Thursday, December 23, 2010

Deftones "Diamond Eyes Tour"



American Rock Band from Sacramento, California "Deftones" Performing Live in Manila Saturday 12 February 2011 at 12:00am World Trade Center Pasay City, Philippines.

Chino Moreno (lead vocals and guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Chi Cheng(bass), Frank Delgado (keyboards and turntables), and Abe Cunningham(drums and percussion). They have released six albums to date, with their most recent Diamond Eyes in spring of 2010.

~networld


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

And the return of The Big 4...

The Sonisphere Festival rumors have been in high gear and you know how we love our European summer vacations, so we're here to confirm that we will indeed be at Knebworth House to kick off the weekend on Friday, July 8, 2011!! Hanging with Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer last summer was just too much fun, so here we are doing the Big 4 shenanigans again and this will be the first time that we will all be on the same stage in the U.K.


Tickets for Sonisphere, Knebworth are now on sale. 
For tickets and more information, go to SonisphereFestivals.com

Oh... and keep watching this space...

~metallica.com

Monday, December 13, 2010

Top Software: Virus Remover

The word ‘virus’ is the most talked about word in the computer world, along with its partner, ‘spyware’. They are both equally disliked by every computer user, especially if you are unlucky enough to have one. Even if your computer hasn’t been infected with a virus, most problems are usually blamed on them. If you think you have a virus you should do some research by finding out what a virus is and the difference between a virus, spyware, and malware.
The sure fire way to avoid any confusion is to ensure that your computer has proper virus removal software installed. By ‘proper’ if you are going to buy any software it should be virus removal software. Get all your other programs and software for free but do not skimp on your Virus Removal Software.

How do I choose the right virus removal software for my computer?
Every computer is different and each computer user requires a different amount of protection. For example if your computer does not even have an internet connection and you do not share files, then I do not see a need for you to install any virus removal software. On the other hand, if your computer connects to the internet for even a second, you need protection.

The level of protection varies. If you download files and programs from the internet then you should be protecting your computer with the best anti virus software available. That does not mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars though. If you read through the reviews below you will be able to choose the right Virus Removal Software for you.

What is virus removal software? Is it the same as antivirus software?
Virus removal software and antivirus software are the same thing. Each software developer calls their particular program a different thing. In the end, all antivirus software is meant to do the same thing, alert you about viruses, quarantine them, or remove them. Many antivirus software also now include complete internet security. This means it will include an antivirus program along with other security features such as a internet firewall.

AVG Antivirus
Most people know about AVG because there is a free version available to download that does a really good job. I would gladly install the free version on AVG on a person’s computer if they were not willing to buy an Virus Removal Software. I have tested the free version for about two years and it did the job, although I did eventually end up with a virus and had to reformat my computer. This was no acceptable in my case and therefore I had to upgrade to the paid version. If you are just using the internet to check your emails and buy stuff on Ebay then you should be fine with this program. AVG Free includes an email scanner.




Avast Antivirus Professional
This is what I use now. I actually downloaded the free 60 trial and then ended up buying the program. It was absolutely amazing. It would update itself, and other than that you would not even know it existed, until the warnings came through… WOW.. This program picks up everything! Even if I put a disc in the disc drive it would find a virus on that..Even though the disc is old and no other virus checkers had picked it up before.. You do not have to take my word for it because you can download the trial version and try it. It has no limitations but expires after 60 days. So you get to try the full program. Not like some programs that scan your computer for viruses and then tell you to buy the program to get rid of them.




Norton Antivirus
If you buy a new computer you will most likely have a trial version of Norton Antivirus installed for you. I did use this program for countless years, however it was a resource hog. That means it slowed your computer down considerably, however I believe that the new 2010 version has improved greatly. This is one of the best antivirus programs out there but is not completely user friendly. This is why I recommend this program to the experienced computer user.




