What is Pidgin?
Buddy List Pidgin is an instant messaging program for Windows, Linux, BSD, and other Unixes. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr.
Pidgin can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AIM, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time.
Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, and typing notification. It also goes beyond that and provides many unique features. A few popular features are Buddy Pounces, which give the ability to notify you, send a message, play a sound, or run a program when a specific buddy goes away, signs online, or returns from idle; and plugins, consisting of text replacement, a buddy ticker, extended message notification, iconify on away, spell checking, tabbed conversations, and more.
Pidgin can work with:
* AIM
* Bonjour
* Gadu-Gadu
* Google Talk
* Groupwise
* ICQ
* IRC
* MSN
* MySpaceIM
* QQ
* SILC
* SIMPLE
* Sametime
* XMPP
* Yahoo!
* Zephyr
So now you can able to have touch all the friends in different messenger in sametime without any problem. Beside this you can also get access to plenty of free plug-ins, including ones that can store a history of your commutation, store notes about friends, and other handy functions.
Download Pidgin
Includes:
NOD32 Virus Scan Home Edition
NOD32 Smart Security Home Edition
NOD32 Virus Scan Home Edition
NOD32 Virus Scan Business Edition
NOD32 Smart Security Business Edition
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Vista VG Visual Style (Vishal-Gupta)
Vista Icon Pack V3
TransBar
Aero Sidebar (By Chris Kennedy)
Winamp Vista Skin (By Guljah Sergey Victorovich)
Wallpaper
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DeskSpace dramatically enhances your desktop experience, allowing you to:
Work and play on multiple desktops.
Display multiple desktops in stunning 3D.
Quickly switch between desktops using the mouse and keyboard.
Drag windows between desktops by moving them to the sides of the screen.
Display desktops in 3D on multiple monitors.
DeskScape system requirements:
OS Version: Windows XP / Vista
Processor: 800 Mhz CPU
Memory: 256 MB RAM
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StormPredator - Personal Weather Radar Software with realistic Map Topography, Multiple NEXRAD Radar products, Storm Tracking, Visual, Audible, Email, Pager, & Cellphone Weather Alerting, Weather Forecasts, Current Data, and History Images.
StormPredator is the result of years of experience in the weather graphics business. The founder of the company, Anthony Watts, is a 25 year broadcast meteorology veteran and was responsible for the first ever PC based weather graphics display system for broadcast television in 1983. Since then, hundreds of TV stations have used TV weather display equipment he designed to show weather on the nightly news. Companies such as WSI and Accu-Weather® have relied upon systems designed right here.
StormPredator is a result of that experience
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WindowBlinds is a software utility that allows users to completely change the look and feel of Microsoft Windows. It works by applying new visual styles, called skins, across the entire user interface (title bars, push buttons, start menu, taskbar, etc.) of the operating system. As a result, users gain complete control over the way Windows looks.
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Getting used to using your keyboard exclusively and leaving your mouse behind will make you much more efficient at performing any task on any Windows system. I use the following keyboard shortcuts every day:
Windows key + R = Run menu
This is usually followed by:
cmd = Command Prompt
iexplore + "web address" = Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc = Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc = DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc = DNS Management
services.msc = Services
eventvwr = Event Viewer
dsa.msc = Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc = Active Directory Sites and Services
Windows key + E = Explorer
ALT + Tab = Switch between windows
ALT, Space, X = Maximize window
CTRL + Shift + Esc = Task Manager
Windows key + Break = System properties
Windows key + F = Search
Windows key + D = Hide/Display all windows
CTRL + C = copy
CTRL + X = cut
CTRL + V = paste
Also don't forget about the "Right-click" key next to the right Windows key on your keyboard. Using the arrows and that key can get just about anything done once you've opened up any program.
Keyboard Shortcuts
[Alt] and [Esc] Switch between running applications
[Alt] and letter Select menu item by underlined letter
[Ctrl] and [Esc] Open Program Menu
[Ctrl] and [F4] Close active document or group windows (does not work with some applications)
[Alt] and [F4] Quit active application or close current window
[Alt] and [-] Open Control menu for active document
Ctrl] Lft., Rt. arrow Move cursor forward or back one word
Ctrl] Up, Down arrow Move cursor forward or back one paragraph
[F1] Open Help for active application
Windows+M Minimize all open windows
Shift+Windows+M Undo minimize all open windows
Windows+F1 Open Windows Help
Windows+Tab Cycle through the Taskbar buttons
Windows+Break Open the System Properties dialog box
acessability shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds........ Switch FilterKeys on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +PRINT SCREEN....... Switch High Contrast on and off.
Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK....... Switch MouseKeys on and off.
SHIFT....... five times Switch StickyKeys on and off.
