So you've read TechRadar's in-depth Google Nexus S review,
you've reconciled the (now much lower) price and you've ordered the
latest smartphone - now it's time to turn into a power user.
Here's
a round up of the secrets and tips you'll need to know to get the most
out of your latest gadget, so read on to go from Android amateur to
Nexus know-it-all.
1. Reclaim the comma
One
of the first irritations you'll encounter with the Google Nexus S is
the lack of a comma - the keyboard has a voice search icon where the
oft-used symbol should be.
But
there's a way to reclaim it - head into Settings, and choose Language
and Keyboard. Tap Android Keyboard and in there you'll see a dropdown
menu labelled Voice input.
From here you can select whether the
voice search icon is on the front screen, the symbol menu or delete it
altogether - and more importantly, the comma is back where it belongs.
2. Inbuilt battery graph
A
massive problem for smartphones is the battery maintenance - so many
devices have offered such poor battery life that some have been rendered
virtually unusable.
The Nexus S isn't that bad in terms of
holding its charge, but if you want to see what's happening with your
battery, the phone comes with a battery graph built in.
Simply
go into Settings, then tap About Phone. Open Battery Use and hit the
smaller battery graph at the top - this then opens up into a
fully-fledged graph complete with information on how fast your power
depleted and what the phone was doing at the time.
3. Get rid of unwanted apps quickly
You probably know already how to uninstall applications on the phone in the menu system.
But this can take a while, and ultimately frustrate you into leaving some apps that you didn't reach.
But if you open up the Android Market, you'll see a Downloads tab that shows you everything you've nabbed from Google's portal.
Choose
any of these and the option to Uninstall is present in the bottom
right-hand corner - the list is easier to access and quicker to use, and
you can give feedback to the developer on why you uninstalled it too.
4. Boost your media experience
The
media experience on the Android 2.3 platform is unfortunately not that
good natively - incompatibility with many file types and basic operation
mar the experience.
For music, we recommend MixZing - it has all
the features of the Android experience but also has Genius-like
abilities to mix a playlist based on a single song choice, as well as a
decent inbuilt EQ make it a real step up.
For
movies, mVideo Player is the one we reach for instantly whenever we
pick up an Android phone. The powerful player has a high level of file
compatibility, multiple bookmark options and even a slider for
brightness management.
You can even see the clock when viewing a video if you so wish - an oft-overlooked feature.
5. Unlock the power of voice
We mentioned we didn't like the voice input icon on the keyboard, but that doesn't mean we aren't fans of voice search.
From
calling and navigation to text entry and Google searching, your voice
can be activated by simply holding down the search key.
If
you're already in an application (say text message editor) you can hit
the icon to simply say your text - although you'd have to ask whether a
phone call makes more sense at this point.
6. Stop the constant sipping
We've mentioned battery management earlier - and there's a way you can stop it plummeting downhill instantly.
If you head into the Settings menu and choose Accounts and Sync, there's a large checkbox for background data.
If
you only periodically check things like social networks or email, then
this is a great way to save some power, as you can get the same
functionality by just manually updating when you open the app.
It
does mean things like push notifications won't work, but if you're after
a decent battery saving and don't care about instant updates, give this
a go.
7. Go 3D with Google Maps
Google
Maps 3D is here - well, for Cardiff and Birmingham in the UK. The new
Google Maps 5.0 for Android is by far the most powerful offering so far,
with the 3D vector view allowing you to zoom in and twist around
certain cities from your mobile.
Other
additional functions include compass orientation, for easier foot
navigation, and offline caching, where the phone cleverly works out the
places you frequent the most and downloads the date when you're on Wi-Fi
and plugged in (ie on the nightly charge).
8. Unlock your file system
Although
some phones (like the Samsung Galaxy S) include an inbuilt file
management system, the Google Nexus S has no such functionality.
This
means when you've copied media across to the phone but can't see it in
the gallery you're pretty much stuffed - unless you download a file
manager.
We're
fans of Astro - not only is it ridiculously easy to fly through the
folder branches, it can also unzip folders and search for file names -
and it's free too.
9. Take a picture of yourself
One
of the new features of Android 2.3 is a support for video calling, and
to that end the Google Nexus S has a front-facing camera to facilitate
it.
The problem is there's no mainstream application to let you
call using the front VGA camera - but you can still use it to take
pictures.
Simply
fire up the camera and hit the camera switch icon in the bottom
right-hand corner - you can take slightly gawpy pictures of your mug as
quick as a flash.
10. Easier copy and paste
Android 2.3 comes with enhanced copy and paste, making it easy to just hold down a word and see it copied to the keyboard.
In
text editing, you can cut or copy the word, and on the internet you
simply need to long press on a phrase and drag the tabs to choose the
selection you're after, with a quick tap auto-copying the text.
The
tabs are now much larger and easier to manipulate as well, making it a
much more simple experience when trying to move text from one place to
another.
11. Check out the downloads
This might sound like a simple update, but there's now a dedicated application for items you've downloaded from the internet.
It
saves you having to delve into the internet browser to get pictures or
applications you've snaffled from the web, and delete them easily too.
12. Bars to stop you scrolling
When
you're running through a list and get to the bottom, sometimes you're
not sure whether you've reached the end or if the phone is still loading
more options.
Google has added in some orange flashes when you
hit the top or bottom of a list as a visual cue - it's not the most
piviotal upgrade, but it's certainly adds to the sheen of your phone.
13.Magic tricks with photos
OK, not technically magic, but it certainly feels as cool as a card trick.
When
in the gallery view, you already will know that the stacks of pictures
mean there's more than one item in that category - but here comes the
awesome part.
Put two fingers on the top of the stack, pull them
apart and watch as the pics fly between your two
... Read more »
The PlayStation phone is the device equivalent of El Dorado, in that
it's spent a long time as a golden fable to trot out when conversation
slows. Now the fusion of gamepad and Android phone has emerged into the
modern world in the form of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.
It's a time when iPhones have permeated the globe, able to deliver tactile gaming on the go, and Nintendo's 3DS is making waves by bringing portable 3D fun to the masses.
Even within the Sony stable, the Xperia Play has rivals to overcome. There's the NGP, successor to the PSP, on the horizon, which will arrive boasting enough processing power to run the LHC (well, a quad-core CPU and graphics processor, at least).
What's more, it must establish itself over a selection of fast and competent Android handsets, such as Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc, which will also have the chops for 3D gaming of the non-stereoscopic kind.
As a
gaming-oriented mobile, the headline feature here is, of course, the
slide-out controller section. This comes bearing a D-pad, the familiar
PlayStation face buttons, a pair of touchpad 'thumbsticks', two shoulder
buttons and some menu keys. There's also an accelerometer on board, and
the four-inch 480 x 854 multi-touch screen for getting all handsy with
your software.
Powering
this is a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with embedded Adreno 205 GPU
graphics, 512MB of RAM and Android 2.3, or Gingerbread. While that's
competitive in terms of modern smartphones, we have to admit we were
expecting more pixel-pushing oomph.
Rounding
out the offering are a smattering of features, including Wi-Fi and 3G
connectivity, 5MP camera, Bluetooth and a bundled 8GB microSD card.
Okay,
now you know what's on offer, let's talk price. SIM-free, the Xperia
Play will require a £480-520 extraction from your wallet, and to get the
phone free on a contract will typically require paying £35-40 per
month.
To put that in perspective, you could get the much-lauded Orange San Franciscoand a 3DS
for the same cost as a SIM-free Xperia Play, with change enough for a
small library of games. For this kind of money, you'd be right to expect
legendary performance.
The Xperia Play hardware itself isn't
unattractive, but it is bulky, coming in a finger-width shorter than a
closed 3DS and a few millimetres less thick at 62 x 119 x 16.5mm.
It's
heavy as well, and feels too plasticky in the hand, mainly thanks to
the creaky, glossy backplate. Oh, and the whole device retains
fingerprints better than a crime lab database.
Holding
the phone upright as you would to make a call, along the left-hand side
of the slide-out section is a 3.5mm headphone socket and the micro-USB
port. We're not huge fans of how the jack is placed, given its location
makes the provided headphones rub against the base of our thumb while
playing games and gets in the way for movies.
On the top edge of
the phone is another less than ideally placed button – the power/lock
switch. Because it's recessed, it requires a fair flex of the index
finger to operate, which can be faffy at key moments.
The
right-hand side has the shoulder buttons (more on them in a bit) and a
volume rocker, which is in a great place for adjusting volume on the fly
during calls, but awkwardly right behind the middle of the screen
during gaming.
There's a minimal selection of non-backlit buttons
along the bottom of the screen too to handle navigating duties. These
are: Back, Home, Menu and Search respectively. They're pleasant enough
to use, but we think you'll find it hard to make them out in the dark.
One
neat touch is that when you flip the phone over and take off the
backplate, you can access the sim slots and microSD card without
removing the battery.
Not quite the killer start we'd hoped for, but we've yet to venture onto the Xperia Play's home turf: gaming.
The interface on the Xperia Play looks pretty similar to its cousin, the Xperia Arc.
