instantly hide what you're doing on a computer

Working on something sensitive or reading a personal e-mail and someone walks in? Or maybe you're just seeing what you'd look like as the opposite gender in photoshop. Well in under a second, it can be gone several different ways.


Step1
The simplest way of hiding everything is with the show desktop command. On any PC with a modern PC keyboard, there should be a "windows key" between the left control and alt buttons. It has a little windows flag on it and may also say "start." Hold that down and press D and tada, everything is minimized. Of course, what you have open is still shown in the task bar on the bottom of the screen so if you want full privacy, right click on it, uncheck "lock the taskbar," then drag the resizer bar at the top all the way down so the taskbar is basically gone. That or set the start menu to auto-hide and then just don’t mouse over it.

Step2
It's odd for someone to walk up and see no task bar and nothing open when you were obviously doing something on the computer a second ago. So to be even stealthier, hold the windows key from step 1 and instead press the L key. That will lock your computer. In XP Home it shows the login screen but it didn't actually log you out. Everything you had open is still running. In XP Pro it just brings up a little box saying that the computer was locked. For maximum security, make sure your windows account has a password on it so people would need that to unlock it. Then when someone walks in, do that quick keyboard combination and pretend like you just finished and were getting up to do something else.

Step3
My favorite method is to have a full screen program like a game running. Have whatever you really wanted to do open and then hold down alt and then hit tab until it brings you to the other program. Then you do whatever you really want to do and if someone walks up, just quickly hold alt and then press tab and quickly release both again. That will switch you back to your full screen program/game because that was the last program you were using and they won't be able to see what else is running.

Step4
Sometimes you just need to close one thing that you had open. In that case, pressing alt and F4 terminates whatever program is open and currently in the foreground. So if you're typing away in internet explorer and press alt-F4, internet explorer closes. Be aware that some programs don't close immediately. Word will ask you to save if you hit alt-F4 and IE7 will ask if you want to close all tabs for example. If your hands are on the mouse, forget about clicking file, exit or a bunch of red X’s. Just double click any folder or program's icon in the top left corner. That will close it.

Step5
If for some reason none of these other methods will work and you're on a PC, keep the tower on the ground and place it so the restart button is within kicking distance. That will look extremely obvious if you don't say that it's some weird power problem or you had to restart for an update though. It's also really bad and slightly dangerous for files on the hard drive to suddenly restart the computer.

Install Microsoft Windows Defender

Microsoft Windows Defender will protect your system from security threats, sluggish performance, and pop-ups from spyware and other useless applications. It is a free program available from Microsoft to download. It comes installed with Microsoft Windows Vista, but is also available to other Microsoft Windows users from their website. Microsoft Windows Defender will run in the background virtually unnoticed and has real-time Protection. You will receive notification and recommendations for detected problems. Your system will be protected continuously against all threats.

Go online to the Microsoft Windows Defender page listed under "Resources" below.

Step2
Select “Download It Here.”

Step3
A page will open with details about the program. You can read all about the many features and options available, and many other fine points of the software. You will have to have your copy of Microsoft Windows validated to proceed with the download. Select “Continue” to begin the validation process. This necessary requirement will only take a few moments to complete.

Step4
Once your system is validated, the “Download” button will be available. Click on it.

Step5
A file download window will appear. Select “Run” to install the software now, or “Save” to download it now and install it at a later time. Select “Run.”

Step6
You will see a window showing the program being downloaded, the estimated time and the transfer rate. It will download to a Temporary Folder, unless you have selected “Save.” This will only take a few moments to complete.

Step7
An Internet Explorer Security Warning box will appear. Select “Run.”

Step8
An Install Wizard will appear. Select “Next.”

Step9
You will have to validate your copy of Microsoft Windows (again). Select “Validate.”

Step10
The Windows Defender License Agreement will appear. You must accept the terms to continue. Click on “I accept the terms in the license agreement” and then select “Next.”

Step11
You will have to choose if you want to become part of the Microsoft SpyNet online community. The details are explained. You could choose to not join by selecting “Install definition updates only,” but it is suggested to select “Use recommended settings” by placing a check in the box. Then select “Next.”

Step12
You will then have to select a “Setup Type” of either “Complete” (the default setting) or “Custom.” It is not recommended to use the second option unless you are an advanced user. Select “Next.”

Step13
If you need to make any changes select the “Back” button, otherwise select the “Install” to begin.

