Bass Guitar Setup

Hello, I'm back from busy life... just returned to add missing fun in life.

Last month I was busy checking with my 4 string & 5 string bass guitar. I need to set-up propoerly so that my playing will be better nor ease at fingers. I searched over the net for a guitar tech (Luthier) to set-up my units but need more time to go the their shop. So, i decided to do with myself since i was a maintenance before & have experience in electronics.

I just checked Youtube to get the details for doing this. and found a great reference from Elixir Strings Sir John Carruthers which he shows the proper ways of adjustment from truss rod to intonation. Kindly check the videos as below.

I'd collected all the necessary tools for the repair then watch a couple of times then i've done fixing my guitar. i learned a lot from him.

Thanks & big help for key learnings.

Next is changing pots (potentiometers).

I still need missing boost pots which is difficult to purchase in music/electronic store. Waiting for online order delivery.

~credit to Sir John, Elixir Strings, YouTube.

Blizzard: Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft ~ Android

A collectible card game based on World of Warcraft should be a debacle. In fact, it was. But a digital collectible card game should, by all rights, be even worse. It shouldn't be easy to learn, it shouldn't be fun to play, and it shouldn't somehow combine complex strategy and breezy play. It shouldn't be an Editors' Choice winner, nor one of the best Android games. And yet, dear friend, we are fortunate to live in a universe where Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is all of those things. It's a game that continues to defy my expectations and deliver satisfying, mobile minion-destroying fun.

The Heart of the Cards

To play Hearthstone, you'll need a Battle.net account. Fortunately, if you've played a Blizzard game like Diablo III, StarCraft II, or even World of Warcraft, odds are that you already have one. New players will have to create an account with Blizzard before proceeding. Log in and you'll be treated to a highly informative, if somewhat long, tutorial.

Note that Hearthstone is a hefty 653MB on Google Play, so installing it might take a while. You'll definitely want to use a Wi-Fi connection, which you'll need anyway because even starting up the game requires an Internet connection. There's no offline play.

I started playing at home on a desktop computer and various iOS devices, before I finally moved to Android. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the experience was excellent, even on smaller handset screens. However, I did notice some lag when phones were running several apps simultaneously. Also, if you're using a device without physical buttons, be careful when you play cards from your hand. It's easy to accidentally swipe up and open the on-screen controls.

You begin each game by selecting one of nine Warcraft heroes, each with its own powers, strategies, and unique cards. Your hero defines the types of cards (and therefore, strategies) you have available, but also serves as your avatar during battle. That's disappointing since you're locked into Blizzard's very limited options. If you don't want your avatar to be a white man, you can choose to play as a woman from a straight male sexual power fantasy, or barring that, a monster. Scrolls, the online collectible card game from Minecraft developer Mojang, also overlooked people of color in their more-nuanced character creation feature.

Blizzard recently introduced additional $9.99 heroes and cardbacks from the in-game store, but they do little to address the limited slate of available heroes. That's a steep price for avatars, but still a far cry from the absolutely insane Angry Birds Go!, where a go-kart could cost as much as $50. Still, it's a missed opportunity for Blizzard to neatly solve a glaring problem with the game.

The goal of the game is simple: Defeat your opponent by depleting his or her supply of 30 life points. You do that by attacking with a variety of creatures—called Minions—and spells. Every action in the game has a cost associated with it, measured in mana crystals. You start with one mana crystal and gain an additional crystal to spend each turn. All the crystals you spend in a turn refresh the next turn, so choose your cards carefully. If you've ever played Magic: The Gathering, this should all sound pretty familiar. There's even a version of MTG's summoning sickness, which prevents (most) Minions from attacking on their first turn.

The basic format of trading blows with spells and Minions is augmented by other effects. Some minions have Charge, which allows them to attack the same turn they enter combat. Heroes can equip weapons, which allow the hero to directly attack his or her opponent. Each hero also has a unique ability that he or she can use for two mana crystals. The Hunter, for instance, can shoot an arrow at the opposing hero for two damage points. The hero's ability, along with its specific cards, help form the strategies for each deck, but more on that later.

Hearthstone games are made to be quick and fun, but that doesn't mean they can't be strategic. Scrolls, by comparison, had more elements—including a game board—which provided more avenues for inventive play. But Hearthstone's strength is the growing collection of available cards and abilities. Whatever your style of play, you'll probably be able to create a deck to match. Of course, that deck might not win against certain players with opposing strategies.

There's a physicality to Hearthstone that I really appreciate. Each card is played as a physical object, and is covered with stylistic 3D flourishes. In the Arena or in Adventures, you receive keys which unlock hidden drawers and rewards. Even the game board is interactive and filled with tappable Easter eggs. It reminds me of Star Realms, but where Star Realms struggled with mimicking real objects, Hearthstone handily succeeds.