NUM LOCK...... for five seconds Switch ToggleKeys on and off.
explorer shortcuts
END....... Display the bottom of the active window.
HOME....... Display the top of the active window.
NUM LOCK+ASTERISK....... on numeric keypad (*) Display all subfolders under the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (+) Display the contents of the selected folder.
NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN....... on numeric keypad (-) Collapse the selected folder.
LEFT ARROW...... Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder.
RIGHT ARROW....... Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder.
Type the following commands in your Run Box (Windows Key + R) or Start Run
devmgmt.msc = Device Manager
msinfo32 = System Information
cleanmgr = Disk Cleanup
ntbackup = Backup or Restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc = Microsoft Management Console
excel = Microsoft Excel (If Installed)
msaccess = Microsoft Access (If Installed)
powerpnt = Microsoft PowerPoint (If Installed)
winword = Microsoft Word (If Installed)
frontpg = Microsoft FrontPage (If Installed)
notepad = Notepad
wordpad = WordPad
calc = Calculator
msmsgs = Windows Messenger
mspaint = Microsoft Paint
wmplayer = Windows Media Player
rstrui = System Restore
netscp6 = Netscape 6.x
netscp = Netscape 7.x
netscape = Netscape 4.x
waol = America Online
control = Opens the Control Panel
control printers = Opens the Printers Dialog
internetbrowser
type in u're adress "google", then press [Right CTRL] and [Enter]
add www. and .com to word and go to it
For Windows XP:
Copy. CTRL+C
Cut. CTRL+X
Paste. CTRL+V
Undo. CTRL+Z
Delete. DELETE
Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin. SHIFT+DELETE
Copy selected item. CTRL while dragging an item
Create shortcut to selected item. CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item
Rename selected item. F2
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word. CTRL+RIGHT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word. CTRL+LEFT ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph. CTRL+DOWN ARROW
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph. CTRL+UP ARROW
Highlight a block of text. CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document. SHIFT with any of the arrow keys
Select all. CTRL+A
Search for a file or folder. F3
View properties for the selected item. ALT+ENTER
Close the active item, or quit the active program. ALT+F4
Opens the shortcut menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously. CTRL+F4
Switch between open items. ALT+TAB
Cycle through items in the order they were opened. ALT+ESC
Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop. F6
Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer. F4
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. SHIFT+F10
Display the System menu for the active window. ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the Start menu. CTRL+ESC
Display the corresponding menu. ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name
Carry out the corresponding command. Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu
Activate the menu bar in the active program. F10
Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu. RIGHT ARROW
Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu. LEFT ARROW
Refresh the active window. F5
View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer. BACKSPACE
Cancel the current task. ESC
SHIFT when you insert a CD into the CD-ROM drive Prevent the CD from automatically playing.
Use these keyboard shortcuts for dialog boxes:
To Press
Move forward through tabs. CTRL+TAB
Move backward through tabs. CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
Move forward through options. TAB
Move backward through options. SHIFT+TAB
Carry out the corresponding command or select the corresponding option. ALT+Underlined letter
Carry out the command for the active option or button. ENTER
Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box. SPACEBAR
Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons. Arrow keys
Display Help. F1
Display the items in the active list. F4
Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box. BACKSPACE
If you have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Windows logo key and the Application key , you can use these keyboard shortcuts:
Display or hide the Start menu. WIN Key
Display the System Properties dialog box. WIN Key+BREAK
Show the desktop. WIN Key+D
Minimize all windows. WIN Key+M
Restores minimized windows. WIN Key+Shift+M
Open My Computer. WIN Key+E
Search for a file or folder. WIN Key+F
Search for computers. CTRL+WIN Key+F
Display Windows Help. WIN Key+F1
Lock your computer if you are connected to a network domain, or switch users if you are not connected to a network domain. WIN Key+ L
Open the Run dialog box. WIN Key+R
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U
accessibility keyboard shortcuts:
Switch FilterKeys on and off. Right SHIFT for eight seconds
Switch High Contrast on and off. Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN
Switch MouseKeys on and off. Left ALT +left SHIFT +NUM LOCK
Switch StickyKeys on and off. SHIFT five times
Switch ToggleKeys on and off. NUM LOCK for five seconds
Open Utility Manager. WIN Key+U
shortcuts you can use with Windows Explorer:
Display the bottom of the active window. END
Display the top of the active window. HOME
Display all subfolders under the selected folder. NUM LOCK+ASTERISK on numeric keypad (*)
Display the contents of the selected folder. NUM LOCK+PLUS SIGN on numeric keypad (+)
Collapse the selected folder. NUM LOCK+MINUS SIGN on numeric keypad (-)
Collapse current selection if it's expanded, or select parent folder. LEFT ARROW
Display current selection if it's collapsed, or select first subfolder. RIGHT ARROW
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If you like to increase/optimize your Hard Disk I/O - read/write speed without buying expensive software utilities to do that job or changing the HD, just follow next steps. With doing these steps you will increase Hard disk speed (depends of manufacture and specification, but its worth to try). The most speed improvement is visible with IDE drives; however there are reports that this tweak also does good for SCSI disks.
