1.1.3 iPhones now software unlockable

Mr. George HOTz did it again. He just loosed a world of hurt on AT&T with a software unlock for 1.1.3 iPhones. 

That's right, the software is said to work on any fresh from the Apple store, shrink-wrapped iPhone sporting the latest 1.1.3 firmware and 4.6 bootloader, something the AnySIM unlock can't do.

GeoHot's instructions posted after the break.

We haven't tested yet so, as always, take care.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

--snip--
geohot's 1.1.2 software unlock
yes, this is what you have all been waiting for
now fixed to support 1.1.3

1. Download these:
gunlock and the secpack from http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/ or the blog :)
the 4.02.13 fls from http://george.zjlotto.com/index.php/baseband/

2. Downgrade your phone to 1.0.2. See all the great tutorials online to do this.
Your baseband won't be downgraded, this is normal.
This will probably work on other versions too, but 1.0.2 doesn't lose wifi on bb access.

3. Kill CommCenter and run "gunlock secpack ICE04.02.13_G.fls"

4. Reload CommCenter. For some reason my phone was in brick mode. Use the elite team bricktool to get out.

5. Enjoy your 1.1.2 OTB unlocked iPhone

Now who'd have thought it would be this easy :)....

How to have the iPhone feel on your ordinary cell phone

For those of you who didn't get in line for an iPhone but wants to avoid the envy, pcworld.com has an article on how to dress up your cell phone to avoid any iPhone envy. 

Some of the applications would cost you around $30 or less but you don't have to worry about shelling out $500-$600

iPhone's Visual Voicemail

iPhone's Visual Voicemail lets you choose which voicemail you will listen to by listing it without the need to hear the voicemail first. If you want to have visual voicemail on your cell phone, callwave, according to the pcworld article, is a free service that sends copies of your voicemail messages to your e-mail.

The caller's name and the message length is displayed in the subject line so you can select which voicemail you will listen to. The software creates a contact list on your PC and notifies you of new messages through SMS message on your mobile phone.

GotVoice is a web-based service that grabs your voicemail messages, records them as MP3 and then sends it to your email address.

 
GotVoice will work with any phone be it your mobile phone, home phone and even your work phone.

The service is free but expect to see advertisement.

They have a premium account which will cost you $10.

iPhone's syncing capability with iTunes and your PC

The PocketTunes 4.0 can let your phone connect to internet radio stations plus lets you download music from popular subscription services like Yahoo Music, Napster To Go, and Rhapsody To Go.

The application will cost you $38 and is compatible with Palm Treo phones.For your Windows Mobile smart phone, you can download the M music player which lets you access songs on your PC and lets you receive Internet Radio broadcasts.

The service will set you back $5 per month or $50 per year.For phones that support Java, for $10 per month, the MobiTV application lets you stream live TV on your phone as well as receive radio broadcasts.

iPhone's 4 to 8 GB memory capacity

The iPhone's memory is restricted to either 4 or 8 GB capacity. Most phones nowadays have an expansion slot that supports memory cards, SD cards, microSD and miniSD.

The highest capacity for multimedia cards is at 4GB but according to pcworld, that capacity can double.iPhone supports Google MapsPcworld reports that Google Maps has a mobile version for any cell phones that are capable of connecting to the internet.

And if your mobile phone has GPS capabilities, you can one up the iPhone since it can only view static maps, according to pcworld, major carriers offer GPS mapping and traffic updates.

For other tips and applications that would make you forget about the iPhone and stay loyal to your old phone, visit the pcworld article below.
SOURCE:Michael S. Lasky, iPhone versus Your Phone: Tips to Avoid iPhone Envy. PC World.

AT&T to Launch Mobile TV in 58 US Markets

AT&T will launch its mobile television service.

                AT&T's Mobile TV will only be available on two high-end phones, LG's touch-screen Vu and Samsung's Access. The Vu costs US$399.99 and the Access $299.99, although consumers can get a $100 mail-in rebate. 

Both require two-year service plans.

AT&T had planned to launch Mobile TV by the end of last year. The service will be available in 58 markets, AT&T said.

Much information on Mobile TV was already released at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas in March. But AT&T has revealed pricing, which is in the same range as Verizon's service.

Mobile TV packages start at $13 per month for four channels: CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, NBC 2Go and NBC News 2Go. Next is a $15-a-month deal for the "basic" package with more channels and $30 for the "plus" service, which includes unlimited TV watching and mobile Web browsing.

AT&T's pricing is close to Verizon's, which offers a limited package for $13 per month, a eight-channel deal for $15 and a $25-a-month package that throws in unlimited air time, e-mail and basic video clips.
All told, AT&T's Mobile TV encompasses 150 simulcast or time-shifted programs from CNN, ESPN, Comedy Central, CBS, NBC, Nickelodeon and PIX, part of Sony Pictures Television, among others.

              Like Verizon, AT&T is employing technology from MediaFLO USA, part of Qualcomm, to deliver the service. MediaFLO broadcasts the programming on a network separate from AT&T's cellular network, using parts of the unused television broadcast spectrum.

LG's Vu has a music player, a 2.0-megapixel camera and Bluetooth. Samsung's Access has an internal antenna for TV reception, a camera, external stereo speakers and stereo Bluetooth.

Verizon launched its V Cast Mobile TV service in March 2007. The service is compatible with four handsets: Samsung's SCH-U620, LG's VX9400 and Voyager and Motorola's z6tv.