ZoneAlarm
I started using ZoneAlarm when it was just a plain old firewall program. It was the absolute best. Now it incorporates a complete internet security suite including antivirus. Of course it is and always was a great program but I unfortunately found something else in the mean time. This is one of the best security programs you can install on your computer, however it is not for the newbie computer user.




Kaspersky Internet Security
No one Antivirus is sufficient for all your personal needs, without a doubt “Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 is one of the best of its kind, having sold over 250 million copies in 2010. I would also sugguest paid versions of both “Malwarebytes” and “Trojan Remover”, used as a combo, I have found each to be very effective. Each one used independently will simply amaze you at what they could possibly uncover. In the case of Malwarebytes, out of well over 1000 pcs. tested last year, on a full scan of Malwarebytes not even 20 completed the course of a full scan without finding some thing unwanted. (Pc Tec Analyst).



When you launch an antivirus tool on your computer, you should be sure that it will be able to provide your machine with the protection that it requires.


There are some of the leading anti virus products manufactured by the company and online purchase mechanisms are available as well. With years of experience in the security software market, They employs some of the best programmers from the information technology domain who are pioneers in product innovation.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Image File Format

Sometimes it can get confusing when dealing with image file formats. Which file format to use for what picture or graphic? Its all too technical for me so I have tried to explain the difference between them all in my own easy way. Each image file format has its own unique features.

BMP – Bitmap. This was probably the first type of digital image format that I can remember. Every picture on a computer seemed to be a BMP. In Windows XP the Paint program saves its images automatically in BMP, however now in Windows Vista images are saved to JPEG. BMP is the basis platform for many other file types.
JPG, JPEG - (Joint Photographic Experts Group) Jpeg format is used for colour photographs, or any pictures with many blends or gradients. It is not good with sharp edges and tends to blur them a bit.  This format became popular with the invention of the digital camera. Most, if not all, digital cameras download photos to your computer as a Jpeg file. Obviously the digital camera manufacturers see the value in high quality images that ultimately take up less space.

GIF- (Graphics Interchange Format) Gif format is best used for text, line drawings, screenshots, cartoons, and animations. Gif is limited to a total number of 256 colours or less. It is commonly used for fast loading web pages. It also makes a great banner or logo for your webpage. Animated pictures are also saved in GIF format. For example, a flashing banner would be saved as a Gif file.
PNG - (Portable Networks Graphic) Apparently this is one of the best image formats, however it was not always compatible with all web browsers or image software. Now days it is the best image format to use for website. I use .png for logo’s and screenshots.

TIFF- ( Tagged Image File Format) This file format has not been updated since 1992 and is now owned by Adobe. It can store an image and data (tag) in the one file. TIFF also stores files with virtually no compression and therefore is good for storing images that need to be edited and resaved without suffering a compression loss. This file is commonly used for scanning, faxing, word processing, and so on. It is no longer a common file format to use with your digital photos as a jpeg is great quality and takes up less space.

~networld

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

U2 "With or Without You"

"With or Without You" is a song by rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1987 album,The Joshua Tree, and was released as the album's first single on 21 March 1987. The song was the group's most successful single at the time, becoming their first number-one hit in the both the United States and Canada by topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and the RPM national singles chart for one week.


"With or Without You" features sustained guitar parts played by guitarist The Edge with a prototype of the Infinite Guitar, along with vocals by lead singer Bono and a bassline by bassist Adam Clayton. The song originated from a demo recorded in late 1985 that the group continued to work on throughout The Joshua Tree sessions. Ostensibly a troubled love song, the track's lyrics were inspired by Bono's conflicting feelings about the lives he led as a musician and domestic man.

Critics praised the song upon its release. It is frequently performed on the band's tours, and it has appeared on a number of their compilation albums and concert films. "With or Without You" is U2's second most frequently covered song. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine placed the song at number 132 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".




See the stone set in your eyes

See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you
With or without you
With or without you
Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away
My hands are tied
My body bruised, she's got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose
And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you
With or without you



~networld

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Sign of slow internet connection or slow PC

Unfortunately when you ask someone about their computer problem, they all like to ramble on and tell the life story of the computer. The reason is because people think that having a slow internet connection means that they have a slow computer.