Step14
You will see the program being installed on your system. A window will appear and show a successful installation with a check mark selected to “Check for updated definitions and run a quick scan now.” Select “Finish.”

Step15
The program will check for available updates. They will automatically be downloaded and installed onto your system.

Step16
You will now have a Windows Defender icon in the lower right of your screen. Your system is now being fully protected.

Install Microsoft Silverlight

Microsoft Silverlight is Microsoft's new rich meda platform for the web designed to provide a richer, interactive web experience. It is designed to work across the most common web browsers and computer platforms.

Make sure your computer is running an operating system and browser that is compatible with Microsoft Silverlight. This includes Microsoft Windows Vista and XP with Internet Explorer or Firefox and Mac OS 10 with Safari.

Go to: http://www.microsoft.com/Silverlight/resources/install.aspx to install Silverlight. If you are running Internet Explorer, it will prompt you to download and install Silverlight. Click on Run to start the installation.

Verify that your Microsoft Silverlight install was successful by visiting the Microsoft Silverlight site:
http://www.microsoft.com/Silverlight/

Install Additional Fonts in Windows

Windows supports TureType fonts or fonts that come with programs designed to run on Windows. Many times printers will come with additional fonts to install that are supported by Windows. This procedure applies for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows NT.

Click on the “Start” menu and then select “Run”

In the “Open” field type: %windir%\fonts, and then click OK

In the Windows file box, select File, Install New Fonts…

Select the Drive that has the fonts you want to install, then select the folder by double clicking on it in the Folders box.

In the fonts list box either select all or select the ones you want to install by holding down the CTL-key and selecting each with the mouse. Click OK and your fonts will be installed.

increase font and text size in Internet Explorer

This how-to guide will show you how to increase the font and text size while you are using Internet Explorer. Sometimes web pages can be cluttered and have small font. This does not necessarily mean you have to be stuck with the small or large font. You can change the font and text size with three easy steps.

Launch Internet Explorer. Once you've launched your homepage, you are ready to learn to how to increase your font and text sizes.

Internet Explorer To increase the font and text sizes you must first locate the "View" option drop down menu in the upper right of your Internet Explorer browser.

Get rid of those glasses After you have chosen "View" proceed with choosing "Text Size". "Text Size" will produce five separate options for increasing or decreasing text and font sizes. The five options should include smallest, smaller, medium, larger, and largest. Proceed with choosing the text size that fits your style and reading abilities.

Include Pictures In Your Visual Basic Application

If you are writing a visual basic application that you intend to sell, and you want to include image files within the program and have the image change based on a selection from something like a listbox or an option button, you’ll need to retrieve the files from another location. This article shows a convenient way to accomplish this.

If you want to display CAD files, or other images and pictures, within your visual basic application, there are a number of ways to accomplish this. If you are displaying a static picture (one that doesn't change),you can just load it into a picture box.

There are several ways to store and call graphics files to display based upon a user selection, using the "Image" feature. However, there are disadvantages to at least two of the most obvious methods.

You can include the graphics files in your .cab file, and have them load into the applications working directory. The problem with this is that if the files get lost, it causes a run-time error in your application, and your user will not be happy. Basically, this can cause your program to crash because your application calls for a file that is no longer there.

You can use the visual basic recommended method of storing and retrieving your files from a resource file. The problem with this is that the resource file feature will only accept bitmap image files. The bitmaps tend to be rather large in file size, but more importantly, the image quality is poor.

I have found that Windows meta files (*.wmf) work best when trying to display images created in a CAD system. These images, when loaded into an "Image" box, can be made to automatically "stretch", or scale, themselves to fit the box provided. This way, your images don't have to be all exactly the same size to look proportionate. In addition, the image resolution is much beter than a bitmap file.

Image provided by DZynSource, LLC Let's assume that you are writing an application, and you want to call various pictures to one "Image" box displayed on a form. Let's further assume that you want the image to change based on a user selection, like the form shown in the picture to the left. Once your image files are created, and saved in Windows Meta File format, they are ready to be imported into your application.

Create a form called something like "frmPicture". Add as many picture boxes as you desire to this form. Click on a picture box, go to the "properties" dialog box, and name the picturebox with a name that is something meaningful to you. If you are going to show pictures of a car, you could call this picture box "car", for example.

