Replace the Windows Explorer with Q-Dir

Windows Explorer (the default application for browsing drives, folders etc.) may tend to be too too sluggish, inefficient and disgusting at times. Also it will not allow you multi-tab browsing.

So why use it? Let us replace it with a powerful, light and efficient application called Q-Dir.

Features of Q-Dir (officially announced)
Q-Dir (the Quad Explorer) makes your files and folder easy to manage, as an installed or portable Windows program.
Fast and easy access to your hard disks, network folders, USB-Sticks, floppy disks and other storage devices.

Q-Dir i a good file manager with an amazing Quadro-View technique.
You don't have to renounce the usual, Drag and Drop, all Views, and other functions of your system.


No! Q-Dir gives you other nice functions, that make you happy.
One can save many hand moves and also time!

Q-Dir does not have to be installed and can be executed easily from the desktop, and can be carried on a small USB-stick or other memory device.

Download Q-Dir Installer

Video tutorial for replacing the Windows Explorer with Q-Dir

Prevent resubmission of POST contents in PHP

How to prevent POST contents being resubmitted again and again when user refreshes the page?

This is much easier to explain with an example situation instead of generalized statement.

Example Situation

In Filename: input.php
<form action="process.php" method="POST">
Topic Title: <input type="text" name="title" /><br/>
Message: <input type="text" name="message" /><br/>
<input type="submit" />
</form>

In Filename: process.php

<?php


// process the contents of $_POST and then post a topic on user's behalf


...
...


// Show acknowledgement to user


?>

Flow

* (input.php) User submits Topic Title and Message in the input boxes and clicks on submit button.
* (process.php) POST content is processed and topic is posted.

The problem

After the user posted the topic content, she would land on process.php. If she refreshes the page now, the post content will be submitted again. If she does that again... again.... again and again... the topics will keep on getting posted with the same content. This can be done by users by mistake as well as intentionally.

Solutions

* Redirecting the user to other page instantly after POST is submitted.
* Adding Tokens

Redirection on process.php (updated code)

In Filename: process.php
<?php


// process the contents of $_POST and then post a topic on user's behalf


...
...


// Redirect User
header("Location: success.php");
exit;


?>

Further: Adding tokens (MySQL method)

Create a MySQL table called 'tokens' with only 3 fields: id (int(10)), token (varchar(32)), time (int(10))

In Filename: input.php (updated)
<form action="process.php" method="POST">
Topic Title: <input type="text" name="title" /><br/>
Message: <input type="text" name="message" /><br/>
<?php
$token=md5(mictrotime(true).mt_rand(1,9999)); // generate unique token
$res=mysql_query("INSERT INTO tokens SET token='$token', time='".time()."'");
?>
<input type="hidden" name="token" value="<?php echo $token; ?>" />


<input type="submit" />
</form>



In Filename: process.php
<?php


$TOKEN_EXPIRY=1800; //in seconds


$token=preg_replace('/[^w]/', '', $_POST['token']); //sanitize token
$active_tokenid=mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query("SELECT id, time FROM tokens WHERE token='$token'"));


if($active_tokenid[0]!='' && time()-$active_tokenid[1]<$TOKEN_EXPIRY){
$res=mysql_query("DELETE FROM tokens WHERE time<'".(time()-$TOKEN_EXPIRY)."'"); //cleanup old entries
// Redirect User
header("Location: expired.php");
exit;
}


// process the contents of $_POST and then post a topic on user's behalf


...
...


// Redirect User
header("Location: success.php");
exit;


?>

PHP function to add character(s) after every n characters

‎When you need to add character(s) after every n number of characters in a string, you can use the following function to do so. This function will be useful especially when you have something like a credit card number like:
5455471516335477


This function will convert this value to:
5455-4715-1633-5477
or
5455 4715 1633 5477





function addchar($str, $padding_at, $padding_char){
$arr = str_split($str, $padding_at);
$str=implode($padding_char, $arr);
}

Example usage:
$str='5455471516335477';
$str=addchar($str, 4, '-');
echo $str; // output will be 5455-4715-1633-5477

Functions to validate user inputs with PHP

Validating user inputs in PHP is very important from the view of your application's security,  integrity and user experience. If you fail, your applications may be prone to serious security vulnerabilities such as XSS, SQL injection and so on.