You can have a bad internet connection that can make it look like you actually have a computer problem and it is deceiving. It is best to sort out where the problem is so you can fix it. For example if it was an internet connection problem you would ring your Internet Service provider. If you had a computer problem you would need a computer techie to help you. These are completely different areas.



Here are some obvious signs that your internet connection is slow and not your computer:
You are opening programs and your computer opens them asap, but when you open your email program and something is wrong.

You are browsing the internet and you cannot get a page to load. You cannot get from one page to the other without a serious delay or error.

You open your Internet browser and you get a message saying “this page could not be displayed”.

Signs of having a problem with your computer:
You try to run a program and it does not work like it usually does.

When you open my computer the icons take along time to load or do not load at all.

Error messages keep popping up and you are not on the internet.

How to confirm that it is a slow internet connection and not a slow computer?
Close down your internet browser and all other programs. Go to the start menu and open my computer. If it opens normally that is a good sign.

Try opening some other programs like Word or Excel, something that does not rely on the internet. If they open up fast enough that’s a good sign.

After doing all this and not finding a problem, open your internet browser and try to browse the internet.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sharing internet connection using a broadband router

A dedicated broadband router is a much better approach than the one above when more than two computers need to share one broadband internet connection. With this method, all computers on the network are connected together using a switch (or hub), and the switch is connected to the broadband router. All the computers can then connect to the internet using the router as a gateway (see Figure 3). The router would normally be left on; it has no moving parts, is low voltage and silent. This means that any computer on the network can connect to the internet at any time without delay.

All routers provide a degree of network security through a technology called Network Address Translation or NAT. NAT means that computers on the internet can only see your router, and they cannot gain direct access to your own computer.

Broadband routers usually have no moving parts in them (i.e. a disk or fan), so they are silent in operation and hardly ever fail.

Setting broadband routers up is usually a straight-forward process too. Most will automatically detect the necessary settings, and they will usually set up your home network for you too (using a technology called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol or DHCP).

Why use this approach?
When more than two computers need to share an internet connection. When the uptime of the main 'gateway' computer cannot be relied upon (as is the case with Microsoft ICS). When you don't want your own computer connected directly to the internet for security reasons. When the additional security features of a router are desirable.


1.      Broadband Internet connection sharing using a hardware router



Hardware Requirements for connection sharing using a broadband router

1 x network card and network cable per computer
Each computer must have an Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC) installed, and must be connected to the router with Ethernet cable.

1 x broadband router
It is the router that allows multiple computers on a network to use the same internet connection. Broadband routers typically perform multiple tasks, and those suitable for home and small office use will often have a built in four port switch, router (and firewall), and either a cable or ADSL modem. It is usually preferable to use an all in one solution than three separate devices.

1 x switch (if not included with the router)
If the broadband router does not have a built in switch, then a separate one will need to be purchased. You must make sure the switch has enough ports to connect all the computers and the router together.

1 x broadband modem (if not included with the router)
If the broadband router does not have a built in modem (either a cable or ADSL modem), then you will have to purchase a separate modem. Most routers will require that the modem has an Ethernet port to connect to. However many broadband modems are either PCI (internal cards) or external devices with USB connections. These types of modems will not work with typical routers, so care should be taken when making a purchasing decision.


2.      Broadband Internet connection sharing using a hardware router with separate switch and modem.


~pctech


Monday, November 22, 2010

Tips against PC Virus

When your computer gets infected with a virus it can be a devastating experience. A virus can consume your precious computer files and even damage your computer hardware. Is this worth ignoring? Anything you can do to avoid a computer virus has to be a good thing and is well worth spending your time on. We all know prevention is better than a cure, sharing the tips on how to protect you’re pc against computer viruses.



The first thing that recommend is to research and become knowledgeable about viruses.
 How can you protect your computer from viruses if you don’t even know what they are. Here are some previous tutorials I have written about viruses.

Arm yourself with the best Antivirus software to suit your needs.
Not everyone can get away with using free antivirus software because it depends what you do on your computer. It depends on factors such as if you download files or not, if you open email attachments, and if you surf suspicious websites. See my reviews for the best Virus Removal Software. Let’s face it, if you do not have protection against viruses installed on your computer, you will without a doubt, get a virus within the first hour of surfing the internet. It is that easy.

Having a great Antivirus program installed on your computer to protect you against viruses is great. However, if you do not regularly update the virus definitions, then the program is useless. New viruses are produced daily and this is why we constantly have to update the virus definitions and stay ahead of the bad guys.

When surfing the internet avoid websites.
Be aware of websites that contain illegal software downloads, sexual references, free screensavers, cracks or serials, etc.  It’s sure you get the picture. If you go near these sites you are immediately asking for trouble.

Always update Windows.
 These updates contain security updates that will help in your fight against viruses. If you do not perform regular Windows updates you are leaving your computer in a vulnerable state.

Be careful when opening emails.
There are obvious emails that you know you shouldn’t open, however what about the ones you get from people you know? What if your friend has a virus and it is spreading itself through emails? An email cannot be important enough to risk getting a virus. Delete the email and send a fresh email to your friend asking them if they actually did send you the email.

If you are really serious about protecting your computer you can change your email settings and receive text emails only. You can also disable the ability to open email attachments. Virus travel in HTML enabled emails and file attachments. They cannot travel in text email messages.

Do not use peer to peer (p2p) file sharing programs.
These include programs such as Limewire, Bearshare, Gnutella, Morpheus, Torrents, etc. These programs let you download files from other computer users connected to their program network. You have no way of knowing what you are actually downloading until it is on your computer. Even if you share files from a cd from a friend, it may have a virus.

Do not download files from websites.
Again, there is no way of knowing what you are downloading. The file can appear to be named like the file you want, however it could be anything. Most of the time, this is how a virus is unleashed, it usually seems like a harmless, familiar object.

Make sure you have a firewall enabled on your computer.
Windows comes with an inbuilt firewall or you can use a third party firewall program like Zone Alarm. Either way, make sure the firewall is on…To check the Windows Firewall go to the security settings in your control panel.

If you are careful and are serious about protecting your computer from invading viruses, it is possible to stay safe. This tips will help you keep your computer running smoothly, and virus free.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

PC Maintenance Reminder

Computer maintenance is a part of everyone’s lives now, much like owning a car and getting it serviced, it just has to be done. Computers are the same, needing regular maintenance, as they get clogged up with truck loads of hidden files.

Most of the time the average computer user has no idea that they are actually messing up a computer just by using it. Do you surf the internet, read file attachments from your email, or simply write a Word document?

Without even personally saving a file on your computer, there are hundreds of different files save automatically each time you do anything on your computer. For example if you receive an email with a Word document attached to it and open it to read instead of saving it first, the document Will be temporarily saved in the Windows Temp folder.

Imagine after reading this Word document, you try to save it to your computer without looking where you are saving it.

If you do not choose where to save this file it will be saved in a temporary folder. Eventually this temp folder becomes quite large in size without you even realizing.


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

USB Portable Programs

This stuff can be installed on any portable drive, i.e. USB thumbdrive, PDA or an iPod. You can use them at work, school, or any other place where you can plugin your device. Check them out, you can either scroll-down for relevant category, i.e office software, email tools, messengers, games, etc. or get a ‘all-in-one’ package (all essential tools) . While there are more apps for windows users, I tried to include a mac version for each essential tool.


What is a portable program ?
A portable program is a piece of software that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any other computer. It can be your email program, your browser, system recovery tools or even an operating system. The coolest part about it, is that all of your data and settings are always stored on a thumbdrive so when you unplug the device, none of your personal data is left behind.

Transporting your data is probably the most common use for a USB flash drive. But there’s a world of other things you can do with these handy pocket-size drives. Here are 10 ways you can use that USB flash drive to do more than just move data.

Run portable applications
In addition to storing your data, you can run portable applications from a USB flash drive. For example, OpenOffice, which is a complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package, and database, is available as a portable application. Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are also available as portable applications. When you combine the office suite with the ability to surf the Web and check email, you’ll be able to take your most vital computing applications with you wherever you go — right in your pocket.
If that’s not enough, you can choose other applications to install on your USB flash drive from PortableApps.com (Figure A). You can even install an entire prepackaged suite of applications that includes such things as an audio player, games, an antivirus utility, and a handy menu system.

Figure A
 
The PortableApps.com suite comes with a menu system to allow you to easily access your portable applications.

Boot an operating system
If you want to do more than just run your own applications, you might want to consider booting an entire operating system from your USB flash drive. You can boot either Windows or Linux from a USB flash drive; however, the process is not an exact science and you may be in for a technical adventure.
Fortunately, there are some guides you can follow. To learn how to boot Windows XP from a USB flash drive, see the article Creating a bootable USB flash drive for Windows XP. To learn how to boot a version of Linux from a USB flash drive, see the article Puppy Linux teaches an old dog new tricks.

Connect to a wireless network
If you have a wireless network, you can use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP or the Windows Connect Now (WCN) feature built into Vista to save wireless network configuration information to a USB flash drive. You can then use your drive to quickly and easily connect another computer or a WCN-compatible device, such as a router or printer, to your wireless network. To learn more about using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, see the Help And Support Center, which is accessible from Windows XP’s Start menu. To learn more about using the Windows Connect Now feature, see Windows Help And Support, which is accessible from Windows Vista’s Start menu.

Create a password reset disk
A password reset disk can really come in handy if you forget the password to your user account on a Windows system that is not a part of a domain. If you find yourself in that situation, you can use the password reset disk to reset your password and quickly get back into your user account. In Windows Vista, you can use USB flash drive rather than a floppy disk as a password reset disk (Figure B). For details on how to do so, see the article Create a Vista password reset disk using a USB flash drive.

Figure B
  
You can use your USB flash drive as a password reset disk.

Boost performance
If you’re running Windows Vista, you can use a USB flash drive to speed up your system with the ReadyBoost technology. ReadyBoost can use the storage space on a USB Flash drive as an additional memory cache to aid the memory cache on your hard disk. And because flash memory is more responsive than a hard disk, with its physical moving parts, the memory cache provided by ReadyBoost can significantly improve system responsiveness.
Using ReadyBoost is easy. You just insert your USB flash drive into your Vista system and follow the onscreen prompts to configure and use ReadyBoost. If you want more details, check out the article How SuperFetch and ReadyBoost work together.

Manage it
If all you really want to do with your USB flash drive is transport data, and you’re running Windows XP, you can do so more efficiently with the Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager (Figure C). Once you have installed this manager, you can easily copy files to and from your drive, back up and restore the entire flash drive to and from your hard disk, change the drive label, and even create an autorun.inf file to launch Drive Manager automatically when you plug in the drive. To learn more about and download the USB Flash Drive Manager visit the Microsoft TechNet Magazine site.

Figure C

The Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager provides you with a host of features, such as drive backup.

Use it as an MP3 player
Would you like to be listening to music when you’re using a computer at the office, but you don’t have an MP3 player? If so, you can use a USB flash drive as an MP3 player along with Windows Media Player and a set of headphones. Just copy your MP3 files to your USB flash drive, plug it into your computer, and direct Windows Media Player to build a library of the songs on your drive. You can use all of Windows Media Player’s playback features, such as playlists and favorites, to easily customize your music listening experience. And best of all, you won’t have to worry about running low on battery power.

