How to make Windows XP look like Vista

Vista looks pretty cool eh, you might have even considered buying it until you saw the price tag, or maybe you just didn't want to get it because all of the bugs, but either way theres no need to fear because free vista is here! This is not actually windows vista but its pretty close. It's a theming pack called Vista Transformation Pack 7. It basically gives your old XP or 2000 a digital makeover, and we're going to find out how to use it.

step 1Download Your Files
To make this look like vista we're going to need 2 programs: 1. Vista Tansformation Pack 7 2. Fast Aero What is Vista Transformation Pack 7? Vista transformation pack 7 is a theming program that themes your os to vista by changing things like your boot screen your taskbar your wallpaper your screen savers ect. What is Fast Aero? Ya know the nice transparent window…

step 2Removing Hotfix KB925902
Now if you just tried to install the program you probably noticed an error message such as the one below. All you have to do to fix it is go to add or remove programs in control panel, and check the box that says "show updates". It will load and then scroll down to around the bottom where you'll find the hotfix we need to remove. Once found all you have to do is select …

step 3Installing
Once restarted click on the vista transformation pack 7 file and open it. An error message will pop up saying get windowblinds. you don't need it so just press ok Now a screen will say that this is free software and not to be sold. Now, lets get to installing Box 1. It basically says read everything carefully or you could (although it's highly unlikely) brick y…

step 4Installing Part 2
Box 2. You will see a donate page to donate to Mr. Windows X (why don't you, he put a lot of hard work and effort into this).

step 5Installing Part 3
Box 3. On this page you will find the requirements. Make sure your computer meets all the necessary needs and press next.

step 6Installing Part 4
Box 4. You will now see the license agreement page. Read it over carefully and accept. Press next.

step 7Installing Part 5
Box 5. This page just tells you what its going to do. read it over and press next.

step 8Installing Part 6
Box 6. This page is the faq and is very useful and should be backed up so i have provided you with a copy for future reference.

step 9Installing Part 7
Box 7. This page is very informing and includes important info. I have also provided you with a copy.

step 10Installing Part 8
Box 8. This step asks you if you want to apply vista ui transformation into system or integrate vista transformation pack into system files. choose which one best suits your needs and press next, but if your unsure on what to do select the ui transformation because if you select integrate it into the setup files you can't revert your system files back to the original ones.

For further assistance on this post please link here. Please feel free to ask me anything via comment form below.

How to Read Popular Magazines Online for Free?

There are many different ways through which you can read different magazines online for free of cost but in this article iam going to show you a excellent way which was sent to us by one of our blog reader. Generally most of the paid magazines are paid ones and the subscription costs range from 20-100$ per year which is the reason if you try to opt for a few magazines the total annual bills would reach to bigger numbers.


First of all you need to download the Safari Browser which comes preinstalled in Mac computers and which is available as a free download for my readers. Next you need to go to the Advanced option in it by clicking on Edit > Preferances > Advanced > Show Develop Menu in menu bar. Click on the checkbox to yes.

Next you will find a new option on your Browser’s Menu Bar under the name of Develop where you need to select the option of iPhone Agent. Go to Develop > User Agent > Mobile Safari 3.1.2 iPhone.

Once this is done what really happens is that, your browser now opens websites as if they were loading on a Apple iPhone. This would make you access the iPhone optimized websites inside your Safari Browser. Next access the URL http://imgs.zinio.com/iphone/. Next you will find a list of ebooks as shown in this screenshot which when clicked would open in full screen on your browser and also a recommendation that if you open these on iphone, landscape mode is recommended. Overall a excellent website for apple iphone users which can now be accessed on your computer and accessed anywhere anytime.

Download Safari 4 Here for Free.

How to Monitor RAM Usage with Memory Cleaning Tool – Memory Cleaner?

Does your computer hang regularly when you are use multiple applications which include high resource using software’s like Mozilla Firefox, FTP Programs etc, and the only solution offered by your PC Seller is that you need to upgrade either your complete PC or else your RAM to the maximum compatible RAM.

