Convert Bytes to Packets

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 display internet activity in packets and bytes. Sometimes when it come to compare the internet activity in two different computers running XP and Vista you might have to convert bytes to packets or packets to bytes.

Sometimes you get a feeling that Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer use more internet resources as they display the internet activity in bytes where Windows XP shows it in packets.

Instead of using Local Area Connection Window through Network connection in Control panel, you can use the command line. It will give you both bytes and packets been sent and received. Therefore, you can have a clear picture.

Command: netstat –en

You will get the Interface statistics of your machine in bytes and packets.

is iPad just another cute device

Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) announced the long waited Apple tablet during the Apple Press Conference on January 27, 2010. It is called iPad and looks like a large iPod touch.

iPad features and hardware configuration.

• Display 9.7 – inch IPS
• Thin 12.7mm
• Weight 0.68Kg
• Processor 1GHz custom Apple chip (A4)
• Include a Keyboard functions as a dock.

What are the options you have?

You can have 16GB – US$499, $32GB - $599 and 64GB – US$699. For additional US$130 you can have the 3G model.

At a glance, you cannot see any excitement in iPad. It is a very new gadget to the tech world. Tablet PCs been around the world for some times but this is the first time Apple introducing such a device. As Steve Jobs precented, it sits between the iPod and MacBook.

iPod replaced the walkmans. iPhone replaced the normal phones. People argue that iPad is not trying to replace any of the existing devices we use today. For me iPad is more like device that Apple uses to experiment the market for a future killing product.It is more like a iPod touch which is in between the iPhone and iPod. What can we expect next?

Learn more about iPad

Apple takes stage amid tablet frenzy (live blog)

Apple announces iPad

[Today’s Headlines] Microsoft CEO Mr. Ballmer, would you sign my mac?

Mr. Ballmer, would you sign my mac?

Yes. Microsoft CEO Mr. Ballmer signed on the mac. If you notice closely he signed on the Apple logo and it is not going to be only a Appple mac any more but a limited edition.

Watch the video..





Australians at risk from computer zombies

Australia is one of the top 10 targets for cyber crime, according to McAfee, one of the largest manufacturers of antivirus software. ABC News

What Can we do about it?
If you are experioncing slow internet connection or internet connection drops down frequently your computer might be infected with a Trojan, back-door, virus or your computer is used as a zombie computer for other cyber attacks.

Recently I have notice that slow internet connection and frequently drop down of the internet will not be fixed by most of the anti-virus programs available today. Most effective measure is to install fresh copy of your operating system and update it to the latest patch/update available. Before you restore your backup install a antivirus program and update it to the latest update.

For Tomorrow
Wondering what Apple is going to release tomorrow? (27/01/2010) Is it Apple Tablet iSlater?

[Today’s Headlines] The first Tweet from Space and...

Flight Engineer T.J Creamer tweet the first tweet from the space.
"Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station -- the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s"
That was possible after major software upgrade rolled out by NASA this week.

We have seen couple of crazy things happened around twitter. Some tweet while the bank were robbed and forgot to call emergency even she had access to a phone. Moreover, there are many more. NASA needs to be bit careful at this upgrade for some reason twitter is addictive.
You can find many crazy tweets sent my famous people here.

A developer has modified Google's Android 2.1 mobile operating system to endow Google's Nexus One smartphone with multitouch, which lets users navigate the device with more than one finger at once.

Google gambled $750 million on the AdMob purchase answering the Apple’s purchase of Quanttro. Both AdMob and Quanttro provide a mobile advertising platform.

Five billion Apple rumoured tablet sold during the first year would bring an additional $2.8 billion in revenue. Apple better release the tablet on 27th January. How can you miss such figure.

Research revealed that I could run up to 40mph. That is faster than the world fastest runner Usani Bolt. You could run that fast too.
Our simple projections indicate that muscle contractile speeds that would allow for maximal or near- maximal forces would permit running speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour and conceivably faster,' co-researcher Matthew Bundle of University of Wyoming said.


