEDYw_nTn2emreUk_khoD7MQq7wTxzJdpO984DVkqVY/s1600-h/image17.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qinv4HHuFFli-bq27xfmTaslwAb43WNLe6QXvA_HesP_X6eMsLm6QEoK0Et-drUXRwriTHX9MlQbCK7McchDIdzoxjs5t8AOZ8N9W1nJyQsWxAUJbuFFi8vJFUUN59zjyDrN8EaGmok/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="image" width="239" /></a> Comodo Personal Firewall is a free firewall program that keeps your PC safe from external network intrusions and prevents malicious programs that slipped into your PC from dialing home. </p> <p>It has a great user (newbie) friendly user interface, detects a large number of legitimate programs (like Firefox and Internet Explorer) automatically allowing them to access internet without bugging you with questions, detects malicious programs trying to impersonate as legitimate programs, kills them and provide great peace of mind.</p> <p><a href="http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/download_firewall.html" target="_blank">Download Comodo Personal Firewall</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>4. 7z File Archiever</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGN4tt-VUDfHjsG89ka92d1h4HlJiaNKyG7dam9H232-K5vg4lRoYpI1C0MHlIk541FQabNG-rMLmT-rTirQ-UOlRwwBWdhK8w1j5zkZMSLBEBw6ELv4rnjN8CTYDHj7_jetFyymKE2Bo/s1600-h/screenshot10.jpg"><img align="left" alt="screenshot" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjey2f6Ft6Kp8QHMWIAhYP5wcecHXTb2jFRmntc2QXFbyp0dMjoljDRgYUH04c-jjQC9qEhanZ0R_0F9GeVua3mPl3E2RTb5uxzb1MRmnW6Rv-hXlWzvIuIvaA_N7bIfW6RvRgrnVG24E4/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="screenshot" width="239" /></a> 7z is “the best” File archiever/zip/rar utility available. With a blazing fast user interface, bare minimal system requirements and ability to handle almost any compression format that you can throw at it, 7z rules over all other competing non-free products like Winzip and Winrar.</p> <p><a href="http://7-zip.org/" target="_blank">Download 7z</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>5. Firefox Web Browser</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-ympnDWrpFOSmvmXIEUeufKlPrVVI9ntIGLt-IxM4K4pQBexAgXFuBLpDYwz0pIi8hoBOkAVcD7lQe6w9aliDfFnflaEpEj45rvnuZolJsabC7mEtAOCn0bJfpppD4HRahLv1OBr014/s1600-h/index%5B5%5D.png"><img align="left" alt="index" border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRO7c86kYptSURrPeNaBKjj5dBk1VpSmN_AGPQD2hHHGJgg5VS13aDqktba8pgt9NvVK6sjozXInYt9QdB5iBgVmVZje3KxnU-V0Vj2DcgWE9ka2FiFrHpjGDehpvUFg7m0Wnao2NJhsg/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="index" width="239" /></a> Considered to be the best web browser by many, there are many reasons <a href="http://www.switch2firefox.com/" target="_blank">why you should switch to Firefox</a> immediately right from the beginning. </p> <p><a href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/" target="_blank">Download Firefox</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>6. VLC Media Player</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ua8OhOwJkGYJlE4XBk3ZyZMdPxvpwWizGcIKJiS6CzI561audT1B-5-moL7lnsBwZCgU50GQKMFmMnzcd2twOA8JLoGBOEwWN04uiCke7Q09veih-VJ_34XBUCQPWEpY-dICC40Thgk/s1600-h/vlc-screenshot%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="vlc-screenshot" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzMWiZSjfNVvsQzDWIgw4eIqAPcJ7Y1tmKDe2UuXtnNkr1UnLXYikA4_LGNIiM5s2OxNFgEinLsHOalYooC1lBgBcf4Z1LEk3AWSIAMvdXGcs0QsqkSQkxUdf7xLdtS1GCWKBqxtELEU/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 30px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="vlc-screenshot" width="239" /></a> VLC Player is the swiss army knife of media playing. If you, like many, hate hunting for codecs in order to play a video file that your friend just send you, then VLC is for you. VLC can play any popular video/audio