The Beyond-Teck Search Plugin

I realize that it is hard to come to the site all the time to search for something. Especially when you are studying for tests, using the blogger navbar or the search in the sidebar doesn't quite cut it. So I decided to build myself a very simple search plugin for Firefox (it also works for Flock, Netscape and similar browsers). This way all I need to do is open up a browser and search! And installing it is a piece of cake as well...

Installing it in Firefox

1. Start
2. My Computer
3. Local Disk (C:)
4. Program Files
5. Mozilla Firefox
6. searchplugins
7. Drag and drop this file(the source) and this file(the favicon) from the downloaded location.

Installing it in Flock

1. Start
2. My Computer
3. Local Disk (C:)
4. Program Files
5. Flock
6. flock
7. searchplugins
   
8. Drag and drop this file(the source) and this file(the favicon) from the downloaded location.
   

Installing it in Netscape Browser

1. Start
2. My Computer
3. Local Disk (C:)
4. Program Files
5. Netscape Browser
6. defaults
   
7. profile
8. searchplugins
9. Drag and drop this file(the source) and this file(the favicon) from the downloaded location.

That's it! Now you can search beyond-teck as well, without having to visit the site!

Exams are coming

Exams are coming and I think I won't be able to update this blog as much, it's just for a few days though. Well, I might be posting a few post here and there but I probably won't be posting that regularly, so don't worry if you don't see anything!

Exams are a key component of your marks, and I think it is good practice to study for them... Although exams aren't worth that much right now (only 25%) it is still important, because it prepares your for future college and uni exams. So I guess it's back to studying now...

Some interesting Gmail features

When I was checking my e-mail today I realised that I had spam in my spam folder. So I went ahead and deleted it, just then something caught my eye...

I don't know about you but having 'Spam Fajitas' in the webclips section in my spam folder just cracks me up.

And apparently, Gmail just added a delete button. I wonder how many people are going to use this, I mean after all you have about 2687 MB of storage. I know I would probably...

use it. I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and updates and so on, so my inbox is always cluttered with this kind of stuff. I'm a kind of person that likes to keep his inbox clean (unfortunately it's not the same for my room) and usually I used to search here and there to find the option that used to delete the selected mail, but now it's a piece of cake.

google, gmail, email, spam, funny, news

I apparently got 'almost' dug again!

Hmm... looks like I got semi-dug... even though I wasn't supposed to, but then the story got removed from the front page... oh well. It doesn't bother me much, when people say I have a crappy blog (makes me wonder what their blog looks like) besides, I can't do exams and postings together! So it's just temporary...

Turning on Clear Type fonts

Quick Online Tips had published a cool article on how to reduce eye strain while using monitors, and I think you should go and read it right away! The most important thing that I liked was turning on ClearType fonts. Then it surprised me that I forgot the fact that XP didn't have cleartype by default... and turned it on right away. It surpises me, that XP didn't have clear type option in built... it even didn't have this option inside the Control Panel...

All other operating systems seem to have them, I mean it's default in OS X, it's a default in Windows Vista (because it uses the Segoe Ui Clear Type Font), then why couldn't Microsoft put it in say the Service Pack 2 or something like that? Even Linux for that matter (Gnome and KDE) seem to have clear type on...and Microsft expects us to go to the Power Toys section and get it and because this is something that was developed after the product was launched (here is the definition of a power toy)? I guess, many people still don't know about this and it's probably just another reason why people might prefer Apple over Microsoft...

Put an end to that iPod problem

Today I was browsing around the net and I came across one of the forums at iLounge that talks about the iPod Shuffle problems and what to do if it can't be updated or isn't recognised in iTunes and so on.

Try and see if this works for you hopefully it's going to. Here's what the other people said...

EfilsGod it worked!!!! thank you thank you thank you... MAN!!! Huge thanks!!! Finally i can use iTunes!!! and so on...

So just go and read it!!!!! If your iPod shuffle or any other kind of iPod is giving you problems, for example it isn't recognised by iTunes or your PC and you can't update it and so on!

solution, software, techniques, tips, iPod, shuffle, problems, troubleshooting, restore, firmware, tricks, tips, mp3, music, updater

Contact Me!

Okay so you want to contact me for something? No Problem!

E-Mail


You can send all your questions, comments, tips (I need a lot of those) or just plain complaints to beyondteck@gmail.com and I'll make sure that I reply to your e-mail as soon as I can. However, sometimes do to the large amount of questions I receive, I might not be able to reply to them for a while.

Please don't spam me. If you want to attach something in the e-mail, please do not send a Word document or HTML, and also please do not encode your message in some funny way. Disable all the fancy options in your e-mail program, and send the body of the message as plain ordinary text. Otherwise, I might not be able to read your message or it might automatically get dumped in the spam folder by Gmail. Image and PDF attachments are OK, but please no executable files.

Additional Information for Support help:
If you'd like to contact me for support help regarding some of the computer problems you might have, please allow some time for my reply. Please describe the problem as accurately and the more details you provide the better. For example, do not say my computer, instead specify the make, the components, the operating system and the version of the software that's acting up. I might not be able to solve your problems, but I may be able to suggest other avenues or possible solutions.

8 PowerPoint Presentation mistakes

I've blogged about how powerpoint users make mistakes and now there is another great article that talks about this as well. This article is about how how you should create a PowerPoint presentation. It even gives instructions on what to do.

I've been using some of these techniques in my presentations, for a while, and it does work. Not always of course because it all depends on what mood you are in and what mood the audience is in. And if you seem to Present a lot then it might also be a good idea to take a look at how the "CEO's" (Steve Jobs and Bill Gates) present.

powerpoint, presentation, software, techniques, tips

Performancing for Firefox works for Flock

Today I was trying finding someting to make my blogging life easier. Of course I have Flock, because I do seem like a few of its features. Many of us know (if you don't know then read Paul's Review) that Flock has the capability of inbuilt blogging. As a blogger I've never liked the blogging tool that came with Flock, no offence but Performancing is way better. Then why not get performancing for Flock?

The first idea that came to my mind was get the performancing then reverse engineer it for Flock. But then I went to the site. And saw that there was and install button, so I said to myself, why not try and see if it works for flock. Then I saw the post by Nick, and it does say that you can use it for flock, no problem! I installed it and now it works perfectly fine. Give it a try, if you use flock sometimes. Okay, there are a few bugs but, it's the same as in Firefox, and has all the same functionalities. So go ahead and try it out yourself.


internet, flock, web, performancing, blog, browser

Test how strong your password is

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Passwords are like Internet signatures that have the power to do a lot of things and it very very important. Interestingly Microsoft (I think it was an accident, ;) ) came up with an excellent tool called Password Checker. Yes this is the same password checker that you see when you sign up for a new hotmail (now Windows Live Mail) account and it tells you how strong your password is. All you do is go to the Password Checker page and type in your password, and it tells you how strong your password is. No registration, no elaborate process.

This is excellent! I wonder how come I couldn't think of that before. It says that it won't store any data, but just to be safe, just enter a similar password. If password checker says that your password isn't safe, then you might want to take a look at my passwords tips post.

Since I know about that right now, I'm working on my very own version like this called password checkR (you know why the R is that right? :D ). Now it won't be as good as what microsoft has to offer, probably created with JavaScript, and will only protect you from dictionary attack and so on, but just check back if you are curious to use it.

Until then... happy password creating
computers and internet, security, web, passwords, password checker

Ohh... That's interesting!

Today, I was reading my teacher's blog and found some interesting things in there. He blogged about a article that talks about

a reporter who got fired for plagiarizing a article. Why would a person just copy and paste stuff from wikipedia? Doesn't he have like a brain so that he can think (unless he himself wrote the article on wikipedia or something...) and write about the facts. Is is that necessary to copy it... or even write a similar article. Sometimes this just makes me mad... like of example if people (like my friends, or that's what they say) copy my posts, word for word.

Another cool article I found when I was browsing through slashdot is titled- "Computer Science Students Outsource Homework". The first thing that came to my mind was cool... I should do that- bad idea. But then I thought about the guy who got fired for plagiarisng a wikipedia article. Oh well bad idea...

Technorati Tags: Computers and Internet

The better way to log into Gmail

Many other people that talked about this... but it doesn't hurt to repeat this.
Gmail has a secure log-in page (SSL encrypted log-in) but when you sign into Gmail you will go into a insecure page by default. This is okay, because Google still promises to keep your password safe, however it is always better to have a secure connection all the way so no data leaks anywhere in between.

To have a secure SSL encrypted connection all you need to do is...

log in using https://mail.google.com (you might want to remember this or drag this link to your bookmark toolbar if you're using Firefox and use this)

This will make you use encrypted access which means that your data is protected. In general any URL that has "https" means that the information is encrypted. If you are using a browser such as Firefox and so on, you might notice pop up boxes (if enabled) that tell you that you are moving from secure to non secure, and if you use the url above you aren't going to notice it after you enter your password!

Another way to ensure that you log in securly is to use extensions (you need to use Firefox or Flock of course). These extensions automatically log into your account using secure log in, so you don't have to worry about "https", just click on the notifier button and log in. There are many extensions available out there for Gmail. The ones which I like are:

• Gmail Notifier (For Firefox)- Tells you when new e-mails arrive, and has a lot of configurable settings. The only downpoint is that you can only view the e-mails of one accout at a time.
  
• Gmail Manager (For Firefox)- Also tells you when new e-mail arrive, however you can use this extension for several accounts at one time. But I do seem to find this a little buggy, because I'm not able to log in sometimes.
  
• Gmail Notifier (For Flock)- Just like the Firefox extension tells you when new mails arrive.

Now you can safely enjoy what Gmail has to offer without, worrying about anything!

Digg it!

Technorati Tags: gmail, secure, login, password, extensions

Top ten blogger lies...

Okay, this post on gapingvoid falls into the - "You must read this hilarious post" category. If it's funny and such posts always makes a good read. Just like this post, this is even true. And I admit that I have told lies sometimes... like for example, the second point about not caring about traffic (shh... don't tell any one, it's a secret!)

I can't seem to stop laughing after I read them. Hugh even seems to give examples of what he means... I hope this blog doesn't make it's way into one of his future posts like- "Examples of how blogs shouldn't be" ;)

Flyakite- convert your PC into a MAC

Wow, I hardly come by totally sweet sites like osx.portraitofakite.com. This is one site that you seriously need to take a look at... especially if you like OS X but have a PC. Even the site looks like OS X.

FlyakiteOSX is a theme pack for your computer that changes everything from your icons, to your themes and so on. I'll change pretty much everything you have right now (including the boot screen and so on) on your computer so that it'll look more like OSX. It comes along with it's own installer, and installation is a breeze.

The good thing is that you can even install it over your existing v2.0 install of flyakite. So it's easy as pie if you want that PC to look like a MAC! This way you don't need to install Tiger (Or Tiger 10.4.3) on your PC to get the looks, because sometimes you never know what might go wrong...

Why not go take a look, one thing is for sure you're probably going to love the site itself.

Technorati Tags: Computers and Internet, apple, OS X, modingmac, pcthemes

I'm a Programmer, Not A Computer Guy

This is one post that you really have to read!!!!! Why you ask.

1. Super funny
2. True
3. If you are a person like me then you'll see what I mean.

Enough said, just go and read it from Blogcritics.org!

Peer to Peer Sharing, the good and the bad

Well, usually the old saying goes... if it's too good to be true the it usually is. This applies to downloads as well. It might be free and it might be good but do you really know what's inside that download. Yes I'm sure the site says it's "Spyware free" and "100% No Viruses" and all that kind of stuff, but really, how true is that? Well, why don't you find out...

Yes, I know, I know, sometimes things are really "Open source" and not spyware/malware/virus and the like... but here are a few tips to keep in mind when you download something.

1. The first thing to do is to see if the site is trusted, it the site has pop-ups and so on, there might be something fishy going on. And sites that are loaded with advertisements are also something that you need to watch out for.
2. Make sure that you virus check everything you are downloading. If you don't have Anti-Virus, then go get one, there are lot's of them that are going to help you in pointing Spyware and so on.
3. If you get a lot of Agreement Screens for a product that you aren't downloading then, I suggest ... stop the installation and start to panic. Make sure you run anti-virus and so on after that as well.
4. Make sure you check everything you are installing, some installers will tell you what you are installing and some wont... so only download stuff that you trust.

That said and odne there is nothing much you can do to avoid spyware and so on, sometimes you can be lucky and have a perfectly good product. Sometimes you aren't lucky. And the "evil people" are always finding different ways of doing something to your system, so always back up all your data, and download something only if it is really necessary.

You can also do your self a favour right now by visiting the Site Advisor blog, where they have posts talking about all this nasty stuff that can take place. Mark's Sysinternals Blog is also a good place for you to find more info on such topics (especially stuff like the The Antispyware Conspiracy). There are many more sites out there as well which are definately going to help you out.

I guess that's the most you can do, and remember- only download Open Source software if you can, stay away from individual companies and so on... you never know what's going on.

