Session 2 - Variables and IO - JAVA Programming Guide Online

In this session, you are going to learn about variables and IO operations. This is fairly easy to understand and once you get hold of it, then whatever comes next, will be easy for you. Variables are like containers of information. However, a variable is specific container of information. For instance, if a variable has been specified to hold numbers, it will only hold numbers. Once defined, variable cannot change its type. Lets get started with this to understand in detail.

Lets design a program that adds two numbers. For this, you will have to ask one number from user, store it somewhere, ask another, store it again somewhere, add the two, and display the result. Fairly easy, isn't it? In order to do this, you will have to define three variables. The first one will hold the first number, second one will hold second number, and the third one will hold the addition of two. In order to make this simple, for now, lets not allow the user to enter decimals. This program will only allow whole numbers. For this, we have to define variables as 'integers'. When we define a variable as integer, it only allows user to type in numbers and not decimals. We can define the variables like this:

        int value1;
        int value2;
        int sum;

Session 1 - JAVA Programming Guide Online

Today, I am going to show you how to program in JAVA. First of all, you will have to install JAVA SDK from:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html

Click on JDK. This will lead you to page where you will have to select your operating system. Now, for programming in JAVA, you do not need to worry about operating systems because JAVA is a neutral language so, a program made in JAVA can be run equally on any other operating system where JAVA Virtual Machine is installed. Windows, Linux (almost all distros), and Mac OS X, all have built in JAVA Virtual Machine and so a JAVA program, built on Windows can be run on Linux as well as on Mac OS X without reprogramming or reconfiguring it.

After selecting your operating system, JAVA SDK will start downloading. Finish the setup process and now, open Netbeans.org and click on 'Download' button. This will lead you to selecting the type of NetBeans suite. You may select JAVA or you may also select 'All'. Click on 'Download' beneath it.

How to post short URLs in Twitter? Learn to shorten links

In this tutorial, I’m going to talk about shortening the URLs. Sometimes, URLs can be too long to fit into your twitter updates. In that case, you will need to shorten them so that you can associate more text with it. There are few services which will allow you to shorten your link/URL. In my view, among all, 4 are best. They are:

Video–Add a page to PDF

I’ve finally made it! Here I present you with a video demonstrating method to add page to PDF. You can view this video in HD by viewing it from my channel at YouTube by clicking here.



If you wish to read my stepwise descriptive article on adding page to PDF, click here.

Two best websites for iPhone users

If you are an iPhone user, then there are two premium quality websites that you must visit.
Zedge:
This is my personal favorite and I would recommend it to not only iPhone users but to everybody who uses cell phone. I've never seen such a great website before. The site is built especially for mobile phones and is accessible at m.zedge.com (in mobile) and www.zedge.com (computer). The website has elegant design with easy to use navigation. Zedge practically supports all mobile phones. You can download ringtones, wallpapers, themes, videos, games and text messages. However, I did not find any applications available for mobile users. The website supports iPhone but does not provide games for iPhone users and I know that's pretty embarrassing. However, you can find wallpapers  and themes formatted especially for iPhone. I did find many iPhone formatted videos but most of them were forcefully converted without taking care of the aspect ratio. So, the videos looked too broad or too narrow.

Android stealing Apples? are they losing it?

From my point of view, iPhone is a revolutionary product. Apple designed this product keeping in mind the touch screen market. When iPhone was released, entire mindset that people had for touch screen phones was changed by the company. People then started looking Windows CE phones as slow operating systems with no real compatibility for touch screens because they all needed a stylus. Then HTC came up with custom UIs but still the inner core of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating systems had to be changed.

Android is operating system for touch screen mobile phones made to compete with iPhone market. It had all the features that other touch screen OSes did not had. However, Google managed to keep the prices for Android OSes low so as to target average customer.

Today, Android’s HTC EVO is capable of competing with iPhone 4.

How to enhance the glassy effect in Adobe Photoshop?

If you haven’t read my tutorial about making glassy buttons, please refer to:

1. How to make rounded glass button in Adobe Photoshop?
2. How to make rounded rectangle/square glass button in Adobe Photoshop CS4?

Making these buttons is really easy and giving simple glassy effects is also easy. In this article, I’m going to show you how you can enhance the glassy effect given in the above tutorials.