format currently in existence without installing anything additional. </p> <p><a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html" target="_blank">Download VLC player</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>7. Songbird Music Player</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWpTm_lSqliV7WO_HXoyT9XZMOIQgPQB__rYHn4HXgLd0PV-AAMvfz797xTTomTFe0vCInWme8SyxhtHI_gKsNWbju3iAk68sD0fk_FNCPEMSbId_5zCEksbgDIc51NoqJGJKBUTOFa58/s1600-h/songbird-1.1-screenshot-full%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="songbird-1.1-screenshot-full" border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixS9a3YM-yMTjaMSYhGojuRo8GwrqgfdMjAOYDLpVb_Tbop38HvXj7I-KvT_e4yxD9aNQbuwtCNqKwTYJ2cVNx40u_cTTHpKbZC-nGIr5YwN58lb8HpFyIMfZTHJXjXRU-6dhYRr9mllA/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="songbird-1.1-screenshot-full" width="239" /></a> If you happened to be a good music fan with gigs of music collections, then songbird is a must for you. Songbird is a great music manager and player. With ability to play a large number of audio formats,smart playlists, ability to edit audio meta data, one-click album art grabber and integration with last.fm, Insound.com and HypeMachine, Songbird is surely bound to become an iTunes killer. It’s based on the Mozilla XULRunner platform and hence like Firefox can be extended via addons and can be themed to your heart’s content.</p> <p><a href="http://www.getsongbird.com/" target="_blank">Download Songbird</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>8. OpenOffice.org Office Suite</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NP5md_5hI8obo981jbaVkc2fmlYTvVSUUlo6MhWqVht3ZAPzShR9BRuArhyHJ92da-DcMj8G2MLBY5FkhXooNDqqVZ6aInYi3mC1Tvk4-GjsFaFzDmOU5GScppkTfzfyNznbjwOPu5g/s1600-h/details_openoffice.org-3.0.0-beta-2-rc1-2.4.1%5B4%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="details_openoffice.org-3.0.0-beta-2-rc1-2.4.1" border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD0zMKR7rUslxOL4N5U5vWlL8vSpJTG7-8MkeorP8KD5F-UWaGCzEN3YFWAkEMkU7aeN04VRLbUyL0G_DQrkvsKNeu9mKiKbyuII4bMcQd21ep6LH31ZroiNQVyEGlreOFWUHVyRCvQPM/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="details_openoffice.org-3.0.0-beta-2-rc1-2.4.1" width="239" /></a> If your computer didn’t come with Microsoft Office installed, you need an office application suite to create documents and presentations. There is no better alternative to Microsoft Office than the free and open source OpenOffice.org office suite. </p> <p><a href="http://download.openoffice.org/index.html" target="_blank">Download OpenOffice.org</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>9. Bitmeter Bandwidth Monitor</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMxqzJP8VyG4mHRlJrHH9lB5EY8m0UCIOVIVxcSWXshB1hLCe8f-CbliOvDOeKOYFvaxARVxdgTMp1wnTcJEkAVBqF8F9jx5sLhIRzCz9Hg4Tr3RVvqq0ct2Zm6yIcYNDNUxJKV4Djg8/s1600-h/bitmeter_stats%5B5%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="bitmeter_stats" border="0" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2FvwWMh2Njzw2RBQloDSgfcyEFp0vbToY0bKMp2OZWhp3KdI9v5k1D4aiu1uVOE6NnywbLS8G6awTrm6plBtOkxdVbmKJrYyQf8S0rqoBWbMwlr4Rm95jM_ourXW5zn8pLMGgxmMLW0w/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="bitmeter_stats" width="239" /></a> Bitmeter is an unavoidable tool if you are happen to use a bandwidth capped network connection. It can run in the background, keep a tab on your usage stats and warn you it the figures go above the limit you have set.