First of all make sure you have GPC magic quotes enabled in your php.ini file.

Here are few functions that you can use in your PHP scripts to validate different inputs.

Validating an email address field
// This function will return true if $email is not a valid email address


function NotValidEmail($email) {
 if (preg_match("/^([._a-z0-9-]+[._a-z0-9-]*)@(([a-z0-9-]+\.)*([a-z0-9-]+)(\.[a-z]{2,3}))$/i", $email)) {
  return FALSE;
 }
 else {
  return TRUE;
 }
}


Validating a link
//returns true if $link is a valid looking link

function linkis_valid($link){
$link=strtolower($link);
if(preg_match("|http://[a-z_1-9\:\/\-\.]+|",$link, $array)){
return true;
}
return false;
}

Allowing only numbers
// returns only numbers from $text

function only_numbers($text){
$text=preg_replace("|[^0-9]|","",$text);
return $text;
}

Allowing only alphanumeric characters

// returns only alphanumeric characters from $text
function cleanalpha($text){
$text=preg_replace("|[^0-9a-zA-Z_\-\.]|","",$text);
return $text;
}

Sidebar applications for Windows 7

Sidebar applications are intended to grab your favorite (customizable) information which would be consolidated into a dynamic view. This does makes your life better!

7 Sidebar - Dock your Windows Desktop Gadgets!

You may be aware about Windows Gadgets. This little Gadget will make all other gadgets to be presented in a neat and clean sidebar view. I really like this one because it is native to Windows and the project is active. There are numerous possibilities for its use.








Download link for 7 Sidebar:
http://nes.bplaced.net/sidebar7.html

Download link for Windows Desktop Gadgets:
Download Windows Desktop Gadgets

Do not feel restricted by the number of the gadgets Microsoft's official gadgets page. There are many other gadgets which are highly useful by they may not be catalogued on this page. Hence you can be wise and Google for what you want. :)

Google Desktop - Google Desktop is much more than a sidebar application

Google Desktop enhances your style of using Windows! It's a single solution to full text search over your email, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail, web pages that you've viewed, and more. By making your computer searchable, Desktop puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails and bookmarks.

To launch search box, simply click Ctrl key two times. Voila! Now search anything on your computer!

Google Desktop doesn't just help you search your computer; it also helps you gather new information from the web and stay organized with gadgets and sidebar. Google Gadgets can be placed anywhere on your desktop to show you new email, weather, photos, personalized news, and more. Sidebar is a vertical bar on your desktop that helps you keep your gadgets organized.

Other features include:

• Quick search box
• Smart indexing
• Multiple file types
• Find deleted files
• Deskbar and floating deskbar
• Lock search
• Microsoft Outlook integration

Download link for Google Desktop:

Download Google Desktop

Note: Google has discontinued further development of this project. On the other hand, the application is still an ace for its utility.

Desktop Sidebar - Another powerful innovation towards organizing gadgets!

They say: Breaking News... Critical Appointments... Personal Photo Gallery... Convenient Toolbars... Favorite Cartoon... Instant Web Searches... Task Tracking... Music Library... Notes to File... Weather in Tokyo...

Everything can be consolidated in a sidebar!

It can fetch desired information from your system as well as from internet to present in a very efficient manner.  This project is quite active too.  There are numerous gadgets available for this application which makes it highly useful.




Download link for Desktop Sidebar:
http://www.desktopsidebar.com/

Lyrics of ‘Emptiness’ (tune mere jana kabhi nahi janaa ishq mera dard mera) ..

Ho love of mine..

with a song and a whine..

You’re harsh and divine..

like truths and a lie..

but the tale end is not here..

I’ve nothing to fear..

for my love is yell of giving and hold on…

in the bright emptiness..

in a room full of it..

is the cruel mistress ho ho o…

I feel the sunrise..

that nest all hollowness..

for i have the way to go.. not come…

And i feel so lonely yea..

There’s a better place from this emptiness..
And i’m so lonely yea..

There’s a better please from this emptiness.. yei yei yei ya….

Aa.. aa.. aa…..

Tune mere jaana..

Kabhi nahi jana..

Ishq mera dard mera.. haaye…

Tune mere jaana..

Kabhi nahi jana..

Ishq mera dard mera …

Aashiq teraaa..

Bheed mein khoya rehta hai..

Jaane jahaan a..