Technorati Tags: Computers and Internet, downloads, spyware

Subscribe!

Beyond-Teck is constantly being updated all the time! So it might be a little hard for you to keep up with all the tutorials and tricks and news posts that are constantly being posted, each and every day. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to miss it. That's why I've put together this post so that you can subscribe to Beyond-Teck's RSS feeds.

RSS Feeds

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+Comments RSS Feed
You can also use Live Bookmarks (in Firefox) to stay updated!

E-mail Updates
You can also subscribe via e-mail updates if you wish... Just submit your e-mail address and enjoy, the latest posts. (Don't worry, spam won't be a problem)

Newsvine invites

Newsvine is a really great source to get all your news (read about it here), however right now it's still in the beta stages and only people who are invited to newsvine are allowed to enter. So I decided to give away a few of my invites for the regular readers of my blog! All you have to do to get an invite is...

Leave a comment on why you would like to take a look at newsvine. Along with that you also need to comment on what is it that you would like to see in this blog. You need to comment about what new articles or tutorials you would like to see and so on (for example change the site design, change the style of writing). The best comments will be awarded an invite... Why am I having this commenting thingy? So that I know that you are someone who likes newsvine and not just somebody who is looking around for invites...

I'll send the invites as soon possible... remember I only have a few!

And don't forget to include the e-mail address you want it to be sent to... and please make sure it is the correct e-mail address. Don't worry I hate spam as much as you do, and you're e-mail address will never be published!

Newsvine.com

Newsvine.com is a great site! Why do I say that?... I think newsvine is a great source for news and information. It's sort of like a Digg + CNN + Slashdot mixture. You can also read Brian Benzinger's great review about it! It has articles from the Associated Press (AP) and you can write up your own articles too. Plus yuo can link to other people's articles like Digg. You can also vote for all the Articles on their site and improve it's standing on the page!

This means that you are giving more control to the user and the editors of the site, or the people that maintain the site don't choose which post gets the prioity. And what I like a lot as well is that the user community for newsvine is extremly great. So basically you won't get flamed (as much perhaps) and so on.

The user interface is also pretty nice. And I like the way how it is organised and neat and tidy so that the chances of getting what you want are more likely.


Another Feature that I seem to like a lot is the "Chat" feature. When people actually start using this feature, I think it's a great way to get feedback and so on. It's good to know what people think!

Well, I won't tell you more... because I'm sure you'd love to see all this yourself. So why not go grab yourself an invite, and see for yourself!

Technorati Tags: Computers and Internet, news, newsvine, invites

Sorry for the inconvenience...

Update: I've temporarily changed the template... the newer template will be coming soon after a while!
Looks like my blog template is a little... ahem wierd in Internet Explorer... so I'm sorry for that. This will be corrected shortly and I assure you that I'll make a simpler template so that you can view this blog without any problems no matter what browser you are using. If you are using browsers like Firefox or the like you should be able to see the site properly.

So if you don't have firefox yet then you might wan't to get it... other pages also look better in Firefox.

Digg, please shed they infinite grace on my humbleblog

Cool! My post just got on the front page of digg.com... you can take a look at the post at http://www.tech-recipes.com/_tips1135.html...
Update: This is a screenshot of how it looks like now after it has been dugg... nod bad I would say.

The difference between presentation styles

Often we see that one mans way of presenting is totally different than the other man's way of presenting something. This article created by Presentation Zen clearly helps you compare and contrast between the different styles of presenting. And a lot depends on this style of presentation... just go on and read the article, it's a great read if you are interested in tech-news!

Microsoft's newsletter is considered 'Potentially dangerous'?

Ha, it's funny to know that my Windows Live Mail (beta) thinks that a newsletter from Microsoft is spam... no wait a minute, is Windows Live Mail right?
I haven't laughed for a while now since my system crashed yesterday morning (yes will be writing a post about that later, so that you can prevent your system from crashing.) But then I wondered... why did this happen? Isn't Microsoft smart enough to program it in such a way that it recognizes Microsoft Newsletters are from a trusted source? May be it is...

If you read through what the message in red says about this mail, you are going to see 'Mail has elements found commonly in Phishing mails'. Basically what Windows Live mail is looking for is something called the SenderID. If it fails this, then it is considered as a phishing attempt. However if you compare the address that the newsletter came from and the address from where other newsletters come from it is almost identical! The only thing that is different is the first part of the e-mail address, the part that comes before the '@' sign.