Cards and Crafting

Your collection of cards is safely tucked away in an enormous tome within the My Collection section. Building a new deck is as easy as tapping and dragging, and a text search feature makes finding the right card a heck of a lot easier than sorting through three-ring binders filled with cards.

That said, you'll eventually face off against a player whose cards and strategy will obliterate you. That's no problem in Hearthstone multiplayer; losing a game and starting a new one just takes a few minutes. But designing and managing decks is my least favorite part of Hearthstone, as it is with all collectible card games. Magic: The Gathering had preconstructed decks and Hearthstone could benefit from more of these for people like me.

You get more cards by purchasing packs for in-game gold or real money. A single pack of five cards will run you 100 gold, or two packs for $2.99, seven packs for $9.99, all the way up to 40 packs for $49.99. Unfortunately, you can only use gold to purchase single packs, locking you out of the prorated pricing structure. You can also earn additional packs for unlocking achievements or as part of in-game promotions. New cards are released as part of special events, or as expansions.

If purchasing cards blind isn't your style, you can also destroy cards from your collection in exchange for Arcane Dust, which can be used to craft specific cards. It's not an efficient exchange, but it neatly side-steps the most irritating aspect of collectible card games—other collectors.

Beyond Battles

I normally despise multiplayer gaming, but I highly recommend trying out your skills against other players in Hearthstone. You can either play a casual game or a ranked game that can earn you status in Hearthstone's monthly seasons. You can also pay 150 gold (or $1.99) to build a new deck from randomly selected cards in the Arena, for fans of draft-style games.

I also really, really appreciate that Hearthstone has no chat system, just a selection of canned emote phrases you can deploy. It keeps interactions civil, which is a rarity online. Only your Battle.net friends can send you unscripted messages through Blizzard's in-game chat. You can also challenge your friends to Hearthstone games through the same system. This feature alone was what convinced me to even try Hearthstone in the first place.

Recently, Blizzard introduced single player Adventures. These are truly challenging campaigns consisting of five Wings, and each Wing having several battles. Each Adventure has bosses you battle in order to advance, along with special cards and other goodies along the way. That said, the new Adventures aren't cheap: each Wing costs 700 gold, or $6.99. The entire adventure can be purchased for $24.99. That's very steep, but my sticker shock was tempered by the fact that the core game is still free. Seek these out if you're itching for new challenges and new cards.

Hearthstone also now features a weekly event called the Tavern Brawl. These are special matches where qualifying players face off while using special restrictions. Combatants may be required to use premade decks, or forbidden from using specific types of cards. You challenge your friends to a Tavern Brawl (you can't in other Hearthstone events), and, best of all, they're free. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to brawl in the tavern because my heroes aren't sufficiently leveled up. For now.

On Every Device

Hearthstone initially launched as a desktop and iPad exclusive title. That didn't last long, and the game can now be played on iPhone, Android, and Amazon Kindle devices. Sorry, Windows Phone.

I played Hearthstone on a Nexus 5, a Nexus 7 and a Nexus 9, and was impressed with the experience across the board. Especially the subtle real-estate saving strategies Blizzard employs to bring this game to mobile handsets. Your hand, for example, is minimized down at the bottom of the screen until you need to take a peek at your cards. Other menus are artfully compressed, and I never felt like my experience was reduced because I was playing it on a smaller screen. Of course, older phones may struggle with the game.

Deal Me In!

Hearthstone has been a long time coming to Android, but it has been worth the wait. It neatly hits both sides of the gaming spectrum with complex strategy and collectability on one side, and easy, fast play on the other. Simply put, it's a lot of fun, no matter how you approach it.

The game isn't perfect. Offline play is all but impossible and the choice of heroes is shamefully slim. Unfortunately, those aren't issues just for Hearthstone. Despite these issues, Hearthstone is an excellent addition to the world of Android gaming and an Editors' Choice.

~maxeddy, review, pcmagasia

Mixfader, the world's first bluetooth crossfader ~ Edjing

It's time to scratch like a PRO!!!

The world's first connected crossfader has arrived.

We are happy to present you Mixfader, our brand new bluetooth crossfader! Eager to perfect your scratching and mixing techniques? Mixfader has been designed for you! Connect it wirelessly to your smartphones or tablet and pass from one piece of music to another, cut or even create new rhythmic sounds. There is no limit to your creativity!

~edjing, mixfader, youtube, kickstarter

Windows 10: Microsoft Edge

Windows 10 replaces Internet Explorer with Microsoft Edge, a brand-new browser that's much more secure.

Month after month, year after year, on each Patch Tuesday Microsoft had to release fixes for Internet Explorer. Without these patches, the browser was vulnerable to various attacks that could allow malefactors to steal personal information and execute their own nasty code inside IE. Microsoft's developers have a novel solution for that problem—give IE the axe!