By default, there are five Home screens to populate as you wish, with a
persistent dock-like bar along the bottom with space enough for four
customisable icons and a static menu launcher.
The Contacts and
Phone apps take up the right two slots, with the left two given over to
the Media folder and Messaging. We fast swapped out the Media file for
the Browser, given that one of the five Home screens is already filled
with widgets for the Gallery and Music apps, but you can hone this bar
as you wish.
Tapping the centre icon on the dock brings up a list
of apps to add to your Home screens, and all you need do is press and
hold one to drag it into a free slot. Handily, the background lines
behind it will turn green when you've found a valid place, so organising
is fast and intuitive.
One
minor quibble we do have is that you'll have to bypass this system and
go via the external menu key to place widgets, folders and shortcuts,
which seems a little inconsistent and caused us some early confusion.
By
default, the centre screen is almost entirely given over to the
Timescape widget, which acts like a stream of postcards, each presenting
Facebook and Twitter updates as well as text messages. Much like the
Friend Stream system we've seen on recent HTC models, each of these acts
as a slick starting point for finding the content you want.
Other
screens tend to be more open, but notably there's one screen dedicated
to gaming, with a half-screen widget for the PlayStation Pocket app and a
link to the Android Market to buy more games.
All you need do to
navigate between screens is swipe left and right, but there's also an
exploded view of all your widgets that you can access by pinching. Tap
on a widget and you'll be taken to its resident Home screen.
We're
not huge fans of this system, since it neglects to show you apps as
well, making it selectively useful, but if you're a widget-fiend then
it's perfect.
Scrolling left and right between Home screens is
generally quick and fluid, though. However, we've found it can be jerky
just after waking the device from its slumber in the mornings. On the
flip side, we were impressed by the speed of the scrolling Rolodex-style
widgets (as well as the PS Pocket, there's one for the Gallery, too),
making them eminently usable.
Taken as a whole, the system doesn't quite gel together as we'd like, but its not hard to learn to work around its quirks.
Contacts are accessed through the icon found by default in the dock
and the menu. You can also access the phone dialler, call log and
favourites from the menu at the bottom.
Importing our contacts to
the phone proved as simple as providing our Google log-in details, and
there's a wizard in place to help you get contacts onto the phone in
various other ways too.
The PS Vita is the most powerful, dazzling and impressive handheld games console ever built.
It
packs not one but two quad-core processors, a sparkling 5-inch
touchscreen OLED display, dual analogue stick controls and games that go
way beyond what any other portable device is currently capable of.
That includes the Nintendo 3DS,
which may wield 3D optics as its trump card, but nonetheless simply
cannot compete with the Vita in terms of graphical fidelity. What the
PlayStation Vita offers is more akin to a home console experience on the
move, and that puts it in an elite class of one.
Of course,
whether or not there is a big market for such a device is an interesting
question, and we're in the process of getting some early answers. A
sluggish start in Japan has been followed by some less-than-stellar
sales figures in the first weeks of its UK and US launch. It doesn't
come as much of a surprise.
After all, it's a luxury item
launching post-Christmas into a Western world ravaged by financial
floundering, and further hindered by Sony's desperate need to make money
at a time when the strength of the Yen makes exported Japanese products
very expensive.
Take a look at PS Vita gameplay footage, the new interface and touch controls in our video:
But we'll
get to that a little later, and as far as this PlayStation Vita review
goes, we're looking at the product as a stand alone piece of hardware,
how it stacks up against the competition and whether or not it offers
value for money.
The basics
In many ways,
despite the new name, the PlayStation Vita is another revision of the
Sony PSP legacy with plenty of much needed evolution on top.
The
same basic form factor returns and it doesn't look too different from
its predecessors. But this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. A beast among
men. A veritable fire-breathing monster compared to those long-dead PSPs
in the sky.
The
curvy oval shape returns, and measures 7.2-inches from end to end. So
it's the biggest Sony handheld ever, with a height of 3.3-inches and a
thickness of 0.73.
Sony's reasoning has clearly been: if we're
going to make the world's most powerful handheld console, we might as
well make it the best it can possibly be. That involves packing
industry-leading visuals, hence the 5-inch OLED screen which on its own
is as big as the entire PSP Go console was.
We think the enlarged
size is a worthwhile compromise, and this Wi-Fi only model weighs in at
just 260g which is 20g lighter than the original, smaller PSP 1000. So
when you pick it up you'll react to its apparent lightness.
On the table
The front of the console is a smorgasbord of hardware delights.
To the left of the screen you'll find the classic Sony D-Pad, a left analogue stick, a left speaker and the PS Home button.
To
the right you'll find your classic PlayStation triangle, circle, square
and X buttons, as well as a right analogue stick, right speaker, a
0.3MP front-facing camera and the Start and Select buttons you're most
likely very familiar with already.
On the top side of the Vita are left and right shoulder buttons - there are no trigger buttons like you'd find on a PS3
Dualshock controller. Between the shoulders you'll find the on/off
button, volume controls, the PS Vita Card slot (which we'll discuss in a
moment) and a terminal to plug in any number of as-yet non-existent
peripherals.
The
base of the console houses the proprietary USB connector for charging
and connecting to PS3 etc, as well as the headphone/microphone adapter
and the Memory Card slot.
And finally, the rear of the PS Vita is home to the brand-new rear Touch Pad, a rear 0.3MP camera and a microphone.
Price
At
launch the PS Vita will set back UK gamers around £209.99 (RRP
£229.99), while the 3G version will launch a little later for £259.99
(£279.99). At the time of writing, the cheapest deal for the PS Vita is
£197 at ASDA, while Amazon have matched that price.
There are bundle deals if you shop around, and these include different combinations of PC Sivta with memory cards and games.
Which is the best Android phone for you? We've got the answers
Our verdict on the best Android phones - constantly updated
There's one key way in which Android
is massively different from its Apple-branded smartphone competition -
the number of phones out there running Google's hot mobile OS.
Samsung
makes loads of them. Sony Ericsson makes a few. Then you've got
Android-powered phones from Acer, LG, Huawei and many others, while HTC
releases more in a month than all the rest added together manage in a
year.
The many
variations in screen size, processor power, software features and design
makes finding the best Android phone for you extremely tough.
Do
you physically and emotionally need a QWERTY keyboard? Are you the sort
of oddball who prefers the rough pressing needed to make resistive
touchscreens work? Are you struggling to work out which are the best Android Widgets? Or even stuck wondering: 'Actually, what IS Android?'
To
help find the best Android phone for you, we've rounded up the ten best
Android handsets out there today, rating the phones on hardware
performance, OS upgrade potential and, of course, how shiny and nice
they are to have and boast about to work colleagues.
So here they are - the ten best Android phones money can buy today. For many, many different reasons.
10. Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini
It
is indeed very mini, but Sony Ericsson has performed a tech miracle in
squeezing a capable 1GHz processor into its tiny chassis. The Xperia
Mini runs Android 2.3, enhanced significantly by the company's user
interface, which adds lots of style and extra functionality to Google's
on-fire mobile OS.
The email app with its resizing preview pane is
as sexy as an email app is ever likely to get, the jiggling app drawer
edit screen (with the ability to delete apps right from the listing) is
very nice, plus you get themes, a cool power off animation and much,
much more.
The
screen's responsive, text appears sharp, the camera capable of producing
good stills and passable 720p video footage. It does it all in an
impressively condensed package.
Quick verdict:
Small,
and very nearly, perfectly formed. If you can live with seeing the
world through a small-ish 3" screen, it's a great, highly usable
smartphone.
Samsung
took screen size to a ridiculous new level with the Galaxy Note,
offering us a huge 5.3" display that's by far the largest of any
smartphone out there today.
You also get a stylus, which is
pressure sensitive and comes with great handwriting recognition tools,
plus dual cameras (8MP and 2MP) along with an LED flash around the back
and rather decent image results.
As with all of Samsung's newest
Android models the Note is a solid performer, running Android 2.3
impeccably, with the same TouchWiz interface we've seen on the likes of
the Galaxy S II.
With
the show running at a super-high 1280x800 resolution, it's a
sharp-looking, smooth-running phone for those who don't want their style
cramping.
Quick verdict:
A great mobile, as long as you're not easily embarrassed by whipping out something so comically huge in public.
Orange stuck its logo on another ZTE-made phone in 2011, hoping to recreate the successes of the super-budget Orange San Francisco. And there are some reasons to upgrade to the £150 Monte Carlo, the most obvious being the larger screen.
ZTE's
stuck a large 4.3" display in here, which runs at a decent 800x480
resolution. It's not as dazzling as the displays on similarly sized
phones like the Xperia Arc, but it's still a big, solid screen considering the budget price.
Unfortunately
the Android 2.3 OS has been modified by Orange, which has made it
all... orange. But at least the network has added a nice gesture-based
control system that works well, while the Monte Carlo also generally
runs smoothly, powering web pages and apps well. Shame about the VGA
video recording spec, though.
Quick verdict:
It doesn't have quite the same transformational appeal as the San Fran, but it delivers a lot of phone and punch for the money.