Blogging tips of the Day The Blogger’s Guide to Becoming rich (Instead of Just Famous)

How to learn a programming language

Learning a computer program language is not easy. There are so many programming languages to be learnt. From project to project, interview to interview it can be varied. Therefore, you have to learn all languages that required. Here is the complete list of programming languages. What is the easiest and efficient way to learn a computer language?


What is a computer Language?

Generally, we use a language to communicate between people. Then the language we used to communicate with a computer is a computer language. In another words it is a method to give instructions to a computer.

First Start from the Basic


Learning a programming language is a simple logical process. It is easier than learning a natural language. Computers need to understand couple of things in order to complete a task.

1. Define Variables – What type of information you would like to work with
2. Provide values to defined variables
3. Functions – What you want to do with the information
4. Output – After applying the functions to the variables what would be the outcome.

This is the skeleton of a programming language. Everything else will be build up on that. When it comes to the skin, you only see pretty interfaces that provide complicated functions to the user.

Think logically is the key

Computers do things in logical way. It is not intelligence enough to understand the feelings and ideas. In a natural language, word has couple of other meanings but with computers one word one meaning. It needs to be straightforward and logical. As a result, you always have to think like a computer and feed the computer base on what you want it to do.

Think Generally

Think generally will help you to expand what you know and learning to other programming languages. Try to understand the similarities and differences in two programming languages. Generally, it is the same structure and logic used in all the programming languages. Difference is the syntaxes and the way instructions are given. If you have understand the basic structure of a programming language and master to think logically like a computer learning new computer language is not a difficult task.

I find Java is quite easy but C programming is hard. This is a common type of complain that computer students do. That is because we are learning java, c, c#, etc not programming language.

We will discuss learning a programming language in detail and hoping to share more hacks and tricks. I would like to hear your experience learning programming language.

4 Common Mistakes you do when getting help over the phone

It is not easy to fix computer and internet related problems over the phone. You might have already gone through hard times trying to get help over the phone. I would like to go through some common mistakes you do when you trying to get help over the phone. Next time you can avoid them and get fix your problem easily.

1. Not having a basic understanding about the problem

Before you call out for help ask couple of simple question yourself.
What is the issue? My new printer dose not prints when I try to print a document.
When it gives me the issue? Every time I try to print a document
What are the error messages? There is not error message I can think of.
What equipment I am trying to use? Computer that runs Windows XP and XXXX Printer Model 0000X.
What you have already tried to solve the issue? Check the power and data cables connected properly.

This is only sample set of question but you can note down anything that you think is relevant to the issue. You do not require a technical knowledge for this.

2. Not describing the issue properly

Person at the other end cannot see your problem. You need to describe all the information you have gathered. However, remember to corporate with tech helper as they might have their own procedures to collect information. Do not tell them that what you think the solutions would be. For example, you might think that virus may cause your printer to give problems. However, you should not mention it as a solution but can give it as a fact. Appropriate way to inform it is as follows. I have detected a virus couple of days ago and I installed a XYZ antivirus.

3. Dose not likes to go through possible solutions and testings

Most of the cases tech help needed to try couple of simple tests in order to have a better idea about the problem. Sometimes they may look stupid to you. Restart the equipments, close all the running programs, uninstall and reinstall the program are some of them. That is simply to isolate the problem and to create a better starting point.

In addition, you might have to go through the steps you have already done and failed. Nevertheless, I would suggest you to follow what exactly they ask you to do in order to solve the problem.

4. Misunderstand the instructions

Another common mistake we do is to misunderstand the instruction given by tech help. Person on the other end dose not see what actions you are taking and what the result are. I use a simple trick. Before each step, describe three things to the tech help.

Where am I – I am on the ABC Installation screen.
Action I am taking – Select the Option A and click OK button
Where I went – Gives me the error message ABC cannot be connect to XYZ

If you try to avoid these mistakes, it will be much easier to get more help out of the tech support over the phone.

How to Start Windows Defender Service Manually

Windows Defender starts giving out the following error while it tries to start.

Application failed to initialize: 0x800106ba. A problem caused Windows Defender Service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and Support on how to start a service manually.