Once you install this small application you will get a report with the total Memory Usage currently used and the Average and Maximum Usage. You will be able to clean the System Cache and Trim Processes. Once these settings were run i was able to decrease my memory usage from 55% to 45% which is a quite good result because while you are running numerous applications which are all useful, any small increase in free memory can help you easily handle your applications easily.

Features of Memory Cleaner :

1. Trims processes’ working set.
2. Clears system cache.
3. Monitors RAM usage and reports minimum, maximum and average (true average, not (min+max)/2).
4. Reports Pagefile and virtual memory usage.

How to Fix Low Virtual Memory Error in Windows

Generally when you install/run very big applications like 3DMax, Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Dreamweaver the windows based PC’s start giving you a error message saying – Your system is low on virtual memory. To ensure that Windows runs properly, increase the size of your virtual memory paging file.

Reasons for Low Virtual Memory :

Lets say you are running a application like Adobe Photoshop and while you are rendering a big sized image the pc starts using high amount of RAM and when there isn’t any adequate Random Access Memory on your PC which can handle processing of this data. This is when the PC starts using the Virtual Memory.

What is Virtual Memory :

Temporary storage used by a computer to run programs that need more memory than it has. For example, programs could have access to 4 gigabytes of virtual memory on a computer’s hard drive, even if the computer has only 32 megabytes of RAM. The program data that does not currently fit in the computer’s memory is saved into paging files.

Finding Source of Low Virtual Memory Problem :

In order to quickly solve this problem you need to first find the source of it by checking out the Task Manager and analyzing all the programs to find which one of those is using the highest memory and closing them. This way you can close the programs which you are not actively using and those which use high amount of your memory.

Click on Windows Task Manager > View > Select Columns

Next Click on Select Columns option from the View Menu and Check on Virtual Memory Size Option

Next move on to the Task Manager’s main process tab and find all the programs which are using high amount of Virtual Memory and End their Process.

You can also try to uninstall and reinstall these high memory using programs because sometimes older versions of some software end up using high amount of RAM/Virtual RAM. I would recommend you to setup your Virtual Memory to 1.5 times of your physical memory for better performance.

Regain Hard Disk Space & Clean Up Data

This tip is useful for most Windows Operating System based PC users where in they want to regain the hard disk storage space instead of buying a new Hard Disk Drive. Currently you would find these options only in Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista. If you find that your Disk Drives are full and you get a message for the same then its time for buying a new External Hard Disk Drive, upgrading your internal hard disk or else applying the following tweaks.

Click on My Computer Icon located on your desktop and go to the desired drive in which you want to regain the space by deleting unnecessary files. Right click on the drive and click on ‘Properties’. On the main first ‘General’ Tab you will find ‘Disk Cleanup’ option, Click on it.

It starts scanning for Compressed Old Files, Catalog Files for the Content Indexer & Recycle Bin Files. Then gives you with a quick report on the files which can be deleted, and a option to Check/unCheck them before deleting. Generally these files are permanently deleted and you cannot recover them. The Old Compressed files are those which are saved on your after a certain time period and there is generally no need for those.

Once you select these files and CleanUp you would regain a lot of hard disk space which was previously used by useless files.

The saved space may not be very high but it depends on the files space already used and deleted after the above step but it can still help you when you are in urgent need of some Disk Space while installing a new software.

Create Super-high quality videos from anything playing on your PC

Make super-high quality videos from ANY online source with WM Capture. WM Capture uses a unique high speed capture technology to create a near perfect reproduction of what you see on screen, playable as a Windows Media Video file.

WM Capture records video from ANY Web site, regardless of format. It even records DVD's playing on your PC. If you can watch it you can save it. WM Capture does not circumvent DRM (Digital Rights Management) or any copy protection technology so it's 100% legal world-wide.

In addition to WM Capture's high speed capture technology, the program also includes a proprietary MPEG-2 codec for even more outstanding picture quality.

Other screen capture programs cannot process video data fast enough to make acceptable videos. WM Capture's special design uses the most advanced high-speed video processing technology, and the results are amazing. Even the toughest video types like full motion sports play back perfectly.

