Web Applications

  Over the past few months I've collected a few web applications;my main idea was that these could be good alternatives in case the software was not installed on the pc;to access these applications only a web browser is needed.
 1.Google docs:an online office suite available for free;this can be accessed using a gmail account.it can also store files upto a size of 250 mb.
 2.http://www.pdftoword.com/:online converter from the pdf to word file format.
 3.http://www.free-ocr.com/:this application can extract text from an image.
 4.http://www.screentoaster.com/:record your screen activity to make tutorials.
 5.http://aviary.com/:this site has multiple applications(image editing,audio editing,screen capture..).
 6.http://www.sumopaint.com/home/:online image editor.
 7.http://www.lovelycharts.com/:create diagrams online.
 8.Meebo:online chat application
 9.http://media-convert.com/:convert files(text,word or media files) to different formats.
 10.http://www.zoho.com/:online office suite.
   Well I hope this turns out to be useful..

Make Your PC run faster

  Over time the pc slows down.There are many reasons as to why this happens.Lets discuss general OS issues and how to solve them.
  One of the key factors is RAM usage.Some applications tend to automatically start with the pc.Examples are winzip,nero,anti-virus,..Amongst these only the anti-virus software is needed;the rest can be removed as per user preferences.In most cases removing the startup entry does not affect the application;run the application anytime it is needed.Removal can be done using msconfig,windows defender or ccleaner.

Another thing is to free the C drive;by removing temporary files,sytem restore points or moving data to other drives.This can be done using disk cleanup or ccleaner.The advantage of a tool like ccleaner is that it provides for selective removal of unwanted data.

 

Defragment the drives.Use the built-in defragment tool or others like defraggler.I did this on my pc yesterday and to my surprise it freed up 5 gb of space on my C drive.Alongside this also delete unwanted items in the registry using ccleaner or registry mechanic.

  Not to be forgotten scan for viruses and malware on the pc.Use multiple tools to scan.

  The last option is to restore the C drive from a backup made previously.If the backup was taken on the day the OS was installed the system will go back to that state.In other words it'll work like a new pc.

Screencasting Software

  Previously I've described how to take screenshots of a part of the screen(Screenshot tools).Now the same concept can be extended to make a video of the screen.Remember tutorial videos in Youtube or any other sites?
  Here I'll describe a few software which can be used to make screencasts.
 1.Screen2exe:This is a simple software;start off by setting the options like the part of the screen to be recorded,video frame rate and include/exclude audio and then start recording.

To stop the recording press F10 and to pause it press F9.After recording it is possible to edit the video:

 The final file is an .exe file;run this file to watch the video.Download this from http://www.screen-record.com/screen2exe.htm.Now I've taken this software an example to show how to use screencasting software generally.

CD and DVD Images

  Previously I've discussed about disk images;images can also be made of cds or dvds.In this case images can be used like the original disk i.e. it can be opened and used like the original cd/dvd.Primarily this is used to backup cds and dvds;the images are stored in the hard disk and can be used or burned to a cd/dvd anytime.
  Images can be made using cd/dvd burning software.For example in Nero an image can be made by selecting copy disc and image recorder as the writing device.However burning software do not allow the user to open the image and browse files;This is where Daemon Tools comes in.
  Daemon Tools allows the user to make and mount disc images.After mounting the image in a virtual cd/dvd rom the files cab be viewed the regular way.After installing the software a new cd/dvd rom is visible in my computer.When an image is mounted the files present in the image file can be accessed by clicking the above drive.
  To simplify things run the software and right click the tray icon.Select options.Here uncheck the autostart option(this will make sure that this software does not start with Windows) and in set file associations click on select all(this selects all the image file types).Now left clicking an image will automatically mount it in the virtual drive.There are many other options;set the number of virtual drives,manually mount/unmount disk images and so on.
  One small thing during installation uncheck the options to install any other software or change the browser homepage.
  There are many similar software.Go to this link to find out:
  Image Software:Wikipedia

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