Computer Tutorials Blog containing tutorials on different computer subjects. Homemade.

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YouTube Insights, with a small hack
2008-03-27 09:41:37
Are you an Youtube uploader or only a viewer? Well, if you have an account with them and have uploaded at least one video to Youtube in the past years, you can play with their new tool called YouTube... Read full posts by clicking on the title link or visiting http://goodle.crmreports.com ...

So, where's Microsoft?
2008-03-27 07:39:18
Today is the first Document Freedom Day, a first of its kind event with the purpose of spreading the word about open document formats. The event is marked by the organization of local activities in... Read full posts by clicking on the title link or visiting http://goodle.crmreports.com ...

Submit sitemap to Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask
2008-03-26 22:41:35
Sitemap is a protocol adopted from sitemaps.org by major search engines for a while now. The sitemap is actually an xml file that basically contains a list of all the items that you have on your... Read full posts by clicking on the title link or visiting http://goodle.crmreports.com ...

Sponsored links in organic searches
2008-03-25 20:32:00
Now Google always said that sponsored links (results) have no connection with the organic results. To be more specific, here's what they say in one of the many mentions about sponsored results and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...

Blogger to Wordpress migration with 301 redirect
2008-03-24 17:28:00
You have a blog hosted at blogger and since you're getting some traffic to it you would like to change the address from [whatever].blogspot.com to a custom domain name that you've just ordered. Not... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit MyWebsite.com for full links, other content, and more! ]] ...

Borat's village - 100 masked people fight each year
2008-03-23 12:30:00
Each year on December 31st there's a fight in Ruginoasa, Iasi (Romania). This is not your common fight, about 100 youngs (split in two "armies") each one with 5 feet long wooden bats try to crack their heads in for a noble purpose: winners get the right to date the most beautiful women in that particular year. Members of one team marching towards the fight place (skip to 1:20):Actual fight:This tradition goes on for couple of hundred years, and if initially they used lashes or wrestled, over time it degenerated into using large wooden bats. The night before the fight, the teams gather (in separate places) to drink and eat until the morning, when they start preparing for the fight. The most important accessory is the mask, which it's composed of several layers, one of them being iron - its weight is about 70 pounds. This doesn't mean that there are not casualties, mostly because they are accompanied by up to 2000 other people, and sometimes the parents of the fighting youngs approach to ...

Office Enterprise 2007 trial not signed?
2008-02-20 13:49:00
I downloaded the Office Enterprise 2007 trial and when choosing to run it after the download finished, I got a prompt that the publisher could not be verified, so the trial seems it doesn't have a valid digital signature:The file was downloaded here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2D1189BF-D86A-4ACF-9DCC-4D61F500AD6D&displaylang=en and everything installed fine, though it seems kind of strange for Microsoft not to sign their own code. Anyway, this warning was received on a Windows XP SP2 system with IE 7.0.5730.11 installed. ...

Nothing new, I know
2008-02-16 10:07:00
... but I've been kind of busy working on CRM Reports. I'll try finding time for this blog too, especially since there are some popular posts. ...

I'm sorry Ubuntu
2007-09-24 19:13:00
... but my wife found a new utility for the 3 stickers that I had left and I kept to give someone using Ubuntu:That's right, she used them as labels for her shoe boxes. Come to think about it, it wouldn't be a bad way to promote Ubuntu among her friends, but she decided to strikethrough the text so that she wouldn't be confused about the content of the box?Anyway, I'm sorry Ubuntu. ...

Gmail phishing email
2007-09-20 19:52:00
First phishing email I receive about the Gmail account and it's quite interesting how the sender managed to trick the Gmail spam filters and also make it look very official:Your account has been randomly flagged in our system as a part of our routine security measures. This is a must to ensure that only you have acces and use of your Google account and to ensure a safe Gmail experience. We require all flagged accounts to verify their information on file with us.This is the right link for edit account page After you verify your information, your account shall be returned to good standing and you will continue to have full use of your account. Please note that if you don't verify your ownership of account in 2 x 24 hours we will block/ susspend your Google account. Thanks,The Gmail TeamIf it wouldn't have been for that "susspend" typo and the fact that the "edit account" link was a "uk-google.com/account" fake page, this might have been the perfect phishing email. Of course that "edit ac ...
Email  Gmail  Phishing 