In any case, it won't harm your system, so try it yourself and let me know what you find!
Steps:
1. Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the start.
2. Expand the system.ini file window.
3. Scroll down almost to the end of the file until you find a line called [386enh].
4. Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type
5. Irq14=4096 (note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE)
6. Click on the File menu, then choose Save.
7. Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.
8. Restart windows!
The speed improvement will be noticed just after the system reboots, any system info. software can be used to check the improvement.
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Increase the Browsing and Downloading speed in Windows Vista
Posted by freaks Labels: Vista Tips n TricksFor doing this trick run as Administrator in Windows Vista.
With windows Vista you have noticed the slow internet speed. The web browsing and downloading speed is very slow as compare to previous versions of windows. You can open the same sites in windows XP and server 2003 with the normal speed.
Follow the given steps to increase the Vista browsing speed:
First, go to Advance tab in Internet Explorer settings and turn off the TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption option. Here to fix problem with some secure pages turn on the SSL 2.0 (Secure Sockets Layer) feature and click Ok button to close it.
Follow the major fix for this problem:
In windows Vista, the TCP autotuning feature is enabled by default. Some web servers do not respond properly to this feature, so it appears that some sites open with very slow speed.
To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
First click on Start button and type CMD in Run option then press Enter.
At Command Prompt, type the following command and press enter.
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel= disabled
This command will disable the TCP autotuning feature. Now close the command Prompt and restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.
You can easily restore these setting by typing the following command at Command Prompt.
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel= normal
Now close the command Prompt and again restart your computer after any changes to go into effect.
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How to Deny Access to Files or Folders in Windows Vista
Posted by freaks Labels: Vista Tips n TricksYou can restrict access to a particular folder which could be any where on your hard drive.
Set File or Folder Security
Right click on the folder which you want to block from other users and select Properties.
Now click the Security tab in the folder properties window, and then click the Edit button.
![folder-properties[3]](http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/folderproperties3.png "folder-properties[3]")
Click on the Add button to open the "Select Users or Group" window.
Now you can enter the username of the account for which you want restrict access in the text box (Use the "Check Names" button to validate)
or
if you are not sure about the username then click the Advanced button, which opens the search window.
To search all users click the Find Now button and then locate the user which you want restrict access to the folder and click OK. Now, you will see the username listed in the Security Permissions window, click on the username to select.
Select the Deny Permissions for that user by checking the Deny box for Full Control.
Now, you will be shown a Windows Security message which in short says that Deny entries always override the allow permissions. Click Yes, and then click OK.
In this way you have restricted access to the folder for a particular user (
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Prevent Firefox or Internet Explorer from Printing the URL on Every Page
Posted by freaks Labels: Hacking Tools and Tips n TricksRemove from Internet Explorer
Simply click on the little arrow next to the printer icon on the toolbar, and then choose Page Setup from the menu.
Now you should see a "Headers and Footers" section where you can specify what is printed. The codes, like &w and &b are replaced with the values on the current page, such as the URL.
To remove the URL from printing, simply remove the text from the Footer box. Otherwise, you can more fully customize the setup by following the instructions in this article.
Tip: If you just want to remove the header and footer for a single print job, you can click on Print Preview, and then click on the button for "Turn headers and footers on or off"
Then you can simply click the print button, and your print job will print without that extra information.
Remove From Firefox
Go to the File \ Page Setup item on the menu, and then select the Margins & Header/Footer tab in the dialog.
You should be able to change the drop-downs to set the Title or URL to –blank– instead, which will prevent them from printing. Note that you could also use this to put the page numbers at the top instead of the bottom if you prefer that.
Note: You can access the Page Setup from the print preview screen, which should set the options just for that print job.
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Open Control Panel and double click on Regional and Language Options.
Next, under the Formats tab click on the “Customize this format” button.
Now under the Time tab, enter in the character and / or symbols you think would get a great laugh in the AM / PM fields. You can basically enter in whatever you want up to 12 characters. Click OK twice to get out of Regional and Language Options.
Here are a few examples of what you can achieve. From your name to old chat emoticons.
If your co-worker is not aware of this trick … they will have a heck of a time trying to correct it. Each different example you create will show up now in the drop boxes.
This trick also works in XP. Control Panel \ Regional and Language Settings \ Customize \ Time tab.