Windows XP

Go to Start
Go to Control Panel
Click Administrative Tools

Windows Vista

Search Start Administrative Tools
Click Administrative Tools


Double click on the Services
Find the windows Defender Service
Double click on it to open Windows Defender Properties
Change the Start up type to Automatic
Click Start button to start the service.
Click Apply Button
Restart the computer.

Now you have fixed the problem that caused Windows Defender to stop running properly.

Windows Defender is software that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software by detecting and removing known spyware from your computer. Windows Defender features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected, minimizes interruptions, and helps you stay productive.

How to find the best SEO Company

You are sick of trying to search engine optimise your blog or website by yourself and decide to hire a company for that. This quick hack will show you how to choose the best SEO Company for your website.

Every SEO company promise you to bring your website to the first page in Google for your keywords. How can you know that they are good at what they are doing? Moreover, will they able to bring your company website to the first page?

Yes, you can find it out easily with a small trick. Find SEO Companies good in optimising their company website for their related keywords in Google. So simply search “SEO”, “Search Engine Optimisation” and any other related keyword that comes to your mind. List of SEO companies you see in the first page are the best. They prove it with evidence. Always try to search for the major keywords not sub keywords. Anyone can optimise for a keyword phrase that dose not have much competition.

Furthermore, you can check it in local Google page for your country. That will bring down the competition but still you can find the best local company in your country for your local business. In that, way you can find a cheaper package.

So, isn’t that the best way to find the best Search engine Optimisation Company? What do you think?

Default https access for Gmail

Using https is an important security measure even though we do not care about it much when it comes to emailing. Gmail introduced an option to always use https but still it was not the default setting that allow user to use http. Its time to default https as need of security is increasing.

Https encrypts your email as it travels between web browser and Gmail servers. It will stop middleman attacks on your data. Hackers can easily snoop plain data (not encrypted) travelling between web browsers and servers.

Gmail team is rolling out default https for everyone. However, you can jump into the Gmail settings and switch it to always use https. You are sending sensitive information via Gmail. How many times you have send logging information, credit card details, and order information through email.

So switch to https before its too late.

Official Gmail Blog: Default https access for Gmail

Free PDF Password Remover – Limited time

AnyBizSoft PDF solution is giving away PDF password remover 1.0.4 free. It removes password from your encrypted PDF files instantly. Normally this will cost you $19.95 and you can download it free until February 24, 2010.

If you cannot copy text and images, edit & modify text or print the PDF file PDF password remover will remove the password and restriction (owner password).

Key Features

1. Remove PDF Password and Restrictions
Decrypt encrypted PDF files which were restricted by author to prevent others from copying, editing or even printing
Remove the user/open password only if you key in the password correctly
Support importing Adobe PDF 1.0 - 1.7 formats (.pdf)

2 Efficient Decryption Modes
Batch decryption---Decrypt 200 PDF files at one time
Right-click decryption---Right click on a PDF file and decrypt it without launching the program

Miscellaneous
Extremely easy to use
User-friendly interface
Standalone, doesn’t need Adobe Reader or Acrobat to be installed
Support languages: English, Turkish, Thai, Latin, Korean, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese

It Can Not:
Remove or find the user/open password automatically
Remove other protections, such as DRM or third part plug-in
System Requirement
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7 32bit

Clean install under Kasper Sky Anti virus.

How to get the free PDF Password Reader

Simply Download the exe file and get the key code.

Patience is the key become a troubleshooting guru

I have been discussing about general techniques to be use in troubleshooting in a previous post. I thought I should discuss little bit more about one thing I mentioned. That is patience: Relax state of mind that will not over react to the outside world.


Good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence

I have come cross hundreds may be thousands of computer and internet related problems that been forwarded to me because someone one could not fix it. Ninety percent of the problems fixed less than five minutes. Do not take me wrong that I have special knowledge or power to solve those computer problems. However, carefully listen to the problem and tolerate the hard time some hardware and software gives you will give you the magical power to solve it.

As soon as something goes wrong or dose not works people, start screaming about it.