Initially called Project Spartan, Microsoft Edge is the new browser for Windows 10. Nothing's perfect, but Microsoft Edge eliminates many IE features that made the previous browser so prone to exploitation. Trend Micro analyst Henry Li summarized these improvements in a blog post, and it's a great read for security wonks. But for those who wouldn't know a CVE exploit from a CVS drugstore, here's a higher-level view.

Memory Care for All

In order to accomplish anything at all on a victim's PC, malware writers must find some way to get their own code running. Viruses, Trojans, and such are relatively simple-minded solutions, easily blocked by use of any powerful antivirus utility. A much more effective (and more difficult) approach is to somehow insert the attack code inside a trusted program, and the browser is a great target.

Over the years, modern Windows features like Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) have eliminated many simple techniques for injecting malicious code into programs. With easy exploits off the table, malefactors had to devise new, trickier attack modes. One in particular, called Use After Free (UAF), has been a thorn in the side of IE for years.

Program needs to store information for a time, it allocates the necessary amount of memory, then frees it when that memory is no longer needed. In a UAF attack, the malicious code manipulates a memory block that's already been freed. Most of the time such an action would simply crash the program, but in certain situations it can result in executing arbitrary code.

Trend Micro's blog post goes into great detail on exactly how Microsoft Edge blocks UAF attacks, even to the point of illustrating the process with a flow chart. In simple terms, the browser watches about-to-be-freed memory blocks that are still linked elsewhere and simply refrains from freeing those blocks. In general, given the choice of letting malicious code execute or just crashing, Microsoft Edge will terminate the browser as rapidly as possible.

No More Toolbars
For years, Internet Explorer has offered Protected Mode, which isolates the browser's memory space from other processes, making attacks very difficult. However, common add-ins like toolbars and Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) didn't work in Protected Mode, so it was disabled by default.

Microsoft Edge solves this problem with one cut—it eliminates all support for those toolbars, BHOs, and other add-ins that don't work in Protected Mode, which is now the default operating mode. Microsoft has plans to add a Chrome-like extension model, with only pre-approved extensions permitted, but that model isn't ready yet.

Other technologies are also on the chopping block, like VBscript, ActiveX, and Java. Java, in particular, has provided the bad guys with oceans of security holes. We've been saying for years that everyone should just disable Java unless there's a very specific need for it.

Overall, Microsoft's aim has been to eliminate easy points of entry for hackers, even if it means eliminating backward compatibility and legacy features. It's an excellent aim, and I hope it succeeds. Of course, no software is perfect. Trend Micro's Li assures us that the changes will introduce new opportunities for attack, and that he'll document them when they turn up. I'll be watching for that post.

~pcmagasia, njr, youtube, windows

Mobile Update "Intel's low-power processor"

Intel's chief product officer has described how its low-power processors, starting with the company's fourth-generation Intel Core processor family available in 2013, will set a new standard for mobile computing experiences and innovative ultrabook, convertible and tablet designs.

Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, David Perlmutter said Intel reduced the platform idle power of its fourth-generation Intel Core processor family based on the next-generation Haswell microarchitecture by more than 20 times over the second-generation while delivering outstanding performance and responsiveness. He also said Intel will add a new line of even lower-power processors based on the same microarchitecture to its roadmap starting in 2013.

Both new products underscore the company's focus to aggressively drive power consumption down to enable longer battery life and a wave of new, more mobile designs, while delivering ever-increasing processor, graphics and media performance.

Since Intel created and invested in the ecosystem for the new category of ultrabook systems in 2011, it has already inspired dramatic innovation in personal computing, the company claimed. More than 140 different ultrabook designs are in development, a number of which are convertibles, with more than 70 powered by third-generation Intel Core processors available today.

When the company's 22nm fourth-generation Intel Core processor family comes to the ultrabook and other PCs in 2013, it will bring Intel HD graphics support, new instructions for faster encryption and performance, new hardware-based security features and low-power processor sub-states to enable longer battery life.

To spur even more innovation in mobile computing, Intel's new low-power chips based on Haswell microarchitecture will broaden the company's mobile roadmap, initially operating at about 10W to enable thinner, lighter ultrabook, convertible and tablet designs with better performance and battery life.

Turning his attention to the full mobility spectrum, Perlmutter detailed how Intel delivers the best choices for every mobile experience. Coming soon, the next-generation Intel Atom processor (Clover Trail) is a new system-on-chip (SoC) architected specifically for Windows 8. Based on Intel's 32nm process technology, it powers lightweight tablets and convertibles, and includes outstanding battery life and always-on technology in sleek designs.

Perlmutter also articulated the advantages of Intel-based Windows 8 devices, noting that Intel Atom- and Intel Core-based tablets and convertibles will deliver a range of new features from enhanced media capabilities, security built for enterprise vertical market solutions, and support for the breadth of applications written for Intel processors, thus retaining the software investment of IT and consumers.