To make it easy to capture a portion of your screen, WM Capture can often automatically locate the region of your screen where video will be played. Or, you can choose to mark an area of the screen manually by moving markers yourself. Either way, setting up your recording area is a snap.

The first time you run WM Capture, you'll need to make sure you can record audio and video properly. WM Capture will make it's best guess as to what the audio settings should be, but you can override them if you like. Once the Audio Source and Input are selected, click Test to ensure you can record audio. After a few seconds, if the test is successful, click OK to save the audio settings.

Once the audio parameters are set, you can focus on recording videos. To start recording videos you need to mark a region of the screen to record, and then you can start, stop or pause recording. Once you've finished recording, you can see your last recorded video by simply clicking Play.

Limitations:
Two minutes of recording time in demo mode.

What's New in this Release:
Improved video capture quality.
Easier recording window detection capability.
Available as a stand alone purchase.

Download WM Capture free Here.

14 - Tips to Increase Site Traffic

"As blogger, web publisher of my own sites, internet user and marketer, I make little research through web sites of famous web publishers and bloggers, with one simple idea - to find their ways for increasing web traffic on their sites, and, of course, to use some of that ways of increasing web traffic to my own site.

I notice that most of them use good known internet marketing strategy for increasing site visitors. Internet marketing is very big theme to discuss, but I will try to present (as amateur and student of this powerful marketing science) some tips which are most powerful to increase number of visitors to your site.


The list of tips is ordered by priority, by my own perspective (from relevant to irrelevant):

1. Be a good internet citizen. Provide useful articles, resources, links on your website, stuff that make people feel thankful for your time and effort. Help every person who emails you a question or person who ask questions, as comment in your posts.
2. Give free stuff - tools, utils, downloads, write articles about your own knowledge and expertise.
3. Write articles for publication on other websites and forums, exchange ideas or add insightful comments on other articles. Ask for reviews of your articles on other webmasters. This will increase links to your articles.
4. Write articles for your own site regularly. This gives your visitors a reason to come back.
5. Create an RSS feed. Give people way to interact with your content.
6. Add links to your site of people with complimentary sites. Ask them to add link of your site to their site. Your site links, on other sites, means more people clicking through - lead to improving your search engine rankings.
7. Participate in a banner exchange program. Cost nothing, but increase site visitors. Another thing ? this is start for building brand for your website.
8. Build your site to be accessible to all browsers, PocketPC, Palm Pilot, WAP users.
9. Optimize your site (Search Engine Optimization). Find the best keywords or phases for your website, which will present your services, articles and products on search engines.
10. Get listed in search engines. Submit your site to all mayor search engines (Google, Yahoo, HotBot, etc.).
11. Improve link popularity by submitting your site to major web directories. Ex. Link popularity is the most relative factor for Google ranking algorithm.
12. Assign to affiliate marketing programs. This will make you some money if you puts their ads on your website (pay per click, pay per lead, pay per sale, or pay per customer acquired), and the most relevant - Affiliate marketing programs take care of their own community (members) and use ways to improve popularity of their own members (that?s you).
13. Pay for clicks to your website. When people search for keyword or phrases related to your products or services you site will be listed in section with sponsored links. For start, try Google adWords program.
14. Try with e-mail marketing. Find email list and promote your site services and products by sending e-mail messages. In some versions of internet marketing, this can be considered as SPAM. For your protection - add unsubscribe note at the end of your email message. Don?t send emails to the users which replay to your e-mail promotions and ask you to unsubscribe him/her from your list.

I hope that with this article I made a little contribution for better understanding of internet marketing and increasing site traffic. But, as I said, this is my own perspective. If you use some of this tips, please let me know which ones worked best for you, share with me your experience."

How to maximize the discharge time of your Dell Inspiron 1526 battery?

The discharge time will vary by user. It depends on the features you are using in your laptop during the time you are using the Dell Inspiron 1526 battery.

