Supercharge your browser

How to use your browser to...

We use the web for everything - from entertainment, in the form of online videos and games, to working with documents and databases in the cloud, and even keeping in touch with friends and family through our social networks. It's no wonder then that our web browsers are the most important pieces of code on our machines today. But did you know that you can add extra functionality to this software in the form of free plugins and extensions?


Download YouTube videos

We all love watching online videos. But did you know you can download your favourite videos using browser plugins?

People who use Internet Explorer can use IE Download Helper. Get Version 3.3 of the software because the new 3.5 version puts a limit on the size of the video file for free users. www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Download-Managers / IE-DownloadHelper .shtml

For Firefox, we suggest Video DownLoadHelper (available on the Firefox extensions page). When you access a web page with embedded videos in it, this extension processes the links from where the video can be downloaded in either FLV, MP4 and 3GP formats in resolutions of up to 1080p.

Chrome users can use YouTube Downloader. This works best as it creates a download button under the video you are watching. And it even works with sites like Vimeo and Dailymotion. www.chromeextensions.org/utilities/chrome-youtube-downloader

Control music playback

Do you listen to music while browsing the web? Download FoxyTunes. This plugin allows you to control audio playback from within your browser if you use Internet Explorer or Firefox (version 18 or lower). After you install it, you can change volume settings, skip tracks and pause songs from your browser window, without switching to your media player running in the background. FoxyTunes manages this feat by mirroring your playback software in a toolbar under the browser's URL bar. www.foxytunes.com

Read lengthy articles and take notes

Whenever you read an article on the web, you are often plagued by sponsors who've placed advertisements - in the form of links, images and pop-ups - around that piece. Evernote Clearly is an extension that strips a web page of all that distraction and leaves behind just what you want to see. You can select between light and dark themes - and if you have an Evernote account, you can even clip the article or highlight portions of it for future reference.

EC is available to users of Firefox and Chrome from their respective extension pages. Those who use Internet Explorer can use Evernote Web Clipper after installing the Evernote program on their PC. evernote.com/webclipper/

Manage multiple tabs

Incredibly powerful and yet easy to use, TabMixPlus (available on the Firefox extensions page) is a tool that helps you manage open tabs within Firefox. Once installed, you can use it to group tabs, view them as thumbnails, lock them in a position and recall pages after closing - and most of these features can be accessed with a right click inside an open web page.

For Chrome users, there's TooManyTabs (available on the Chrome web store) that comes with similar functionality

Play Angry Birds

Yes, you can play the world's favourite mobile game in a browser. Chrome users can simply install the game as an extension and play it not only when they are connected to the web, but also when they are offline. Firefox and Internet Explorer users, however, can play the game on www.chrome.angrybirds.com. This will make the office a little less boring. Just keep an eye out for your boss.

CHROME

Attachments.Me:

This is a nifty tool that allows you to quickly save files from your Gmail account onto online services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box or Skydrive. The extension, which also allows you to attach files from cloud storage, creates several easy-to-use buttons within Gmail's compose and view windows. And users are also provided with an overview of all their files saved across the services.

HootSuite:

This is a full-featured extension of HootSuite, a program that allows you to track your socialnetworks using a single window. Install and connect it to your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. After that, you can use it from within the browser to keep an eye on your social media feeds, as well as tweet or post status updates.

SplitScreen:

This is a great tool for when you work with two pages simultaneously. After you install this extension, click on its icon to open a single Chrome page with two windows; each with its own URL bar. By default, however, one half serves as a blank notepad, allowing you to take notes. These can be saved as a local file, or cached automatically so that when you open SplitScreen the next time, your data is intact and you can start working from where you left off.

MagicActions for YouTube:

A "must-have" for video junkies, this extension adds several features to YouTube - the most important being its cinema mode that puts the clip inside a black box and removes all distractions from the page. And you can also use it to auto repeat your favourite song so that it plays repeatedly in a loop. Other options include sharing videos on Facebook; choice between a light and a dark theme; and volume control through your mouse scroll wheel.