While in the properties dialog box, scroll down to the "picture" property. When you click on the picture name, in the properties column, a command button with three dots on it appears at the end of the picture property row. Click on it. This opens a direcory list box that allows you to search your computer to find your files. Select your desired car picture file. The picture will display in the picture box that you just created.

Now go to the form where you want to display these interchangeable pictures. Create an "Image" box, and size it to suit your application. Call this image box "Image1", or whatever makes sense to you. Go to the Properties dialog box and set the stretch property equal to true.

We use an Image box here because it has this property called "stretch" that allows our pictures to re-size to fit the box created.

If you are going to use an option button to select the image to be displayed, you can use code like the following to retrieve the picture:

Private Sub optCar_Click()
If optCar.Value = True Then

Set Image1.Picture = frmPicture.Car.Picture
Image1.Refresh

You can change the code to suit whatever selction feature and file names you decide to use.

This tells the program that Image1's picture property is the car picture from the form called frmPicture.

In this case, every time the user selects a different option button, based on the textual description next to the button, the image changes to show a graphical representation of the choice. This is a visual aid to the user, and makes the software interface more user friendly.

Using this method accomplishes several things:

The images are internal to your application, that is, they are contained within the application.
You don't have to ship pictures and images as separate files that can get lost from the root directory, and ruin the performance of your software.
The Windows meta files give a reasonably good image quality, and scale to fit the image box supplied.

Improve Your Computer Skills

Improving your computer skills is necessary, in these times of changing technology. Having great computer skills can present alot of opportunities, including an increase in your income. Take a look at some of my suggestions below.

A great way to improve your computer skills, is to enroll in a computer course. If you don't want to take it in a traditional classroom, try enrolling in an online program.

There are alot of computer learning softwares, that you can purchase in the stores or online. Amazon.com is a great place to start. You can start from the basic learning programs and move your way up to the more advance levels.

Visit computer forums online. There are so many technical information that can be learnt from those forums. If you are not sure about something, post your questions and it will be answered.

Improve your computer skills by reading technical literatures. Rent books from the library or surf the internet. There are alot of educational information that can be found on the internet.

Do you know anyone who have a geeky background? Now is the time to be-friend them. They have a wealth of information to share. I am sure that they would be more than happy to share some of their technical skills with you.

Improve Outlook 2003's Performance After Initial Setup

Sometimes MS Outlook will freeze or perform very slowly after setting it up for the first time. This can occur to accounts in an organization and home users alike. Follow the steps below to fix this potential issue.

The main solution is to turn off Cached Exchange Mode. To do so, launch MS Outlook and go to the Tools menu. Next, select "E-mail Accounts."

Select the option to "View or change existing e-mail accounts", click "next."

Next, click/select your Exchange Server e-mail account (ask your administrator), then click "Change."

Once chosen, under the Microsoft Exchange Server option, click to clear the "Use Cached Exchange Mode" check box. Click next, then Finish.

Quit the program and re-launch MS Outlook.

Find Lost Computer Files

Have you saved a file to your computer and now getting frustrated because you can't seem to remember where you saved it? Don't worry, Windows has you covered. Within a few clicks you'll be happily reunited with your file once again.

Click the Start button on your taskbar.

Click 'Search' (or in older versions, 'Find').

Select 'All Files and Folders' from the next pop up window.

Type in at least part of the file name in the box.

Select the drive where you think the file may be. This could be in a folder or perhaps even the entire C: drive.

Click Search.

A window will come up that will show you the progress as it is searching. Several files may come up in this window.

When you see the file you're looking for, you can double click it to open.

Find Highly Rated and Recommended Anti-virus Softwares for Absolutely FREE?

Is your so called 'free' Anti-virus software that came with your computer expiring? Why should you again pay for Anti-virus softwares when you can find equally competent anti-virus softwares for Absolutely FREE? Here I am listing three of most commonly used & highly rated FREE anti-virus softwares. They have a great reviews from users as well as experts.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.1: Very well-known, absolutely FREE of charge for LIFE! Easy to use and will not make your system crawl, low system resource requirements, automatic updating, real-time protection. The Direct link of the software is given in the resource section of the article.

Avast Home Edition: On Demand Scanner with simple skinnable interface, just select what you want to scan in which way and press Play button, email scanner for most available email clients, P2P protection for Kazaa, Bittorent, web-shield and much more. The direct link of the software page is give in the resource section of the article.

