Kiran Upadhyay

Its just around the time when you will be visiting your loved ones. If you are computer/tech-savvy then get ready to answer some newbie questions and fix some computers. I am sure you can relate to the situation. Geeks never miss such a trip, without fixing a computer or two. Now, I am not saying that you shouldn’t help people out, in fact it is always nice to do so. What I am actually trying to say is: wouldn’t it be great if there was an easy solution to the same common windows problems that you have to fix every time? Missing Recycle Bin icon, hijacked IE homepages and the likes are very common. If the computer happens to be running Windows you can use the following tool to quickly fix a lot of common problems and save yourself some time! Case in point: Fixwin. Fixwin is excellent little tool that can save you a lot of time that you would spent searching for a solution or a registry key value on the Internet. You can download FixWin here . The software doesn’t require installation...

I ran into this enigma a couple of days back. Here’s what happened: I needed to create a clone of a disc to be shared with friends and it had to be compatible with Windows (because it was a Windows-only disc anyway but that’s not the point). I knew for a fact that using Toast was a sure-fire way to create a clone of any discs. I began to do some research on Google, trying to find another method to create a Windows-compatible ISO disc image, without the use of any additional apps. And guess what? Mac OS X does not disappoint. By combining the trusty Disk Utility and some black magic from Terminal, I was able to create an ISO that works in both Mac and WIndows. It’s actually pretty simple. Here’s how. Insert the disc into the CD/DVD drive and launch Disk Utility. The disk will appear in the left column window. Click on it once so that its highlighted, as shown in the screenshot below. Now that we have the source of the disc image selected, click on File->New->Disk Image from ...

We Apple fans boast about our “trouble-free Macs”, and if you view past Macworld Keynotes you rarely witness problems with Apple software. Steve Jobs and his Apple staff make all their products seem cool and flawless. But we all know that’s not true. Mac hardware and software have countless bugs and issues like any other computer technology. Sure, Mac programs are very intuitive, but they are not trouble-free. Apple Discussions When I need to do troubleshooting to fix Mac problems, I log into the Apple Discussions site itself and do a search or ask a question about a problem I’m experiencing. Typically I find someone has already asked a similar question, and in most cases I receive helpful responses within 24 hours. Find out the other resources I seek out when I need to troubleshoot a problem with my Mac. Documentation After I’ve poked around some, I found that Apple provides a wealth of documentation and how-tos about all their products on its site. Pretty much all that you migh...

First off, a warning. This how-to article is about graphic design written by a non-designer, for non-designers. I only claim to be someone who appreciates the art and work that real graphic designers do. But I also know that just like you don’t have to be a professional photographer to make great photos, you don’t have to be a trained graphic designer to explore the art and techniques of graphic design. So now that you’ve been warned, feel free to read on. This how-to focuses on using custom shapes in Photoshop to explore possible ways to create a shaped-based logo. You will not be successful at creating your own logo without lots of patience. You might create a likable design on your first try, but more than likely it will a take a few hours to several weeks trying out different shapes, colors, fonts, and sizes to get your desired results. If this sounds like a hassle, then you need to pay a graphic designer. If you like a creative challenge, then read on. To get started, let’s j...

Earlier this month, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen failed miserably. Although the attendees attempt to remain positive, it cannot be denied that the key goal was not achieved. Over one week politicians fought over money and responsibilities in dozens of heated discussions. In the end, however, the nations did not sign a treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, which runs out as soon as 2012. This is a disaster, not only for the world climate, but for our entire environment. Nothing less than the planet earth is at stake. Frankly, why should we invest in the development of science and new technology, in the building of peace in foreign countries, or in the education of our children, if this planet has no future in the first place? Why not let all hell break loose? Because there still is a chance and you better put up a fight. Even if politicians cannot yield more than a worthless agreement, every single one of us has the power to make a change. Besides, goin...