In the tutorial ‘How to make rounded glass button in Adobe Photoshop?’ refer to step 15 and 16. These steps are meant for those who want to show as if the light is flowing from bottom to top. However, you can change this by drawing the gradient from top to bottom. This affects the lighting conditions and thus, you will have to make sure that your shadow is lying at the bottom of button.

How to add a page to a PDF?

This post will teach you to insert a page to a PDF.
If you wish to see the video instead, then click here.
To see the video in HD, visit my YouTube channel by clicking here.

1. 
   
   For this to work, you will need to have Nitro PDF Professional available on:
   
   http://www.nitropdf.com/index.asp
   This software is available for $99.99. However, the website does offer a free 14-day trial which you can use.
   

How to convert any document to PDF? (Without using Adobe Acrobat)

See video of this tutorial here.
For this tutorial, you will need to download a software called Primo PDF. This software is available at following website:

http://www.primopdf.com/index.aspx

1. Install Primo PDF to your computer as usual. To verify the installation, go to Start>Control Panel>Printers. If Primo PDF is installed correctly, you should see it as a printer.

Video - Convert any document to PDF

How do I start Windows if it does not boot normally? - (Part 2)

If your computer is able to boot into safe mode, then click here.

In this post, I’m going to show you ways to start your computer in case the safe mode does not work. This can only happen if there’s a virus problem or serious driver problem. So, lets get started!

First of all, start your computer. If it does not boot, then it should display some kind of warning message or something. In most of the cases, it says that some abc.sys driver is missing or corrupted. This might be a virus problem. If your system is Windows XP, then use your XP installation disk. Shut down your computer. If it does not shut down normally, simply pull the power cord or press and hold the button which starts your computer. Pop in the Windows XP installation disk and start your computer. Windows XP setup should start automatically. As soon as it loads the setup files, press ‘R’ on your keyboard. This should take you to Windows Recovery Console. Get the command prompt. Now, get the file that is missing on your computer from your friend’s computer or from the internet, put it on a pen drive and now, at this point, connect the pen drive to your computer. Type the volume name of your pendrive followed by ‘:’. For example, if your pen drive was named F: prior to this problem, then type F:. This  should change the prompt from C:> to F:>. If it does not, try other combinations like G:, H:, D:, E: etc. Now assuming you kept the file on your pen drive directly (without making any folder) type the following command:

How do I start Windows if it does not boot normally? - (Part 1)

If you cannot boot into safe mode, then click here.

This post is for those whose computer is not able to boot safe mode.

In most of the cases, when Windows refuse to boot, the reason is driver conflicts. This can happen if you have installed a new driver, altered an existing driver or incorrectly configured a device. A virus may also cause a driver conflict by corrupting driver files.

First of all, disconnect all non-default peripherals connected to your computer. I highly recommend that you only keep monitor/LCD, mouse and keyboard connected to your computer. You can connect speakers as well.

Now start your computer and when the BIOS screen passes, press F8 repeatedly till Windows Startup options appear. Select ‘safe mode’ to boot into ‘safe mode’.

Sony Playstation Move–What is it and how does it work?

When computer games were introduced, people used keyboard and mouse to play games on it. Then, somebody thought about the idea of using joystick and so, people started messing with joysticks to enjoy their favorite game. Later, light gun, game pad, throttle quadrant, pedals and steering wheels were invented to immerse the player in the game. In past few years, touch screen has taken over the market and so, there are tonnes of games available on iStore that people really love to play. And today, Sony has introduced PlayStation Move – A revolutionary game controller that would completely immerse the player into the game.

Currently, this awesome device is being made available only to PlayStation 3 but however, in future, a PC version might be introduced.

Into the World of video game consoles

Hello Readers!
Here I present you with an exclusive compilation of information about video game consoles. This compilation is in the form of book so that it is much easier to read and download. I’ve put my best efforts to reduce the file size and maintain the quality. If you are going to buy a video game console such as PlayStation, then this is a must read book. You should definitely take a peek inside to gain greater idea what they are and which one is the best. This book gives information in all categories including technical and business. So, you’ll know what’s inside along with history of the product line.
This book is not just product oriented but is focused on video game console itself. Be sure to read it and comment about your own experience!

Click below to view the book in fullscreen

How to make rounded glass button in Adobe Photoshop

Rounded glass buttons are very famous and if you are a windows user, then you might be seeing it already in the form of Windows Start Button. However, this is just a basic tutorial which will teach you to make a basic round glass button.
So, lets get started!