Puchho toh itna kehta hai..

And i feel so lonely yea..

There’s a better place from this emptiness..

And i’m so lonely yea..

Functions of SEBI

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is a regulatory authority in India established under Section 3 of SEBI Act, 1992. SEBI Act, 1992 provides for establishment of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with statutory powers for (a) protecting the interests of investors in securities (b) promoting the development of the securities market and (c) regulating the securities market.

1. Regulatory Functions

 a). Registration of brokers and sub-brokers and other players in the market

 b). Registration of collective investments schemes and Mutual Funds

 c). Regulation of stock exchanges and other self-regulatory organisations (SRO) merchant banks etc

 d) Prohibition of all fraudulent and unfair trade practices

 e) Controlling Insider Trading and take over bids and imposing penalties for such practices

2. Developmental Functions

 a) Investor education

 b) Training of intermediaries.

 c) Promotion of fair practices and Code of conduct for all S.R.O.s

 d). Conducting Research and Publishing information useful to all market participants

VLC latest version -- review at a glance

Media players now have a neck-to-neck competition too! If you are always in search of best things, you would probably have already tried several players. VLC Media Player is an open-source media player (absolutely free of cost) bundled with a variety of features. It is one of the best media players available. Moreover, its features are dynamic, i.e. they are constantly upgraded to accommodate the needs of the users. It is much faster as compared to majority of other players.

Whats new?

We already know what a normal Media player contains. :) Lets check out what is new.

Users can now easily surf a video frame by frame using shortcut keys. Also, there is an improved granular navigation control that makes it easier to run the video faster or slower as needed. Menus can be easily customized according to one's own choice. So you can have only the buttons you need in the interface, there's AirTunes streaming, and there's better integration in Gtk environments. Along with the improvements, VLC continues to offer robust support for a wide range of video and audio formats, including OGG, MP2, MP3, MP4, DivX, HD codecs like AES3, Raw Dirac, and even support for playing back zipped files.

Default view of VLC is still a very simple one, suitable for even beginner users. VLC's open-source foundation and community ensures that it evolves quickly and often, with new features and fixes released frequently. Overall, VLC Media Player is a must-have application for its ability to open just about any type of video file you want it to play.

Official Description

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and OGG, as well as for DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It also can be used as a server for unicast or multicast streams in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.


What's new in this version: Version 2.0.1 includes fixes for HTTP Live Streaming, CDDB, UDP/RTP support, Support for MxPEG files and streams, and fix for splitted RAR files playback. 

Make your Windows 7 upto 10x faster! (Including Video Tutorial)

Understand the causes of system Windows 7 and solve

them easily... 

* Too many temporary or obsolete files

- Most of the actions being done on our system are logged (noted) in log files. Over time, this would cause a heap of text files containing information that no one would ever use, adding clutter.
- Temporary process files or installations would create intermediate files which remain orphaned.
- Browsers store files which are not frequently changed. This improves your browsing experience but too many of such files adds to clutter.
- Too many of these files waste your system's resources over obsolete work.

* Cluttered registry and fragmentation

Registry is a place where windows and its programs save information about settings, locations etc. It is a vital part of the Windows. It becomes a clutter due to installations and with working of windows and other programs. This fills up the registry. During uninstallation or removal of programs or even by running of programs, registry entries get deleted. Due to this unorganized addition and deletion not all registry entries are properly linked and are required leaving orphaned/incorrect registry entries. This increases the workload of your system, wastes computing power over incorrect/non-existent data, finally leading to fragmentation of the registry. By fragmentation, we mean additions/deletion of registry entries resulting empty spaces. Due to fragmentation, reading and locating needed registry entries becomes difficult. Reading processes have to jump over empty spaces. This finally results in slower and inefficient operation of your system

* Fragmented Disk

In simple language, too much addition/deletion of files causes it. Due to fragmentation of files, reading and locating needed files becomes difficult. Hence, reading process has to jump over empty spaces that results slower and inefficient operation of your system.

* Low Virtual Memory

When your system's RAM runs out, there is a part of disk that acts as RAM (pagefile.sys). known as SWAP. Setting the size of Virtual memory or SWAP too low makes your system slow.

* Autorun applications

These are the applications which start along with Windows startup. Obbsolete applications consume processing power during start up.  Even after they start once and run in background, they continue to occupy RAM and wastes processing power.