There are some tips for maximizing discharge time:

1. Store the battery in a cool dry location. 
2. Set the Power Management settings to “Max Dell Inspiron 1526 battery". 
3. Do Remove the battery from the notebook PC when it is not being used or charged for a long period! 
4. Buy another Hi-Quality & High Capacity battery to extend the overall operating time on battery. 
5. Lower the brightness on the display.

Check & Repair Dead Pixels in LCD Screens

Check & Repair Dead Pixels in LCD Screens

I had recently written a article on finding dead pixels on your LCD screen, and a reader questioned us if its possible to repair these dead pixels and the answer to this is that yes sometimes it is possible to repair them. On a LCD screen when you select a Screen resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, its not just some numbers but its the numbers of pixels which would be shown on your screen. You need to think in the way 1280 small pixels are displayed aside to each other in 800 different rows. Overall there are a total of 1280×800 = 10,24,000 Pixels on your screen. Now iam sure it will be a very hard job for you to find those pixels which are gone dead. Each of these pixels are microscopic transistors which are generally not defective but because of some reasons they can go dead and its not really easy for you to fix these dead pixels normally.

While you buy a New LCD screen its recommended to check out the Dead Pixels on it using the software called DPL which shows you with a small closeup photo of a dead pixel. You can click on the application while its running to change the colours of the screen and see if any pixels colour does not change, mark it as a dead one and stop poking on it trying to fix it.

How to Play National Bingo Night India Rules Tips

How to Play National Bingo Night India Rules Tips

National Bingo Night was originally an American game show which was premiered on ABC with Host Ed Sanders on May 18, 2007 with a initial plan of 6 episodes. Later on this TV Show was canceled and was relaunched as Bingo America on GSN in October 2008 by Richard Karn. Now since India mostly follows America, but claims to always be the first while the launch, this time National Bingo Night is going to shown as a TV Show on Colors TV Channel from January 23, 2010 with the Host being none other than Abhishek Bachchan. The different members of the audience available in the studio would be attempting to win the game along with a solo contestant and all the live TV audience who are also considered as players and who have the maximum chances of winning it.


How to Play National Bingo Night : Each episode would be of 60minutes duration with two quick rounds played with the contestant playing a series of in-studio games all driven by the ball numbers 1-75. At the same time the whole country can play along with the studio contestant and try to cross out different numbers announced by the host and try to win the numbers game. You cannot reuse the same Game Ticket twice and its only available for specific games only.

Each of these games would be divided into two sections like Yellow Ticket Game & Green Ticket Game with the Host announcing the Game Number and the colour of the Ticket which has to be played in the beginning of the Game. While if you are a person who is planning to play the Game from your Home, then you should be circling the numbers announced by the host, so that they cannot be counted next. Normally when we play the Bingo Game at home, we would poke the pen into the numbers slots and try to win this, but since we can become a winner, its required not to put any pressure on the ticket and make it damaged. While the TV Show is ON you will be continuously updated with all the stricked numbers on the TV Screen.

In order to get started and play this game as a TV Contestant you need to first register through their Online website using this link, and then fill the whole form along with your correct details like Mobile Number, City, email address etc following which colorstv would send you a copy of the Bingo Tickets to your email address. Here is a detailed guide on How to Play, How to Win & How to Win Mega Jackpot at the National Bingo Night given clearly in the form of rules in the following image.

3 Reasons to Choose a Free Antivirus Solution

3 Reasons to Choose a Free Antivirus Solution

They’re a must today for anyone who spends any amount of time on the Internet – with all the malicious viruses, worms and Trojans floating about on the web and looking to sabotage and destroy your computer and your data, if you don’t have a decent security package installed on your system, you’re going to end up suffering both hardware and software losses. As with any kind of software, you have both free versions and paid options with security and antivirus solutions. And contrary to popular belief, just because a software tool is free, it does not mean that it is of poor quality. You only have to take a look at the Linux operating system to know that “free” is sometimes better than expensive alternatives that must be renewed time and again. So here goes, a few reasons why free antivirus solutions are better than their pay-and-use counterparts:

1. You don’t have to shell out money: When something is free and can be downloaded off the Internet, all you have to spend is the effort to go to the site and install it on your computer. You don’t have to spend $100 or more on a package that you can get at no cost at all. Besides, there are no recurring costs incurred in renewing your subscription every year, once your current package expires. There are no pesky reminders to renew in so many days, and you are free to do your work with nothing to renew.
   