1. First of all, start Adobe Photoshop and create a new canvas by selecting File>New…
2. In the dialog that appears next, make sure that the height and width that you selected are of same size. For the purpose of this tutorial, I have selected 500 pixels are 500 pixels. You can select any size of your choice but larger is more better and crisp. I have also selected RGB color as 16-bit because PNG format is available for 16-bit images. PNG format allows you to export your image with a transparent background so that you don’t have to camouflage your button in the given background.
   
   

How to make rounded rectangle/square glass button in Adobe Photoshop CS4?

If you are a software developer, then using glassy buttons in your software has a great improvement on customer experience. Making glass buttons in Adobe Photoshop CS4 is very easy. In this tutorial, I am going to teach you to make rectangle or square button with rounded edges and glass effect. So, Lets Begin…!

1. First of all, go to File>New. Then set your canvas size and resolution but make sure that the background contents are transparent and color mode is 16 bit or lower (for PNG file types). I prefer PNG file type because in PNG, you have the ability to keep background transparent while in JPEG and other file types, your file is forced to have at least one background color.
   
   

List of great websites providing free & awesome online tutorials

Do you want to learn new languages or softwares? What if you could learn all of them free of cost?Yes! That’s possible. Here I present you a list of cool websites which will help you for free in learning programming languages and softwares. Since this is my first list, only major languages and softwares have been covered.

How to delete a stubborn(undeletable) file from Windows?

In Windows, deleting a file is just as easy as throwing a paper into dust bin. You drag the file to recycle bin, confirm the operation and poof, your file gets deleted. Emptying the recycle bin then deleted the file permanently. But it has happened with me sometimes that the file refuses to delete. It either says that it is being used by a program or says that it has been deleted or some other excuse.

Here are ways to delete such a file:

4 easy steps to make a call in Skype

1. If you’re using Windows Vista or Windows 7 then press the start key on your keyboard and type ‘skype’. When ‘Skype’ in the above list gets highlighted, press Enter. Alternatively, if you are Windows XP user, then open Start menu, click on All Programs>Skype>Skype.exe.
   

Software Analysis–Desktop Manager (Organizing the Windows Desktop made easy)

I was developing this software for months and now finally, I have released its stable version. Desktop Manager a.k.a Violet Desktop makes it easy for you to access your favorite applications. It has a standard layout consisting of launchers. Take a look below:

How to make your VB .NET application scan sub-folders for files?

You must have heard about recursive programming. If not, then take a look of it on Wikipedia. In recursive programming, the function or method calls itself. This may seem confusing but after looking at the code below, it will be easy enough for you.

Code below scans entire file system and lists scanned files into a listbox named ‘scannedFiles’

Software Analysis–Mobipocket Reader

Well, this review only applies to those who consider reading books fashionable. Since this is ‘e-age’ a great number of books have been converted to electronic or rather digital format. Variety of books are available in PDF format which I think is very unacceptable because few PDF viewers allow reflowing of text and even after that, many times the format looks very improper and fake. I am a reader as well and I also read a lot of e-books. Previously, I read books downloaded from internet in PDF format. Reading PDF e-books was acceptable on my laptop but reading them on mobile devices was very hard thing to do because the Adobe PDF Viewer on my mobile did not had ‘reflow’ capabilities. So, I started my hunt for more PDF readers which can allow reflowing the text. During this search, I found Mobipocket Reader and it was just what I had expected. It had all the features that I had desired to be on an e-book reader. Lets take a closer look on this:

Speech Synthesizer - Play and Record your text files!

I've made it to first level! Yes, Spenth v1.0 has been released! This is ultra lite version for those who just want to play and record text for variety of purposes.

A command prompt which has commands in Natural Language !

Here's something that will surely blow up your mind. I'm designing a software that accepts natural language, processes it and then follows what is told. Currently, this project has been nicknamed as 'Synth'. For an instance, you want to start notepad. So, in the command box, you write:

I want to scribble. Please open the notepad for me!


And you press 'Enter'. Tada! Notepad opens! Like this you can launch many programs and folders just by natural language commands. You can also configure your computer in this way just as command prompt does.

I am currently working on this software and hence it is on developmental basis. When I will reach a stable stage, I will post the software on this blog. If anybody is interested in volunteering further development or if anybody is interested to provide suggestions, please do so by mailing us at davetheroyale@live.in.

