Kiran Upadhyay

With 2011 just around the corner, this is a great time to think about all the different things you could commit to doing for the next 365 days. We’re probably all working on our New Year’s resolutions but how about committing to something that will last the entire year? There’s no limit to the kinds of things you could commit to doing on a daily basis throughout the year – and possibly beyond that. To get you started, here’s a list of 6 year long project ideas that you might want to try – from creative projects to good deeds. Get started with these guidelines, ideas and places where you can keep your project going for 365 days. Write a Novel If you’ve been itching to finish your novel, giving yourself a specific time frame may be the trick to finally getting it done. Set aside a certain amount of time per day and write a set number of pages. Getting organised could be a good way to motivate yourself – setting goals and achieving them can often lead to great momentum. Louise Dought

The easiest way to restore a Windows computer back to its factory defaults is to simply use the included recovery program to reinstall or recover Windows. This works well in many situations, and you can use this method to completely wipe your computer clean and start from new. But what if you don’t want to wipe your computer clean? If this is the case, you’ll need to use a few specific utilities if you’d like to clean up your computer to return it to a near-new state. This method isn’t always quicker than reinstalling Windows, but it’s often preferable if you don’t want to worry about losing files or you don’t have a Windows install disc handy. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need to finish the job. Use Windows Backup and Restore Recent versions of Windows, including Windows Vista and 7, include a Backup and Restore feature in the control panel. This feature lets you restore your computer to a previous state by using the Open System Restore option, which begins a simple process th

Even though  Ubuntu  and most other  Linux  distros have beautified their interfaces and made them more user-friendly, most everyday computer users still shiver when they hear the word Linux. Maybe this is because Linux used to have a reputation as “geek-only”, thus non-geeky computer users are afraid to even try it. That’s why the folks behind Ubuntu have created a feature which allows users to try the OS – either from the live CD or from a USB drive – before deciding whether to install it or not. But having a bootable Ubuntu installation inside a thumb drive (some people prefer to call it a “ jump drive “) goes beyond just trying it out. It’s – after all – a fully working computer OS inside the USB drive, complete with all of the necessary applications. You can use it as a portable computer, with the ability to save and store all documents and settings inside the USB drive itself (persistent mode). More advanced Linux users usually use this persistent mode boot drive as a recovery

If you’re looking to create (or revise) your New Year resolutions, you might want to peek at mind-mapping software to organize a master plan or outline to house the steps you’ll take to follow through with each resolution. If you have an idea of what resolutions you want to keep in the upcoming year, a good idea might be to set up a system to facilitate getting those goals completed. Even if you’re jotting down ideas on a napkin or piece of paper, you should know that mind-mapping software can ensure that you won’t get that napkin lost, you can keep an image of the whole outline as your desktop wallpaper, you can move items around cleanly, etc. There are many mind-mapping solutions online, such as the ones we profiled  here . We’ll be using  Bubbl.us , a web-based mind-mapper, to create our outline or plan since it’s very easy to use and has got the basic tools we need. Break Goals Down Into Tasks Let’s say your goal is to become a more seasoned cook because you can save money and

The FBI reports that 97% of stolen laptops are never recovered or returned to their owners. In this regard, MakeUseOf has published several articles about anti-theft tracking software, such as  Adeona  and  Prey . But to deal with the likelihood you may never recover your stolen or lost laptop, you will want to have a plan to secure sensitive information on the laptop. Taking a few steps to pass lock, encrypt, hide, and most importantly back up the most important content on your laptop only takes a few minutes, and it can save you the agony of having sensitive information fall into the wrong hands. While the tools below are geared towards Mac users, similar tools are available for other users as well. So let’s take a look at some of the things you can do right now to make an insurance policy against laptop theft. Password Lock Your Laptop For Mac laptop users, Apple includes a secure way to access your computer’s content. Apple’s OS X security features can be found in System Pref

As  previously mentioned , Chrome recently launched its new Web Store. Many of the apps included are, to the typical end user, little more than an icon for launching websites already known and loved. A few, however, give Chrome users access to something that more closely resembles iPad apps than traditional websites. It’s these web apps that show clearly what the Chrome Web Store could become, and the direction of the web in general and Chrome OS specifically. If you want a look at that future, here it is. If you’re less high minded than that, though, and just want to play with some cool new technology, you’re still in the right place. Below are just a few apps that I think bring something new to the web; a few even work without Chrome itself. News There were two main newspaper apps on the web store’s launch day: The New York Times and USA Today. Both apps are similar to their iPad counterparts, and both support offline reading. The New York Times app is my favorite, but that’s m

While I do appreciate numerous Google search innovations and I have previously reviewed some great features including  uses of Google Suggest  and some cool  interpretations of Google Instant for YouTube , I do believe people need to have a choice. Google is well-known for making it hard for people to opt out of some of its new features. Even if there seems to be a way to disable some new options Google introduces, they are not permanent. This post summarizes some non-official ways to permanently disable Google’s hot new features: Google Instant, Google Instant Preview and (not really a new one) Google Suggest. 1. Disable Google Suggest Since the introduction of Google Instant, Google has removed the option to disable search suggestions – now it’s a default feature that can’t be turned off. Unless you make some effort. Here are a few ways to disable Google Suggest ( none of them are perfect and all of them naturally disable Google Instant as well ). Change Your Default Browser H

One thing I’ve always wanted to learn how to participate in was stock market investing. I think a lot of people that don’t invest in stocks choose not to do it because they don’t know how it works, and not knowing how it works makes it incredibly risky. After all, the best way to get good at something is to practice, but you can’t exactly  practice  the stock market. Or can you? In this article, I’ll show you 3 websites that allow you to practice investing in the stock market with virtual money. You can consider them games if you want to, but there aren’t many games out there that can help you make actual money. We Seed We Seed ( directory app ) is one of the best stock market game sites I’ve come across and is what eventually led to the idea of this article. We Seed is free to sign up for and it allows you to invest without any risk. The idea behind We Seed is that the cash you are given is fake, the trades are virtual, but the stock exchange conditions are real. You can build yo

With three email accounts, one for work, one personal and one for MakeUseOf, I find myself spending more time checking my email and trying to keep all the messages under control than actually getting much work done. Luckily, all three email accounts are  Gmail  or Google Apps accounts, and so in an attempt to organise one account, I followed several steps that can be applied to all three. Gmail provides several tools that will help you declutter your inbox and, more importantly, keep it that way. Achieving Inbox Zero is actually a pretty simple task, and maintaining it can be done with minimal effort on your part, as long as you have a decent system in place. These are a few simple steps that can help you put that system into motion and, in addition, keep your archive free of large attachments that take up space, which even with Gmail’s huge capacity, after a few years, it can begin to run out. Set up filters The first step when decluttering your inbox is to create filters. This i