Motorola's
newest flagship is by far its best Android offering so far, fusing a
unique hardware design with a less obtrusive user interface skin.
In
fact, Motorola's UI is actually quite fun to play with nowadays, coming
with resizable widgets and its extremely clever Smart Actions
automation system, which lets you set all sorts of time and
location-aware rules up and running.
The phone is solidly made,
and although impressively skinny, the odd, bulbous camera unit and
extra-wide bezel make it feel chunkier in the handy than the likes of
the Xperia Arc S and the older Galaxy S II. Still, if you like them a bit different, the Razr certainly stands out from the pack.
Quick verdict:
Impressively
built, fast hardware with a great display, plus a well refined Motorola
interface. Best current Moto mobile by miles.
Nearly two years ago the HTC Desire was the cutting-edge "superphone" of choice, now its enhanced sequel is an affordable mid-range option.
That's
how fast things move in the Android world. But don't dismiss the Desire
S because of its workmanlike approach. What you get here is a solid
phone with a great 3.7" screen, powered by Android 2.3 and HTC's updated
Sense 2.1 user interface. The result is a very slick and smooth
experience.
The camera is sadly a weak point, though, offering the
same blotchy 5 MP output as the original Desire. But apart from that,
everything here's a little better than in last year's Desire. Which
makes this a fantastic smartphone and a great entry to Android.
Quick verdict
A
superb update of the HTC Desire. Slightly smaller and a little faster,
it's a perfect gradual evolution of 2010's smash. Available on some very
cheap contracts, too.
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S3 has apparently leaked online,
prompting speculation that the phone could be unveiled to an expectant
tech world before the month is out.
Sourced by Phone Arena, the snap shows a handset with the same super
slim form factor and opinion-dividing plastic exterior as the
blockbuster blower that is the Galaxy S2.
However, in keeping with more recent smartphone challengers (CF:
Nokia’s Lumia 800), this time around it seems Sammy has dispensed with
front-facing physical buttons in favour of on-screen pressers.
Also noteworthy is that the screen appears extended too, perhaps
tallying with rumours that the S3 will feature a super-sized display in
the region of 4.8-inches, almost pushing it into tablet territory.
Less convincing than the image, though, is text on the screen that
suggests that the device will make its debut on March 22nd. We're very
much inclined to doubt that. Not least because, as Phone Arena’s scribes
point out, the font looks wrong and smacks of a Photoshop mock-up.
Also causing us to doubt its veracity is that Sammy previously warned
tech fans to expect the phone in the first half of the year. That
suggests to us that it’s more likely to be a second-quarter release than
any time in the next few weeks
Battery fix is being pumped out to all corners by April 18
Nokia has released the long-awaited update that promises to fix the Nokia Lumia 800's less-than-perfect battery life.
The
first Nokia phone to run Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system,
the Lumia 800 has been beset by bugs since its release, most notably a
very short battery life.
The new software (version
1600.2487.8107.12070) is rolling out across the globe from today until
April 18. Lumia 800 owners can check on the Nokia site to find out if the update is already available for their country and network.
25-30 hours battery life after update
Dinesh,
the Nokia employee who announced the update, reports that he has been
getting 25-30 hours of battery life with fairly active use (though five
of those hours are in flight mode – which is cheating, isn't it?).
Other
changes include beefing up the Lumia 800's weak bass to improve sound
quality in calls and music, as well as tweaking the illumination
settings of the soft keys.
However, Wi-Fi tethering is still missing, and we're told simply that it's "on its way".
What should you do when you forgot the password to login to Windows
system? Ask an administrator to reset the log on password for you. If
you yourself are administrator, and you can’t remember the administrator
password, the problem get a little tricky, and probably hard to recover
the ‘forgotten password’ again. Before you search for recovery CD or
Windows DVD to format and reinstall Windows onto the computer, here a
few ways you can try to unlock the Windows to gain access to the system
again, at least by resetting the password.
Method 1: Take a rest, and try hard to remember the forgotten password
Sometimes, human being is a little weird. You won’t get the thing
that you urgently need. So have a coffee, take a snap or even come back
after a few days, you may found that you suddenly ‘remember’ your
Windows password.
Method 2: Try No Password Administrator Login Backdoor
In Windows XP (not Windows Vista as Administrator account is not
enabled by default), there is built-in Administrator user account, that
has administrative credentials, enabled by default, and without any
password to protect the account from been access. If you didn’t change
this Administrator’s password, then try to sign in to Windows XP without password.
Method 3: Reset password from another user account with administrator credentials
If you cannot log on to Windows by using a particular user account,
but you can log on to another account that has administrative
credentials, follow these steps on how to do the trick:
Log on to Windows by using an administrator account that has a
password that you remember. You may need to start WinXP in safe mode.
Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type "control userpasswords2″, and then click OK.
Click the user account that you forgot the password for, and then click Reset Password.
Type a new password in both the New password and the Confirm new password boxes, and then click OK.
Method 4: LOGON.SCR password reset trick
LOGON.SCR changing administrator or domain admin password hack works
on Windows NT 4.0 and some versions of Windows 2000. The simple trick
uses Cmd.exe as screen saver that triggered by system when idle,
allowing users to access to command prompt to change password.
Method 5: Do-It-Yourself (DIY) third party recovery tool
There are a lot of tools and utilities that can be downloaded and
used to recover, reset, retrieve or reveal existing password. These
password reset or retrieval utilities, free or paid, are usually a Linux
boot disk or CD that able to comes with NT file system (NTFS) drivers
and software that will read the registry and rewrite the password
hashes, or can brute force crack the password for any user account
including the Administrators. The advantage is that there is no fear of
leaking your password to outsiders, while the process requires physical
access to the console and a floppy or CD drive, depending on which tool
you choose. And it’s not easy, although it always work!
Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
– Available as bootdisk or bootable CD, Offline NT Password and
Registry Editor works to change or reset password of any users on
Windows NT 3.51, NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003,
Vindows Vista 32 and 64 bit. It can also detect and offer to unlock
locked or disabled user accounts.
Download Links:
cd080802.zip (~3MB) – Bootable CD image and can be used to make bootable USB drive. bd080526.zip (~1.1MB) – Bootdisk image for floppy disk drivers1-080526.zip (~310K) – Disk drivers (mostly PATA/SATA). drivers2-080526.zip – Disk drivers (mostly SCSI).
John the Ripper password cracker
– John the Ripper is a fast password cracker based on dictionary attack
with a wordlist currently available for many flavors of Unix (11 are
officially supported, not counting different architectures), Windows,
DOS, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Its primary purpose is to detect weak Unix
passwords. Besides several crypt(3) password hash types most commonly
found on various Unix flavors, supported out of the box are Kerberos AFS
and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 LM hashes, plus several more with
contributed patches.
EBCD – Emergency Boot CD
– EBCD is a bootable CD, intended for system recovery in the case of
software or hardware faults. It is able to create backup copies of
normally working system and restore system to saved state. It contains
the best system software ever created, properly compiled and configured
for the maximum efficient use. Features are such as copy files from
unbootable volume, recover master boot record of HDD, recover deleted
file, recover data from accidently formatted disk and floppy disk. EBCD
also includes function to change password of any user, including
administator of Windows NT/2000/XP OS without the need to know the old
password.
Both contains necessary NT password recovery feature.
Ophcrack
– Windows password cracker using time-memory trade-off on LM and NTLM
hashes based on rainbow tables and supports Windows Vista, XP, 2003 and
NT. This tool allows you to retrieve existing password.
RainbowCrack
– Crack Windows password using time-memory trade-off cryptanalysis
based on rainbow tables. Unless you already has dumped the hash for your
Windows password, else this utility is for hacker as it provides no way
to retrieve the password hashes when you unable to access to your
computer.
L0phtCrack (LC5) – L0phtCrack (now known as LC5) is a
password auditing and recovery application by using dictionary,
brute-force, and hybrid attacks. originally produced by Mudge from L0pht
Heavy Industries, and was produced by @stake after the L0pht merged
with @stake in 2000. Support and sales has been discontinued by Symantec
from end of 2006, after it acquered @stake in 2004. So you probably
need a crack that lists below. If you unable to sign on to your
computer, you probably can’t use this.
Cain & Abel
– Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for Microsoft Operating
Systems. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by
sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary,
Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations,
decoding scrambled passwords, recovering wireless network keys,
revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing
routing protocols. The program does not exploit any software
vulnerabilities or bugs that could not be fixed with little effort. It
covers some security aspects/weakness present in protocol’s standards,
authentication methods and caching mechanisms; its main purpose is the
simplified recovery of passwords and credentials from various sources,
however it also ships some "non standard” utilities for Microsoft
Windows users.
This tool needs to be installed, so you must have another working
computer to recover your password remotely. Thus it’s likely to be
useful for system administrator only. Supports Windows Vista.
The latest Unity, available in Ubuntu
12.04 Precise Pangolin alpha 2 feels very smooth and is actually quite
stable for an alpha. Besides many bug fixes, there were also many tweaks
and changes designed to make Ubuntu 12.04 "pixel perfect" and while
we'll obviously not cover all of them, you can read about the most
important changes below.
The Ubuntu button ("BFB") now has quicklists let you quickly access any available lenses:
The Dash / Launcher color can now be changed:
In Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin alpha 2, when launching an application, the menu is initially displayed on the top bar and is only hidden after an amount of time which can be modified (along with the fade duration) through CCSM.
Until now, the menu would always
be hidden and only show up on mouse over, but this behavior made the
menu hard to discover for new users, so with this change, the Unity
developers hope to make the menu easier to find. And in case you were
wondering: no, you can't set this to a huge value to basically disable
autohiding the menu - the maximum value is 10:
In the screenshot above, you can also see the new "Show desktop"
button (yeah, Unity didn't have this until now) which can be enabled
from the CompizConfig Settings Manager. In the same screenshot you'll
also notice thatCCSM no longer uses sliders - they were removed
because users could accidentally change various settings by just trying
to scroll through the CCSM interface. This is just a first attempt to
improve CompizConfig Settings Manager, more changes should follow to
make sure users can't break Unity by just changing some settings.
With Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin alpha 2, work has started to integrate Unity settings with the System Settings
(GNOME Control Center), under "User Interface". For now, the available
options include: setting the launcher icon size, enable/disable launcher
autohide and autohide reveal spot:
The new Unity settings integrated into System Settings work with both Unity 3D and Unity 2D,
however, since not all settings work with both Unity versions (for
instance, you can't change the launcher icon size for Unity 2D), only those supported will be displayed for each Unity version.
As for Unity 2D, besides the new Unity settings integration mentioned above, there only one change worth mentioning: the top panel has finally got buttons to close maximize/restore Dash:
Other changes
LightDM received an update too and in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin alpha 2, the login screen uses the background you set for the desktop. This works for multiple users too - in this case, the LightDM login screen background changes depending on which user is selected, using a nice effect - you can see it in action at the end of the video in the beginning of this post.
By default, Ubuntu Software Center adds newly installed applications to the launcher. This can, be disabled by unckecking "New Applications in Launcher" from the Ubuntu Software Center View menu:
Also, Ubuntu Software Center now
automatically installs language support packages so there's no need to
open "Language Support" after installing new applications.
There are some more Unity features already available in the Unity PPA and the Unity Staging PPA which have not landed in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin yet:
New shortcuts hints overlay - a list of Unity keyboard shortcuts which is displayed when pressing and holding the SUPER key
Launcher switcher which you can use to switch between applications via the Unity Launcher using SUPER + TAB
A new "home" lens for Dash which displays recently used applications, files and so on, replacing the old shortcuts
Rovio clears up the confusion and will launch Angry Birds Space for WIndows Phone
Rovio has confirmed that Angry Birds Space will indeed come to Windows Phone handsets, contrary to an earlier statement from the developer.
The
Finnish company had initially said remaking the game for Microsoft's
momentum-gaining operating system would be too much work and thus it had
no plans for offer the new title.
Peter Vesterbacka, head of marketing told Bloomberg
that: "We're the No. 1 app in the Windows Phone app store, but it's a
big undertaking to support it, and you have to completely rewrite the
application."
The announcement will have raised alarm bells with
Microsoft and its preferred partner Nokia as the pair seek to establish
themselves as a serious alternative on the same level as iOS and
Android.
Relief for all concerned
Thankfully for the
pair, and Windows Phone adopters, it appears that something may have
been lost in translation as a second statement, just hours later on
Friday, cleared up the matter.
Rovio Chief Executive Mikael Hed told Reuters: "We are working towards getting Angry Birds Space to WP7," although he didn't offer a release date for the title.
A
studio like Rovio dumping Windows Phone at this stage of its
development could have had disastrous consequences for Microsoft in its
battle to win hearts and minds.
While the company has produced an
intelligent and original operating system, it could barely afford a "no"
in reply to the question: "Can I play Angry Birds on it?"
Has the world gone crazy? What is it with these lemmings, standing on
long lines spending so much money - for what? An new iPad 3? What do I
need a new iPad 3 for?
And yet, you're tempted. After all, this is the 21st century, and Apple's tablet is a uniquely 21st century device.
And you're even more tempted by the five reasons I gave yesterday for buying a new iPad 3 (hereafter abbreviated iP3).
To
help you resist the cultural and technological pull, here are five
justifications for responsibly resisting your tablet temptations.
1. iP3 is inappropriate for kids.
For
one thing, sharper small text is meaningless for largely large
type-size, image-based kid activities, eliminating iP3's key upgrade
benefit. Plus, junior's finger smudges would mar any of iP3 higher
resolution advantages. Kids also aren't likely to need the sophisticated
gaming or productivity apps that require the kind of super-charging
iP3's improved A5X chip provides.
But most of all, do you trust your young'un with such an expensive toy? And speaking of expensive...
2. It's too expensive.
In
a world with a more pocket-friendly $200 Kindle Fire and other
lower-priced/lower resolution Android tablets, there's no need to spend
so much money on a new tablet simply to casually surf the Web, answer
occasional email or read an e-book.
Plus, if you'll use your
tablet mostly at home or where you know there'll be Wi-Fi connectivity,
you can opt for a cheaper Wi-Fi-only tablet.
3. An iPad 2 is good enough.
There is nothing wrong with an iPad 2 - it's not as if it's a 1978 Ford Pinto with 200,000 miles on it. In fact, iPad 2 was state-of-art just a couple of weeks ago.
If
you have resisted buying a Blu-ray player because you believe your DVDs
look just fine, than either your current iPad 2 or buying a newly $100
discounted or even a refurbished iPad 2 to save $150 will certainly satisfy.
4. I hate Apple's ecosystem.
Yes,
once you buy into the Apple ecosystem there really is no escape. Any
music, movies or books you buy in iTunes will play only on Apple
hardware, which means you'd lose all your media content if you, at some
future date and for whatever reason, decide to switch operating system
sides.
Living in the Android or even the Microsoft Windows
Phone/Windows 8 world is far more forgiving. You get more media purchase
options and device flexibility – all your purchased media bought from
any source will play on any Android or Windows Phone device from any
manufacturer – and keeps you from being co-opted by the cult of Apple.
Even
I sometimes feel a little Apple claustrophobic, but I consider the
company a velvet dictator. Or maybe I'm just rationalizing my purchased
content trap.
5. Why do I need it?
If you
equate "need" with breathing, eating and wearing clothes (at least in
public), you don't need an iP3. Even if you equate "need" with watching
TV, social networking, reading or a clock radio - although any tablet
combines all these activities into a single portable gadget - you don't.
Like
anything else, you definitely should decide on a specific need before
plopping down $499-$829 for a device whose precise personal utility
you're still fuzzy about.
Although, once you buy one you won't know how you lived without it.
Almost four months ago, OS X Lion
escaped from the Mac App Store and took up residence in Macs around the
globe. And for the most part users are quite happy with their new house
guest. Yet part of the fun with any new operating system release is
uncovering all the new features - and make no mistake, this big cat has
plenty of them.
Despite Apple's efforts to outline more than 250
new features in OS X Lion on their website, many users are still
discovering new items daily, which is keeping the folks who track such
features working overtime in their efforts to expose them.
However,
we realise that many of you don't have enough time to put on your
sleuthing cap and play Sherlock Holmes with us. That's why we've
assembled a massive list of all the cool little discoveries we've found.
So without further ado, let's get our big cats in a row (so to speak), dig in our claws and unearth 80 OS X Lion tips...
01. Birth date year optional
Many
of us know the month and day of our family and friends' birthdays, but
we might not know the year. Thankfully, Lion's Address Book couldn't
care less, allowing you to enter just the month and day, which will
carry over to iCal just fine - without displaying their age. Make sure
Birthday is selected in Address Book > Preferences > Template >
Add field.
02. FaceTime calling
OS
X Lion also adds a FaceTime link to the Address Book to make it easy to
keep up with friends and family. With a contact open, click on any
email address, choose FaceTime and enjoy your chat.
03. iPhoto faces
OS
X Lion makes it easier to attach images to your contacts in Address
Book by linking to iPhoto's Faces feature. Double-click on a contact's
photo and after a moment, click on the Faces icon at the bottom-left to
browse from your iPhoto library. Make your selection, zoom and crop and
you're good to go.
04. Lose the space
By
default, OS X Lion treats the Dashboard overlay as one of your
desktops, much to the chagrin of long-time users. This deprives it of
its quick-reference usability. Fortunately though, it's easy to undo,
simply by opening System Preferences > Mission Control and unchecking
the very first option, 'Show Dashboard as a space.'
05. Assign your desktops
All
apps in OS X Lion can now be assigned to specific desktops, all
desktops or none at all, right from the Dock. To do this, simply
Ctrl-click on the app in question, manoeuvre to Options in the pop-up
menu and select the appropriate choice from the 'Assign To' options.
06. Access recently opened files
The
OS X Lion Dock just got a little more useful with the addition of a
list of recently opened files for relevant applications. To access them,
simply Ctrl-click on any app in your Dock and up pops a list of
recently used files for that selection.