I'll be happy to receive your suggestions.

Software Analysis - Restoration - Review

In my last post, I just taught you about deleting files using file shredding software, so that hackers cannot restore them. That’s why, I’m now going to teach you to restore files. For restoring files, you don’t need any kind of techy brain. You’ll just need a file recovery software. Note that this software only deletes those files which are deleted traditionally. If you have deleted a file using a file shredding software, then you have less than one per cent chance of recovering it.

After exploring the internet for hours, I found out this one. It’s called ‘Restoration’. As the name suggests, this software can restore deleted files. However, when I first used it, I found out that it can shred files too. Check out the main screen:

Software Analysis - File Shredder - Review

File Shredder – The name itself suggests it’s capability. It is a software that can delete a file permanently from the disk. But wait a second, you can do that work yourself, can’t you? Umm… Yes, but that doesn’t complete the work. When you delete a file traditionally, that is dragging the file to recycle bin and then emptying the bin, it does not delete the file but marks it for overwriting. To learn more, read my article on ‘What happens when you delete a file….’

Ok, I was quite happy with the graphical and somewhat attractive interface of the file shredder and it’s main screen is as follows:

Make your task easier - Have Notepad in "Send To" link

Many apply a registry tweak to have notepad as an option for unknown file types. We frequently see such files which are actually just text, but named with some odd file-extension. And then, some suspicious files which we want to make sure what the contents are. Well, in such cases where the registry tweak is applied, the downside happens to be that even some known files get associated with notepad - but no, all we want is to be able to open a file with notepad - the association part in such cases is unwanted interference. Also, notepad becomes a permanent fixture on the right-click menu - which is again an annoyance.

Go Green - Save Power of Your Computer using SONAR !!

SONAR technology is used by most of the ships and steamers to measure the depth of ocean or to locate any object  deep inside water. This technology is same as that used by bats who use it to get directions in dark places. Now, in this technology, a sound wave is sent inside the ocean which gets reflected at some point. The time between sent and reflected wave is noted and based on this distance can be calculated. You can also determine shape of any object using this technique.

This technique can be used to save power of your computer. Well, you will need two speakers, a built in microphone and a SONAR software which can be downloaded from below:

http://stevetarzia.com/sonar/download.php

You download and install the software. Now, this software, when run determines your position in front of your computer. If you are not there, then it turns off the display of your computer which saves quite a lot of power.

I highly recommend this to offices where there is a large amount of power consumption. When the worker is not at his desk, the power of monitor/LCD turns off automatically and when he is back, it turns on.

I have myself tried this software and it works wonders! Be sure you check it too!

Programming Language - The Mentor of your Computer

Hi Readers!
Dixplore presents you with an exclusive set of internet resources which will help you to understand the world of programming language better. Here I present you with ebook 'Programming Language - The Mentor of your Computer' to help you polish your understanding of computers. This book begins with understanding of simple concepts like algorithms, software development cycle and then moves on to concepts of higher understanding like Parallel programming, threading etc. I have also included descriptions of some of the important programming languages like C++, C#, BASIC etc. Web programming languages and .NET framework are also included.


Click below to view the book in fullscreen

How to make a really hidden folder?

Do not skip this article if you want to make a really hidden folder. Here really hidden means that you can not reveal it even after using ‘Show hidden files and folders’ check box. Yes! That’s what I’m talking about. Just follow these steps and then you’ll create a really hidden folder!

• Right click the space where you want to create a really hidden folder.
• From the pop up context menu, point to ‘New’ and then click ‘Folder’.

Finally, Microsoft is launching the 2010s. Make sure you don't miss it!

Finally, Microsoft is launching it! Yes, After all this hype, Microsoft is finally launching all the 2010's which are Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Sharepoint 2010 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

Do you want to join the launch event? Here's what Microsoft has got for you. Microsoft allows you to choose from all day or half day in person events in your area! If not, you can still join it from virtual events on the internet which can be checked out anytime!

And what's more? It's free and is designed to fit your interests!

Are we a Virus of this planet?

Before we begin this topic, let me ask you a question. What is a Virus? Something that destroys your computer is called virus. A Virus is nothing but a software program that harms other softwares, replicates and keeps itself intact. Remember, two viruses of same type never affect each other. Their main objective is to replicate and spread infection. What are softwares? Programs that never harm each other and contribute towards some productive or fruitful results are called softwares.