The personal computing experience is shifting to one based on perceptual computing where devices will take on human-like senses to perceive the user's intentions, according to Perlmutter, adding that Intel is driving these capabilities across Intel platforms both now and into the future.

Perlmutter invited the developer community to work with Intel to bring the next wave of perceptual computing capability to Intel Core-based platforms with the release of the company's first Intel Perceptual Computing Software Development Kit (SDK) beta. The SDK, targeted for release early in the fourth quarter of 2012, will enable hardware and software developers to bring gesture interaction, facial and voice recognition, and augmented reality to life on existing and future Intel Core processor-based ultrabook systems and PCs.

Perlmutter talked about progress made to bring voice recognition to the ultrabook while showing a system running the Nuance Dragon Assistant Beta optimized for Intel Core processors. Dell plans to make the Dragon Assistant Beta available in the US next quarter in its Dell XPS13 ultrabook, Intel said.

~networld 

PCI Gen 3 Ready

Recently, motherboard manufacturers have been fighting their hardest to differentiate their products from one another in an effort to re-invigorate the stagnant PC business. A lot of this messaging has taken a very aggressive turn, where companies have blatantly called out or attacked competing products for not being the real deal or being up-to-speed.

The harsh reality is that motherboards are generally going to stay within a certain performance range. It boils down to add-in value like UEFI BIOS, native USB 3.0 support, premium sound cards or higher-end network adapters to really gain a competitive advantage.

So it is no surprise that when PCI-E Gen 3 was announced, it caught the eye of enthusiasts who have an insatiable demand for speed. At eight Giga Transfers per second (8 GT/s) bit rate, the bandwidth was doubled for PCI-E 3.0, making it the natural evolution from the long-in-the-tooth 2.0 standard. It also became a race for marketing departments to see who could implement this technology first as a way to grab this high-end, influential market.

Future-Proofing: The Buzzword
“Future-Proofing” is a word that gives the notion of an extended life cycle for a product, but it should be taken figuratively. There is no possible way to actually future-proof technology, considering that the whole purpose of it is to constantly evolve into something better and faster.

However, it strikes a chord with customers when you can let them know they won’t have the feeling of “buyer’s remorse” within a short period of time. Everyone wants their PC to last a very long time. As hardware enthusiasts, we know the reality is that your average PC has a lifespan of three to four years at most. But ask any mainstream buyer how long they’d like to keep their current system and they are looking at closer to six or seven years. It is with this mentality that the messaging behind PCI-E 3 hoped to resonate with consumers. What is important to know are the methods being used to market the current generation of motherboards as “PCI-E 3 Ready” and if you are getting the real deal.

How It All Works

The changes in architecture for Sandy Bridge made it so that PCI Express lanes are all handled by the processor. The PCI-E lanes coming out of the CPU get split, running eight lanes to the first PCIE slot and then another eight lanes into the switch chip. The switch then looks at your configuration to control bandwidth to a single x16 slot (routing the lanes back to pair up with the eight coming from the CPU) or as dual x8 slots (routing the lanes to the second slot).

Naturally, this means that newer Gen 3 speeds also would have to come from these lanes, but unfortunately, support for the Gen 3 won’t officially happen until Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors hit the market in early 2012. The circuitries inside the current Intel 6-series chipset motherboards are theoretically capable of a PCI-E 3 connection, but as the Gen 3 lanes are linked with the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs, you will have to upgrade your motherboard’s BIOS to recognize and communicate the new standard without issues.

Most current motherboards only feature PCI-E 2.0 switches (a notable one being NVIDIA’s NF200 for “True SLI”), so when an Ivy Bridge CPU that has PCI-E 3 capabilities is plugged in, only eight lanes (out of the full 16) will actually function.

Motherboards with multiple PCI Express slots have the most up-to-date switch chips from vendors like Pericom or PLX to actually support the full Gen 3 bandwidth availability on NVIDIA SLI and/or AMD’s CrossFireX multi-GPU configurations. Many older motherboards that claim they are “Gen 3” ready are just hiding behind the fact that they are compatible with Ivy Bridge CPUs and aim to take advantage of consumers uneducated on the technical aspects behind this technology.

Conclusions
This whole “PCI Gen 3 Ready” messaging can be considered a marketing gimmick because while you are technically getting to use your new PCI Express Gen 3 peripherals (read: ensuring compatibility), you are only able to utilize half of the theoretical bandwidth. Adding to the confusion is a lack of benchmarking data available, meaning users are being divided with even more ambiguous information from what is considered “true” Gen 3.