* Visual Effects

For sure visual effects seem cool. :) But they consume processing power of your system and occupy RAM. You have to make a compromise on how much of visual dynamism you want.Solving all these problems is now very easy with the amazing freeware software called Toolwiz Care. This program comes with a single click tuneup for everything!

Download NOW 

Official Facebook Messenger App for Desktop/Laptop!

I have seen a lot of Facebook messenger/chat apps programmed using Facebook's API. But those had some or the other flaws that always forced me to uninstall them off my Computer.

Today, when I opened Facebook, I was delighted to see a popup announcing official messenger app for Facebook!

What is it?

Your Facebook Sidebar would be your Desktop's Sidebar! 

Facebook is for sure known for its efficiency (from users' point of view as well as from their own backend). Now, the Messenger app will provide you even more efficient and functional interface for:
Online/Offline Friends - Know instantly who is online/offline using the already familiar interface!
Chat - Super efficient and decent look of Chat makes the experience lovable! When you click on any of your friends from list, it will open up a separate movable chat area like any other messenger.
Updates - Instant updates as you have always been getting - now using the Desktop app!
Friend requests - Easy popups for friend requests
Messages - Messages popup automatically also alerts you visibly and audibly.

Making the already loved look amazingly easy and highly functional

When you click on 'Dock to right' button in your Facebook messenger app (located in bottom-right corner), Facebook messenger will always remain along side your screen no matter what other things you open.

Clicking on the settings button along Search would present you options to make popups and sounds on/off. You can also easily go offline or logout from your account.

If you click on your profile thumbnail in the top right corner, it will open up your Facebook Wall in your default browser.

In simpler words, Facebook knows how to remain being loved...

Download Now! 

Know IP address of any site

We know that any web site's name eg. google.com is just a human readable name. Actual address is its corresponding IP address.

Using ping to know IP address

1. Press Win + R to open Run dialog.
2. Type 'cmd' or 'command' (without quotes of course)
3. Press Enter (or Return key)

This will open a command prompt like shown in the picture

Suppose we wish to know IP address of Google.com

Type:
ping google.com

Press Enter.

This will print something like in the image

The required lines are shown as

Reply from IP bytes=32 time=NNNms TTL=NNN

Where IP is Google's IP address that serves your location.

Using the above method, you can get IP address of any site by replacing 'google.com' to some other site. 

Restrict a particular site in Windows

Why you would need it?

Sometimes we wish that a particular site should not be accessed from our PC in conditions like:

• You want to block Facebook/Orkut etc. for the employees 
• You are a parent and want your children not to be able to access specific bad sites
• You want to prevent an application on your PC from contacting a particular site

How to block sites?

There are many ways you can do it. eg. by adding filters in your firewall software, using a proxy and then blocking sites from proxy control directly, preventing a site from being resolved etc.

Here, we will learn how to block a site using ip resolution block method. It is very simple and you do not need any external tools for it either.

Overview of what we wish to do

You may already know that when a web site is opened, it is first resolved from its host name (eg. yahoo.com, gmail.com etc.) into its corresponding IP address by Windows's resolving mechanism. This is called host name resolution.Then the real transaction of data takes place and we use the site.

So, now if we somehow prevent the host name of a site from being resolved into its IP address, we can can consider it blocked. In other words, no one can be able to access the site from any browser or service from your computer.

How to do it?

We now have to somehow override the default host name resolution in Windows. There is a file located at

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

that contains overridden entries for host names to ips like

IP HOSTNAME

in each line.

Now, go to

[Start] > All Programs > Accessories

Right Click on Notepad. Click on Run as Administrator

Windows will now ask for permission. Allow it.

Once notepad is opened in Admin mode,  click on File > Open

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

At the end of this file, add a line:

127.0.0.1 sitename.com

Where sitename.com is the site you wish to block.

Save this file by pressing Ctrl+S

Voila! We have set the blocking!

Now try to open the site we just now blocked in any of your browsers; It will not work. :) 

Delete/Deactivate your Facebook account

Sometimes you may want to get rid of your Facebook account using following ways:

1. Deactivating it
2. Deleting it (beyond recovery)

Video tutorials:

Deactivate:  When you deactivate your Facebook account, it will go invisible to everyone instantly. But everything belonging to your account will still be preserved on Facebook servers. You can reactivate your account after 24 hours of deactivation.