Software Analysis - Microsoft Fix it Center

Friends! I’m telling you! Open a new tab, log on to http://fixit.support.microsoft.com and download Microsoft Fix it Center. It’s Amazing and I’m just speechless about it!

Microsoft has finally gathered all its individual fix it tools and created a suite that covers all fix it tools necessary for your computer. When I saw it for the first time, I was thinking of the download size. There are hundreds of fix it tools available on the internet! Download them? I was wondering how long it was going to take. Three hours? Four? Or maybe five? But hey, there was nothing to worry about. It offers a web installer for download which is of very small size. The web installer then downloads Microsoft Fix it Center and installs it. After completion of the download, it then analyzes your computer and finds the critical locations/hardware where the problems could breed. Like CD/DVD drive, or the sound or audio driver. It downloads only those fix it tools which are necessary for your computer. In my computer, it downloaded 11 necessary fix it tools.

Artificial Intelligence - Part One

Artificial intelligence refers to making computers, devices and robots as ‘smart’ or ‘intelligent’ as humans. This is pretty huge task because computers are dumb beings. You give it a command and irrespective of its consequences, it executes it. It has no real thinking. If you type wrong, it will type wrong. However, you might say that it ‘suggests’ you the correct spelling but that suggestion routine has been programmed into it. It is not its own thinking.

The concept of artificial intelligence is pretty hard to understand because it was hard for me too. I was thinking of making a software program with a lot of exceptions, event handlers and error handlers so that it ‘looks like’ the computer is thinking. Consider a case in which you are a typist. Now, let’s say, you daily start the computer, open Microsoft Word, type your thing, and take a print out. Suppose you are given a highly intelligent computer with ‘so called’ artificial intelligence. You log on and the computer, based on what you’ve been launching frequently, immediately opens Microsoft Word and puts your cursor on the first line. You start typing. Then you quit. The computer asks you if you want to print the document you just typed. This is also based on the past experiences you’ve had with your computer. You tell ‘yes’ and your thing is done.

Neuroprogramming

Neuroprogramming – the term itself suggests programming the neurons. Neurons are inside our brain which controls most of our activities. These are controlled by natural biological software. Not only is this software amazing, the technology over which it runs is also amazing. Neuroprogramming is a new section of my blog within which I am now going to compare about workings of our brain and that of a computer. I’ll be analyzing the difference between technology inside us and that made by us. Please behold yourselves as this new section brings you a lot more to know and understand about these complicated technologies.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is entirely new concept. Normally, you buy CDs and DVDs containing the software to install the software or games on your computer. That would require space in your house as well as on your hard drive. Also, sometimes, installing and removing them is tedious task. In order to solve this problem, computer scientists came up with an entirely new concept of Cloud Computing. 

The word Cloud Computing itself tells a lot. You join to a cloud, share things and disconnect. Simple isn’t it?  A cloud is, in reality, a group of servers that provide data to you. The point here is that you can access all tools, softwares, games and almost everything online. So, that saves disk space, storage space and time. There’s no need to install anything except, in case they recommend you for a plugin; but that’s pretty simple.

Let me give you an example. Are you familiar with Google Docs? If not, get familiar here. You log on the Google Docs with your ID and password, and you are served with Office online. Google Docs provide you with a word program, spreadsheet and many more similar to the office suite. Now, you know how much time Microsoft Office takes to launch. Also, installing it requires a lot of disk space and consumes your time. It’s expensive too. On the contrary, Google Docs is a free-of-cost online software that requires no installation. It’s online and follows the Cloud Computing principle. You can make documents online, download them in various formats and you can also convert them to PDF. It also offers you a facility to upload documents, which you can then edit. To make it short, you can do anything that Microsoft Office Word can do.

How to optimize DSL and Broadband connections?

The following is an adapted article. Hence there is not guarantee or warranty associated with it.

These settings allow you to boost the speed of your broadband Internet connection when using a Cable Modem or DSL Router with Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Create the following DWORD values, as most of these values will not already exist you will need to create them by clicking on 'Edit -> New -> DWORD Value' and then set the value as shown below.

DefaultTTL = "80" hex (or 128 decimal)

Specifies the default time to live (TTL) for TCP/IP packets. The default is 32.

Why Linux has an advantage over Windows?