When you take the first part and then compare to other newsletters such as this, the address is catnflash@flsh@microsoft.com... by this we can know that something is seriously fishy here. Or should is say Phishy. And the Sender is Microsoft Canada, not Microsoft.

Is Windows Live Mail Beta right? Or is it wrong? I have a feeling that I'm going to find out soon...

I'm quite sure however, that Microsoft has some problem in their SenderID process, but anyways we'll see...

Technorati Tags: Internet, email, web, phishing

Guess the logo

Hmm, let's play the guess the logo game...

Try and see if you can recognise this logo:


The answer is up in the comments. Good luck! Its easy!
Hint: you can guess what the logo is by its colour

The iPod Shuffle Problem- Part 2

Many people seem to be having iPod Shuffle problems and I guess I'm not the only one and this is also a very useful post if you have iPod problems as well. This post is created for the people who needed help and said so in my previous post. If you haven't read my previous post called 'ipod Shuffle Problems?' then I suggest you read that right now!

Most of you have probably gone through the Apple iPod Support site. If you haven't done that yet then you might as well go through it now. The tips I give below are a mixture of my own tips and what the Apple support site has. You might also want to chat with a Apple Support Agent (24/7), which I higly reccomend... plus the funny thing is that they have this especially for iMac and iPod Shuffle customers. This makes me think, how much problems does the shuffle really have?!

How to solve 'My computer and iTunes don't detect my shuffle, I'm so tired of this thing' Problem:

Reset your iPod shuffle (My way...)

1. Turn over your iPod shuffle (keep it off)
2. Move the switch (the rectangular thing that turns your iPod shuffle on etc) down and wait for 5 seconds. Check if you are getting the green light on the back of your iPod, you will usually get if after 5 seconds.
3. Move it back up to off position wait for 5 secs
4. Then bring it back to on or shuffle position.

I think this way is going to work a little better, here's the original way (what Apple Recommends).

Check if iPodService.exe is running

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Detele together to bring up Windows Task Manager
2. Go the Processes tab
3. Check if iPodService.exe is running- If it is running then your computer is allright.
4. If it isn't running then read Apple's full article over here...
Check if Safely Remove Hardware icon is there

1. In your system tray you should see a small 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon
2. Double click on it and check if you see iPod anywhere. If you see iPod anywhere this means that your PC is recognising that there is an iPod.

Download the latest iTunes... and make sure that you don't use anything else. If you don't want to use iTunes to put songs into you iPod then you can use other software as well. I'll write up a blog post on that as well.

Make sure you try it with all the USB ports on your computer. For example if your web-cam is using a usb port and has the same requirements of the Shuffle then remove the webcam and put your iPod in that port and check if it works.

How to solve 'The Ipod cannot be updated. An unknown error occurred (-36)' Problem:

Change your iPod shuffle Drive letter (I'm not sure if this helps but I'm putting it in here anyways if you are brave enough to try it out)- Your iPod needs to be plugged in...

1. Click Start
2. Click Control Panel
3. If you are in Classic View Click on Administration Tools
4. If you are in Category View Click on Performance and Maintenance and then on Administration Tools
5. Click Computer Management
6. Click Disk Management
7. Right click on ipod
8. Change the letter to something else

You might also want to read through what Apple has to say about this.
If you've tried all of the above, and are tired of your iPod having problems then make sure that you chat with a Apple Support Agent you can also call 1800-APL-CARE 'iBelieve'. If you bought your iPod shuffle recently and it isn't working and you've tried everything if possible just go and return it and get a better one.

If I haven't covered your problem then please write up a comment, and I'll add that solution to this post as well! Hopefully your iPod is going to work fine!

Please to read the iPod shuffle problems part 1 post as well as the stop the green and orange blinking lights error if that is your problem. You might also want to check out the fix your iPod shuffle post, just in case it might help you out.

My Shares- Week 3

Here's the stats and my analysis of my shares. Well one thing is for sure, they are doing well, but that's just for now. I'm actually making tons of money with RIM now (I wish I had more RIM shares!), I guess the CES probably helped them, somehow?

Week 3 brought an unexpected twist to the shares. The shares are totally different then what I thought. So why not take a look at them yourself? And if you still didn't take a look at my previous stats then go to this post, the links to the files are there at the bottom of the post!

Excel - 18 KB
PDF - 59 KB

Tags: shares, sharemarket