My computer is not working.
I cannot type anything
Dam this computer stuck again.
How can I print I dose not print?
Computer runs too slow I cannot work like this.
Why my computer is not responding?

This is just some of the screaming you usually hear when things go wrong. Next, you see a frustrated person trying to get some help. Problem will not be properly explained to the person who is willing to help because he/she is already gone mad about the problem. Therefore, it will be hard to fix the problem and things can go worst. Finally scream at the person who tries to help and leave the problem as it is.

Ideally, you should be more responsible and look into the problem in a clear mindset. You should look at that as a simple problem. For example if the keyboard is not responding, simply you can follow some general trouble shooting steps.

Try to press different keys – May be couple of keys are not working
Check weather the keyboard is connected to the computer and how it is connected.
Try to disconnect it and reconnect it see it is going to work.
If it did not fix the problem then try to restart the computer and see it might fix the problem.

Only trick is to think of all the possible things that can go wrong. Remember to start from the simplest thing. You do not have to be technical. Try simplest things like check all the wires are connected, power is on, and power is going to the device by checking the power light.

Then as the last step look for help. That can be Google, friend or technician. Again, remember not to be stressed about the unsolved issue. Explain what you noticed and what you tried to solve it clearly. Then it is much easier for other person to have a good picture of what is really happening with your device. If you are getting the help over the phone, remember it is not an easy to fix things remotely without looking at the real thing. Try to explain much as possible.
Do not get stressed or loose your temper over the technical issues you come cross. You are not working with super intelligence perfect devices or machine. You control it. Treat it gently and in any case of technical issue try to understand what is wrong. Then try to find the answers. Getting frustrated and angry will not solve it at all. That is the key to solve it.

Gmail on Nexus One

Google released the Nexus One and Gmail team added couple of new features to its native Gmail application.


Quick contact badge: Press the contact status icon within Gmail, and a handy box shows all of the ways you can reply to a contact — including email, chat, SMS, and Facebook.
Voice input: Swipe the keyboard, then just speak to select contacts or write an email, complete with punctuation. Period!
Multiple Gmail accounts: Sync multiple accounts to the same device and switch between them without leaving the app.
Undo: A handy 'undo' link makes it easier to retrieve messages when you hit archive or delete by mistake. (Note: you can't yet undo send as you can with the desktop version of Gmail).

Nexus One is still not available in Australia but in USA you can order it with or without a service plan. For more information visit Google Phone

Official Gmail Blog: Gmail on Nexus One

Will Nexus One be the Killer Phone

Google is planning to release it killer smart phone on Tuesday (05/01/2010). Is it smart enough to kill the Apples iPhone which is quite popular among the smart phone users?


From the information going around the web it is clear that Google has add more features to Nexus One than the iPhone. Following is the list of features that you can find in Nexus One.

• Touch screen is larger than the iPhone - 3.7-inch (9.4- centimeter) screen
• Scroll Wheel 
• Not tied to any one telecom carrier just like iPhone tied to AT&Tin USA
• "unlocked"
• 5-megapixel camera
• Qualcomm Inc.’s Snapdragon processor
• Search the Web on it by speaking query terms.
• Use Android Operating system

And on top of it's features there are positive consumer interest. I am sure Google is targeting the smart phone market more aggressively with the Nexus One. Their Main competitor will be Apple iPhone. 

More about Google Nexus One 
Nexus One, The Google Phone, Captured In The Wild (Pictures)

Consumer interest in Google Android soars

Troubleshoot Computer Problems in 2010

We are in 2010 dose not mean that computers will stop giving problems. Even in 2010 technology is not that advance to fix their own problems. So someone need to troubleshoot problems as they arrive. Lets have a couple of simple hacks and tricks that can be used to fix any computer problem.


Most of us think that computers are perfect or suppose to be perfect and get frustrated when something goes wrong. That is wrong and computers can only do what you program it to do and if somethings small goes wrong it start giving problems. So you need to fix it.

People think that if it is related to computers then it is too complicated and you need to learn about it to fix it. But what you learn in school or university will not help much when it come to troubleshoot.

One more thing that if you are scared of things will go worse with your action then you might have difficulties trying out new things and troubleshooting.