BitDefender Free Edition: Virus Scan, Scheduler, Live Updates, Quarantine, Reports, On demand scanning. Less known, but very powerful Antivirus software. Automatic and manual update. The direct link of the software page is give in the resource section of the article.

Find Gif Creation Programs Online

This is a listing of where and to find GIF creation programs online.

To find a program that creates GIFs, one can perform an internet search with basic keywords like "GIF"," create", "construction", "set", and "free". Although the search won't likely bring up any completely free programs to download, some will bring up free trials, which will give a good opportunity to try the GIF process at least and see if buying them to make the GIFs is ideal.

One such site that will come up is the link for GIF Construction set. This is available at mindworkshop.com and is recommended by the author of the "Sam's Teach Yourself in 24 Hours" book about HTML and XHTML.

Another program download that comes up is a link to Gif Animator. This is available at gif-animator.com.

Download.com has a try before you buy program download for Easy Gif Animator that will likely also come up in your search.

The other option is to create GIFs online. Although this can be a pain due to speed and internet disconnection, it is another great way to create GIFs. I found the following sites for this:
www.gifup.com, gickr.com, picasion.com, and gifworks.com.

The last bit of advice I have is to tell all that people are supposed to get permission to use GIFs online or in any other way that is not personal use.

Find and Delete Duplicate Images and Photographs

Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder will find all similar and duplicate images in a folder and its sub folders. It uses advanced algorithms in order to find similar images in a way that a human does. Due to that fact it can find similar images even if they are in different image formats and sizes.

Download and install the product at http://www.mindgems.com/products/VS-Duplicate-Image-Finder/VSDIF-Download.htm
There is a free demo available for download

Find Duplicate and Similar Photos Install the product. Start the program. The main window will appear.

Add folder(s) that you want to scan using "Add Folder" button (1)
Note: You can disable scanning a folder if you double click on the folder name. This is useful if you want to recursively scan a folder, but you want not to scan some folders inside

Select "Visual Compare" method from the drop down list (2).

Note: "CRC32 Checksum" method do not scan images for visual similarity. Using this method you can find only 100% binary equal images. "File Size" method will find duplicates with equal file sizes.

Adjust the "Similarity" spin button with the desired value (3). The default similarity value is 95%.
Note: Similarity value is used only when the selected method is "Visual Compare".

Select "New Cache" from "Cache" drop down list (4) or existing cache if you have previously created one.
Note: Using image cache files speeds up the first phase of the scanning process. It is recommended to use new cache only on folders you still didn't scan.
inside the selected folder.

Find and Delete Duplicate Photographs and Images Press "Start Scan" button (5)

After the scanning process is finished the following screen will appear:

Duplicate images are grouped in with different color. Depending on the "Auto Check " settings, the program automatically checks smaller images in every duplicate group. If you un/checked some duplicates by hand, you can always use "Auto Check " button (1)

After checking which files you want to move or delete press "Move Checked Files" (2) or "Delete Checked Files" button (3)

You can delete the checked files to the Recycle Bin if you checked "Delete files to Recycle Bin" option. Otherwise the files will be deleted permanently.
You can move the checked files to a custom folder if you adjust "Move checked files to ..." option selecting the destination folder. Duplicates folder structure will be maintained in the selected folder.

From this version the duplicates list supports multiple selection and you can select files using mouse and Ctrl/Shift keys. Note the difference between checked and selected files. You can then delete the selected files from the list and from the hard disk using the Delete key.

Fill Out a PDF Form With PowerPoint

Often websites use a PDF file to put forms on the Internet. Filling out a PDF form is difficult if you do not have a PDF editor. When run with PowerPoint, the Ghostscript program has the capabilities to allow users to fill out PDF forms without a PDF editor.


Download Ghostscript and the Ghostscript viewer. Ghostscript is an open source software free for download.

Install Ghostscript and save the PDF file you want to edit. Run the Ghostscript viewer and Click "Open."

Select the PDF you want to edit and click "Open." Go to the File menu and choose "Convert."

Pick "Jpeg" in the "Device" option in the Convert window. Set the resolution to 300. Choose the pages you want to edit from the Pages list. Select a location to save the picture and click "OK."

Run PowerPoint and go to "Page Setup" in the File menu. Edit the slide's height to 11 and the slide's width to 8.5.

Click on the "View" tab and move down to "Master." Select "Slide Master." Repeat this for all the pages.

Insert the pictures of the form. Create text boxes in the slides around the lines on the forms. Click on "Insert" and select "Text Box." Type the information in the text boxes.