2. If anything is unsatisfactory, there’s no loss: If something goes wrong with your antivirus solution and you’re not satisfied, there’s no loss with a free solution. All you need to do is uninstall the one you’ve got and install a new free one. Besides, some companies offer you 30-day trial versions, so you could try out one for a month and then switch over to a new one before you decide to upgrade or go for a paid version that has more features and options.  
3. Most paid security solutions are bulky and a nuisance: When I bought my notebook, it came with a year’s subscription of Norton. I decided to switch over to AVG once the year was up, and to my horror, found that I could not open Firefox or any other browser to surf the net. IE would work, and that too, sporadically. I finally had to reinstall Norton and renew my subscription at a hefty price – and even though I railed mentally against the anti-competitive tactics of Norton, I was left with no alternative. Most large security suites take up a large portion of your memory and cannot be easily removed – a few residual files remain even if you uninstall the package, causing havoc in some way or the other.

And if you’re still not satisfied with the above reasons, check out the PCMag story that rated three free antivirus software solutions and gave them top marks and the other story in The Register that tells of major paid security solutions failing the Virus Bulletin VB100 certification standard for further proof that free antivirus solutions are just as good for standard operations on your PC, if not better than most of the paid versions out there.
Here you can download some free antivirus

Use Microsoft Office 2010 as Blogging Tool

Use Microsoft Office 2010 as Blogging Tool

The Microsoft Office 2010 Package allows you to share the document files in several ways ranging from sending them to the email, save to Sky Drive, save to sharepoint to Publish as Blog Post. Currently the blogging sites which are supported are SharePoint Blog, Wordpress, Blogger, Windows Live Spaces, Community Server & Typepad. In order to get this task done you need to Register your Blog for the first time after which you can easily write article in the MS Word and publish them to your blogs.





Once you have selected the right blogging platform, next you need to register your blog. Enter your blog URL in this option correctly and also fill in your admin login details. Since i use Wordpress, the tool asked me to enter the wp-admin login details and the main blog url.



Thats it after the settings are confirmed you can start blogging very easily through the MS Office 2010 softwares. You need to make sure that you have selected the right option for your Images which would be added to your blog post and its recommended to use My Blog Provider for the Picture Provider settings. Dont forget to check out some of the new features of MS Office 2010 and get the latest copy today.

Increase Computer Startup Speed with Startup Delayer

Increase Computer Startup Speed with Startup Delayer

Whenever you start your computer, you will have to wait upto 2 minutes normally for all the applications to run and make sure that the PC won’t hangup in the middle. The reason for this delay is the huge number of software applications which start and run in the background most of which are not really required to run when your computer starts. When these software’s start loading they use most of your RAM and CPU time delaying your other work, hence here is a solution for this which can help you in avoiding the start up programs for some time. 

The application is called as Startup Delayer which is available as a free download and easy to understand and use interface. You can directly disable most of the startup programs but its essential for your computer to run these, hence its better to delay their processing instead of totally disabling them. The software is compatible with Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/XP64/Vista and allows you to setup the time after which it should allow the different programs to run.

Delete Files from Recycle Bin with BinManager

Delete Files from Recycle Bin with BinManager

Windows Recycle Bin helps you in easily deleting all the useless files from your computer and also keeps the files as a backup when you normally delete from your computer. This means that in a hurry you wold just delete any file and these are stored in a section in your computer called as the Recycle Bin. Now this system has been the same in most of the Windows Operating system but it would be better if you would manage the files deletion process using a small application called as the ‘Bin Manager‘. This is a software which would add a right-click context menu, with different options helping you to delete files on different time based intervals.