All Chrome plug-ins can be found at 'chrome.google.com/webstore/category/home' and can be installed directly within the browser

FIREFOX

Thumbnail Zoom:

With TZ, you don't have to click on an image to view it in full size. Simply hover over a thumbnail to see it in a floating window. This not only saves time, but also helps you keep your browsing session neat and tidy. By default, this extension works with over 15websites including Facebook, Twitter and Imgur.

CopyPlainText:

If you've ever copied text from the internet and pasted it directly into a rich editor like MS Word, you'll know what a mess its formatting can create. Most users therefore prefer to paste into Notepad before copying and pasting into an email compose window or MS Word. CopyPlainText strips away the troublesome formatting from web text and helps save some time.

FireTube:

Install this extension to turn YouTube into your personal radio station. It adds a tiny toolbar complete with fast forward, rewind, pause, and volume controls buttons - at the bottom of the page from where you can search a song on the video service and stream it as an MP3. But that's not all. If you want, you can even download the file in MP3 format.

Feedly:

Now that Google Reader is dead, you can use Feedly to manage your RSS subscriptions. Or if you are not into RSS feeds, you can use it to just browse fresh daily content from websites like New York Times or CNN. This extension adds a Feedly button near the back and forwards buttons and clicking on it opens a tab with the news of the day. Feedly is also available for Chrome.

Firefox extensions can be installed directly from 'addons.mozilla.org/en-US /firefox/extensions'

INTERNET EXPLORER



ieSpell:

IE 10 has an inbuilt spell checker, but if you're running version 8 or 9, you should download ieSpell. This tool is a boon to those who compose emails and blog posts in their browser. Once installed, spell check can be accessed in the contextual menu that pops up after right-clicking . With ieSpell you can also highlight a word and look for its meaning on the Merriam Webster web site. www.iespell.com/download.php

iMacros:

With iMacros you can record the actions that you perform on a web page to complete a task. For example, to access Twitter you first type twitter.com into the URL bar, hit enter, then login using an id, hit tab, enter in your password and hit enter again. With iMacro, you can record these actions, and subsequently log onto Twitter by simply replaying the macro. You can use this tool to record as many macros as you want. download.cnet.com/iMacros-for-Internet-Explorer / 3000-12512 _4-10586882 .html

ALOT Radio:

This toolbar is easily one of the best there is for music lovers because it allows easy access to hundreds of international radio channels. It even has a Facebook tab that allows you to keep an eye on your feeds; an eBay tab to browse through products you may want to buy; a YouTube app for video search; and a weather tab for local forecast. download.cnet.com/ALOT-Radio-App / 3000-12512 _4-75147660 .html

Google Toolbar:

We don't usually recommend the use of toolbars, but this one adds several features to IE: It allows you to carry out an internet search without going to www.google.com; automatically translates text whenever you encounter a web page in a foreign language; and if you give it necessary permissions, it also gives you one-click access to your Google services including Google+.

www.google.com/intl/en_uk/toolbar/ie/index.html IE plug-ins have to be installed on your PC before they can be used within the browser.

Source:-The Times of India

Via http://ipasporissa.blogspot.in/

How to Transform windows XP to windows 8

The Reasons You should Transform windows xp to windows 8 than the normal upgrading

• you have a humble computer specs and using it will just make things slow
• you still have problem in compatibility with drivers and programs
• you like to download and play the latest games

How Do i Transform Windows XP to Windows 8 ??

okey so the steps to Transform Windows xp to Windows 8 are very easy and like installing any other program :

1. First of all download this skin pack program here
2. Install it as any other program
3. restart you computer

After you computer is booting and starting your computer you’ll notice big changes in the log in screen also you’ll notice that the Start menu in windows xp has changed to be more like than windows 8 you’ll see that start has Disappeared but when you move your mouse close to it you’ll see the new Start Menu , if you to open you click it or you can click the windows button in your keyboard