Linux, as you all know, is a free-open source operating system. Inspite of having number of advantages over Windows, Linux is still free and of course open source. Now, you might be thinking why I'm using terms 'free' and 'open' source separately. 'Free' means that linux is freely available and downloadable from internet. Some of the vendors like 'Ubuntu' offer Cds loaded with linux absolutely free of cost. Open source means that if you know kernel programming and mechanics of operating system, then you can actually tweak linux and also program linux from a scratch. That's open source and linux provides that flexibility. Unlike linux, Windows is not open source. It does not allow user to modify it's kernel or components. This is one of the reasons why linux is hot favourite among young developers.

What separates them?

The main difference between linux and windows is their build. Practically, Windows is created only by Microsoft Corporation while Linux has been created and tweaked by entire world! Why entire world? Because, it's open source. If I have linux and I find a bug, then I can tweak and remove that thing myself. I also tell the organization about the bug which I fixed. So, they verify it and tell their rest of the consumers about the fix. So, that's how it all works. With windows, it is not like that. I must appreciate microsoft's efforts in improving windows because in new versions of windows – The Vista Series – they have put an improved version of error reporting like Problems Report and Solutions. With that you can just submit the error report. You cannot tell them how to fix that even if you know. Of course, you cannot fix grave errors in windows even if you think because it's not open source!

Who's better on performance?

Practically, on considering stable releases of Linux offered by several organizations like Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, etc, no doubt linux outperforms Windows. Windows has always been a bulky operating system taking several minuted to boot up, then a minute to get stable and so on. While with linux, running on an average PC, booting up is a child's play for linux, 10 – 15 seconds is a limit. Even if 'background processing' indicator on mouse cursor is on, you can still get your stuff by clicking. Exploring your computer is just with double-click of a button. You'll never find this speed on Windows!

Also, shutting down your PC is another a matter of 5-6 seconds for linux. And what's more? Linux works on a 1 Ghz PC with 128 MB RAM and even 10 GB Hard Drive!

What's your color today?

Unlike Windows, Linux provides a lot of customization features. It is so flexible that you can customize almost everything. From changing your wallpaper to behaviour and animation of minimizing/maximizing a window, you can change and tweak everything. Linux also provides various desktop effects – some of which even require a 3D card – which are uber cool.

For linux, wallpapers are billions, themes are millions, and yet there are thousands of programs that help even more to customize linux. Also various types of desktop environment are available on linux like GNOME(Most common with cool GUI), KDE(High end graphical interface), Xfce(Fastest of all). These desktop environments not only handle the look and feel of the linux environment but also provide you with lot of other flexibilities. Instead of trying out new desktop environments, I prefer to GNOME and it's cool Compiz-Fusion Desktop effects which tweak almost all aspects of the operating system. In customization, Linux easily overcomes Windows.

Applications?

This is where linux gets outperformed. Almost 91% of the applications available in the market run on windows. 5% work on Mac OS X, 3% of it in Linux and the rest are for other OS. Windows has it's roots wide-spread all over the world because it was the first OS to offer the idea of multi tasking and a lot more new features that were not even thought of at that time. While Linux – which is not that old but still is not as old as windows – has relatively very less number of applications available world wide. Linux is rapidly getting wide spread in the world of computing because it is a lot more flexible and offers a lot more possibilities than Windows. Linux offers it's developers great flexibility of working with applications. Previously, linux was called non-userfriendly because it was difficult to operate but now that it has been tweaked and is available in several forms, linux has removed this badge of dishonour from itself.

Organizations like Ubuntu etc. Have made linux user friendly and ease of use operating system that provides it's users with number of options which makes it easy to use.

Running Windows On Linux?

Also, now you can run Windows applications on Linux. With 'Wine' – an application for linux – you can run windows applications and programs on Linux. Wine uses its DLL library to run Windows applications. If you dualboot Windows and Linux, then it'll be better. Wine uses Windows library and it's own library in combination to run the application smoothly. Wine also has configuration screen where, you can select in which mode Wine should work. There are several modes available based on Windows OS Released. On my Linux, there are following modes:

•                     Windows Vista

•                     Windows XP

•                     Windows Me

•                     Windows 98

•                     Windows 3.0

and several others including server editions which I cannot recall right now.