Features of BinManager :

• You’re most likely to need to restore recently deleted items.
• For large drives, you may want to maintain smaller recycle bins than the minimum 1% permitted by Windows.
• Large recycle bins prolong the shutdown process.

You can use this application in two modes ie In Content Menu Mode or else along with Command Line. You will be given with options of today, yesterday, 2, 3, 7, or 30 days ago files deletion when you right click on your Recycle Bin folder. Hence, its a nice tool in case you are looking for automated or selective cleaning of useless files from your computer.

Move your images between popular photo sharing services

Move your images between popular photo sharing services

There are dozens of photo storage services out there, but is there an easy way to transfer photos between them? The answer is Migratr.

With Migratr you can easily move your photo collection between nine different photo storage services (23HQ, Flickr, Gallery2, Picasa Web Albums, Phanfare, Photobucket, SmugMug, Zenfolio and Zooomr), just by following a simple step-by-step tutorial.
All you need to do is login to the correspondent services and authorize the Migratr app. You can then go back to the program and start moving your photos from one to another, either the ones you select or the complete collection.
Migratr is a really useful tool that makes changing to a new photo storage service a much less painful process. It still needs to iron out a few bugs (we had some stability issues during our testing) and maybe add photo previewing and organization functionalities.


Migratr makes changing from one photo storage service to another a much easier and more comfortable process.

Languages:

English 

OS requirements for Migratr:

OS: WinXP/Vista/7

 

Create AllTop Popurls Clone with Free Wordpress Theme

Create AllTop Popurls Clone with Free Wordpress Theme

Many Bloggers are fans of websites like AllTop & Popurls.com which are mainly news aggregators – which means that you can find links to the latest news from different sources at a single website. Many people keep buying scripts like AllTop Clone, Popurls Clone but here is one Wordpress Theme which gives you almost same features as the original websites called as the OneNews theme. It is currently available in two variants ie one free with limited features and one with paid version which comes with all the features.


Features of One News Wordpress Theme :

• Easily create a single-page news aggregator like Popurls or multiple-pages news aggregator like Alltop
• Widgets Ready Homepage – easily add and arrange feed blocks without touching any codes
• 4 unique widgets available 

1. textRSS: for normal text feeds
2. photoRSS: for Flickr feeds
3. videoRSS: for Youtube, Metacafe and Dailymotion feeds
4. HTML: for any php or html code, including javascript (easily add banners or adsense)

• Browsing tools: resize text, toogle background color and social media sharing 
• Inline Video Player for Youtube, Metacafe, Dailymotion, Yahoo Videos 
• Option to open link in new or current window, Option for dofollow or nofollow feed links 
• Optional 3-column widget-ready bottombar, Optional sideblog, Robust SimplePie RSS 
• Built-in cache, No plugins required, Threaded & paged comments ready for WP 2.x 
• Gravatar support, Works on Wordpress v2.5 and above, Tested on IE6/7, Firefox, Opera, Safari
• XHTML & CSS Validated & PDF setup guide

You can easily configure the theme in the way you want to and generally it comes with 3 columns feature. You need to just enter the Feed Links in different pages you create and the feed information would be automatically fetched and updated. You can download the free version at the moment but you can check out the website ericulous.com for the paid version in case you are interested in buying a copy of the same. Do check out our related article which is on a Orkut Clone Script called Dolphin.