Cons on Transform Windows xp to Windows 8

the only bad thing in this ” Transform Windows xp to Windows ” pack that the Aero Feature which is available on both windows 8 and windows 7 won’t be available which make the Start Menu And The window Transparent

Anyway if you want to show the Sidebar Menu which includes shortcuts to search ,Start menu and settings, Place your cursor in the bottom corner of the desktop next to the clock as shown in the picture

Congratulations ! Thats it , you have successfully Transformed Windows xp to Windows 8 !!

These are the changes that may be obtained when you Transform Windows xp to Windows 8 , which includes a login screen, The Start toolbar , the new Start Menu , the colors of the  window frames, menus, icons, folders , this program does not offer the experience of using identical to experience Windows 8, but it the best you can get it for Transform Windows xp to Windows 8

Courtesy : http://bnjho.blogspot.in/

Interesting Facebook shortcuts and tricks to browse Facebook easily

You can use Facebook by using many easy shortcuts. Below we are posting the shortcuts for 2 popular web browser Mozilla and Google Chrome.


If you are a Google Chrome user then Follow the following Shortcuts: 

New message = Alt+m

Home page = Alt+1

Profile page = Alt + 2

Friends list management = Alt + 3

All the message list = Alt + 4

List of notification = Alt + 5

Account setting page = Alt + 6

Privacy setting page = Alt + 7

Visit Facebook Fan page = Alt + 8

Facebook Policy Page = Alt+ 9

If you are a Mozilla Firefox user then Follow the following Shortcuts: 

You just need to add shift before all the shortcut key used for Google Chrome.

New message = shift+Alt+m

Home page =  shift+Alt+1

Profile page = shift+Alt + 2

Friends list management =  shift+Alt + 3

All the message list = shift+Alt + 4

List of notification = shift+Alt + 5

Account setting page = shift+Alt + 6

Privacy setting page = shift+Alt + 7

Visit Facebook Fan page = shift+Alt + 8

Facebook Policy Page = shift+Alt+ 9

You must be logged in Facebook and stay in the Facebook tab of your browser to use the shortcuts. Cool! isn't it? Just go to your Facebook account and give a try! I like the "New message" shortcut most.

Courtesy : http://bnjho.blogspot.in

How To Create A Good Password That You Will Not Forget

Passwords can be a key to many things, for example your emails, your Facebook profile, or your bank account. Did you know that some people still use passwords like “password” or “123456″? Needless to say, it’s dangerous to use one and the same simple password for all of your online accounts. Imagine a hacker cracked that one password? To be safe, you should create unique and difficult to crack passwords.

So do you know how to create a good password? And how can you remember more than one of them? Here are some tips and tricks to maintain individual strong passwords for all of your online accounts.

Know The Characteristics Of A Safe Password

• it cannot be found in a dictionary.
• it contains special characters and numbers.
• it contains a mix of upper and lower case letters.
• it has a minimum length of 10 characters.
• it cannot be guessed easily based on user information (birthdate, postal code, phone number etc.)

Create An Easy To Remember Base Password

You can use several techniques how to create a good password that you will not forget. Here are some suggestions.

• Randomly replace letters with numbers, e.g. flirt becomes fl1r7.
• Pick a sentence, i.e. your passphrase, and reduce it to first letters of each word only, e.g. “Everything I Do I Do It For You” becomes EIDIDIFY.
• Take a word and reverse spell it, e.g. neighborhood becomes doohrobhgien.

These examples are not very safe. While none of the words can be found in a dictionary, they are still failing other characteristics of a safe password. Try to find a combination that allows you to incorporate all characteristics.

The base password I’m going to use for this password is “E1d_1D!4Y:)“.