07. Volume encryption
FileVault
2 got a major overhaul with OS X Lion, and one of the biggest features
has to be the ability to encrypt an entire volume rather than just a
user's Home folder. Just turn it on, enter a recovery key and sit back
as a blanket of security is applied to your entire volume.
08. Lose the indicator lights
So
you love the Dock, but just aren't feeling it for those indicator
lights below each open application. No problem - OS X Lion now allows
you to turn them off by opening System Preferences > Dock and
unchecking 'Show indicator lights for open applications'.
09. Quick Look stacked files
Finally,
stacks are made more useful! From any folder stack in your Dock, simply
mouse over the one you'd like to Quick Look and hit the space bar. As
if by magic, you'll get a nice big preview of that file, same as you
would from a Finder window, in fact.
10. Encrypt external disks
In
addition to encrypting your entire system volume in OS X Lion (instead
of simply a user's Home folder in the prior version), users can now
choose to encrypt external USB or FireWire drives as well. The option
will come to your attention in the Disk Utility app at the time of disk
formatting.
11. Emoji emoticons added to special characters
This
tip actually works from any app that uses the Edit menu. To get your
Emoji on, simply go to Edit > Special Characters and browse to the
new Emoji section of the sidebar. Double-click or drag a selection to
insert it into the active text field.
12. File sorting
OS
X Lion introduces a new toolbar method for sorting files based on a
variety of options including name, kind, application, four date-related
options, size, label or none, which keeps things the way they were in
Snow Leopard. Now you can separate folders from documents and much more,
making it easier than ever to find what you're looking for.
13. Gesture navigation
If
you prefer to view your files as icons, OS X Lion now allows for
gesture-based navigation as it displays Finder items. Files in each
particular group are now displayed in rows of icons, allowing you to
easily swipe through them with a trackpad.
14. Keyboard shortcut to Downloads folder
Once
a file you've downloaded has vanished into Safari 5.1's tiny Downloads
window, how can you find it again? There are several ways, but one of
our favourites is using the Command+Option+L keyboard shortcut in the
Finder. This pops it open - even if you were just browsing another
Finder folder.
15. Merge folders
In
the past, copying a folder with the same name to a new location was
strictly a no-no. That's all changed in OS X Lion, and now you'll get
the option to merge folders or keep both folders when doing so. Oh, how
we love the little things in life…
16. Move instead of copy
We've
always been able to move files to different folders by dragging and
dropping with the Command key held down, but now keyboard junkies have
even more options. Simply use Command+C as always to copy one or more
files, then use Option+Command+V when pasting, which will actually move
the file from its original location to the new destination.
17. Navigate with gestures
With
all of the new gestures, it's no surprise that Apple removed the
previous method of navigating back and forth through Finder windows. But
it's still there - simply hold down the Option key while you swipe left
or right with three or four fingers (depending on how you have it
configured) to navigate Finder windows instead of spaces.
18. New folder with selection
If
you frequently move files into folders, you'll love OS X Lion's new
ability to select one or more files, then pull up a contextual menu with
a Ctrl-click. At the top of the menu you'll see 'New Folder with
Selection' - select it and watch as your files literally jump into a new
folder.
The follow up to Lion is called Mountain Lion. See what they did there?
Apple has today released details of its next-gen OS. Dubbed Mountain Lion, it's the follow-up to OS X 10.7 Lion and prior to that Snow Leopard and Leopard.
As such it's full name will be OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Let's
make one thing clear - this is not a meghat's striking about Mountain
Lion is how much further towards iOS Apple is taking its desktop OS -
Mac purists will be rightly concerned that Apple seems to be moving its
operating systems together to a point where they will converge, but for
the rest of us a unified OS is a tantalising prospect.
"The Mac
is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and
with Mountain Lion things get even better," said Philip Schiller,
Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing in a statement.
"The
developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the
incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of
development for the world's most advanced personal computer operating
system."
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: release date
Mountain
Lion has been released to developers today and should be available for
consumers this summer - expect a further announcement at Apple's
Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in early June.
Apple says
theMac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion release date is late Summer 2012. As with
Lion, Mountain Lion will be available as a download from the Mac App
Store.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: iOS integration
The new OS
incorporates a number of features right from iOS - we had some in Lion
of course, but Mountain Lion includes reminders, notifications and
Twitter integration as well as Messages, Notes (separate, not within
Mail) and Game Center.
Reminders and Notes help you create and track your to-dos across all your Apple devices. These
all sync to iCloud, as does your gaming record in Game Center. More
importantly, the arrival of Game Center in OS X means you can play iOS
users in the same game. Apple has demoed cross-platform gaming with Reckless Racing - expect many other games to follow suit.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: iOS terminology
One
of the most striking things about the new OS is how Apple is renaming
everything on its desktop OS to fall in line with iOS. So iCal is now
called Calendar, while Addresss Book has become contacts, for example.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: iCloud integration
Apple
says Mountain Lion is the first OS X release built with iCloud in mind
for easy setup and integration with apps. Whatever that means.
Well
actually what it means is that Mountain Lion will use your Apple ID to
automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime and
Find My Mac.
And iCloud will also sync Documents across your
devices - any changes are pushed across all your Apple kit so documents
are always up to date. Apple has also announced a new API to help
developers make document-based apps work with iCloud.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: iMessage
There's
also a Messages app that takes the place of iChat, allowing you to
continue conversations started on Mac on any iOS device. iMessages will
work much as they do on iPad. Again, messaging is unlimited between
Macs and iOS devices.
This includes high-quality photos and
videos, while the Messages app will continue to support AIM, Jabber,
Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. The continued support for the later is
especially pleasing.
What's more, any Mac OS X Lion user can get hold of a beta of Messages from apple.com. The final version will be available with Mountain Lion.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: Notifications
Mountain
Lion also nicks notifications from iOS. Again there's a Notification
Center that provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar,
Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps.
And,
just like in iOS, you pull it across from the right of your desktop.
Developers will be able to bake in support for this in their own apps.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: Safari
Safari now gets the ability to search right from the address bar, just as you can in Chrome and Firefox.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: Share Sheets
A
new feature, called Share Sheets, is supposed to make it easy to share
links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps.
Sounds like a clipboard to us. However, it enables you to share various
types of content with whoever you choose. The interesting thing here
is that Apple has partnered with Flickr for photos and Vimeo for video.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: Twitter integration
And, of
course, there's Twitter. The service is integrated throughout Mountain
Lion so you can sign on once and tweet directly from all your apps
including Safari, Quick Look, Photo Booth, Preview and third party
apps.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: AirPlay mirroring
Following
on from other attempts at computer-based wireless displays, such as
Intel's WiDi, Mountain Lion introduces AirPlay Mirroring. You'll be able
to mirror your computer screen on a TV wirelessly, though you'll need
an Apple TV to connect through. There's 720p HD support (although other
systems do support 1080p, Apple TV doesn't) and supposedly amazing
realtime response rates for gamers using the mirroring app.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: Gatekeeper
Think
there's no need for security software on a Mac? Think again. Apple has
introduced a new security feature called Gatekeeper that allows for
personalised security settings, working as a kind of safety net for
less confident users by offering a setting that allows the Mac to accept
only software downloaded from the Mac App Store.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion for developers
Apple
says it has created hundreds of new APIs for OS X 10.8. As well as that
iCloud Documents API we talked about earlier, the Game Kit APIs tap
into the same services as Game Center on iOS, making it possible to
create multiplayer games that work across Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod
touch.
There's a new graphics infrastructure underpins OpenGL and
OpenCL and implements GLKit from iOS 5, to make it easier to create
OpenGL apps.
What more is there? "Using Core Animation in Cocoa
apps is easier than ever, and new video APIs deliver modern 64-bit
replacements for low-level QuickTime APIs. Enhanced Multi-Touch APIs
give developers double-tap zoom support and access to the system-wide
lookup gesture. Kernel ASLR improves security through enhanced
mitigation against buffer overflow attacks," says Apple.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion for Chinese users
China
is now a massive market for Apple. And as such Mountain Lion introduces
new support for Chinese users, "including significant enhancements to
the Chinese input method and the option to select Baidu search in
Safari."
Apple has also announced easy account setup for some of China's biggest email service providers including QQ, 126 and 163.
Chinese
users can also upload video via Share Sheets directly to video
websites Youku and Tudou, and while we like Twitter, there's
system-wide support for Sina weibo.
Not quite the killer feature we thought it would be
Opera 10.10 (Unite) review
Opera 10.10 has something very clever up its sleeve with Unite
When Opera 10 was released early last year, it was supposed to
include Opera Unite, which turns your browser into a server. Unite
wasn't ready in time, and in our review a while ago we said: "We wanted to see Unite here… there's no killer app to tempt users away from rival browsers."
Opera
10.10 finally brings Unite to the party. So is it Opera's killer app?
We're not sure about killer, but it's certainly clever.
Unite is a
sandboxed server that can be used by Unite applications to share data:
photo albums or media streaming, for example.
Simply run the
application on your copy of Opera, leave your PC connected to the
internet and you – or anyone you give the URL and, if appropriate, the
password to – can access that content from any web browser.