Trying to keep up with the latest technology always seems like a futile effort, but nobody wants to feel buyer’s remorse from having missed out on the possibility of significant upgrades by not waiting. The methodology behind pushing PCI-E 3 was more to grab the mainstream market to “buy now” instead of waiting, but it seems we are still waiting for PCI-E 3 to show up on graphics cards and PCI-E SSDs. We can definitely hope that once they come to the market, the blistering fast speeds we were promised will show up as well.

As more boards are touting the Gen 3 readiness and support, just make sure you are at least going with a board that has the proper switch chips ready for you to take advantage of it when you can.



~networld & rajiv kothari

Simple Tweak for Windows 7

Most of you may have tried Windows 7 by now, and if you’re like me, your first impression would have been “WOW!”. Windows 7 is really an impressive operating system and is worth upgrading to whether you’re running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Even though there are a ton of new features and usability improvements in Windows 7, there is still no harm in fine tuning or enabling a couple of features that Microsoft decided to hide under the mat for one reason or the other. Tweaks are nothing new to Windows. End users have been able to tweak operating systems according to their requirements since the beginning, so you shouldn’t worry about any tweak damaging your system.

Still, I’ll be including a level indicator for an estimated technical level required to execute the tweak, with Level 0 being the easiest. As for the tweaks I’m about to share today, none of them require any tweaker utility to activate. You can access them from within Windows itself.

Classic Taskbar – (Level 0)

The new “Superbar” in Windows 7 is an awesome improvement. You can pin icons directly to the taskbar as shortcuts, plus we have support for Jumplists which give us quick access to common tasks in every program. Still, some of you might be accustomed to the classic taskbar as seen in the previous versions of Windows and prefer to revert back. Lucky for you, Microsoft decided to include the old functionality as well.

To get the classic taskbar back, all you have to do is:

Right-click on an empty area in the taskbar and click on Properties. You would reach the dialog box displayed above. Check the box next to Use small icons and select Combine when taskbar is full from the Taskbar buttons dropdown menu. Hit Apply, and you’re all set.

Explorer Checkboxes – (Level 0)

Remember the tiny little checkboxes in Vista that used to appear on files when you hovered your mouse over them in Windows Explorer. While they only served the purpose of allowing you to select multiple files which you can also do by holding CTRL or SHIFT key, the boxes were useful in situations when you didn’t want to use the keyboard.

To enable the Explorer Checkboxes, just:
Hit the Start button and type Folder Options in the search bar and hit enter.
Click on the view tab and scroll to the bottom of Advanced Settings Listbox.
Check the box next to Use check boxes to select items and click Ok or Apply to commit the changes. Check boxes should now appear when you hover your mouse over items.

Web Search Connectors – (Level 1)

Did you know that you can perform web searches directly from within Windows Explorer? You can search for anything you like (e.g. YouTube videos) and get results displayed in the Windows Explorer interface.

To enable Internet Search, all you have to do is find and download search connectors for your favorite web service.

Enable GodMode – (Level 1)

Wondering why there is a GodMode in Windows 7? Well don’t get excited. It doesn’t make your PC immune to malware. It just shows all the options in the Control Panel as a single page instead of being divided into categories. Useful if you like to use the Windows Search feature to find stuff rather than navigating through different screens.

To enable GodMode, just create a new folder anywhere and name it to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.

Quick Launch Toolbar – (Level 2)

The Quick Launch toolbar (the shortcut icons that used to appear right next to the start button) got killed in Windows 7 because of the introduction of the new Superbar. While the new taskbar is a thousand times more useable then Quick Launch, it is interesting to know that you can still enable the functionality by a simple trick to get a fully classic look with the Classic Taskbar.
To enable Quick Launch:

Right-click on an empty area of the taskbar and goto Toolbars > New Toolbar…
Navigate to your user account >> AppData >> Roaming >> Microsoft >> Internet Explorer >> Quick Launch and click Select Folder button to add the toolbar. ({User}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch). You can right click on the title of the new Toolbar to play with its look and feel and adjust it to the way you like.

Change Logon Background – (Level 3)

You might have heard that you can change the Welcome screen background in Windows 7 too like you could in Windows Vista. While Microsoft only intended this functionality to be used by OEMs, there are ways for you to get it done as well.
What you need to do is:

Open up the Registry Editor (Type regedit.exe in the start menu).
Goto HKLM > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Authentication > LogonUI > Background.
Look for a DWORD value named OEMBackground and change it to 1. If the DWORD doesn’t exist then create it.

Now in Windows Explorer, goto %windir%\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds and place the background image of your choice there. Again you’ll have to create the folder if it doesn’t exist already.

Rename the image you just place to backgroundDefault.jpg. You can add multiple images for different resolutions as well following this naming convention: background{resolution}.jpg. For example, if your desktop resolution is 1980×1080 then background1920×1080.jpg.