Note that my base password meets all of the above criteria. It cannot be found in a dictionary, it contains special characters, a mix of upper and lower case letters, it is 11 characters long, and cannot be guessed based on my personal information (unless you suspect that I like Bryan Adams).

Be Creative & Think Out Of The Box!

A computer may calculate faster than you can recognize patterns a lot quicker than any human brain, but one thing it cannot do is be creative. That is your great advantage over hacker tools!

As you see, in my password I replaced some letters with numbers or special characters. However, I didn’t use a stiff set of rules. I replaced the “I” with a “1″ or a “!”. Using rules for replacing characters, i.e. always replacing an “a” with the “@” symbol will weaken your password.

Here are some ideas how you can make it even harder for a hacker to crack your password:

• Don’t use common substitutions, e.g. @ for A/a.
• When you have recurring letters within your password, mix your substitutions, e.g. 8 or ( for B/b.
• Have a word and touch type it with your fingers in the etpmh (wrong) location. Keep in mind that you may switch keyboard types.
• Pick a pattern on your keyboard and type it with alternating use of the SHIFT key, e.g. Xdr%6tfCvgz/

Create Individual Passwords For Every Account

Once you have a strong base password, you can use it to create individual passwords for each of your online accounts. Simply add the first three letters of the service, e.g. “E1d_1D!4Y:)GMa” for your GMail account or “E1d_1D!4Y:)eBa” for eBay.

Be Super Safe

To be super safe, you should have TWO base passwords. They will be used to keep important and not so important accounts separate. You would use one password for sites which hold personal information or credit card details, such PayPal or GMail. The second password would be used for forums and similar sites that would not be of great harm if hacked. However, the passwords should be equally strong.

Update Passwords Regularly

This is the toughest part. To maintain safety with a strong password, you have to update your password every few weeks or months. The more often, the better. You can do this in several different ways. Here are some ideas that will keep it simple.

Change your base password only:

• Change the special character substitutions you’re using.
• Reverse use of upper and lower case letters.
• Type the password with SHIFT lock turned on.

Change entire password:

• Change how you identify the account you’re using, e.g. use the last three rather than the first three letters (GMa would become ail or eBa would become Bay).
• Change the position of the letters identifying the account, e.g. put them to the front or in the middle of your base password.
• Add the date of when you last changed the password at the back and mark it in your calendar.

In other words, use your human advantage: be creative and think out of the box.

Courtesy : http://bnjho.blogspot.in/

Interest rate on General Provident Fund (GPF) during the year 2013-2014

Resolution – accumulations at the credit of subscribers to the GPF and other similar funds – 2012-2013

(PUBLISHED IN PART I SECTION OF GAZETTE OF INDIA) 

F.No.5(1)-B(PD)/2013 

Government of India 

Ministry of Finance 

(Department of Economic affairs)

New Delhi, the 8th April, 2013

RESOLUTION

It is announced for general information that during the year 2013-2014, accumulations at the credit of subscribers to the General Provident Fund and other similar funds shall carry interest at the rate of 8.7% (Eight point seven per cent) per annum. This rates will be in force during the financial year beginning on 1.4.2013.

The funds concerned are :-
1. The General Provident Fund (Central Services).
2. The Contributory Provident Fund (India).
3. The All India Services Provident Fund.
4. The State Railway Provident Fund.
5. The General Provident Fund (Defence Services).
6. The Indian Ordnance Department Provident Fund.
7. The Indian Ordnance Factories Workmen’s Provident Fund.
8. The Indian Naval Dockyard Workmen’s Provident Fund.
9. The Defence Services Officers Provident Fund.
10. The Armed Forces Personnel Provident Fund.

2. Ordered that the Resolution be published in Gazette of India.

sd/- 

(Peeyush Kumar) 

Director (Budget)

Source: www.finmin.nic.in
[http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_eco_affairs/budget/resolution13.pdf]

Secure Website Not opening!

Extract From BSNL Page:

Secured Web Sites Not Opening.

If you cannot view or access secured web pages (those beginning with an https:// URL) you may experience any of these symptoms:

* You cannot get into hotmail and yahoo email accounts.
* Cannot view secured web sites
* Cannot do a windows update
* Cannot get into bank web sites.
As ISP, we do not block any site and this problem may be due to changes/corruption in the settings of your computer/browser.

To resolve this problem, there are many ways. Try one by one and check whether you are able to solve your problem.
1. Steps to reset a .dll file required to view secured web sites.

a. Click Start
b. Click Run
c. Type regsvr32 softpub.dll Please make sure the spacing is proper
d. Click OK. A pop-up should display the message Dll Register Server in softpub.dll Succeeded.
e. Click OK.

Do the same with 
start – run – type regsvr32 Wintrust.dll – OK – OK
start – run – type regsvr32 Initpki.dll – OK – OK
start – run – type regsvr32 urlmon.dll – OK – OK 

When you are all done type exit to quit Command Prompt. Make sure you have the latest version of the browser.
2. Restore your browser to Default Settings.
a. Open internet explorer.
b. Click on Tools.
c. Click on Internet Options.
d. Click on Advanced tab.
e. Click on Restore Defaults and then Click on OK.


3. Reset the Security Zones to the default settings

a. Open Internet Explorer, click on Tools, Click on InternetOptions, and then click the Security tab.
b. Click Internet, and then click DefaultLevel.
c. Click LocalIntranet, and then click DefaultLevel.
d. Click Trustedsites, and then click DefaultLevel.
e. Click Restrictedsites, and then click DefaultLevel.
f. Click Apply.
g. On the Privacy tab, click Default, and then click Apply.


4. Look for third-party firewall or anti virus programs
Make sure that any third-party firewall or anti virus programs that are installed on your computer are configured correctly and are not preventing you from connecting to Web sites. Scan for worms, viruses, and spyware. They can cause these sort of problems. You can use AVG for viruses and worms, and both Adaware and Spybot S&D for spyware/adware. All three are available as free downloads. 

5. Check the Cipher Strength.
Open IE and click Help, About Internet Explorer and look at the Cipher Strength. It should be 128 bit. If the Cipher Strength is anything less then 128-bit, download and install the Internet Explorer High Encryption Pack.

6. Delete Cookies and Delete files.
Delete Cookies, DeleteFiles and ClearHistory in Tools, InternetOptions, General tab. (Deleting Cookies may delete some stored Internet passwords.) Check the Deleteall off-line content checkbox.

7. Clear the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) state and the AutoComplete history
a. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click InternetOptions, and then click the Security tab.
b. Click the Content tab.
c. In the Certificates section, click ClearSSLState, and then click OK.
d. In the Personalinformation area, click AutoComplete.
e. In the Clear AutoComplete history area, click ClearForms, and then click OK.
f. Click ClearPasswords, and then click OK three times.
Verify that the date and time settings on your computer are correct: Because SSL certificates have an expiry date. If the date on your computer isn't correct, it may prevent you from connecting to secured sites.



8. Turn off the pop-up blocker

Internet Explorer SP2 includes the ability to block pop-up windows. This new feature may block some Web pages. To turn off the Pop-Up Blocker, follow these steps: 
a. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click InternetOptions, and then click the General tab.
b. Click the Privacy tab.
c. In the Pop-Up Blocker section, click to clear the Block pop-ups check box.
d. Click Apply.
e. Click OK.

9. Configure the security settings for the Trusted sites zone in Internet Explorer
Note Only add the site that you trust as a trusted site. If you are not sure about a Web site, do not add the Web site to the Trusted sites list. 
a. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click InternetOptions, and then click the Security tab.
b. Click Trustedsites, and then click DefaultLevel. 
c. Add any SSL-secured (128-Bit) Web sites to the Trusted sites zone. To do this, follow these steps:

• Click Sites.
• Type the URL of the site in the Add this Web site to the zone box.
• Click Add, click OK, and then click Apply.