 

To deactivate your account, click on the down arrow icon beside Home link as shown in the picture.

 

Go to Security tab on the left side.

  

Then you can find the option to deactivate your account.

After clicking on Deactivate your account option, you will be presented with a confirmation message along with a Captcha code.

After confirmation and entering Captcha code, you will be redirected to Facebook page along with ack that your account was deactivated.

_________________

Delete it: To delete your account beyond recovery, you can go to the URL: 

https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

You will be asked to enter your password and a Captcha code. Then confirm your action.

Once you are done with it, your account will be deleted in around 14 days. Avoid logging into your account after that.

* WARNING: if you choose to delete your account, it cannot be recovered by any means afterwards! 

Best 2 browsers for 2012!!!

The question is of course impossible to answer. Which browser is the best would depend on your choice. A normal person would love Apple's Safari for its speed and neat look. On the other hand, a geek would love Mozilla Firefox with loads of add-ons :) Let us discuss about some of the top browsers, considering their most conspicuous features from a normal user's point of view.

Well, right now there is a big competition in browser trends. Google seems to be really serious about spreading Google Chrome regularly with frequently updated versions. Mozilla Firefox too is launching newer and newer versions frequently. Microsoft too is pressing hard to make their once worthless browser the best.

1. Mozilla Firefox

I consider Firefox the undisputed king of browsers. It has a simple interface. It is fast and secure. The design is quite friendly. Mozilla Firefox is the only browser with highest compatibility with Windows and the normal day to day needs of a user. Some awesome features I would love to discuss are:

Awesome bar (the navigation bar) is really awesome in terms of usability! It is Navigation bar, URL suggestion by URLs and even by titles! Also it acts as a search bar too.

Add-ons make it highly functional. If you are Facebook addict, a Tweeting bird, an Email Guy, a programmer, a geek or any thing else, Firefox add-ons are available for you! There are thousands of add-ons available which can be easily integrated to extend the functionality of the browser.

Stability of Firefox is very nice too! You can open big number of tabs and windows and the browser would work fine.

Private Browsing option would delete all your information like: cookies, history, cache etc. when you close your browser.

2. Opera

Opera has a vast empire in browsers world! Opera is fast, easy, secure and functional.

It has Opera Turbo option that makes your browsing much more fast for heavy pages when your internet connection is slow.

Session restore is very smooth. Even browsing experience overall is efficient.

Opera also has an in-built torrent support and mail client. 

How do download accelerators work?

We encounter the words "Download Managers" and "Download Accelerators" quite often. But most of us do not know exactly what both of them do. Most people believe in a hoax that specific download accelerators would actually increase the speed of their dowloads while others do not. Let us first understand the major bottlenecks in 'good' downloading.







Major bottlenecks in 'good' downloading
* OS (Operating system) and network arc will not let your web browser (or any other program) utilize whole of the available bandwidth (speed) over a single connection. Download sites sometimes also restrict the download speed for a single connection.

* If a download server (download location) is heavily choked with users, its own network transaction speed with slow down and the downloading speed would be eventually decreased.

* Imagine yourself downloading a 300Mb program using a normal web application. Say, while you downloaded 95% of it, your internet connection temporarily fails or trips. 95% of the file will not make any sense to your computer and you will have to download it all again from starting, wasting the same time again.

What does a Download accelerator/manager do?
Download manager is a program that provides advanced features for downloading eg. Scheduling, Queuing, resuming and repairing of downloads etc. To generalize it, a download accelerator would be a part of a download manager program. A download accelerator may not actually 'accelerate' your downloads. Rather it will optimize the connections to provide you better downloading speed.

How does a download accelerator 'accelerate' a download?
A download accelerator will open multiple connections to a download server by requesting for different chunks (splits) of data, resulting in better download speed. It then would join all the chunks to give you the final downloaded file. Advanced download accelerators can also re-allocate the bandwidth for even better performance.

How does a download manager resume the download?
Referring to the above example, your download of 300Mb program stopped at 298844160th byte (say), while using a download manager with resume support. Now when you will use the 'Resume' feature, the download manager will request for the remaining chunk (or chunks) of data after 298844160 bytes hence maintaining the continuity of the data.

Acceleration and resuming may not work for all sites!
Many download sites do not provide multi-split downloading and resuming service because of their own authentication or performance strategy. Eg. Rapidshare like sites will provide download acceleration and resume support only to their permium users (who pay them).