Whats is the problem?

Before you start doing anything you need to identify that there is a problem. It is easy. If things dose not work as it was before or giving out error messages or warnings or if it dose not do what it suppose to do then there is a problem. Identifying the problem is the most important part of troubleshooting. That is the one most of us dose not pay much attention.

What cause the problem?

After identifying the problem then try to look for the reason for it. If there is any error message it will give most of the information you need. Most of the modern operating systems and programs have detailed error or warnings that tell what cause the problem.

Even if you get a error code you can always refer to its documentation or use Google to get the explanation and more details about the problem.

In some cases you will not find any error or warning message. For example if keyboard is not responding or CD/DVD ROM is not been detected or computer is too slow kind of scenarios will not leave any error messages. So try to collect as much information as possible.

What are the related software hardware components?
Which actions cause the error?

Above are two good questions that you should answer to get a idea about the problem. On top of that before you move to the next step try to get more information about the environment as well.

What Operating System (OS) are you using?
What is the OS Service Pack or Software Version?
What are the other programs that run in the background?
What are the last couples of changes you have done? (Upgrade/Installed new Software)

More related questions you try to answer related to your problem with make it easy to solve it as you get better unresting.

What is the solution to the problem?

As you gather more information about the computer or internet related problem will make it easy to look for a solution.

1. If you have solved a similar or exactly the same problem then the solutions for your problem will be to apply similar. That is base on your experience and with time you will gather more and more experience you will be able to troubleshoot tech problems pretty easily.

2. Even without any prior knowledge you can find a way to solve your tech problem.

You are not the first person to go through PROBLEM A.

Most of the cases (99% of time) you will notice that you are not the only one to face that problem or the first one to be. So you can always get help from others who have solved the problem. If you gone through blogs or forums related to your problem then you will notice how many people were gone through the same problem.

I use Google to find these forums and blogs which gives out step by step guides to solve tech problems. Great but how do you know whether it is going to work out. Small trick you need to do is to scan through the comments below the post or the conversations going on in the forums to see what others been saying. Because all the time you will not find the working solutions.

Another important fact when it comes to Googling is to use the appropriate search term.

1. Use the exact error message or code.

In this way you will be able to find the most appropriate solutions from Google. I will always try to copy and paste the exact error message in Google or in the documentations.

2. Use the exact error message or code with the software/OS/website/ name and version.

If the error message is generic you have to use the name of the software, application, OS or website with its version details with the error message to see the related discussion and solutions with Google.

3. Description of your problem with software/OS/website/ name and version

If there is no error message or code then you have to use a little description of the problem and all the other details related to the issue. That can be the operating system, software name or version details.

Always it is better to mix up the keywords or add and remove keywords to optimize the search result for your problem.

After going through the solutions and related comments and replies if you feel like that you cannot fix it or there is a high probability to make thing worst then always better to get someone else help. Even though you are not going to fix it by yourself knowing the problem and the solution is a great help when you try to look for help.

How to fix it?

Here comes the fun part. Fixing the problem. Until now what we did is to understand the problem and solutions to it. So now we need to apply it and get our problem solved.

1. First thing first. It is always better to backup your content and system as some times things can go wrong. If something can go wrong it will (Murphy's law). Unless your operating system is crashed or files are corrupted you have a chance to back up all your content before you try troubleshooting. In most of the step by step guides they will instruct you to backup if what you are trying to do can cause any damage to the data.

When it comes to system back up System Restore comes in handy as you can roll back to previous state of you computer if your troubleshooting created further problems and if you feel like it is getting worst and worst.

2. Then take couple of deep breaths and follow the solution that you found out. It is really important to be patience even things are not going great. That helps to over come the problems.

3. After going through the instructions sometimes you might end up without solving the problem. In worst case it might brings up a new problem. Do not blame anyone as that is quite common with computers. In such situation you need to go back to first step and follow the steps to get it fix.

This is quite general way to solve problems but I have tried this to solve many problems as it comes. Always a positive mind set will help you to get through any difficult situation with your computer or related issues.