Oh and the image needs to be under 256kB for it to work properly.

~networld

Windows 7 SP2 release date and features

With Windows XP, service packs were significant upgrades; XP SP2 was practically a new version of Windows.

Even Vista SP1 was a major update, improving power management, network speed, search speed and adding hardware support like Blu-ray burning to bring it up to the same performance as XP SP2 (according to Microsoft).

But although it included significant updates for business users using remote connections to a work server, for most people Windows 7 Service Pack 1 was little more than a rollup of updates and hotfixes. That's what Microsoft has been aiming at for years; service packs that don't add new features and that you already have if you've been accepting automatic updates.

The general popularity of Windows 7 makes that easier to achieve. So what does that mean for Windows 7 SP2 and when will we see it?

Counting up the updates that have already come through, Windows 7 SP2 will include well over 100 security and performance improvements (rumors earlier this year said around 130 for 32-bit systems and 170 for 64-bit, but the exact numbers will depend on how many more fixes are released before SP2 goes into testing, and the update is likely to patch Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as Windows 7).

Windows 7 SP2 release date

Just as new versions of Windows come every two to three years - "we think somewhere between 24 and 36 months between releases is about right," says Windows senior VP Steven Sinofsky - service packs come in between, every 12 to 18 months.

Windows 7 went on sale in late October 2009 and SP1 came out in late February this year (exactly 16 months later). Microsoft also tries to get the latest service pack for the previous version of Windows out before the new operating system (the timing means stability and performance fixes that have been developed and tested as part of the next version can be ported back to the previous code base where possible).

The Windows 8 release date is still unconfirmed, but we're expecting an announcement and public access to a beta version at Microsoft's Professional Developer conference this September and that argues for the code being finished in the middle of 2012 and on sale before Christmas. That makes rumors of a Windows 7 Service Pack 2 release date in the middle of 2012 plausible; June would be another 16 months.

Windows 7 SP2 features

The pieces of SP2 you won't get in advance from automatic updates are what Microsoft calls hotfixes; urgent fixes for bugs that only occur on specific systems with specific combinations of hardware and software that are only tested on those combinations so the Windows team can get them out quickly while they work on a fix for the underlying problem and test that on the full range of PCs.

Hotfixes are often available only directly from Microsoft support if you have the relevant setup and service packs include the updates with the underlying fixes; service packs are the way those underlying fixes are distributed but again this is very much business as usual.

What we want to see in Service Pack 2

There are still some updates we'd like to see in Windows 7 beyond bug fixes. Search performance was something Windows 7 improved but over time results can get slower to appear on the Start menu as you type; better multi-threading support for indexing and search could help keep that fast even as the number of items on your system grows - and we've seen search improvements in service packs before.

Most battery life improvements in Windows 8 concentrate on either better setup by hardware partners or on low-level kernel improvements that are tricky to retrofit. We do expect some extra hardware support, though. Even the non-fibre optic version of Intel's LightPeak that Apple is putting into MacBooks as Thunderbolt is about a year off on PCs so while that could coincide with SP2 it's still too soon to see support going directly into Windows.

But SP2 could include direct support for USB 3.0 and SuperSpeed, so OEMs don't have to install specific drivers (and neither do you if you plug in a USB 3.0 add-on card).

We certainly don't expect any of the major advances planned for Windows 8 to arrive in SP2; virtualisation and fast boot into specialised versions of the operating system will need significant testing and probably depend on updated BIOSes (which means more testing).

Detecting what updates require a reboot will need more work on 'MinWin' (the isolated lowest layer of Windows that Microsoft aims to be able to swap out more completely in each new version of the OS).

Similarly, support for ARM chips is a major rewrite and the work supporting x86 'system on chip' hardware is aimed at new PCs.

Improvements to the touch options and the new 'immersive' phone-like interface in Windows 8 are tied in to a new programming model based on Silverlight and Windows Phone app frameworks. That's likely to be available for Windows 7 along with whatever app store Microsoft comes out with, but not until it's available for Windows 8 (especially as Microsoft is talking down tablets again in favour of natural user interfaces like voice and gesture, which seems less out of touch after the relatively disappointing sales figures for tablets that aren't the iPad).

Natural interfaces means more than Kinect, but support for Kinect on PC that's broader than the current development kit aimed at researchers could well be the most exciting feature that could realistically make it into Windows 7 SP2.

Gesture control for Media Center, games or web browsing would be fairly straightforward and a great introduction to the next-generation natural user interface we expect Microsoft is planning for Windows 8.

~networld

Add / Remove Programs Manually

    Sometimes when we uninstall a software product, corresponding entry in the Add or Remove Programs listing may not be removed. This may be due to incomplete uninstalling process or poorly designed uninstaller itself (if there is any bug in uninstaller).