Always resume support
Some premium programs like Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) offer 'Always resume support' for the sites which do not provide resuming and acceleration otherwise. You will have to pay for this service. Working of this service is conceptually very simple:
1. You request for AlwaysResume service for a download.
2. DAP software on your computer will contact their mother servers with necessary browser and session details (needed for authentication)
3. It will then find the nearest DAP leecher (downloader) from the download site.
4. DAP leecher will download the requested file on itself using a very fast connection.
5. Finally, your DAP software will then receive the file from DAP leecher instead of actual download site, providing you exclusive resuming and acceleration.

Make Youtube buffering 5X faster!!!

We all love Youtube and other online video sharing sites. That is a fact. But it is really irritating when we watch a video and it keeps on stopping after some time for buffering.

What is the reason for breaks in buffering/loading of online videos? 
This may be due to one or all of these reasons:
* Your internet connection may be slow
* Youtube might be restricting speed to protect their servers
* Your ISP/OS may be restricting speed per connection

Solution: Install any of these reputed software:
Bywifi: This one is may personal pick. A masterpiece software that accelerates online video buffering for Youtube like sites. Moreover, you do not need to wait for buffering if you come to watch a video again. It will start playing it from the disk. It is freeware and it is awesome!!! Download from CNET: http://download.cnet.com/Bywifi/3000-2071_4-10908883.html

Speedbit Video Accelerator: This is another software that accelerates online video buffering. It is provide free of cost by the makers of DAP (Download accelerator plus). To accelerate HD videos, you will have to buy pro version. Download from CNET: http://download.cnet.com/SpeedBit-Video-Accelerator/3000-13632_4-10774451.html

Enjoy faster videos! 

What is Defragmentation?

To understand the concept of defragmentation, let us first learn what is Fragmentation.


Fragmentation 

In simple language, when read-write processes takes place on disk, it is will cause breaking up of actual data into non-contiguous pieces.




Suppose we have a disk which can be pictorially represented as:

___________________________________

Now if we write a files A, B, C, D to this disk, space would be occupied as:

____aaaaaabbbbbbbbccccddddddd______ 

Say we now delete B and D from it. Now the space would look like:

____aaaaaa_________cccc_____________


Let us say now if we wish to store a file H (which is bigger) on this space. We will no other option than to write some data before aaaaaa, some parts after it and some parts after cccc. i.e.

hhhhaaaaaahhhhhhhhhcccchhhhhh_______

Now if system has to read H fully, it will have to jump 3 times.

This will make your system slow and there will be more wear and tear of disk.

Defragmentation

Defragmentation is a process which organizes non-contiguous data in such a way that it becomes contiguous. eg.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaacccc_______

Conclusion
Regular defragmentation of disk is very important. There is an in-built utility in Windows to defragment the disk (Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools)

My favourite program for this purpose is Defraggler which is fast, efficient and above all FREE!

Enjoy your faster computer!

Make Windows 7 faster in 1 click!!!

What it does?

For quite some time I have been looking for a program, which could cleanup Windows System, registry, privacy issues and could defrag registry and drives, all by a single click. For sure there are programs like those. But they are paid and are expensive (eg. System Mechanic)

Recently I came across an awesome program which has a commendable number of features to instantly tune up your Windows system.

Toolwiz Care is the all-in-one solution!



Official description:

Toolwiz Care is a free tool kit designed to speed up your slow PC. With multi-functional optimization suite, this Windows system optimizer provides a collection of tools which includes System Checkup,System Cleanup,System Speedup,and 40+ powerful tools to enhance your PC performance, local and network security, and optimize the start-up procedure. Toolwiz team guarantees users that Toolwiz Care will stay free forever. This tool kit is designed for all levels of PC users from beginners to experts.

Personally I recommend this awesome little program for everyone who uses Windows...

Windows XP vs Windows 7 (Stability and Efficiency)

Windows XP - olden times...