In an attempt to keep our ADD at bay, game developers are looking for new ways to raise, and hold the gamer’s attention. Apart from begetting new genres, like the Wii’s casual gaming experience, we’re seeing combinations of old genres. Examples are all but common nowadays; FPS with RPG, Hack ‘n Slash with MMO. Last week, thanks to an Adblock Plus meltdown, I learned about Battleswarm. A an online war strategy game that not only proved the joy of in-browser advertising, but has created a daring and exciting new gaming genre. Battleswarm: Field of Honor With Battleswarm: Field of Honor , Reality Gap goes boldly where no developers have threaded before. Instead of adding role playing aspects to ‘just another game’, Reality Gap wholly mixes two dominant gaming genres. Battleswarm is what you get when Massive Multiplayer Shooters and Real Time Strategy collide. Imagine the thrill of blasting bullets at an intelligent horde. A hive entity set out to crush you. On the other side, imagin...

Over the summer the company I worked for sent me to a “Java Programming Boot Camp” held by Sun Microsystems in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The expectation for that course was that it would make me an entry level Java developer–after all, this was Sun’s general summary of the course. What I learned that summer was that you can’t just shell out a few thousand dollars to speed learn a computer language. It requires time, effort, and LOT of trial and error. To really take advantage of the opportunity to learn the Java Programming Language, I came to the conclusion that the internet was my best friend. Over a period of weeks as I continued to learn. There were about 5 major websites that I referred to on a constant basis for Java application examples–and I’d like to share them with you. First, let me recommend that no matter what, you should pick up a book or two on Java. Books allow someone to focus almost completely, whereas the internet is oftentimes shrouded by distraction or m...

How can you manually add marks to Folders in Windows 7? The Window Explorer of Windows 7 is much different from XP. One of the differences is that the left side is defaulted to show the navigation pane which displays in the way of tree structure. It lets you quickly locate a certain folder in deep layers. However, it is not considerate enough without conspicuously marking the current folder. Luckily, we can manually add a conspicuous mark for it. Preparatory work: you need to collect some icon files with transparent background in .ico format and put them in a fixed place. Then let’s begin to operate. Firstly, start Registry Editor and locate in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE＼SOFTWARE＼Microsoft＼Windows＼Current Version＼explorer＼Shell Icons. Remark: If you can not find “Shell Icons” after extending “explorer”, Please right-click “explorer” to “new build” an “item” and rename it as “Shell Icons” (make sure of the correct case and the blank space between the words). Secondly, right-click the blan...

Personally, I got interested in Photoshop when I realized that it could pluck a person out of a photo and then paste him/her onto a totally new background. To this day there are many requests from friends and family who want to do something similar with their photos. So I will be showing you a few techniques to get it done using Photoshop. Photoshop has the excellent “Extract” filter built especially for such tasks. Photoshop CS4 however, no longer features the Extract filter. So we will first look at how to use the extract tool to pull off the maneuver, then briefly see how you can enable the extract filter in CS4 or use an alternative to the Extract filter. Let’s get working straight away, shall we? Change the Background of a Photo with The Extract Filter If you have pre-CS4 version of Photoshop, you can find the Extract filter under the Filter menu. The Extract filter is very useful to cut out or extract a person/object from the photo and then use it on another photo to change the...

I have nothing against Internet radio stations. In fact, I love to listen to radio online, and here at MakeUseOf, writers have covered a multitude of awesome applications you can use to listen to and even broadcast Internet radio stations. Travis reviewed FilterMusic , Sandra covered Screamer, Musicovery and RhythmBox , and Grant covered Pandora . Jason even showed you how to make your own radio station with Shoutcast . All of these are fantastic apps for Internet radio, but what do you do when you have a bunch of local FM radio stations that you love, and you’re working at a computer where there’s no access to a regular AM/FM radio? The answer is RadioTime . These days the majority of FM radio stations stream their broadcasts over the Internet. It’s very difficult (if even possible) with most Internet radio players to find your local FM streams amid the huge collection of Irish folk music or FM radio stations from Bangladesh. I’ve nothing against Irish folk music or Bangladesh, bu...