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Have you ever wondered how many times per day you check your email? For many of us, it's far too often… and if every single time you have to click on a little icon in the tray, or find the Outlook button in the taskbar, it can get a little annoying. Instead of that, what I do is assign a hotkey to switch to my already open Outlook window.
This is especially helpful for those of us that have at least 37 windows open at any given point… alt-tab is just inefficient at that point.
Creating the Shortcut for the Hotkey
In order to assign the hotkey, you'll need to first create a new shortcut in the start menu (or desktop), because the one in the Start menu doesn't have the right options and the one in the quick launch won't let you assign a hotkey.
To add one into the start menu, right-click on the Start button and then select "Open" from the menu:
Browse down into the Programs folder (or further if you'd like), and then create a new shortcut to Outlook here (the easiest way is to just right-click drag the one from the quick launch)
Now open up the properties, and make sure that the end of the Target line has the /recycle option (it should if you copied the one from the Quick Launch bar). This is the magic switch that will re-open your Outlook window, rather than opening a new instance of Outlook.
Go ahead and assign your hotkey here in the Shortcut key box. As soon as you click the OK button the hotkey should be active. Note: You could have created this shortcut on the Desktop if you had wanted to.
Make Outlook Hide When Minimized
You can easily make Outlook 2007 minimize to the system tray by right-clicking the tray icon and choosing "Hide When Minimized". I'm not sure if this option exists in prior versions or not.
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Installing CutePDF Writer
There are actually two pieces to the installation… you'll need to first install Ghostscript (provided on the download site itself), which is the engine that actually will convert the printer output into a PDF. Installing it is simple enough…
At the end you'll get a dialog asking if the program installed correctly. Make sure to click "This program installed correctly".
The next step should be to install CutePDF itself, but unfortunately it cannot be installed while UAC is enabled. What we'll have to do is disable UAC, reboot, install CutePDF, and then re-enable UAC and reboot once again.
Update
It looks like most people are able to install this application without any issues at all, so your best best is to run the installer, and hopefully it will work. If it doesn't, then you can follow the instructions for disabling UAC.
Open up Control Panel, find User Accounts, and then click the link for "Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off"
Now uncheck the box, click OK, and then reboot your computer.
Now start the CutePDF installation, which should only take a couple of clicks.
Important: Go back in and re-enable UAC using the same mechanism as above, just make sure to check the box. At this point you should be all done.
Using CutePDF Writer
Creating a PDF is as simple as clicking the Print button in any application in Windows, and then choose CutePDF Writer as the printer.
If you click on Properties, you can turn off color, which should reduce the size of the files by a ton as long as you don't mind black & white.
There are even more settings behind the Advanced button, like quality options, compression, or even the option to embed fonts in the PDF or not.
You'll be prompted to choose a filename, and then you can view your printed page as a PDF document:
This really works well for printing receipts, or even for printing an article to PDF for later reading offline.
For extra credit, you can save any Office 2007 document as a PDF with a native plugin.
Update: Easier Install Method
Carlo noted in the comments that you could alternately use the also free doPDF software, which has a much simpler installation, but doesn't have support for converting to black & white, or any of the really advanced features in CutePDF.
Using it works exactly the same, just choose it from the print dialog. You can adjust the scaling and resolution options as well from the properties screen.
So you've got your choice of apps to pick from. I'm going to stick with CutePDF, but there's nothing wrong with doPDF either. Enjoy!
Download CutePDF Writer from cutepdf.com
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Organizing all of your tasks these days can be quite challenging. At work your employer probably supplies a calendaring and “to do” list application such as those included in Outlook. But what if you are a small business owner or home user and don’t feel like wasting money on expensive office applications? A very powerful, fun, and free desktop calendar application is Rainlendar2.
I am very impressed with the desktop calendar utility Rainlendar2. It does a lot of what you would expect from a calendar application and more. Out of the box it comes with a straightforward UI of course we can always Skin it as well.
Managing events and to do’s is as straight forward as it gets. This will be very familiar for those who use Outlook.
A handy feature is being able to review all your current events in one location. I find this great when planning future events mostly.
There are an amazing number of additional downloadable skins. This where the “fun” comes in. You’re likely to find a skin that will match any desktop configuration you might have. Here are just a couple of them.
You can choose which windows to display and drag and drop them in any order you like. For you Keyboard Ninja’s there is also the HotKeys feature!
Managing skins is very easy. Just right click anywhere on Rainlendar and go to Options. Then choose the Skins tab.
While I did have a lot of fun playing with various skins and different configurations with the UI, when you get down to the real function of the application … it can’t be beat. I am now using Rainlendar2 as my default program to manage events and to do’s. Also, when installing don’t forget to check the portable version as well. While this version is free you can go Pro which allows synchronization with Gmail and Outlook.