Automatically Tweet Latest Blog Posts via FeedBurner Socialize

Automatically Tweet Latest Blog Posts via FeedBurner Socialize

Google Feedburner which is a 100% Free Service and a Real boon for the blogger has added a new feature called ‘Socialize’ which would allow you to connect your feed with the social websites. Normally Feedburner allows you to distribute your content through multiple channels like email, feed readers etc now offering you to do the same through Social Networks like Twitter where in your latest blog post links would be published and your subscribers or followers can read them. Since Twitter allows only 140 characters in the Tweets, Feedburner allows you to customize your automated tweets in multiple options.
First of all in order to get started you need to visit to the Publicize option under your Feed Details and then click on the Services > Socialize. Next you will have to Authorize your Twitter Account, by clicking on the button which says ‘Add a Twitter account’ following which you will be redirected to a new window asking you to Enter your Twitter Logins and Allow/Deny Access. Once the Authorization is completed you will be able to find your Twitter Account Listed on the same page. Next you need to configure the Formatting Options which are generally dependable on personal choice.
You can Either show the Title of your Blog Post or also Suffix the first few words to it by Selecting the ‘Title & Body’ option though its not recommended to use the second option because it would have a maximum of 5-10 words which wont make your tweet meaningful. Next its recommended to select the Hash Tahs option which would add a # Tag prefixed to your Category Name under which the Blog Post was Published. I have attached a screenshot below for my current settings which can give you a idea on how to configure them.

Thats it, now whenever you Publish a New Blog you will find the same tweeted in your Twitter Account.

Jailbreak and Unlock iPhone 3.1.2 Download Firmware 2G 3G 3GS OS

Jailbreak and Unlock iPhone 3.1.2 Download Firmware 2G 3G 3GS OS

The latest version of the Appe iPhone OS is 3.1.2 which can be easily Unlocked and Activated if the right process is implemented. There are many iPhone users who have a fear of not getting successful in Unlocking the 3.1.2 version from their current 3.0 & 3.1.1 because of which they wont be able to run any of the latest available Apple iPhone Apps. We have already written multiple guides on Unlocking and Hacking your iPhones as shown below which can useful to you in case you want to upgrade to some of the older versions.

Its perfectly safe to Update your Apple iPhone to Firmware 3.1.2 and then Unlock it because the total process is damn easy now. Instead of Updating your iPhone through your iTunes Application its recommended that you should download the below mentioned ipsw files for your handset based on the current configuration and then proceed towards the Unlocking Procedure. You will find 2 different sets for each version of iPhone starting from the iPhone 2G to 3G & 3GS. The details would be given just above the download links and you need to carefully select and download the right set which are hosted by someone through Rapidshare.

Apple iPhone 3GS ipsw – Under Official iPhone Contract CDMA

• iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Not Activated Official Carriers Part 1
• iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Not Activated Official Carriers Part 2

 Apple iPhone 3GS ipsw – No iPhone Contact GSM

• iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Activated for Other Carriers Part 1
• iPhone 3GS 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Activated for Other Carriers Part 2

 Apple iPhone 3G ipsw – Under Official iPhone Contract CDMA

• iPhone 3G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Not Activated Official Carriers Part 1
• iPhone 3G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Not Activated Official Carriers Part 2

Apple iPhone 3G ipsw – No iPhone Contact GSM

• iPhone 3G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Activated for Other Carriers Part 1
• iPhone 3G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Activated for Other Carriers Part 2

Apple iPhone 2G ipsw – Under Official iPhone Contract CDMA

• iPhone 2G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Not Activated Official Carriers Part 1
• iPhone 2G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Not Activated Official Carriers Part 2

Apple iPhone 2G ipsw – No iPhone Contact GSM

• iPhone 2G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Activated for Other Carriers Part 1
• iPhone 2G 3.1.2 Custom Firmware Activated for Other Carriers Part 2

Next based on your iPhone Model you would have downloaded 2 files which you need to join using file splitting program like hjsplit, which works in both ways ie splitting and joining large files. Once this process is done you will get a single .ipsw file which should be restored through iTunes. In order to implement this you need to do the following process.
Launch iTunes and then Turn Off your iPhone after which you need to make your iPhone into DFU Mode. Press the Power & Home Button for 10 Seconds and then leave the Power Button and continue pressing the Home Button following which you will find a message on iTunes saying that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Click OK and then you will find a option to Restore your iPhone. Instead of clicking on the Restore Button directly, press Shift & Restore Button, following which you will be asked to select the right ipsw file. Select the downloaded ipsw file and the process would start updating your iPhone’s Operating System. Following this you need to read our next article on unlocking using PwnageTool, BlackSn0w, BlackRa1n etc.