It
works flawlessly, but we're not sure Unite makes sense for large-scale
sharing. It might take a while to upload stuff to Flickr, Vimeo or
DropSend, but once the upload's over, the bandwidth bill isn't a problem
if your content becomes popular.
Where Unite does make sense,
however, is personal sharing. Because you can use Unite to serve content
to PCs, Macs, Linux boxes and smartphones, it's a handy feature for
frequent travellers or anyone who needs to access their work from
multiple locations.
Slick and fast
Even
if Unite doesn't float your boat, there are plenty of other reasons to
give Opera a whirl. The unusual interface is rather lovely, Turbo speeds
up web browsing on slow Wi-Fi or 3G connections and you can sync
bookmarks from PC to PC.
You also get the usual Opera features, including integrated email, content blocking, RSS reading and mouse gestures.
It's
faster than Internet Explorer by some margin, it's more functional than
Chrome and it's smarter and slicker than Firefox. Nevertheless, Opera's
share of the browser market remains under three per cent, while
Internet Explorer 6 still gets around 11 per cent.
Opera 10.10 is
the best version of Opera yet, but we suspect that the browser is
largely preaching to the converted minority. It's a shame.
Ever since Internet Explorer beat Netscape and turned into the web
industry's least favourite boat anchor, Microsoft has been struggling to
turn the tide.
IE7 was little more than a statement that it
planned to become a contender again, and IE8 was a decent overhaul, but
one whose success came firmly from being a Microsoft release rather than
because of any intrinsic improvements over its rival Firefox.
With IE9, everything's changing. For starters, XP isn't supported – unless you're on at least Vista, you can't use it.
The
once heavy, intrusive browser has been stripped down, now focusing on
the web content you're looking at rather than trying to impress you with
gimmicky features, heavy interfaces or many of the other IE hallmarks
we've seen over the last five years.
In short, IE9 is now Google
Chrome. It looks like Chrome, it smells like Chrome and, while it
doesn't work as well as Chrome, it's still in beta.
Notable
visual issues right now are the blank gap where the title should be,
which niggles the eye every time it catches it, and the way the address
bar forces your tabs into a much smaller area, greatly reducing how many
you can comfortably use.
Subtle changes
Many
of the new features are ones we've seen before, such as being able to
rip tabs out of a window at will, or more subtle notifications when IE
wants to check that you're okay with a page or alert you to something.
There
are some new ones though, including the ability to add bookmarks to
your Taskbar and run them like applications, and Aero Peek support for
the tabs you have open in your browser – at the time of writing, Chrome
only displays the active browser window.
It feels like Microsoft
is putting its ego aside and realising that it's the web pages that
matter. This is how the whole industry is going at the moment, and it's
good to see it not trying to fight it. After all, when you're the
dominant player, you don't have to.
It's unlikely that IE9 will give you a real reason to switch back, but it should be an excellent update if you use it by choice.
Microsoft has admitted that it faces a major challenge in getting
people to give Hotmail another go, despite the great strides taken in
making the webmail service significantly better.
Speaking to
TechRadar, Microsoft Group Product Manager for Windows in the UK, Ian
Moulster believes that people's perception of hotmail is based on the
service as it was five years ago, and believes that the real trick is
persuading people to give the service another try.
"The perception issue in itself causes people to not want to switch or not to even look," said Moulster.
Moulster: "People think of Hotmail and think of the way it was five years ago with lots of spam, slow and clunky."
"They
are using Gmail or Yahoo mail and it seems to work – and they think of
Hotmail and think of the way it was five years ago with lots of spam,
slow and clunky.
Would I switch?
"They think it's going to be hard to switch anyway so they ask 'why would I switch?'.
"It's
an interesting problem to have. There are lots of cool things in
Hotmail that people would look at and say 'that's pretty cool and it
will make my life easier'."
Moulster believes that Microsoft as a
whole needs to be more vocal about the strides its online services like
Hotmail and IE9 have come, as well as talk about the impressive Skydrive
cloud storage that is becoming increasingly important to the company
and yet remains largely unknown to the general public.
"We just
don't shout enough about the stuff that we have got," Moulster added.
"We don't shout about many products at all – there's very few we make a
noise about.
"We're primarily a software company and we have great products and the focus is on making those products as good as possible.
"We
do need to tell people about the things we do and make sure people are
aware of how good these products have become as well and I put IE9 in
that bracket as well.
"I don't think people realise how much better they are now; just how good those products are."
The leaked build still says Office 15 (Mondo refers to the edition)
Office 15 will be here next year. And, what's more, it'll be getting the Windows 8 look.
There will also possibly be a Windows 8 authoring tool as well as HTML add-ins too.
So what are we expecting to see in Office 15?
What will Office 15 be called?
Microsoft's
PR team refers to "Wave 15" without giving any details (like "Wave 15
is currently under development, but we have nothing further to share at
this time"). Several Microsoft job adverts and LinkedIn profiles for
Microsoft employees use the name Office 15, and the Access team has
referred to Access 15 - but Office 15 is unlikely to be the final name
(Office 2010 had the Office 14 codename).
Although a discussion about SharePoint by what appears to be a Microsoft employee
refers to Office 2013, the name is almost certainly going to be Office
2012. As usual, we're expecting multiple Office 2012 versions from
starter to home and small business versions as well as a full Office
2012 enterprise edition, with different combinations of apps.
When is the Office 2012 release date?
A
job advert for Office Mobile testing in October 2010 referred to
"Office 15 and Windows Phone 8 planning phase just getting under way",
rumours in March suggested the code had already reached Milestone 2 and
what looks like a legitimate build leaked in May. The Office division
takes two to three years to put out a new version and we saw the beta of
Office 2010 in February 2010 followed by RTM in May.
Microsoft
names products by the year after the financial year they come out in (so
they don't look out of date immediately), but Microsoft's financial
year ends in July – so anything that releases to manufacturing after
July 2012 would have 2013 in the name. Office 2012 beta will probably
show up early in the year again, with final code by the middle of 2012
and the actual Office 2012 release date would be before late summer.
Office 2012 features
"Office 15 is shaping up to be one of the most feature packed and exciting releases," says a Microsoft job advert.
There's obviously noting official on the Office 2012 features at this
stage but there are some hints, like Office president Kurt delBene
saying at the Worldwide Partner Conference "We want to remain the
leaders in productivity on the desktop. We need to push forward in new
scenarios that we had not delivered before."
CLEAN LOOK:The OneNote 15 interface is sparser and easier to navigate on a tablet
There's
going to be more video (both editing and using for meetings), more
social network integration and maybe a whole new experience for
meetings tying together the invitation you send in Outlook, the
presentation you give in PowerPoint, the notes you take in OneNote and
the Lync client you use for the online meeting.
Office 2012 interface
The
Office 2012 interface is going to change from what we've seen in the
leaked builds so far, but we'd bet anything you like that it's not going
to lose the Office ribbon. OneNote 15 already has a new look in the
leaked build with a much cleaner interface that will work well on tablet
PCs, and a quick thumbnail navigation to get to recent pages that also
looks tablet friendly.
PowerPoint 15 doesn't have any new themes,
which reports from WPC mentioned, but it does preview themes straight
from Office.com; it also has a new random transition option. A new M1
tab on the ribbon (probably a reference to new features in the Milestone
1 build) has a Data Grid tool that opens a redesigned version of the
Chart picker with a new combo chart type. The same tab is in Word 15,
along with an Extensions dropdown; there's nothing on it but it's where
the new programming model we've been hearing about fits in.
CLOUD LINKS:No new transitions in the PowerPoint 15 leak but note how you can see themes directly from Office.com
Outlook
shows the most interface differences, with a cleaner look that has more
white space and resembles the Outlook Web App you get with Exchange and
Office 365 - but again it keeps the ribbon. Instead of the vertical
stack of buttons in the current interface there are Mail, Calendar and
Contacts buttons at the bottom to switch to those views - and a menu
with the familiar icons for Tasks, Folders and Shortcuts which lets you
add them at the bottom as well.
METRO LOOK:More white space like Outlook Web App in Office 365, but the notifications and bottom buttons are very Windows 8
This
has hints of the Metro style underlying the Windows Phone 7 and Windows
8 interfaces, especially with the notification icon for new messages
and tasks. The M1 command here is for sorting subfolders alphabetically
rather than keeping them in the hierarchy you created.
Office 2012 collaboration
The
co-authoring features in Word and the Word Web App show up in small
changes to the change tracking, making it easier to filter by who made
changes or when changes were made. That's part of what Word program
manager Jonathan Bailor was promising when Office 2010 came out. "
In
Office 15, we'd love to take collaboration and communication to the
next level. We've unlocked all of these new ways to work and a new set
of expectations from users, and we're like, "Put us back in the ring;
we're ready for round two." Until coauthoring a document is as easy and
ubiquitous as e-mail attachments, our job isn't done."
One hope is
that Office 15 might deal with some long-standing issues in Office,
thanks to an intern who worked on improving search features on
Office.com and built a tool so the Office developers could look at what people are searching for and "leverage the data in Office '15' planning".
Is there a new app in Office 2012?