</p> <p><a href="http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=bitmeter2" target="_blank">Download Bitmeter</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>10. Power Meter Plus Battery Monitor</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qkOswBfPrU_YIGLgSG1Zu0wFniBo8HwpGztM3W22DvphcCnKcRaaCYShC3_0bktVVuMHOe6WkAI9QlvtQTGtf_yEAq4ECR4C9RoqEjR4MlKrO9RDBEAQiODq07xcQdO_OL6XNjt1hQ8/s1600-h/power_meter_plus%5B12%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="power_meter_plus" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVl9hyAUSwWEn7NASkVpOBxe8I5lmXXtDnqtb5j89st488dO73F6WwAM_KngfwkSDZGFrmLOAhXXOZBnLW1JtoJk7bWIYcD6bM6J1vDJTRnkTaU-FKg1wMl1UPmUs9nnBmYuSGzRvWSM/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="power_meter_plus" width="239" /></a> Those who have used the Windows default batter monitor can surely vow how badly it suck. Disappointed by the barely usable Windows battery icon, a smart coder named Matt Collinge decided to code his own Battery Monitor. This little utility shows a progress bar in the desktop that is visible only when you are charging or discharging your battery. The transparency of the bar decreases as the battery charge drops and hence the application becomes more visible as your battery approaches lower charge levels. It’s a free download available for all versions of Windows.</p> <p><a href="http://mattcollinge.wordpress.com/software/power-meter-plus/" target="_blank">Download Power Meter Plus</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>11. A.L.A.R.M - Protect Laptop From Thieves</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_VyLuEz5CzRtITQLi1_tXlrJMKKgAREVnCiRNlgd3RkXTVoDei2uK2cTCuzT2J5lWT-eGsUooLJaTAF-qfoaPBodj4MV7eGe074w7R27auxJjPpw4Bs9E6Sh0oxFxVubQk1NSanKQDUw/s1600-h/alarm-settings%5B3%5D.gif"><img align="left" alt="alarm-settings" border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg82GPrc8vmDlu8CqdzcLWgcR44ZtEBLdUq2kDstAQQAaIiE0E7HG_qyfQhLoKVPLPR73lZ3_kVkUObQ8LbQuPiuqn_3fId9woVBCphrD6aIw30-q9hu2V96077keuYV9WPxIbl9Ki6Ia0/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="alarm-settings" width="244" /></a>The worst nightmare of any new laptop owner is his/her laptop getting stolen. A.L.A.R.M is a pretty intuitive little utility that silently runs in your system tray until you lock your laptop. If someone tries to remove the power cable to steal your laptop, ALARM will play an audio file from the laptop very loudly alerting everyone around until you plug back the power supply. Next time you leave your laptop unattended, remember to turn on A.L.A.R.M.</p> <p><a href="http://alarm.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">Download A.L.A.R.M</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p> </p> <h2>12. Sumatra PDF Viewer</h2> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii2hUVeLgPWkkYC6iC4r_hdV-Mni0UhQj6AABCKPBiOKDhyphenhyphen3kduWx8XP4NigUzsKrUnk4W620-iwuCp0oNC0KfExy1FEt3JOGzA-5gn_ueSTlAUDqrsE_ECuxdT-_5TV4NUcjm-OS6nK8/s1600-h/image%5B6%5D.png"><img align="left" alt="image" border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMDlV8RCZwnKMtauX14uS7-NcEdaNxT_OCQmbxwAX27_ukKQ0ZNN5cI478P0pJibeyH3dxe19dVIPQD0h0kA2uCqnMbjfP3GNXZTi_FH0iBYfNvbgk41460G61eT9gz4wDLvUD6q7Sio/?imgmax=800" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-right-width: 0px" title="image" width="239" /></a> At some point, you’ll definitely require a PDF viewer. The question is - will you go for the bloated Adobe Reader, the less bloated Foxit reader or the lean, mean and open source Sumatra PDF Viewer. </p> <p>Sumatra viewer opens PDF files in a blink of an eye, consumes very less memory, uses gmail like keyboard shortcuts and can be run from a thumb drive.</p> <p><a href="http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html" target="_blank">Download Sumatra PDF Viewer</a></p> <div style="clear: both"></div> <p>Is your favorite application missing in this list? Tell us in the comments</p> </p>

So you bought a new laptop and probably it came preloaded with Windows. Now what? In today's Daily Feature section, we give you 12 so...