Password-protect it
If you use a USB flash drive to transport sensitive data that you would prefer to protect from prying eyes, should you lose the drive, Rohos Mini Drive (Figure D) can safeguard that data. This security tool allows you to create a secret partition on the drive and then password-protect/encrypt that partition, thus protecting any documents you copy to that partition via the utility’s file manager. You can download (and read a review of) Rohos Mini Drive at Download.com.

Figure D

Using Rohos Mini Drive, you can secure sensitive files on your USB flash drive.

Run a Web site from it
If you are a Web developer, you may be interested to know that with Server2Go, you can easily run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl right from a USB flash drive. You can use Server2Go right out of the box without any installation. It runs on all versions of Windows, supports most common browsers, and is completely free. To a developer, the benefits of having a portable Web server on a USB drive are numerous. For example, imagine being able to carry a live Web site demo into a sales pitch meeting. For more information about this package, visit the Server2Go site.

Lock your PC
Have you ever seen a movie in which a person in some secret government installation simply inserts and removes a card to log in and log out of a PC? If you thought that idea was cool, you’ll definitely want to investigate Predator (Figure E). Once installed and configured, this little freeware utility will allow you to turn a USB flash drive into a key you can use to lock and unlock your computer.

Figure E

With Predator, you can use a USB flash drive as a key to lock and unlock your computer.

While the USB flash drive is connected to your computer, everything works as it normally would. Once you remove the USB flash drive, your computer is locked down — the keyboard and mouse are disabled and the screen darkens. To unlock your computer, you just plug in the USB flash drive and the computer will be unlocked and you can begin using it. To learn more about Predator, and/or to download it, visit the developer’s Web site.


~Greg Shultz

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Kapatid "luha"


In existence for over four years, Kapatid has always been influential in the music scene with their ever-evolving yet likeable tunes. Their sound has educated the audience with a new perspective far from the traditional and stereotypical style.

It was, in a sense, a whole new genre of music.

Through the years, the band has tackled major trials and events. But this never stopped them from writing and playing what they want. Now with new material, Kapatid is ready to take the scene to even newer heights. 

Entitled “Luha”. This sophomore release contains the band’s most intimate and personal experiences. Twelve new tracks containing coherent concepts that span a wide reach. The carrier single – spearheads the album release with an aggressive groove but positive message. And the song speaks more melancholic with a tune and lyrics that compliment. The funky hanging out sets a laid-back atmosphere with an R&B feel to it. And there with very heavy emotion that sticks out for both its sound and words. It is these songs (as well as others in the album) that you grow more and more fond of after each listening. And it is these songs that define Kapatid today.



Today, Kapatid is, more than ever, a musical force to be reckoned with. Joining the inimitable Karl Roy is veteran musician and bassist Philippe Arriola (Weedd) causing the group to reach a new level of maturity balanced perfectly by gifted young bloods guitarist Anjones Elemos and drummer Paolo Rosal (Queso).



Members: 
Karl Roy – vocals
Paolo Rosal- drums
Philippe Arriola – bass
Anjones Elemos – guitars

~bsanchez


Galit ka nanaman, dala ng kalbaryong buhat mo
Kung kailangan mo ng tulong
H'wag kang lumayo nandito lang, dito lang ako
Sa bawat luha sa bawat sandali
Di mo lang alam, di naanan ko narin
Sa hirap ng buhay tamis at bigo woohhh
Di mo lang alam akoy kasama mo
Hanngang sa dulo ng mundo
Naalala ko pa, muntik ka ng sumuko
Anong bang nararamdam ng puso mong mammon
Solo trip ka dyan mag isa, di mo lang alam akoy kasama mo
Hanggang sa dulo ng mundo'.
Sa bawat luha sa bawat sandali
Di mo lang alam, di naanan ko narin
Sa hirap ng buhay tamis at bigo woohhh
Di mo lang alam akoy kasama mo
Hanngang sa dulo ng mundo
Di mo lang alam kami'y kasama mo
Hanggang sa dulo ng mundo


~networld