Maybe
but it isn't Limestone; that's the same internal testing tool we saw in
Office 2010 builds. The leaked build includes a new program called
Moorea (there isn't a shortcut for it on the Start menu but you can run
it anyway).
WINDOWS 8 LOOK:The new Moorea app lets you place images, text and links to Word documents on a tiled layout that's very Metro
This
lets you create layouts with images, text and links to Word documents,
on a widescreen grid of tiles; it looks ideal for packaging up content
into a Windows 8 tablet layout and we think it might be a tablet
authoring tool – the files it saves are HTML…
Is Office 2012 based on HTML?
No.
There's Moorea, which looks like a nice way to build HTML interfaces
for content, and there's a new application model for developers creating
tools on top of Office using JavaScript and HTML (although Visual Basic
and C# are still there). A Microsoft job advert explains "Integration
of JavaScript/HTML5 will enable developers to create rich applications
that span clients and server, integrate with Office 365, enhance the
SharePoint experience, and unlock new scenarios that unleash the great
potential that lies in the combination of Office and the cloud." One
theory; developers might be able to create add-ins for Office that would
also work with the Office Web Apps.
Free for a limited time, the new Photoshop features a new Crop tool and overhauled Adobe Camera Raw, among others
Hot on the heels of Adobe Photoshop Touch, Adobe has unveiled the beta version of Photoshop CS6, and it's available for anyone to download and try for free, whether you're an existing Photoshop user or not.
While there are no unexpected must-have features, there are lots of tweaks and minor upgrades to the existing Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop Elements 10 tools.
When
starting up the Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta for the first time, for
example, you will notice that it has a new darker interface to help you
focus on the image you're editing.
But
there's more to the update than a superficial interface makeover. So
here we explore 10 of the most important things about the new software.
Adobe
has introduced the Mercury Graphic Engine to enable Photoshop CS6 to
make greater use of a computer's graphics processing unit (GPU).
Consequently, it makes some adjustments and edits render more quickly.
2. Photoshop CS6 Beta uses on image controls
Adobe
is moving to more intuitive 'on image' controls, so the strength of
some filters, for example, can be adjusted by moving a control displayed
on the image itself rather than on a dialog box on the side.
This enables you to keep your eyes on the picture, not jumping back and forth to dialog boxes or sliders.
3. Photoshop CS6 Beta has a black interface
By
default, the Photoshop 6 interface is dark, but if you prefer the old
style you can change it back via Preferences>Interface.
4. Photoshop CS6 Beta has a new Crop tool
The Crop tool has been overhauled, and is now similar to the one in Lightroom, so if you're a Lightroom user, you'll have no trouble adapting.
When
it's rotated to straighten the image, the image rotates instead of the
crop rectangle, and you can use guides such as the rule of thirds.
Helpfully, it quickly switches into the straightening mode, enabling you
to you drag a line along an element such as the horizon that needs to
be level. The guides can be changed by hitting the O key.
There
are also shortcuts to a range of customisable aspect ratio options, and
there's a handy command that switches the crop rectangle between
landscape and portrait orientations. Another useful new setting is
Delete Cropped Pixels. Untick it to crop the canvas but leave pixels on
the layer, in case you change your mind.
However, if you really
don't like the new style, tick 'Use Classic Mode' in the Options Bar's
fly-out menu to revert to the old Crop tool you know and love.
5. Photoshop CS6 Beta has a new Filters menu
Adobe
has reviewed the filters provided in CS5 and reorganised the menus for
CS6. It's also dropped a few of the filters, including the Pixel Bender
options.
A
new Oil Paint filter is an astonishing way to transform pictures and
offers a lot of control over the way a seemingly random pattern of
brushstrokes is added to an image.
6. Photoshop CS6 Beta has a new Layers Filter
This
is useful with images that have numerous layers, since it enables you
to filter the layers in the Layers' panel by type, characteristics or by
searching by layer name. It's even possible to see just those layers
with a certain colour.
The filter also enables you to quickly toggle between a subset of layers and the entire stack.
7. Photoshop CS6 Beta reveals a Tilt Shift filter
Photoshop
CS6's new Tilt Shift filter (found in Filter>Blur>Tilt Shift)
enables you to replicate the popular miniaturisation/tilt-shift effects
by adding blur from a plane.
This
filter uses 'on image' controls so you can drag and adjust the effect
on the image, rather than through a dialog box. This is also one of the
GPU-accelerated effects.
8. Photoshop CS6 Beta brings Character and Paragraph Styles
Just like in fellow Adobe Creative Suite program InDesign,
Photoshop CS6's new Character Style and Paragraph Style Panels enable
you to save your favourite font, size, colour, and other type-related
settings and edit them via the fly-out menus.
9. Photoshop CS6 Beta enables local white balance in Adobe Camera Raw
Photoshop
CS6 enables local white balance adjustment in Adobe Camera Raw using
the Adjustment brush and/or the Graduated Filter tool. Another new local
adjustment is Moire Reduction, and the other sliders have been updated
to match the basic adjustments.
Other changes have been made to Adobe Camera Raw too, including its adjustment sliders and save versions.
10. Photoshop CS6 Beta has a Content-Aware Move tool
Adobe's
new Content-Aware Move tool is found in the same Tools Panel button as
Spot Healing and Patch. It extends the Content-Aware Fill technology to
moving a selection, blending it into its new location, and
simultaneously filling in the hole it left.
It needs to be used with care, but when it works well, it's a great time saver.
As you'd expect, IE9 integrates well with Windows 7. The interface divides opinion but we really like it
Competition among browsers is more fierce than ever.
Google's
knocking out new versions of Chrome at an alarming rate, Mozilla's been
pulling nightshifts to improve Firefox, and Microsoft's rejuvenated IE
team is doing great things with its browser.
There are great browsers from Opera and Apple too, not to mention mobile browsers for smartphones and tablets.
So which browser should you be using?
Let's find out which ones offer the best blend of power, expandability and all-round awesomeness.
The best browser for speed
We
tested the latest official releases of the big browsers: IE9, Safari
5.1, Firefox 9, Chrome 16 and Opera 11.6 to see how they performed on
the desktop. All of the big browsers deliver speedy browsing, but there
are still differences when it comes to things such as JavaScript
performance, which affects the speed at which web apps and complex
websites work.
In the Sunspider JavaScript benchmarks Firefox
left its rivals in the dust, storming through the tests in a hugely
impressive 189.4ms. Safari was next with 219.6ms, followed by IE9
(247.9ms), Opera (254.3ms) and Chrome (291.0ms). We saw similar results
in Windows Vista, with Firefox narrowly pipping its rivals to take first
place.
These figures are based on brand new installations without
any plugins, extensions or similar: once you start loading your browser
up with goodies, performance is likely to take a nose-dive.
WOW:Firefox is the speed king on Windows and on OS X, but there isn't much in it: all the browsers are swift
The best browser for add-ons
You
can get add-ons for all the main browsers, but Firefox has the edge
here: its huge number of add-ons and Greasemonkey scripts mean that its
reputation as the Swiss Army Knife of web browsers is well deserved.
It's far and away the most expandable web browser, and it's got the best
browser sync features too. Bear in mind, though, that all of the main
browsers are expandable, and while some - such as Safari - don't have
enormous libraries of add-ons, you can still get the essential ones such
as ad blockers, Twitter utilities and Gmail notifiers.
Opera
deserves a special mention here because it's more than just a browser.
It has integrated email, newsgroups and IRC chat, the Opera Unite file
server, Opera Turbo to improve performance on crappy mobile connections,
and Sidebar-style widgets for games, web applications and utilities.
The best browser for Windows 7
Safari's
the first to fall here: it just looks odd on Windows, and doesn't offer
anything over its rivals. IE9 and Opera are both very nice to use on
Windows 7 and make good use of taskbar pinning and jump lists, but
Firefox has the edge in both speed and expandability and it's our pick
here.
UNEXPECTED?:Opera's a joy to use and worth considering if you like the idea of widgets, integrated email and file sharing
The best browser for Windows Vista
IE9
flies on Vista - it hammered through Sunspider in 193.7ms - but Firefox
is faster still, scoring 192.2ms in the same benchmarks. Safari ran
through the benchmarks in 224.4ms, Chrome 246.6ms, and Opera in 251.2ms.
Firefox isn't just the speediest browser on Vista, but the most
expandable too.
The best browser for Windows XP
Internet
Explorer takes an early bath here, because Microsoft doesn't make IE9
for its ageing OS. That leaves Safari 5.1, Firefox 9, Chrome 16 and
Opera 11.6; of the four, Chrome demands the least RAM and hard disk
space, making it the best bet for older XP systems. That means Chrome's
the best browser for netbooks too: its more modest hardware requirements
are a boon on relatively low-spec machines.
The best browser for OS X
Firefox
was massively in the lead on OS X Lion, rocketing through Sunspider in
153.8ms compared to Safari's 209.2ms, Opera's 214.7ms and Chrome's
225.3. However, it's worth noting that while Safari's figures look good
on paper, they don't reflect the way it chugged through the benchmarks
as if it were wading through treacle.