Setup US iTunes Account in 5 Mins – Redeem iPhone Promo Codes

Setup US iTunes Account in 5 Mins – Redeem iPhone Promo Codes

Whenever you receive a Free Promo Code to test or try out any iPhone App, you will be locked with a problem which says that you cannot do this because your account is not from US and hence the Promo Code cannot be redeemed. Here is a quick way to solve this problem and this does work. In order to get started you need to first Signout of your iTunes Account and then on the right side of your iTunes you would find a section called ‘Quick Links’ under which there is a link called as ‘Redeem’. Click on this – Next Enter the 12 Characters AlphaNumeric Code in the Box and click on Redeem. After this the iTunes would ask you to Login or Register for a New Account. Click on the Signup for New Account option and follow the process below.

Next the iTunes Store threw a big list of Terms & Conditions to accept after which it was asking for Email Address, Password[twice], forgot Password Question & Answer along with the Date of Birth. Next is the most important section where in you will be asked to select the Payment Mode but since you are not from US and are looking for a account to just get access, you can select the Payment Option as None along with some of your relatives US Address and Phone Number.

 

This kind of account will be allowing you to just Redeem any iPhone Promo Codes you receive and also get access to the Free Apps available in the iTunes Store. Also you dont need a Credit Card for setting up a US Based iTunes Account and this does work. Let me know if you find any issues with this.

Keeping Your Blog Secure

Keeping Your Blog Secure

While October is to many a month of candy and costumes, it also happens to be National Cyber Security Awareness Month in the U.S. In that spirit, we thought we'd take a minute to look at a few different things you can do to make sure both your content and account are secure on Blogger.


Third Party Code

Adding site counters, templates, and other third-party code to your blog can be a great way to add some flare to your content, but can also leave your blog vulnerable to malicious activity if you aren't familiar with its source.

Over the years we've seen a number of third party scripts disguise themselves as helpful add-ons, when in fact they are performing a malicious operation behind the scenes. For example, a site counter widget may indeed be providing your blog with helpful tracking data, but at the same time may also be discreetly sending that information to advertisers for the purpose of collecting the online habits of your readers. A blog template you downloaded from a third party site might include pop-up ads or links to dangerous sites that install malware on visitor's computers.

The good news though is that most of the add-ons you will run across are perfectly legitimate. To protect yourself from the small minority of add-ons that are nefarious, we've put together a few tips to keep in mind when adding third party code to your blog: 

Take a moment to review the code and look for anything that seems out of place. For example, if you are adding a weather gadget to your blog and notice in the code that there are links pointing to unrelated sites, take that as a red flag and keep searching for another weather gadget. There is no reason that a weather gadget should include a snippet like Make Money Online!

Before saving new template code, always preview first. Malicious template designers may sometimes include pop-ups or other unexpected ads in the template code, which will usually be revealed with a quick preview. If anything unexpected shows up in the preview, go ahead and discard the new code by clicking Clear Edits.

Backup your template! Whenever making significant changes to your blog's template, it's always a good idea to backup your content beforehand just in case you need to reverse changes.

You can easily do this from the Layout | Edit HTML tab by clicking the Download Full Template link and saving the .XML file to your hard drive. You'll then be able to revert back to this downloaded version by clicking the Upload button, also right under the Layout | Edit HTML tab.

Look first to 'trusted' code repositories for a new template or widget. There are probably thousands of places across the web where you can find widget and template code, but it may be helpful to first check out some of the more widely known and trusted sources.

For templates, we've actually done a bit of scouting work already and collected a handful of great resources laid out in this Buzz post from earlier in the year. That collection comes from a number of well-established designers, and should provide plenty of secure template options to dig though.

Permissions

Finally we thought it's worth touching on another security area which has proven problematic for some bloggers in the past, and that is your blog's Permissions settings.

Almost every day our support team receives reports from users who've been locked out of their own blog, the result of giving admin privileges to an unfamiliar blogger. Remember, you can always add more authors to your blog, but only extend admin privileges if you absolutely trust the person.

For more information about National Cyber Security Awareness Month, please check the StaySafeOnline.org page as well as the security series on the Official Google blog.