Microsoft helps you find an intimate partner
2007-07-11 20:37:00
I'm one of the "banner blind" web users, but while browsing the office.microsoft.com website one particular ad really made me look. You know those types of adult-targeted ads where it says "Find singles in " or "Meet singles in " and then 3-4 images with girls, their ages and the location (that matches your location based on IP tracking)? Well this was one of those ads. Course, you would expect to see this kind of ad on a website frequented by geeks (thepiratebay for instance), but is it appropriate for Microsoft.com? I mean my grandma' visit office.microsoft.com too to get updates. Naughty, naughty!Anyway, here is an image of the ad (only the ad in the first image, whole browser captured in the second):This ad is for Mate1.com, "The web's largest intimate dating site, with millions of members in the US and worldwide" as they describe it. I don't think it's a scam website give that probably Microsoft checks the background of its advertisers, but if you search for their website a Rip Of ...
Microsoft  Partner 

iPhone Mania
2007-06-27 21:27:00
That's the iPhone. It's hard for me to see why all the fuss. It's just a phone and not only this, it's a very expensive phone (iPhone cost: $500 for the 4GB model, $600 for the 8GB model). Ok, leaving aside the cost of the iPhone, at least I'll own a piece of the apple right? Actually no. The iPhone also comes "bundled" with AT&T's plans, and get this, the lowest plan is $60/month, plus a $36 activation fee (source). Not even this, but it's a minimum of 2-year plan. Ok, so how much does the iPhone makes you spend in the first 2 years of its usage (assuming you're not purchasing any iPhone accessories)? $1976. That's right, almost $2000 for a phone. Anyway it's your choice. You want to buy it, well the line for purchasing an iPhone formed like 3 days ago, so go ahead and be there when the iPhone launch date is due (29th of June, 6pm). I would not buy it right now. I would wait let's say for at least 3-4 months until all this hype finishes and we get some real iPhone reviews to see exact ...
Iphone 

Transfer music to mp3 player for free
2007-06-25 21:59:00
Need to transfer music from your pc to your portable player? Well, there are a couple of free mp3 player softwares that can accomplish that task. But before we get there, these are the steps you need to follow in order to copy music to your mp3 player:First of all have the music in the appropriate format, which is mp3. If you have the music on a cd for instance, you'll first have to rip the tracks and convert them to mp3 files. There's a free cd-ripper called AudioGrabber that does that, and is one of the best out there (considering the price).Second of all is the mp3 software that you need in order to sync your mp3 player with your music selection on the PC. For this purpose I've considered these free mp3 synchronization programs: iTunes (with iTunes Sync and/or BadApple plugins installed), MediaMonkey, musikCube and Yahoo! Music JukeboxOnce these programs are installed and your mp3 player recognized, you can transfer music to it.iTunes is one of the most used mp3 programs out there, ...
Music 

Marketiva scam (phishing) emails sent to users
2007-06-19 18:11:00
Well I almost fell for a phishing email today. I'm a member of Marketiva (forex trading platform) and today I received an email with the subject "MARKETIVA Your Identification Documents are Re-Requested". If you are a member of Marketiva delete that email immediately as it is a phishing email (scam) that is sent by a bunch of crooks and that's trying to fool you into giving away your username/password or eventually your identification details. After asking Marketiva for support I've seen that the email mentioned above actually directed to a page (a hidden url) for a domain name called Marketiua, which is obviously a scam and has nothing to do with Marketiva. So be careful if you receive an email like the one below:Dear Marketiva Traders,Current status of identification documents ( personal detail )for your Marketiva account is "Re-Requested".Our support personnel indicated the following specific reasons for the re-request: Please scan a different document and resend, there is no stamp ...
Emails  Phishing  Scam 

Trial Pay Offers - 132 programs you can get for free
2007-06-06 20:09:00
TrialPay is a method that allows you as a customer interested in product X to get it for free by subscribing or (optionally) purchasing a product from one of their sponsors. Practical example: You can get a free WinRar license (with the same rights as a user that buys directly from winrar) by signing up for a 30-day trial on Stamps.com Of course that these offers from advertisers vary a lot depending on your country (there can be more than 100 offers for people in USA, whereas 1-2 offers for people in Romania).Is TrialPay a scam? Far from it, and the fact that they are backed up by investors behind Skype, Google and Akamai (info here) looks promising for the growth of this system. Also, I was able to find over 130 trial pay offers, including products like Winrar, Winzip, Zonealarm and if these large companies trust TrialPay enough to associate their names with it, I would say you can rest assure it's not a scam.Here is an image from their site that shows how this system works:As you ca ...

