Last week, i was called to fix a machine which had XP installed in it. As usual, i tried to look into the symptoms. The behavior i observed was, whenever i tried to execute a shortcut( or Double click a short cut) to open an application, nothing happens. None of the applications opened.
Surely i figured out, that the system was affected with some kinda virus. And when i didn't want to continue looking at the symptoms of that virus and when i came to know that data backup was not needed, i just went ahead with a clean reinstall of the Windows.
But the cool part which i figured out later is, how to identify if our executable( ie .exe ) files are affected with a virus.Because some of the apps act weirdly sometimes.It could be a failure in the app code, that might cause the app to stop working or it could be the virus.And usually most of the viruses target the .exe files on your system.
Here is an easy way to find out, if your system is really affected with that kinda virus or not.
1. Open Start -> Run
2. Type in cmd and press 'Enter' ( go to the command prompt )
3. goto your windows folder.
Mostly this action need you to key in the following commands
- cd \ 'press enter'
- cd windows or cd winnt 'press enter'
- cd system32 'press enter'
- setup 'press enter'
If you get a popup window saying " Please go to Control Panel to install and configure system components" then your .exe files are not affected and you can be sure that your system is safely away from those harmful viruses.
If you get something else... or nothing pops up... then you better get your AntiVirus updated.
This method can also be used to check your computer, even without an antivirus available.
SystemCheckup without an Antivirus
Embedded Translator in Chrome
I'm starting to like Google Chrome these days...Today i discovered a new feature of Google chrome.. thats the embedded Google Translator which is available with the latest version of chrome browser.
- Select the Tools
menu - Select Options
- Select Under the Hood tab
- Uncheck the Offer to translate pages that aren't in the language i read checkbox
Ways to download videos from Youtube and other video streaming sites
There are lot of tools available to do the job mentioned above. You can use softwares, websites or addons to get the video. I would like to mention a few things to make it easier.
Softwares: Youtube Downloader or Vdownloader are some famous softwares that would help you download streaming videos. There are many other softwares, but I prefer not to use one.
Websites: Keepvid is a good website where you would paste the Youtube URL and you can choose between the mp4 or the flv format of the video to download.
You can also try this:
Prefix the youtube url with the word 'kick'
For example, this www.youtube.com/(something)
becomes, www.kickyoutube.com/(something)
and it'll take you to a page where you can download the video in several different formats like 3gp, mp4, avi, flv, etc.
The options are good, but it works only for Youtube.
Addons: Video DownloadHelper is what I would recommend to download videos from any video sharing site (I assume you're a Firefox user). It's a great addon with lot of options like 'quick download' and 'download and convert', to name a few.
Sites and softwares constrain to only some video streaming sites, not all. So there is still a traditional method of pulling out the videos from cache of your browser.
Windows users:
Goto C:\Documents and Settings\
You can sort the files in the Cache directory in the order of 'Date Modified' or 'Size' to get the video on top. Identify the video and rename it to (something).flv
Linux users:
It's a cakewalk. Allow the video to buffer and goto /tmp directory. You'll find the video there, with the thumbnail image (if the codecs are installed)
Mouse Tricks
Everyone would be familiar with the most important user interface component of a computer... the mouse.
Now a days, its common for every mouse to have a wheel in it. The wheel as everyone know is used for scrolling up and down a document... This wheel has many other functions when it comes to a browser. Lets see what other functionality does this wheel has
1. Tabbed Browsing.
Every browser today supports tabbed browsing, whether its IE 8 , Mozilla , Opera or the google chrome... The wheel on your mouse can act as button. When you want a link to be open in a new tab, you just have to click on the wheel. The wheel is like a third button on your mouse.
Now you need not have to right click and then select the Open Link in New Tab option from now...Just go clicking the wheel.
2. The second trick is a cool one, just try holding the shift key on your keyboard and then try spinning your wheel( or scrolling) , you actually go forward and back depending on the direction you spun. This works in both IE and Mozilla.
3. One more trick with the wheel...In a situation where you have opened up multiple tabs say around 25 tabs open on your tab bar, you will have to go and click on the arrow button at the left or right end of the bar to scroll in correspondingly. Rather than doing this, you can actually move the mouse pointer on the tabs open and spin the wheel to scroll back and forth , This feature worked in mozilla firefox
Try it out... when you are bored to click on the back and forward button in a browser.