Follow below steps to manually remove the invalid entries from the Add or Remove Programs:
Press Windows + R key or Run dialog box, then run regedit (registry editor).

Look for the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

After you click the Uninstall registry key, click Export Registry File on the Registry menu. This is because if anything gone wrong during delete, you can back up registry values again.

Each key under Uninstall represents a program that appears in Add/Remove Programs.
To determine which program that each key represents, click the key, and then view the following values:
DisplayName: The value data for the DisplayName key is the name that is listed in Windows “Add/Remove Programs”.

UninstallString: The value data for the UninstallString key is the program that is used to uninstall the program.
After identifying the registry key that represents the program that is still in Windows “Add/Remove Programs”, right-click the key, and then click Delete.

After deleting the key, go to Add/Remove Programs using “appwiz.cpl” (Type appwiz.cpl in Run). For more details about appwiz.cpl please see Windows Run Commands.

In Windows “Add/Remove Programs”, now verify that the program for which you deleted the registry key is not listed.

 

After verification if the Add/Remove Program list is not correct, you can restore the original list of Add/Remove Programs in the registry using previously backup registry key.

For 64-bit Windows Operating System you can find uninstall node under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Note: If you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor. These problems might require that you reinstall the Windows Operating System.

~networld

Tips & Tricks "Torrent"

Torrent is a form of peer-to-peer (p2p) network that instead of using just one server to maintain the download, use the people who have already downloaded the files to download them to later down loaders. 

This system allows for faster downloads since you are receiving different parts of the file from different places at the same time.

[ A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies primarily on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively low number of servers. P2P networks are typically used for connecting nodes via largely ad hoc connections. Such networks are useful for many purposes. Sharing content files (see file sharing) containing audio, video, data or anything in digital format is very common, and real   time data, such as telephony traffic, is also passed using P2P technology. ]

This peer-to-peer file-sharing activity that allows participants to send and receive files from other computers is called “Torrenting”.

Now, before knowing about the tips and tricks to download files from Torrent we need to know about how the torrent works, programs to implement torrenting and also how to use torrent.

How to use Torrent?

All torrenting takes place using a torrent program. Examples of torrenting programs include:  uTorrent, Azureus and the original BitTorrent.

These programs allow your computer to send and receive files on a specific port and interpret the data from .TORRENT files.

.TORRENT files contain all of the information on a specific torrent–who started it, what the torrent contains, and how to download and upload information corresponding to that torrent.

Now, before understading how torrent programs work you need to know some terminologies, such as :

Leecher – Somebody who is currently downloading.

Seeder – Somebody who is currently uploading the file. The more Seeders, the faster Leechers download their file.

Tracker - Every torrent website has one. It keeps track of all the seeders and leechers, files users are able to seed and also determines the bandwidth you receive by keeping logs of one’s ratio–how much your computer uploads, measured against how much your computer downloads

Torrent (*.torrent) File – Usually, this is a small file you download that gives instructions to your BitTorent client about which people have the file for download.

Types of Torrent programs :

(1) Bit Torrent

“Bit Torrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution tool/protocol”.

Bit Torrent is designed to distribute large amounts of data widely without incurring the corresponding consumption in costly server and bandwidth resources

How to use?

To use Bit Torrent first download Bit torrent client. Several of the most popular are BitLord, BitComet, Vuze, BiTtornado, µTorrent, or the original BitTorrent. LimeWire 6.14 also supports Bit Torrent downloads. Only one is necessary.

Then search for files on Search & Download, Qtorrents or Torrent Scan, and download a .torrent file. Open it, and your BitTorrent program should automatically ask you where to save and initiate your download. Choose a path and start downloading your file.

Tips & Warnings

Usually, the more “seeders” you see on a torrent file, the faster your download could potentially be. Speeds often increase gradually, rather than immediately after launching a file for download. Give them time.

Besides downloading, you can also contribute to the community with your own files by uploading as well.

If you have a router or firewall installed, ensure you open the necessary port(s) to properly download via torrent. If left unchecked, your torrents might not work at all, or the download speeds can be very slow.

Beware of copyright laws. Keep in mind that many files distributed via torrents can be illegally downloaded. Use at your own risk.

(2) uTorrent

The torrent network provides a relatively easy and decentralized method for sharing medium and large-sized files without relying on a single central server to host the files.

Essentially, with the torrent network, each computer that is connected becomes a server of the file and anyone on the network can connect to it.

The uTorrent program is free and easy to use to both retrieve and share files from other clients on the torrent network.

How to use?

Download and Install the uTorrent Client

Now download Torrent Files

Now we can create and upload Torrents

Tips & Warnings

The uTorrent website has many resources available for new users. If you have any questions or problems, it is best to check there first.

uTorrent provides a wealth of information in right-click context menus as well as tooltips that display when your cursor is held stationary over an item for a period of time.

The uTorrent program works best if certain ports are open and available for use. Open “Options”, select “Preferences” then the “Connection” tab to find the port it uses and make sure to open it on your router or firewall. uTorrent will still operate without it, but works best at connecting you to a network of peers when the port is available.

Stick to uploading torrents that are legal. Although the Torrent network is inherently anonymous and decentralized, methods of tracking where torrent files originated from or ended up at have been introduced.

(3) Azureus

Azureus is a Java-based Bit Torrent client, with support for I2P and Tor anonymous communication protocols.

It is free software and cross-platform, and currently runs under Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and Unix.

Azureus was first released in June 2003 at Sourceforge.net, mostly to experiment with the Standard Widget Toolkit from Eclipse.

It is one of the most popular Bit Torrent clients.

Tips and tricks about torrent?

Once you have downloaded the file, start seeding it. In your software, it should have an Upload:Download Ratio. Keep it until that gets to 1. This means that you have supplied the whole file to someone else.

You should always share close to your total upload speed, which you could set in your bit torrent programs options.

When downloading a file, a Torrent with a high number of seeders and optimally also a low number of leechers will result in a faster download.

A Torrent without any seeds but a high number of leechers could mean your download can finish, but without a seed, the whole file may not exist.

Many web sites which host torrent files are public but some are private. Private sites are usually geared towards one particular topic such as Music Only, Movies Only, etc.

Private sites require you to share what you upload. This is called your “ratio”. The best ratios are ones where you upload more than you download. If you have a bad ratio you will get banned from that site.

Thus private sites incorporates a “fair share” policy, which restricts or grants access to bonus torrent bandwidth accordingly. Fair share policies basically say that if you’re not seeding as much as you are downloading (“leeching”), you will receive less bandwidth from the torrent.

~netword

WiMax - Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

WiMax is not Wi-Fi. It is much, much more like ADSL, only without the phone lines. It is fixed wireless. It is local loop replacement. Initially the 802.16 spec will support 300 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s  (the same speeds as DSL more or less) over a distance of up to 30 miles (much further than DSL).

WiMAX is a telecommunications protocol that provides fixed and fully mobile Internet access. The current WiMAX revision provides up to 40 Mbit/s with the IEEE 802.16m update expected to offer up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds. The name “WiMAX” was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as “a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL”.

What is Interoperability?

In telecommunication, the term can be defined as:

The ability of systems, units, or forces to provide services to and accept services from other systems, units or forces and to use the services exchanged to enable them to operate effectively together.

The condition achieved among communications-electronics systems or items of communications-electronics equipment when information or services can be exchanged directly and satisfactorily between them and/or their users. The degree of interoperability should be defined when referring to specific cases.

WiMax (802.16e) is a newer standard of wireless networking designed to give the last mile of high speed internet access to its end user. WiMAX can also be called as WMAN by some people. Wifi is still used in LAN environments. WiMax was planned and designed to provide (MAN) Metropolitan Area Access, to homes and businesses.

WiMax base stations have the capability to provide approximately 60 businesses with T1 access and hundreds of homes with DSL/Cable speed access. Its experts are stating that WiMax has the capability of reaching 30 Miles but real world testing has shown 4-8 mile working radius.

WiMax (MAN) deployments are similar to a WiFi network. First the Internet Service Provider would have their T3 or higher access. The ISP would then use line of sight antennas (Bridges) to connect to towers that would distribute the non line of sight signal to (MAN) residential/business customers.

WiMax line of sight antennas operate at a higher Frequency up to 66 mhz. Distribution antennas do not have to be in the line of sight with their customers. Non – line of sight towers operate on a range similar to Wi-Fi. WiMax can operate right next to cell phone towers with no interference.

Deployments of WiMAX networks are similar to Wi-Fi. The WiMAX Base Station/Tower beams a signal to a WiMAX Receiver. Similar to a Wi-Fi access point sending a signal to a laptop. Some laptops are shipped with Wimax receivers.

QOS (Quality of Service) is a major issue with WiMAX because of the number of people accessing a tower at once. When a WiMAX tower is overloaded with a lot of people accessing at a time, i.e.when the tower/base station is nearing capacity then it automatically transfers the user to another WiMAX tower or cell. Unlike a Wifi clients who have to kind of fight to stay associated with a given access point; WiMAX performs hand shake at the MAC level the first time they access the network.

WiMAX is designed for building a network infrastructure when the environment or distance is not favorable to a wired network. Also, WiMAX is a cheaper and faster alternative than having to lay wire. African countries are now going to start deploying WiMax networks instead of cell phone networks.

Defense authorities are already using wireless technology to connect remote sites. Logistics will be simplified with the ease of tracking with RF technologies. WiMax can also handle Webcams and streaming video which gives commanders eyes on target capability.

~networld