Print web page without header, footer but with background images
2007-05-31 22:18:00
Have you tried printing a web page from Internet Explorer? Well if you didn't, I'll tell you what might be frustrating:first of all, on the printed page you'll see an additional header added (i.e. Page 1/1) and a footer containing the URL of the printed pagesecond, if the web page contains some images that are defined as background images (a HTML thingy), those will not be printedHow to correct these annoyances:The header and footer can be removed from further printed web pages by going to File->Page Setup (we're talking about Internet Explorer 7 and Maxthon here, but might be the same for other browsers). Now, on the configuration window that opens you have to erase everything that's in the Header and Footer fields.Since you're still here you can do further adjustments, more important being the fact that you can reduce the margins so that the web page fits better printed.Printing the background colors and images. Well, here is a simple option that needs to be enabled. Go to Tools->Int ...
Header  Print  Web 

Free encryption software, Kruptos 2
2007-03-27 20:43:00
Think of this scenario, you want to transfer from your office to your home computer some very important documents (bank accounts, google pagerank algorithm) using an USB drive. But, dreaming of Jeannie, you end up home without the USB drive. Probably you lost it when getting your keychain, or when you picked up that nickel of the sidewalk...point is you're in a lot of trouble. To avoid such headaches you should encrypt files/folders that you're moving using removable drives (usb, enclosures). Encryption encodes the data using certain algorithms and the only way to decode the data is by providing the password used originally.There are lots of encryption programs out there (there's even one built-in Windows Xp Professional) but a surprisingly easy and powerful free encryption software is Kruptos 2, developed by Steve Beckett.Some of its main features:encrypts files/folders using 128-bit Blowfish algorithmobfuscates names of encrypted files, but leaves folder names unalteredintegrates in ...
Encryption  Software 

Wrap text as you type in Excel
2007-03-01 19:10:00
Now I really understand why people say Excel has many features, but nobody knows about them. I often had to type some text in an Excel cell, and I couldn't type one line on a row (in the same cell) as if I pressed Enter it would have jumped to the same tab. That was annoying and I thought there aren't really easy solutions to do that. Until I considered pressing combinations of keys and Enter. The result, if you press Alt+Enter while typing in a cell, you'll automatically start the next line on a new row. What this shortcut actually does is enabling the "Wrap text" feature for that cell. See the images below for more visual details.this is how the text flows if you're not using the automatically wrap featurethis is how the text flows if you're using the wrap feature (see how each line is on a different row)How this works, you start typing in a cell, and when you want to go to a new line you press Alt+Enter.A bonus tip for Excel: If you are beneath a cell that contains data (even a form ...
Excel 

Top 14 Borat Transportation Vehicles
2007-02-23 21:32:00
Remeber how Borat leaves his village? He's in a car (Dacia, Romanian brand) that's being pulled by a horse. Well, from the images uploaded by Romanians in a recent contest I took the ones that are worthy of being used by Borat in a sequel. The difference is that the images below are real, from Romania, so here is the top.14. Horse driven half-car/half-carriage13. Now push it Ah, push it - push it good Ah12. Is that Borat's room mate?11. Is the horse small or the car big?10. This beats skateboard, is tireboard!9. Again, one horsepower car.8. Hmm, that's cupid's carriage.7. Who says you cannot use hey instead of fuel?6. Imagine that inside those boxes there are smaller boxes, and smaller, ...5. Warning, this 60's model tops at 300Mph, is that left behind a Lamborghini?4. I say the pig is comfortable, would Borat's wife be the same?3. Clever design, bet 20 people fit in there.2. Wodden cabin, during rain you just open an umbrella1. And the winner is, well sort of a combination between an ...
Borat  Transportation  Vehicles 

Snowball 2007 - Free flash game of the week
2007-02-20 19:25:00
Yet another time waster. This game is more simple, you control a snowball that's rolling down a sloap and you have to engulf smaller objects along the way to increase your size. However, you have to avoid crashing into trees and backyards or the game will finish. As a tip, try keeping the snowball to the left, as you see more of the screen and also if it's close to the margin there are less obstacles in there. You'll see that as the size grows the snowball is very tough to control.Here you can play it: Snowball 2007. ...
Flash  Game  Snowball 

Free typing test
2007-02-14 19:27:00
So how fast you type? Actually, what would you consider a normal typing speed?First of all, the typing speed is measured in words-per-minute (wpm). For a given text, the typing speed (wpm) is calculated like this:first you divide the number of characters in the text to five (average word length), and you obtain the number of words in that textafter that, the number of words is divided by the time of the excercise (in seconds) - resulting words typed per secondlastly you multiply the words per second with 60 to obtain your wpm speedA standard minimum typing speed is 40 words-per-minute. However, if you intend to go for a job as a secretary, a minimum speed of 60 words-per-minute might be needed. Now, about the typing test. There are a bunch of them out there, but I chose the one that gave me the highest typing speed result :). Jphantom is the author of this free typing test.Once you click in the text area, you have to start typing the text that appears as fast as you can - once finished ...
Typing 

Rails of War - Free flash game
2007-02-09 17:54:00
I'm starting a weekly posting for flash games, and this is the first of this series. In Rails of War you have a train that you have to guide through a war zone. You have the option to add weapons to it and shoot the enemies and the goal of each level is to deliver weapons and fuel to your troops. For this you have to go through certain checkpoints, collect bonuses and destroy enemies. See the screenshot below for more details:Some keypoints regarding the game:don't forget to check the minimap to see where you have to gorefuel and repair your war train (see the image above, just stop the train completelly in the hangars and you'll be prompted with a fuel/repair window)you can add more wagons and weapons during the mission, so do that if you have the money and spacewatch out for those buldozers, as they can destroy your trainif you finish playing those 10 levels you can also create your own mapRails of War also has a paid version (the above one is free), but I'm not that big of a fan to ...
Flash  Game  Rails  War 

Google tests pink ads
2007-02-02 07:59:00
Seems like Google is doing some color changes, as I've seen today that the first ad changed the background color to pink (from light blue). See these images:[first google ad is pink - recent image][first google ad is light blue - old image]So why doing this? Either they hired more girls or they're doing tests on click-through rates for different backgrounds. ...
Ads  Google  Pink 

"Map of" under a Google SERP listing
2007-01-29 21:42:00
Today I discovered (by mistake) a cool new feature Google added. For the first result of my search Google added a "Map of" expandable link that when clicked displayed a mini-map of the address proeminently displayed on the site that was on the first position of the search. Here's how it looks (quite nice I would say):So how do you get that mini-map under your website SERP? Well it's not that easy. These are some observations I gathered after analyzing this a little:your business must be listed on the Google Mapsseems to be working only with US businesses (for now)you have to mention your address on your website, preferable in the format Street City State Zipit doesn't matter the position your website comes in the search results page, that mini-map link is added anywayAnyway, this seems a good feature, especially if you're looking for a local business and want to see fast where that company is located.As you probably figured, the hardest part is getting your business listed in the Googl ...
Google 

How to get free software (GiveAwayoftheDay)
2006-12-16 09:12:00
In one of my net wonderings I've encountered a site that seems to get more and more popularity, GiveAwayOfTheDay. As the site suggests (sort of), they're offering for free every day licensed software you'd have to buy otherwise.The Good:you get a program for free each dayyou get a game for free each day (on a subdomain, game.giveawayoftheday.com)some of the programs are very good (and expensive), like they've featured FlashSpring Pro, a program that normally sells for $150The Bad:you have to activate the program while the promotion is still running (24 hr), otherwise you will just end up with the trialif you uninstall the program or reinstall the system, you lose the registration since it works only if it's activated (and since the activation can be done for one day only...)So, here is a step by step tutorial:1. First you download the program that they're featuring. It's always an archive where normally is the setup of the program, a readme file and an Activate.exe program. 2. After th ...
Software 