Each of these modes create a separate environment for the application to run smoothly. Here, environment does not mean that your linux look would change. You won't even notice that! So, are you thinking of running Windows Games on your linux? Don't dream that! It won't run. Games are called as hefty softwares that require large amount of resources and also they have some of functions which are accessible to them in Windows but not in Linux. However, these people are trying a lot to make each and every application of Windows run on Linux. Good luck to them!

Where's the security?

Linux has security from viruses. Don't think that an antivirus system has been integrated to it. It isn't in this case. Because, Linux does not support viruses! Yes, Viruses don't run on linux because they find it hard to harrass you while you are logged in. Surprised? Ok, lets be frank. There's one virus on linux and that's – Bliss. But just think of it. Linux has just one virus to support while Windows is entirely surrounded by viruses. Viruses for Windows – maybe billions – Viruses for Linux – Just One!! and that too is not going to do any big thing to your computer! So, here we have arrived to the point where we must say that linux is too stout to respond to viruses. Consider a case where a burgler has entered a bank, he shows a gun, fires in the air and expects people to panic. But what happens? People ignore him! He shoots at the cashier but finds that his guns does not work against him. Bullets just fall down touching the cashier! This is the case when virus enters into linux. Virus would try hard to do harm but linux won't execute any operations that virus has told. Virus will try to infilterate your files but that also would not work because unlike windows, linux is not having applications chained.

Little things that matters!

Yet, there are a lot of little things offered by linux that provide great advantage over Windows. First of all, linux has a 'Force Quit' feature. If you find anu misbehaving application(Though you'll rarely find) or an application that's taking too long to respond, you can use Force Quit. Force quit is a utility provided in linux which immediately exits a non-responding application. So, you won't need to wait minutes for a non-responding application to end. Sometimes, you'll find that in windows, when an application does not respond, then your computer will also not respond. This happens because in windows, all applications are chained. When running applications are chained, they all get affected if one of them stops responding. This is not the case in linux, In linux, applications work independently, meaning, that they are not chained. So, if any damn application gets 'hanged' your computer and other applications will continue working in full swing. Second advantage in linux, that it has an in-built archive manager. With archive manager, you can handle multiple types of archives without installing a separate program for it. Linux also has a highly advanced calculator with three extended modes which are 'Advanced', 'Financial' and 'Programming'. And what more? Linux also comes with Password and Encryption key manager which allows you to create passwords for applications and folders. It also allows you to create encryption keys whose strength ranges from 2048 bits to 4096 bits. With that, you can encrypt archives, files and folders to ensure that they are safe. Many linux editions also allow you to change the way login screen looks and behavior of the bootloader and its appearance. Linux also allows you to scale CPU usage. Meaning, you can set how much of the CPU power linux should use. This helps you a lot in saving power. Suppose, you are reading an ebook on your linux PC during a journey, If you were using windows, and even in power saver mode, you'll drain a lot of battery. But in linux, it dims the display automatically. Now, reading an ebook does not require processing power. So, you can set the value to least mode. In this way, linux will stop most of background processes which drain battery and will ensure that the battery is saved. Now, as were are discussing about battery, it reminds me of an amazing feature that linux provides. Linux has an in-built system that provides detailed information on the battery installed on your laptop. It includes details like your battery model, version, status, vendor. These details are common in windows. Excluding these, it also tells you details about battery technology, serial number, current charge capacity of battery(in %), current charge(in watt-hour), last full charge(in watt-hour) and design charge(in watt-hour). It also provides you with information based on graphs too! I'm sure that these features are not available on windows.

If you refer to new versions of windows, in Vista line, youll find that they are having preview panes. The moment, you select an item, it's preview(if available) is shown in the preview pane. Previews are available for pictures, music, videos and some other types. Suppose, I click a music file. If my computer or rather Windows media player has that plugin, then it will show a mini media player in the preview pane with a play button. If I click play button, it will search the plugin in Windows Media library and then it will play the file. On my VAIO BZ, windows music preview does not work correctly. For the first file I play on starting the computer, it takes a lot of time in loading the preview pane. After that it plays the file. Now, Ubuntu Linux 9.04 has something new to offer. Now, unlike windows, ubuntu has a 'Movie Player' as default player. While exploring my computer, if I stumble upon a music file which I want to preview, I simply hover my mouse over it and immediately, it'll start playing the file. But unfortunately in this technique, pausing is not possible. If I unhover(or dishover) my mouse from that music file, the file immediately stops playing. Ubuntu also does not offer a seek bar!

