URL Shortening:bit.ly

   URL shortening is a recent trend that is a becoming a good solution for many people.I got to know about them when Dell tech support gave me one for troubleshooting (through remote screen sharing).Recently my friend started using them when he started publishing documents online.Then I thought of doing the same.
   I tried out the service from bit.ly.Usage is simple;on the homepage enter the url in the long link field and click shorten;the shortened link appears.Additional options are custom urls;to access this option click on show options.
   The advantage here is that the site will show the number of times the url has been used.The traffic is displayed as a graph across a day,week or month.
   On the homepage the list of shortened urls is displayed.Here it is possible to delete and open links plus get information on the usage of each link.This is available after creating an account.
   In a recent test bit.ly and ow.ly were found to be the best amongst url shorteners.Here's the link to know more:
Test of url shorteners
  And for twitter users the default url shortener is bit.ly.This has increased its popularity.
bit.ly eclipses tinyurl on twitter

Portable Software

  Portable software is a type of software that can be used without installation in any computer. In other words there will be an executable that can be run in Windows computers.This is generally used from usb drives.
  The advantage here is its possible to use one's choice of software in any pc.And of installation/uninstallation is no longer needed.
  This software is available by default in U3 drives;for other drives these software need to be downloaded from the internet.
  One good website that hosts these applications is portableapps.com.Here the portable versions of many popular softwares is available for download.To use them download the file,install the file to folder initially and then use the software present in the folder in any pc.
  They also have an application launcher(similar to the Start menu) as a single point to launch portable applications.This is how it looks like:

 To get the portable versions of other softwares search for the portable version online;in many cases it will be available.

Agent Ransack

 At times when one forgets the full name of a file it is possible to search using a part of the file name.Additionally one could remember something about the file content.Windows does allow one to search using the file contents;but it does not support regular expressions.
 Using a regular expression it is possible to search using conditions or patterns that can appear in data like in text.One tool that supports this agent ransack.To use this option enable regular expression in the options tab.

 Then under the advanced tab select the Expr wizard option.Here one can enter the different conditions for a better search.An example condition is how does a line begin and end.

 The software can be downloaded from http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/download.aspx

SteadyState

Previously I've discussed about recovery from virus infected and crashed computers.For a pc that is being by many people the settings and other data are changed continously as per each user's preferences.Additionally the computer does get infected with viruses over time.Thus the person who's responsible for the pc has a lot to do (virus scans,changing settings,..) to keep the pc running smoothly.
There are simpler alternatives to the above.For example consider this software SteadyState.This will enable a the system administrator to remove the changes that've been made after a restart.There are many software like this one;the reason I chose this one is as an example is because its free and made by a well known company (Microsoft).
Now you would want to clarify a few points.I'll clear them up by answering a few questions:
1.Does this software remove changes from the all the drives?
A.No,only the changes made to the C drive are affected.

2.How about updating anti-virus software?
A.Start the computer,update the software and select save all changes on shutdown.

3.How does this work?
A.All the changes that are made to the C drive are saved on an image file present on the hard disk;thus the C drive remains the same.Then depending on user preferences the changes can be retained(saved to the C drive) or removed.

Usage:Turn on disk protection and then fix the size of the image file.This ensures that changes made to the C drive are saved to the image file.

 

Note:The option do not warn admin about changes should be not selected to get the retain/remove changes message before shutdown.
    Additionally this software can be used to place many restrictions on each user account.For example a user profile can be blocked from accessing certain programs,Windows features or blocked from saving data to the C drive or pen drive.

   Its also possible to a create a user profile from within this software and place time limits on each session.More restrictions are also possible.

   This software is very flexible;many settings can be changed according to user preferences.In my opinion the only limitation is that it is not possible to selectively save changes made to files/folders.Other paid softwares like Deepfreeze,Returnil,etc have this feature.

The best thing is that the pc can be as good as new everytime it is restarted.
   Download link:http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx