If you are getting error, "Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator" , when trying to launch task manger on Windows XP machine then here is a simple solution for you.
Solution: Click “Start >> Run” and type following command exactly as given below and click OK.
Long time back we reviewed desktop, cellphone and web-based multiprotocol messengers i.e. messengers which supports multiple IM network like Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, AIM, etc.
Now in desktop category my long time favorite pidgin got serious competition from digsby which not only operates across multiple IM network and do email notification job but also makes your life easy on social networks like facebook, myspace & twitter. Surprisingly there is no donut for orkut users at this time! 🙁
One option that will surely beat other desktop IMs is compulsion to create digsby account. With this option you will have all your accounts’ information stored on digsby server.
This is good as you don’t need to re-enter multiple account info every-time you install digsby on a new machine. For people like me who uses atleast 5 PC’s in daily routine, this is something I want from long time. Also its good from security point of view as you will need to enter only digsby login info from unsecure places like public cyber-cafes!
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Other Notable Features:
Simple and clean interface. With option to change skins.
Adding accounts is too easy. You will only see field that are necessary unlike pidgin where advance options confuses you!
Better privacy control at global level as well as per account basis.
Option to hide Mobile contacts. This is good as a lot of Yahoo users are always stay online from their mobile via SMS.
The only thing I am not sure about its chat-history feature. Its there but it will be great if they maintain chat-history on server-side like IM History does.
As of now its available for Windows only. But Mac & Linux versions are also on the way. So cheer up! 🙂
If you are a firefox user then you may surprise to read this post. Unlike firefox where single menu option Tools >> Clear Private Data clears everything, in Internet Explorer 6.0 the situation is worse than one can possibly imagine.
Of course, a firefox user will never go back to Internet Explorer but thanks to bad web-site design of BSNL, I was forced to use IE to pay my cellphone bills.
Anyway here are steps to log out safely from Internet Explorer…
First, go to Tools >> Internet Options
On General Tab, clean cookies, cache & history by clicking on Delete Cookies, Delete Files & Delete history button.
Also after clicking on Delete Files, you will see a pop-up box like below. DONT forget to check "Delete all offline content" option.
Many users know about this part but your password and important form details may be with IE. So next step is very important!
Go to Content Tab, and click on AutoComplete Option.
A new AutoComplete Setting windows will open like below. Click on Clear Forms & Clear Password buttons.
Thats All! I know sounds like hell lot of work but let me give you glimpse of what the worst could happen if you forget any of the steps above.
Delete Cookies – Not so severe if you used only top sites like orkut, Gmail, etc. But still can prove dangerous. Person sitting on your computer may get direct access to your account. Usually cookies are cleared automatically when you click on log out links at the sites.
Delete Files – Anyone using your computer can check files you were accessed online. Most important are your personal photos which can be viewed from cache even after you log out using log out links on sites.
Delete History – Other can check which site you have accessed. If you dad is a geek, this could prove dangerous to you! 😉
Clear Forms – Any information you enter like address, name, etc remains in browser. Most important are bank account numbers.
Clear Passwords – Normally password don’t get stored automatically but its always better to count on knowledge than luck!
In fact, last two options which are so deep inside are reason for most account getting hacked via IE. If you forget them then anyone can use small program like pspv to hack passwords and personal details.
Its always best to use a browser like firefox and avoid login to password protected site from public commuters!
In past we have written about varioushacks to download videos from YouTube, Metacafe and other video sharing sites. After receiving good response to all of them, I have decided to compile a complete list of alternatives for every possible ways and here is the outcome.
We have tested more than 60 alternatives. To limit our testing efforts, we eliminated all candidates who offers trial/paid service or forces to register user. Next of course ease of use and support for multiple video sharing site has been considered. Enough chit-chat, enjoy the list… 🙂
The list is organized across different categories like web based, desktop version , etc.
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Web Based
1.KeepVid – It supports almost all popular sites like YouTube, Metacafe, etc. Have bookmarklet option to download videos in one-click. You have to rename downloaded file to add .flv extension. You can use VLC media player to play flv files. Read More…
2.Flashload – Replica of Keepvid, but also available in Deutsche language. Supports 50 video sites. Maintains list of last 20 videos downloaded on homepage.
3.videodownloadx – Same like keepvid but have option to convert video online into 12 different formats. They ask for email address in conversion option. In case you have concern about it try next..
4.vixy.net – Supports less number of site than keepvid and less number of conversion formats than videodownloadx but simplest to use. Also they don’t ask for your email address. Read More…
5.Media Converter – Supports many video sites. Conversion options gives nice compression ratio. It have too many options and wizards. Good for advance users, bad if your looking for quickie. Converter is also available for download as windows only version.
6.Zamzar – It also feature reach like Media Convertor but instead of giving their convertor away they offers online tool where you can upload existing flv videos for conversion. Good for Linux & Mac users as they don’t have desktop software to do the same.
7.kcoolonline – List of 211 video site they supports is eye-catcher. They do have a convertor but no bookmarklet option.
8.TubeG – Supports search and download from YouTube. Flagged video is available for download. Have bookmarklet as well as many interesting section to browse.
9.ilikeyoutube – Ability to search and download videos using top tags. As name suggest its only for YouTube.
10.YouTubia – YouTube only. Offers keyword based as well as user name based search option.
There are literally hundred of sites providing similar services, thanks to cost-effective web hosts like Dreamhost. Still if we missed any deserving site please let us know.
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Firefox Add-ons
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11.Video Download Helper – It is second most popular firefox addon with 234,815+ downloads. It supports adult sites. They also have dedicated tutorial section which is curtsey users of this addon only. Do I need to say more about it? 😉
12.Video Ook – Supports less number of site but better customization options. Most important feature – file renaming after video title. Yep, all you tube video get downloaded with file name get_video so this extension is
13.GreaseMonkey Script – Those who love to do it GreaseMonkey way can use this script. Its for YouTube only. It adds a direct download link on all YouTube pages as shown in image. (New To GreaseMonkey?)
14.ByWiFi – You can search, watch & download video from YouTube & Metacafe. Registration is optional but useful to track you usage history across site. It will be great if they add support for more video site. Read More..
Unfortunate I do not have more options for mobile users this time. But I will surely add in future. If you have one, please share it via comments. 🙂
Windows Users
15.Orbit Downloader – Integrates nicely with many video sharing sites. Just hover the mouse on video and a "Grab It" button will pop up immediately! Available in 30+ languages.
16.Vdownloader – It can download and convert videos from many video sharing sites, saving them in AVI or MPG format. Supports few adult sites too!
17.KeepV – It also supports download as well as conversion. Conversion to MP4 format may catch iPod users. You need to manually copy-paste video URLs – Bad integration! Requires Microsoft .NET Framework.
18.Youtube Grabber – Very lightweight, but works for YouTube only as its name suggests!
For windows we got many softwares but most of them were paid. I don’t see any reason to pay for things when there are better alternative in freewares.
Linux Users
19.Youtube-dl – This is a shell script. After installing you can use command like youtube-dl URL to download and play video automatically. Videos played using VLC player.
Again I failed to get any complete software for Linux. So personally I will go for web-based or firefox alternatives. Still if you are addicted to shell you can try the script above.
Mac OS Users
20.GetTube – Only option I found for Mac OS. Only youtube is supported as you might have guessed it. Good thing supports conversion to MP4, MOV and AVI formats.
Additionally script mentioned for Linux users can be used from terminal.
PHP Script
21.Youtube Rippin – Finally if you are a coder and this large list impressed you, you can think of starting a site using this PHP script. Moreover if you have a PHP interpreter on your system, you can run this locally. Details are here…
Thats it! here we reach the end of this is a long list. I tried to cover all possible options but to err is human and if you think any deserving candidate is missing from list, feel free to comment! 🙂
Vixy started as an online service to convert a Flash Video / FLV file (Video format used by sites like YouTube, Metacafe videos,etc) to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file online.
The simplicity of this service is you no need to use any hack to download YouTube, Metacafe, etc videos. Just give a video URL and desired file format, Vixy will download and convert videos automatically. Now this also means you can not convert existing flash videos on your disk.
Anyway here is screenshot showing three steps conversion procedure…
Paste a video URL into URL field.
Select a desired file format from drop-down menu. Available options: AVI, MOV, 3GP, MP4 & MP3.
Click on start button!
This online service also have desktop counterpart for Window and Mac platform. Unfortunately it (desktop version) also accepts only online videos in URL field. A option to browse and convert existing video must be provided in desktop versions to be more useful.
One of our reader, Pranav wanted a tool to keep track of his Internet usage. Many broadband Internet users have monthly data transfer limit so such tools help them not to get over-billed at the end of month.
After lots of search and testing few, we found NetMeter to work best for all kind of users. Not to mention separately its free and no registration is needed. Just download and install.
For the first time you need to setup few thing like your data-transfer limit, notification settings, etc. Actually it has too many options to confuse a home user but its really worth using. Still for your help I will show minimum important setting you need to configure before using NetMeter.
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# Setting Traffic Limit
This is only thing you need to do to get started. On starting, NetMeter sits in system-tray. To see NetMeter options as shown below, right-click on NetMeter icon in system tray select options from context-menu. Then go to Notifications tab.
Only things you need to change are reach(es) and during current fields. Both highlighted in screenshot below. Its better to set limits less than actual limits so that you can get notified before crossing data transfer limits!
# Checking your actual usage and projected usage
From same NetMeter context menu mentioned above select Totals option. You will see following details.
IndiBlogger is a directory of Indian blogs and a meeting point for bloggers. Unlike many other directories of blogs, IndiBlogger directory is powered by IndiBloogle -a nice example of Google’s custom search feature. Also, meetings feature is highly innovative as any member can call for meet on any tag! Like a photoblogger can call for a meet by selecting photoblog tag to get to know other photobloggers.
One such meet was organized last evening in Pune which I attended. Thanks to Prashant for reminding me about meeting otherwise I would have missed it for sure as I was busy shifting furniture to my place! So in hurry with my fellow blogger Anil I rushed to the event without much expectations as I joined indiBlogger just 2 days back.
Thanks to Vineet, Anwin, indiBlogger Team and event sponsor Microsoft the event turned out to be much better than my expectation! This is the reason I am posting about it.. 😉
So few things I have noticed that were different compare to blogger meets I attended in past…
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First there were more non-technical bloggers than typical tech blogger like me 😉
There was high concentration of regional language bloggers which is nice for the whole blogging community.
So many nicechicks in blogging… I guess blogosphere is getting glamorous 😉
Every blogger got chance to showcase their blogs in “1-minute of fame” event.
Although event was sponsored, there was no promotional activity than introduction to Windows Live Writer (WLW) by Sandhya Rajan, a Microsoft Intern. WLW is best desktop blogging client and I was surprised to see very few bloggers knew about it. I will post about it in detail soon!
Long time back I published a simple hack using which you can run multiple Google Talk at once. Now thanks to Ankit, we have a way to run multiple Yahoo messenger at once.
Check following screenshot where me and my friend Sameer signed into our (different) yahoo accounts at the same time!
# How-To Go Multiuser…
Download yahoo_multiuser.reg file. (Tip: Right Click on link, select “save as”…)
Double Click on above file once it is downloaded.
Window may show warning. Click Yes to proceed.
Thats it! Now every click on Yahoo messengers shortcut will start new instance of IM!
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# How-To Restore singleuser…
I don’t find any harm leaving it multiuser. Still in case you want to restore changes made by above registry file…
Download yahoo_singleuser.reg file. (Tip: Right Click on link, select “save as”…)
Double Click on above file once it is downloaded.
Window may show warning. Click Yes to proceed.
Thats it! Everything is restored again!
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Now this is for all Windows user using Yahoo Messenger. Others can log into multiple yahoo, GoogleTalk, hotmail or any number of account at once using a multiprotocol messenger like pidgin!
[Disclaimer: This post deals with registry modification which is critical part of system. It is strongly advised to make backup of registry in advance. Devils Workshop will not accept any liability as per out ToS.]
A portable application, or portable app for short, is a software program that does not require any kind of formal installation onto a computer’s permanent storage device to be executed, and can be stored on a removable storage device such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, flash card, or even a floppy disk, enabling it to be used on multiple computers
Now after going through many alternatives & directories the most impressive solution in this genre we found is PortableApps.com!
Below are link to few apps hosted on PortableApps.com. Complete list is here…
Beside this you may consider using PortableApps Suite – a program which will make you fall in love with your USB Drives! 😉
PortableApps.com Suite™ is a collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Most impressive is backup/restore feature so that you can synchronize settings, bookmarks, data across various computers! Read support page for more information and usage guide.
Please note that applications are portable between various windows PC and in some cases on Linux if used with Wine. Check application compatibility page for most accurate information.
We are covering few small utilities by NirSoft which will expose lack of security in worlds top browser (as per stats) Internet Explorer, famous email client Outlook Express and my favorite GoogleTalk, Pidgin.
In total four programs tested which are presented below. All these utilities are free, small zip files (around 30-60KB in size) and requires no installation. Just download, unzip and run! Also these are only for Windows Platform (tested on Windows XP).
Please note each of following utility claimed to work with many programs. Program names highlighted in bold are tested successfully by us. We could not test rest of the programs due to technical limitations.
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#1. PSPV (Protected Storage Password Viewer)
This utility can show passwords from following programs:
Internet Explorer 6.0
Outlook Express
MSN Explore
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Some antivirus notably Quick-Heal & McAfee detects pspv as its popularity grew over the time. I am using this for more than a year. In earlier days it never got caught! 😉
All these programs can be accessed via command-line. Command-line options and other usage details explained in chm help file which you will find after unzipping above utilities.
Geeks may like to use command-line versions with batch scripting from @&^#@%^$!%^$! Hey do not expect me to reveal more… I am not running school for script kiddies! 😛
(Disclaimer: Information presented in this article is purely to educate user about security vulnerabilities in some top products used by us in day to day life. Any misuse of this information may subject you to legal actions. Devils Workshop will not be liable for any damage as per our ToS.)