Free accounting software from Microsoft
2006-12-11 17:00:00
It's called Microsoft Accounting Express 2007 and seems (at least judging by the price) to be a good alternative to QuickBooks (which is like $300). You can download it from IdeaWins (website Microsoft set up for this). Note that the download is about 208 MB, so it should take a while to complete.Above it's a screen, below are some of its features:Import data from other programs such as Intuit QuickBooks, Microsoft Money, and Microsoft Office ExcelCreate customized estimates, invoices, and purchase ordersTrack expenses automaticallyAutomate bank accounts and customer paymentsStore and organize customer, contact, employee, vendor, and financial information in a single locationExport reports to Excel 2007 for further analysis in just one clickShare your books with your accountant and still continue using them for your day-to-day businessShare data more securely with your accountant via Microsoft Office LiveList items on eBayTrack activity in real time and download and process ordersSend ...
Accounting  Microsoft  Software 

Affiliate program from Marketiva
2006-12-09 19:10:00
No I'm not dead. I've just been too occupied to post something on this blog (I know, lame excuse for no posts in the last 4 months). I'm reviving it though. Just like I've restored my Marketiva account from hybernation (good thing they didn't disable it) after 3+ months with no activity. For those that don't know what that is, I've posted last year (when I've opened my account with them) a small description about Marketiva. Good thing they still offer the $5 free on live trading. Anyway, I was saying that I restored it from hybernation, just to see what's up lately. Played a little with the new interface, looked over some charts and thought I should look over the affiliate reports tab too, to see if anyone joined. And that's where the surprise was, seems like I received $301 in one month as an affiliate commission. Here is a screen for non-believers:Anyway, given my trading skills I'm sure I'll lose the money very soon. Back to life. I'll continue using my account on Marketiva and also ...
Affiliate  Affiliate Program  Program 

Top 10 strangest hotels
2006-08-11 22:28:00
Found an article in a Romanian newspaper (link at the end of the post for those that know Romanian) with a top 10 strangest hotels, and I thought of giving more details (and pics) about that.10. Wild Canopy Reserve located in Masinagudi, Tamilnadu, India. Strange as it may seem but these are tree houses. "If you’d rather admire the fauna from afar, we can always see to it that your rooms are higher than an elephant’s eye – forty-one feet high, to be exact. We offer tree house accommodation with well-appointed toilets- running hot and cold water, out of reach, but with a clear view of the animals that congregate around the watering hole below."9. Benesse House in Kagawa, Japan. This is more a museum than a hotel, since you find well crafted art all over the place. "Benesse House is an art museum combined with lodging facilities designed by the renowned architect Tadao Ando, and features permanent exhibitions of site-specific artworks that can only be viewed in this unique setting" ...
Hotels 

Free WinRAR license (v 3.51)
2006-08-07 20:01:00
WinRAR is one of the best archiving utility out there (I use it exclusively, won the place on my computer from Winzip). Bad part is that's not free, the latest version (3.6) being provided as a 40 day trial.However, because WinRAR 3.51 won the Best Overall Utility from the SIAF People's Choice Award (major award in the shareware business), they decided to have a one day free-for-all promotion. Thing was you had to register your email address for their newsletter, receive a key in your mail and register it.Now that Sunday passed, and the promotion expired. However this doesn't mean that you cannot still register it legally. Thing is that they sent the same key to all 40,000 users that benefited from the promotion, and now that key is available for download from Simtel (one of WinRAR's partners in this). Leaving the blurb aside, this is what you have to do to register it:Go to Simtel's download page, choose a server and download the key: WinRAR Free Key 3.51Now go to WinRAR's official si ...
Winrar 

Windows Installer Clean Up utility
2006-07-26 19:18:00
Ever got an error message when you tried uninstalling a program that used the Microsoft Installer (MSI) sounding like "the installation source for this product is not available"? Well I did. I tried uninstalling Quark and I couldn't because I have deleted the installation source files. First error message I got:"The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable.Clik OK to try again, or enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package 'QuarkXPress 6.0.msi' in the box below"I didn't remember where I've put the CD with the original installation package so clicking Cancel I realized that it's not going to be that easy to remove the program, as the second error message popped-in: "The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source exists and that you can access it."Ok. I've decided to delete the installation folder completely, but I didn't want to leave the registry entries not cleaned. So after a little rese ...
Installer  Utility  Windows