Also, there's one thing where Linux surrenders. It's Silverlight Experience! At Windows, you have silverlight integrated in Windows Internet Explorer as well as many other web browsers like Firefox. But, in Ubuntu (or I assume in most of linuxes) silverlight isn't available. Yes, if you do visit a website featuring silverlight, it'll tell you to download an alternative version of silverlight as moonlight but even after downloading moon light, I can't get silverlight experience – It still says that silverlight is missing.

So, what do you learn from this? Most of all high-end Microsoft technologies aren't shared by Microsoft.

For all photoshop editors, linux is a disappointment because there's probably no linux edition for adobe photoshop.

Now, linux also has an in built application called Disk Analyser. It is an application which tells you what folder has been eating, rather reserving your disk space. It is very useful application in that way because it lets you know what to delete to free your space. It not only tells you about your filesystem but tells you the 'free space sharing' on any other device that you connect. In this case, windows falls back. It's not having an in built application for this, so, you'll have to wander-on-the-web to get one!

I've heard that linux produces outstanding graphics but I haven't seen it in action and therefore I tell you about that so sure. But I think that it would be able to produce out-standing graphics because it's swift. Windows and other operating system themselves allocate very high memory and therefore they have relatively less to dedicate for graphice. Whereas in linux, this case is totally different. Linux itself allocates very less of your RAM ans as well as your hard drive. So, it can dedicate more graphics to your games and all that stuff. This is just a guess and I am not so sure about it. Built-in games of linux are very abstract – sort of only two-dimensional and therefore, you cannot judge it's actual capacity. However, some of real 3D games are available but aren't satisfactory because they aren't developed that passionately. I purely do not mean to discourage or hurt the linux game developers but despite of such nice capabilities of linux to handle the resources you won't get any game on linux that can compete the one on windows. This might be because the real 'expert' game developers are looking for money and hence they are moving towards development of games for windows as most of the high-end games in windows aren't free. Now, you might be wondering about 3D modelling software like Maya? As of now, I haven't encountered any such software but I am still looking for it. There must be some sort of software available on linux. Don't worry, you'll obviously find one.

Speed with appearance?

This is very easy question to answer – You compromise speed, you'll get speed. But after you use linux, you'll probably disagree with this. Even after using themes and effects, you'll observe that your working speed has been little affected. Shocked? I was too but I soon discovered this myself on my computer. Of course, you might suffer from a sort of decrease in speed at first but this decrease in speed will be rather unnoticed by you unless you are using a computer that's got a configuration which is just on the minimum system requirements of linux. Now, if you know this, then there are different window managers in linux. Most popular and used is GNOME. Still, there are two other types called KDE and Xfce. GNOME is for a computer user who wants both speed and appearance. KDE is for one who wants very cool appearance. Mostly for high-fi users. Xfce us mostly used by users who have very low system requirements and want speed. Now, this is not always true because some users who just don't care about appearance even after having a high-end system use Xfce. Another one, which is not a window manager (Though most of users think it is.) is Compiz Fusion. It accelerates the appearance of your system and allows you to perform a lot more tweaks like changing the open/close/minimize/maximize animations, window borders, various effects and things like modifying the application switcher method. All these will be better understood by you if you use a hands on approach and get atleast a Live CD of ubuntu Linux. Different window managers provide their own options of modifying the appearance on linux while on windows? You know, you'll have to stick to the like or not Windows own window manager. Now this is mostly attracting to users but if you consider old versions, then they weren't attractive. But now, considering Windows Vista and Windows 7, they seem to be cool. Still, you don't get options of really 'modifying' them. Don't tell me about the 'themes' option. That's of no use. If you want to change desktop background and other sorts of things without affecting the real appearance, then it's better to do it yourself rather than depending on it.

Still thinking of Windows? Think again! Because Linux is used by huge servers and supercomputers. It's their choice because they rely on the usability, flexibility and resource management of linux. Shouldn't you rely on it?

3 Golden Rules for enhancing the performance of your PC

Here are some of the best ways to enhance the performance of your PC. These tips and tricks and tricks work best on Windows Vista. So, if you are unable to buy Windows 7, and you want to make your Windows Vista as fast as Windows 7, then follow on these:

• Defragment your PC regularly. This is the best option to quicken your PC because it reduces the time that the needle of your hard drive takes to move around for searching the data on it. Let me tell you what this thing actually is.