Browse: Page 13
By indyan on September 3, 2009
Windows is notorious for its BSODs (Blue Screen of Death). In fact their notoriety has even earned them a place in pop culture. In an earlier article (All About the Blue Screen of Death) I discussed various aspects of BSOD including its source of origin and cause. I highly recommend that you take a look at it before proceeding any further.
Although BSODs are commonly associated with hardware errors, a huge majority of them are simply caused by badly written or incompatible drivers and system software. In the past I have already discussed how to get a rough idea about the cause of the crash by analysing the Error Message and Error Code. However, this information is often too vague to be of any use. This is where WhoCrashed comes in.
Continue reading “Learn Why Your System Crashed With WhoCrashed”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on September 2, 2009
Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) is a technology which allows to you experience the best of the web right from the comfort of your desktop. It allows developers to create rich Internet applications using Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, or Ajax. AIR has really started to take off. Wonderful new applications being developed every day. Here are my some favourite AIR applications (in no particular order).
1. DeskTube: Don’t mistake DeskTube as just another YouTube application. Yes, it does allow you to surf YouTube from your desktop, but it also does a whole lot more. DeskTube features Facebook, MySpace and Twitter integration and supports four way chat. With DeskTube you can easily hold a video conference with three of your friends right from your desktop (provided that your internet connection is fast enough).
Continue reading “Ten Really Cool Adobe AIR Apps”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on September 1, 2009
After an extended alpha and beta (followed by a brief RC) phase, the final build of Opera 10 is finally out. It contains lots of exciting new features and all in all stays true to Opera’s tradition. Opera 10 includes never seen before features (in browsers at least) like Opera Turbo. Check out my initial review of Opera 10 to learn more about them.
Opera is the first major browser to reach a double digit version number. Not only has Opera survived in the hostile browser market for fifteen years it is also doing rather well. Opera 10 was a great opportunity for them to take it to the next level. Unfortunately there are lots of missing pieces in Opera browser. Here are some of the major disappointments in Opera 10.
1. Lack of an API: Opera’s reluctance to release an API (application programming interface) has always perplexed me. It seems bizarre given that Opera’s motto is to give users the power. Undoubtedly, the biggest strength of Firefox is extensions. And it’s not just Firefox; all other major browsers (Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome and Maxthon) support plugins in one way or the other.
Continue reading “Opera 10 : The Missing Pieces”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on September 1, 2009
As expected, Opera 10 was released earlier today. Opera is the first major browser to reach double digit version numbers. Let’s take a look at what’s new in Opera 10.
Visual Tabs: Opera Pioneered Tabbed Browsing (please note that it didn’t invent Tabbed Browsing; The Internet Works was the first browser with Tabs) and has been behind several innovations related to tabbed browsing (such as Trash Can). And now it pushes tabbed browsing to the next level with the inclusion of resizeable thumbnail tabs. You believe how well Opera’s Visual Tabs work till you have actually used it.
Speed: Opera 10 is fast. The benchmark’s may put it behind other browsers, but artificial benchmarks which rely solely on JavaScript rendering performance can never reveal the complete picture. Opera is super-fast when it comes to HTML/CSS and as a result may actually be the fastest browser if you consider the overall rendering speed. Opera 10 features Opera Presto 2.2 rendering engine which is supposed to be 40% faster.
Continue reading “Opera 10 : What’s New?”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on August 30, 2009
I have already discussed how to get Windows Seven like Aero Effect and Taskbar in Windows XP. Another really nice addition to Windows seven is its new Desktop Properties (called Personalize). With a little bit of work you can get it in Windows XP also. Here’s how to do it:
Continue reading “Get Windows Seven Desktop Properties in Windows XP”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on August 29, 2009
Broadband connections with data transfer limits are a sad reality around the world. Exceeding the bandwidth limits specified by the ISP can lead to sky-high bills and a nightmarish experience. Networx is a free bandwidth monitoring software which can help you in ensuring that you never exceed your bandwidth limit.
Networx is a simple yet powerful tool which a host of features which range from measuring bandwidth usage and internet speed to network troubleshooting. Some of my favourite features are:
Monitor bandwidth usage and export reports in various formats including Excel, MS Word and HTML.
Setup notifications for various customizable events.
Assign periodic bandwidth quotas and get notified when 80% of the quota is reached.
Continue reading “Monitor Your Bandwidth Usage With Networx”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on August 27, 2009
Adobe Photoshop is (in)famous for its significant load times. In fact it is so bad that Photoshop load times are often used as a benchmark for hard-disk performance by various tech enthusiasts. Photoshop is a behemoth with thousands of features, hundreds of built in presets and filters. These filters and presets needs to be loaded every time you launch Photoshop and is a significant contributor to Photoshop’s load time. However, not everyone uses every feature provided by Photoshop. In fact most users don’t use a majority of the advanced filters and tools offered by Photoshop.
Continue reading “Speed Up Adobe Photoshop With Photoshop Speedup”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized
By indyan on August 26, 2009
Welcome to the eight edition of Opera Bytes – my semi-regular coloumn in which I focus on everything related to Opera. Let’s get started!
The wait is almost over. The long and extensive alpha and beta testing period has come to an end. Yesterday Opera released the RC (release candidate) build of Opera 10. The biggest change was the introduction of a new icon (designed by Oleg Melnychuk). It still looks shabby when compared to Firefox or even RockMeIt, but is definitely a huge improvement. There are other minor user interface tweaks including a better New Tab button. I had previously complained about the “New Tab” button looking like a brick left stranded in the middle of the road. That is no longer the case. In this release the New Tab Button nicely integrates with the Tab Previews. You can find the change log as well as download links here. The final version is slated to be released on September 1st.
Continue reading “Opera Bytes v8 – A Brand New Icon and More”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
By indyan on August 24, 2009
Memory (RAM) is dirt cheap these days and almost everyone has a couple of GBs. Memory Usage of applications isn’t as much of an issue as it used to be a few years ago. However, bloatwares and memory leaks are still something that no one wants to deal with. Severe cases of memory leaks can degrade system performance even if you have a lot of memory.
Firefox’s memory leak problem is well known and well documented. Thankfully recent releases of Firefox seem to have fixed these issues. However, its annoying memory leaks inspired on developer to take matters into his own hand and create a utility for taming memory hungry applications.
Continue reading “Reduce Memory Usage of Applications With Minimem”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized
By indyan on August 23, 2009
I have been playing with Facebook Lite during the past week. Facebook Lite is a cleaner, simpler version of Facebook which they have been testing during the past week (mostly on Indian users).
The first thing you would notice about Facebook Lite is its speed. It loads almost instantaneously even on slower connections. The main reason behind this is the reduced JavaScript overhead. Facebook Lite gets rid of all the fancy additional features like Pokes and Highlights. Here’s how the simplified home page looks like:
Continue reading “Facebook Lite – Facebook Minus the Fat [Screenshots]”
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Uncategorized |
Recent Comments