Print the PDF form out or save the file in order to email or print the document later.

Extend Your Laptop's Battery Life

Most laptop manufactors promoise that the battery of the Laptop you have will last a long time, they lied! The laptop battery always seems to stop working very early (when you're watching a dvd). Take the proper steps yourself to ensure you get the most out of your laptop's battery life!

The well lit screen on your laptop takes up more power than you think. While the screen is bright, you don't have to have it up to the maximum brightness in order to use it. Go to your screen settings and decrease the brightness so it's still comfortable for you to use.

Discontinue your wireless signal if you have one, while you're not using your laptop. 20-30 minutes of your laptops battery life goes towards supporting your WiFi wireless feature. Right click on your wireless icon and click disable.

Make sure you have the correct power scheme set on your laptop. You can choose to use maximum power or low power when not using your laptop. Play around with the settings until you find one you feel comfortable with.

extend the life of your laptop battery

Don't ya just hate it when you are using your laptop and suddenly you get the message on your screen that your battery is 'critically low'? Well, here are a few simple steps to saving that battery life or at least stretching it out as long as possible.

First, adjust your power options on your operating system.

All laptops are slightly different so you will want to consult your users manual but most models will offer: balanced, power saver, and high performance options.
Choose the "power saver" option for the maximum battery saver or choose the "balanced" option for maximum performance. The "High performance" option should only be used when you have your laptop plugged into an outlet.

Most IBM/ Windows XP, and Vista users will be able to access their settings this way:

*Click "START" and then "Control Panel"

*Click "Performance maintained" (you may have to go to category/view first)

*Click "Power Options"

*Click the small arrow under the "Power Schemes" tab

*Click "Max Battery"

*Click "OK"

The Apple iBooks, Powerbooks, and MacBooks have their own settings to reduce battery usage whenever possible. From the 'main menu:
*Click: "System preferences"

*Click: "View menu" then: "Energy saver"

*Click "Show details"

*Select "battery" (or 'battery power')

*Select "longest"

For more information, on access to these settings, consult your users manual.

Establishing Automatic System Backups in Unix

Are you a system administrator that needs to do system backups? Database backups? Maybe this will help.


Being that I am a novice system administrator, I thought it would be a good idea to post about my task accomplishments in this blog. Here is the first of many. (This is a conceptual model only. This posts lacks specifics. This post is merely intended to reinforce the concepts I learned while performing this task. I hope it helps you too.)

For system administrators, it is important to back up the systems that is necessary for your company to operate. I will use system1 as the system that needs to be backed up, and system2 as the computer that system1 will be writing to. To back up data between to Unix FreeBSD systems do the following:

First you have to use: ssh-keygen -t dsa on system1 in order to generate the key pair used for authentication so that one system may write to a file on another system without human intervention. Once the key is made you have to save it in a file where it can be found when needed by the system. You can save them in /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa .

Next you have to make sure that same key is on system2 in the same /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa directory. You can do this by first changing your current directory to where you intend to save the key on system2: cd /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa .

Next you have to make sure that same key is on system2 in the same /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa directory. You can do this by first changing your current directory to where you intend to save the key on system2: cd /home/user/.ssh/id_dsa .

Then, you must put system2 into the known_hosts file on system1, and put system1 into the known_hosts file on system2

Now you need to check to make sure that everything you just did actually works. To do this you need to try to ssh from one system to another. You should not be asked for a password. If you are asked for a password, you did something wrong.

Now that you have set up access between system1 and system2, the next step is to set up the actual backup process. I will use file1 for the file on system1, and file2 for the location on system2 where file1 will be written to.

First you create a file that will contain the commands that system1 is to execute to perform the writing portion of the backup. I called this file backup.sh. You generally want backup.sh to be in /usr/local/bin because that directory is in everyone’s PATH, avoiding any permissions issues. I will use directory1 for the directory on system1 that file1 lies in. As you probably guessed, i will use directory2 for the name of the directory on system2 that file2 lies in. Here is what the contents of your backup.sh file should resemble:

#/bin/sh cd /usr/local/directory1 tar cvf /tmp/system1.file1 * scp file1 system2:/directory2/file2
exit

Finally you must place an entry into the crontab to schedule the frequency of the backup. Here is what your crontab should look like:

0 14 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh >/directory2/file2 2>&1

And voila! your automatic backup between 2 FreeBSD systems should be complete!