10. Use System Restore to Return Your Computer to a Previous State
Before going in for restoring your system to a previous date by following the steps mentioned below, remember that you will lose all the information /files /applications /programs stored after that date.
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore

11. Create a new user profile
In certain situations, you may not be able to search Web sites if your Windows user profile is damaged. To troubleshoot this, log on to the computer as another user and try to connect to a Web site. If you can connect to SSL- secured (128-Bit) Web sites when you are logged on as a different user, your user profile may be corrupted. In this situation, back up the information and settings that you want from your profile (for example, the My Documents and Favorites folders), and then delete the damaged profile.

To delete a user profile, follow these steps: 
a. Log on to the computer as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
b. Click Start, click Run, and then type sysdm.cpl.
c. Click the Advanced tab, and then under User Profiles, click Settings.
d. In the Profiles stored on this computer list, click the user profile that you want to delete, and then clickDelete.
e. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.
f. Click OK two times.
g. Log off the computer as Administrator, and then log on as the user. Windows XP will then create a new profile for the user.

If you are not able to open, in spite of trying the above-mentioned procedures, it is better to uninstall & reinstall your browser/OS

The 3 Most Valuable Computer Tips You’ll Ever Use

Following are 3 of the most valuable computer tips you may ever use.

• They’ll save you time.
• They’ll prevent future headaches.
• They’ll put you in touch with things you never even knew existed!

(…No, those are not the 3 tips. See below!)

3 Time-Saving Computer Tips

#1 I’m always amazed when I come across another person who isn’t aware of the fact that you can search for an individual word on any page on the Internet (or in any Windows document) that you have open.

Whenever you’re reading something and want to know if a particular word has been mentioned in that article, simply click CTRL+F and type in that word. Your cursor will then jump to every instance on the page that word is used.

Again. This works in almost EVERY Windows-based product out there! So if you’re using Microsoft Windows… give it a try! Any time. Any document. Any page. Any website. Any article. CTRL+F… to FIND any word.

#2 Let’s say you’re you’re cutting and pasting chunks of data from one document into another, and you accidentally hit the wrong key… like the letter “C” instead of CTRL+C (keyboard shortcut for “Copy”). Oh no, now there’s just a letter “C” in place of what you had intended to COPY into another document!…

No fear… Just click CTRL+Z to UNDO your little mess-up. And it’s back the way it was before you typed the “C”.

In other words: CTRL+Z can save your butt ANY time you’ve hit the wrong key and want to get back what you’ve just deleted.

Along those same lines, you can also use CTRL+Z to un-Bold something you’ve just made Bold. Or, to un-Center something you’ve just Centered. Etc. Etc. In short, you can use CTRL+Z to back yourself out of virtually anything you’ve done up to the last time you SAVED your document. A time-saver… AND a life-saver!

#3 It seems my personal advice to friends in recent months has become: “Just GOOGLE it!”

Seriously. Whenever you’re in doubt about something, just GOOGLE it! No matter the topic. It doesn’t even have to be something that’s computer related. If you want to see if other people have had similar problems as you, have voiced their opinions about a specific product or service, or you just want to know how something works… GOOGLE it.

I’ve found the most beneficial times that GOOGLE has come to my rescue is also the least-often used times that others use GOOGLE. What I mean is this:

I’m working on the computer. I get an error message. I have no idea what that message means, so I GOOGLE it.

First, you should try to input the entire phrase — then sit back and see what you get. Scan the results QUICKLY for something that seems to be written for your level of understanding, and click on the article to take a peek. If it answers your question. Great. If not, then GOOGLE just a few of the keywords together, rather than the whole phrase this time.

Every time you GOOGLE it a different way, you’ll get a whole new set of search results. ONE of them will point you in the right direction.

Courtesy : http://bnjho.blogspot.in