Windows XP (now outdated by vendors but still being used a lot) has been a landmark as compared to its predecessors. Windows XP seemed unmatched for its speed, efficiency, functionality, compatibility and neatness. On the other hand, it pathetically fails when talking about security of data and security of OS in general. Right now you should consider using it only if you do not use internet, USB drives, CD/DVD Drives, LAN or Wifi. Why? It has very poor strategy for access controls. Also its resource management is really poor that makes it vulnerable to virus and other malicious software (such as badware, trojan horses, keyloggers etc.) If you are in a LAN or shared line connection, you are even more vulnerable to this even if you reputed antivirus software. I still remember my Windows XP computer on which I tested new software. I always needed to install the OS every month on an average as it frequently became unstable.

Windows 7 - the revolution

It was two years ago that I felt too lazy to switch to Windows 7. I feared it would not support the software I use on Windows XP. Finally, I dared to install Windows 7 on my system and I really didn't have to regret at all! Everything worked like a charm. For most of the hardware on my system I did not even have to install drivers as they come bundled in the OS itself. And for majority of the remaining ones, Windows 7 did the hard job of finding them and installing for me.

Compatibility: You do not have to worry about it. Windows 7 is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and even older software! Even there is a powerful compatibility wizard for sorting out any compatibility issues.

Security and Integrity: Windows 7 is highly secure and stable OS even after thousands of amazing features! System drive (C) is very well protected. Access classifications are awesome! Programs are not given Administrator access without your permission. What that means to you is that no program can access core features of your system without your permission and it cannot cause any damage if it is bad. Even the in built firewall is much better as compared to the one in Windows XP which seemed more like hiding yourself behind a transparent curtain. Even system's resource management is much better in Windows 7 that makes your system more efficient.

Windows 7 is intelligent and knows how to fix it: Gone are the days when one had to install the OS when even a little component went berserk. Windows 7 can easily fix itself automatically by connecting to internet. When an application or process crashes, you would be presented a popup where solution to that crash can be found.

Better safety and security for your data: You can easily encrypt your data with the in-built encryption features. Also there is in-built support for backing up data in various forms including making a blind image.

Conclusion

If you are still using Windows XP, you must switch to Windows 7 not only because it is cool and has more features but also because it is much better from every angle and would save you from a lot of labor on your system. I recommend using a good Anti-virus and firewall software too on Windows 7.

Windows 8 pre-release features

Finally, the killer Windows 8 is out in its pre-release stage! There have been quite a number of changes done after the Developer Preview. In Windows 8 Developer Preview one can easily see a few changes, in main content as well as user interface design. Windows is now paying more concentration towards touch-devices along with its famous conventional desktop which can make a tablet user's life better. For sure Microsoft cannot leave behind the conventional keyboard/mouse features either. Now let us take a look at what stuff is new and what has been added.

1. The Windows Store
Ah, as we know that Google App store and Apple's App store for iOS are surging forward the bounds of current community, Microsoft has also made a move in the direction. Here comes the Windows Store! With your current Windows Live Messenger or Hotmail identity, you can easily access the Windows Store that houses Metro-style Apps for Windows which integrate themselves easily into your current OS in not more than few clicks. You may not want to miss this section if you are geeky. :)

Also if you like playing games, there's a cool Cut the Rope game (which I found cool), along with plenty of others. The app store has been quite nice managed and well classified into groups, sub-groups and listings which makes the navigation easy and user-friendly. Like the conventional App-stores, this one too has Top-Paid, Top Free, New releases and Top rated sections.

Listings are very nicely organized too. Once you open the listing page for an App, you can see user star rating, price, icon(s), screenshots, summary and the most important - install button (like Apple App-store again). When you hit the Install button, you can instantly (depends on your connection speed) see the activity bar telling you that the App was installed. You will see the newly installed App's tile at the end of your Start Screen.

2. Changes in "Charms"
Main system menu icons - Charms - are now situated in the center of right edge which were previously kept on lower left corner. Mouse point to open them have been moved in opposite direction. Charms can now be accessed from top of right corner. You just have to swipe the right edge if you are using touch.

3. Semantic Zoom
Pinch the screen from your touch screen and see all the app tiles resize into a neat and clean, intelligent view. Touch gestures can now make renaming, moving, copying much easier.

4. App stack gesture/mouse
When in touch mode, just a swipe of finger from left edge is required to navigate through the thumbnails (which opens up a vertical swipe menu) of all your running apps. Swipe here has proved really organic and more understandable way.

5. Transition to Desktop
Transitions seem nice only when in limit. But the one in Developer view and in later has a difference. It now seems much more quicker and relevant than it was before.