Firefox's speed is countered
by what we think is a faintly horrible interface. If that isn't your
top priority then Firefox is the best browser for Mac users; if it
annoys you, then Opera or Chrome is a better bet. While Safari is a
perfectly decent browser, its rivals performed better in our tests.
The best browser for privacy
All
of the browsers we tested had excellent privacy protection including
private browsing and warnings of suspicious web pages, but IE9 is
marginally ahead of the pack here: its tracking protection enables you
to subscribe to lists that tell specific kinds of websites not to track
you, which is potentially more useful than a global "do not track"
option.
The best browser for HTML5
All of
the main browsers support the important bits of HTML5, but when it
comes to full standards support Chrome and Firefox are in the lead by a
significant margin. According to the excellent Caniuse.com, Firefox and
Chrome score 89% for HTML5 standards support, with Safari at 78%, Opera
74% and IE9 52%. If you add CSS support into the equation the scores are
87% for Firefox and Chrome, 83% for Safari, 75% for Opera and 59% for
IE.
LAGGING BEHIND:All the browsers support key HTML5 features, but IE9 lags behind when it comes to full standards support
The best browser for Android
The
stock Android browser is pretty good, but we think Opera Mobile has the
edge for smartphones: it's got a lovely interface, goes like the
clappers - we've previously described it
as "comically fast" on decent kit - and synchronises well with its
desktop cousin. On tablets, the standard browser is still our preferred
option: while Dolphin for Pad and Firefox are looking pretty nifty,
they're both still in beta.
CACHE KING: Opera Mobile for Android is particularly good on mobile phones. It's "comically fast" on decent kit
The best browser for iPad
The
lack of tabs in Apple's Safari drove us daft on the original iPad, but
now it's got tabbed browsing and iCloud syncing we think it's the best
browser on the platform, especially on the iPad 2: in our experience
it's faster and more reliable than iCab Mobile, considerably nicer to
look at than Atomic Browser, and less likely to dump you back to the
home screen for no good reason than non-Apple browsers.
it's
just a matter of time: eventually, your computer will get close to
filling up. If you want to free some disk space on your hard drive, it
is very easy to do so.
If your hard drive has been on the edge of overflowing before, you might have
spent some time (or even money!) trying programs which claim to
free disk space on your bloated hard drive.
Oftentimes such programs
won't let you clean your hard drive after they have analyzed it, unless
you purchase their product -- it's a ridiculous money scam that
countless people surely fall for.
You do not have to spend money
to simply free disk space on your hard drive! Hidden amongst the mess
that is the internet, are some free working products and alternatives.
CCleaner
Possibly one of the best software inventions ever is CCleaner,
a program created by Piriform Ltd. CCleaner can free gigabytes from
your disk drive very quickly, without messing up the rest of your PC.
CCleaner
not only removes unused files from your hard drive, but is also
optimizes your system, can clean all traces of your online activities,
and even includes a registry cleaner all for free.
The best part is that is is extremely fast! It's stunning how much junk it cleans in such short periods of time.
Uninstall Programs
While
a hard disk cleaner will free up some substantial space, if you have
large programs, such as video games, installed on your PC, they will be
left untouched. It can be very beneficial to uninstall large, unwanted
programs manually.
To do so is not as daunting as it may sound.
There are many ways to go about this task, and the method is generally
quite similar no matter what operating system your PC is running (for
example, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, etc.)
Click the "Start" button in the bottom left corner of the screen
Amazon Price: Too low to display List Price: $229.99
External Hard Drives
If
you happen to have a drive filled with valuable contents that you don't
want to delete, an external hard drive might be a better alternative.
As opposed to hard drive expansions which can be a hassle, an external
hard drive can be linked to your PC very easily. They are also generally
quite affordable. Don't pay more than $0.50 per gigabyte if possible!
External
hard drives have the additional benefit of being portable, so you can
move the drive between several computers and free space on all of their
hard drives!
If you have some spare cash, external hard drives are well worth the purchase.
Online Storage
If
you're someone blessed with a speedy and unrestricted internet service,
then online storage might be the perfect answer to your disk space
problems.
A major benefit to online file storage is that you can
access your files from any computer (or device) from anywhere with an
internet connection!
There are many services which allow you to safely store files online.
Box.net allows free users to store up to 50Gb of data online, with affordable plans available for expansion, and Adrive also allows free users 50Gb of storage, with scalable plans as well.
Conclusion
So
there you have it, the most effective ways to free disk space on your
hard drive. Whether used individually or in combination, you will have
heaps of free space on your hard drive for a long time still!
If
you found this article useful, please leave a comment, rate this
article, "like" or tweet it, or submit it to StumbleUpon or other social
media.
A
common issue that people run into when using VMware is that once they
have created there virtual machine and installed there OS and everything
else they eventually run out of room and decide to increase the Virtual
machines hard disk / partition.
For this example I am running VMware server on Windows Vista , WIth
one virtual machine running Linux Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy and will go through
the steps to increase my harddrive size from 15GB to 25GB
Increasing Hard Disk Size on your Virtual Machine ( VMware )
Step 1.
Firs thing to do is locate the location of vmware.exe on your PC
typically it will be in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server or VMware
Workstation
Once you have located your vmware.exe file open up command prompt on
Windows. [Start -> Run -> type "cmd" in the window then press
ENTER
Now navigate into the vmware.exe directory , in this case simply C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Server
From here type vmware-vdiskmanager -x 25GB image.vmdk
- 25GB in this case we would like to make the NEW size 25GB , this method will not remove any exisiting files
- image.vmdk , Name of your Virtual Machine disk my example
was Ubuntu.vmdk, if for some reason it doesn't work type the entire path
of the vmdk file for example
Now
that you have used the VMware diskmanager to increase size of the
Virtual Disk Space , this will create a new parition that 10GB in this
case ( original 15GB + 10GB increase). This increased size will not
automatically show up when we reboot our Virtual Machine. We need to
carry out a few extra steps to make use of this newly created space ,
this involves extending the partition or merging two partitions
together.
Step 2.
Before trying to extend your harddrive to include the newly created
partition, you will need to open vmdk file in a second virtual machine.
The reason for this is that you cannot extend a partition on a drive
that you are actually using system files on, It has to be set as the
secondary drive.
So go through the steps of making a new virtual machine and give it
4-5GB or so it doesn't need to be huge. You wont actually need to load
any Operating system on it if you use the LiveCD. Before you run your
second virtual machine you will need to add the harddrive you wish to
increase onto that system , see screenshot
Select your 2nd/Other Virtual Machine, then select Edit virtual
machine settings, Click Add, Select Harddrive and use exisiting virtual
then load your original harddisk , in my case Ubuntu.vmdk
Choose to start Ubuntu without installing it, Run it off the CD (LiveCD)
Gparted
Now
that you have created your secondary virtual machine, Boot it up and in
order to extend our virtual hard disk we will use a inbuilt linux tool
called gparted , there are also many other partitioning programs out
there including fdisk and many others.
Now we want to load up our ubuntu LiveCD instead of having to install
an Operating System, To get your virtual machine to boot up from your
LiveCD do the following.
- Use Daemon Tools or any other mounting program and mount your Ubuntu.iso image.
- Start your virtual machine and soon as it starts press ESC to enter the boot menu and from here select CD-ROM
- This will start your secondary virtual machine with the Ubuntu LiveCD
Running Gparted ( Partitioning Program )
To
run gparted simply enter the terminal window and type "gparted" , and
this will open the gparted gui window. ( Remember to issue this command
with root privledges )
Once gparted has started you will see a window similar to below, We
see two parition that we want to join together below circled in red, To
extend the exisitng partition to the unallocated partition use the
resize button to increase the size of the exisiting partition to
increase the size.
( Ensure the harddrive is unmounted, and swapoff )
Not my original screenshot for this case but you get the drift:)
Resizing Partition , simply drag the handle across to pick a size or type in desired size
Finishing Up
Now
once you have resized your partition to include the unallocated
partition size click apply. This may take sometime for it to resize the
partition size.
Once this is complete shutdown the virtual machine and remove the
secondary harddrive you added in the previous section. Boot your
original virtual machine and you should have successfully extended your
hard disk space.
Gparted LiveCD
There is also a gparted LiveCD which can be run if you have trouble
deleting and creating partitions. Simply mount the gparted LiveCD and
follow the prompts.
If
you have made your way through this howto and still unable to get it to
work you could try the Vmware Converter which can do all this tasks a
lot easier, ( yeaa should've told you a lot earlier) its a free download
and can perform partition extensions easily.
After you have loaded the secondary harddrive on the secondary
virtual machine (windows in this case) to fix the partitions. Run the
command prompt and enter "diskpart.exe" or if that doesn't work locate
its location and run it through cmd using the directory locations.
Steps - type
- show volume
select volume 2 ( in this case , double check to make sure you have the right one)
Google Nexus S - all the tips
Ever since Internet Explorer beat Netscape and turned into the web
industry's least favourite boat anchor, Microsoft has been struggling to
turn the tide. 
's changing. For starters, XP isn't supported – unless you're on at least Vista, you can't use it. 