The Devil is in the iPhone 3G Details

As more details about the iPhone 3G service plan emerges, the less attractive the darn thing becomes. And that's without even taking into account the new activation process that must take place in the store, which eliminates buying online and probably puts a major crimp into unlocking.

For example, the combination voice + data - and found out since Monday that you have a data plan, despite them listing the plan separately -is $10 more monthly than previously.

Thus, you save $200 on the phone upfront, but pay $240 extra for the plan. uppose someone smarter than me could take inflation into account to figure things out even more precisely.

And that's for a consumer data plan. An Enterprise data plan will result in a user paying $25 more per month for the service.

Oh, and let's not forget: there's no SMS bundle anymore.

The old plan had 200 messages; you have to pay $5 for 200 SMS messages now. So even more cash is sucked out of us users. With the above difference in the service plan pricing and SMS plan, you're talking about an additional $160 over the original iPhone, even taking the $200 subsidy into account. Ouych!

That's the obvious. Leaked AT&T policy documents seem to indicate even more devilish details.

Upgrade Eligibility and Qualified Upgrade Pricing

Upgrade eligibility will be determined based on standard upgrade eligibility rules. Customers must be upgrade eligible to receive the qualified upgrade pricing. However, not all customers will be qualified upgrades. AT&T has not determined the price of the 3G device for non-qualified upgrades.

That usually means you have to be out of contract, or at least darn close enough to get them to waive it so you can get a new phone. Seems silly for them to restrict purchases; you'd think just getting people to sign onto a 2-year contract extension would be enough.

However, based on this text:

However, all postpaid 2G iPhone customers in good standing are upgrade eligible, so these customers will qualify to upgrade to a 3G iPhone when it is available.

What this means is even if you are in the middle of a contract with your 2G iPhone, you'll still get the discounted upgrade pricing ($199 for 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB).

Also revealed in the leaked memo: preparations for logistics, including security:

Security will be provided for locations requesting armed police or unarmed, uniformed guards.

Yeah, well since users can't buy online, anyone who wants these things are going to have to line up. Besides, all the prior information about the new pricing has me rethinking buying an iPhone 3G.

Here's a copy of the leaked document (.PDF). Plenty of interesting info; take a peek.

$199 iPhone 3G Introduced By Apple

  

In his keynote address to open Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) on Monday, Steve Jobs officially announced the iPhone 3G.

Perhaps the most important revelation was the price, which at $199 for the entry level (8GB) model is half the original’s current $399 pricetag.

He indicated that the price was based on research where consumers who have so far passed on the iPhone said cost was the biggest barrier.

Not surprisingly he didn’t talk about his previous prediction of 10 million iPhones sold by the end of 2008.

Why is that significant?

Maybe because at the current (pre-iPhone 3G) prices it appears unlikely to happen.

In fact despite “selling out some number of weeks ago,” Jobs said only 6 million have been sold in the approximately 11 months since the initial launch on June 29 of last year.

Jobs showed off the speed difference between the iPhone 3G’s “amazingly zippy” performance on newer 3G networks, compared with the EDGE connection available to owner’s of the original.

The same web page that took nearly a minute to load using an EDGE connection took just over 20 seconds across 3G.

He also compared it to a Nokia N95 and Treo 750, which reportedly took 33 and 34 seconds respectively to load the same page (using 3G) while delivering it in a less complete mobile format.

He also pointed out that 3G speed is “actually approaching Wi-Fi.”

Other changes include the use of plastic instead of aluminum for the back (presumably to bring production costs down), as well as the addition of a 2 Megapixel camera and GPS.

Near the end of his presentation a map showed 70 countries where the 3G iPhone will officially be available while ‘It’s a Small World’ played in the background.

By contrast, the original iPhone is only offered in 6 countries.

The iPhone 3G’s initial launch, on July 11, will actually only include 22 countries, with the other 48 planned by year’s end.

Apple is World’s No.3 Smartphone Maker

Apple has staked a strong claim in the smartphone market. And it’s a good space to latch onto, as the worldwide smartphone market grew more than 29 percent and the North American smartphone market doubled in the first quarter of 2008 compared to a year ago, according to new research from Gartner. Apple, Cupertino, Calif., is the No. 3 vendor of smartphones, selling 1.7 million units worldwide to grab a 5.3 percent share of the market, Gartner said.

Apple has built that share up from nothing, offering no smartphone in its portfolio until the debut of its iPhone in June, 2007.

In the U.S Apple is the No. 2 vendor, grabbing 20 percent of the market. Still, the vendor has a ways to go if it wants to hit No. 1 worldwide. Nokia, Espoo, Finland, holds that spot, selling 14.6 million units in the first quarter and grabbing 45.2 percent of the market. Research in Motion, Waterloo, Ontario, sits at No. 2, selling 4.3 million units to grab 13.4 percent of the market.

Globally, buyers snapped up 32.2 million smartphones in the first quarter, an increase of 29.3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007. In North America, unit sales more than doubled to 7.3 million. “Despite economic concerns, the smartphone market continued to expand in the United States, driven by heavy advertising and strong marketing promotions as more devices reached mass market price points,” said Hugues De La Vergne, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, in a statement.

“North American operators are giving these devices strong support, as they provide higher average revenue per unit (ARPU). We expect operators to continue to make these devices the focus of 2008 promotions.”

How to Avoid Having Your AdSense Accout Banned for Click Fraud

f you trawl through the AdSense message boards you can’t help but come across tales of woe from AdSense publishers that have had their account banned by Google.

Below is a list of ways people have been banned from AdSense and information on how to avoid it happening to you.

Adsense Secrets: Getting More Clicks on Your Ads

More CTR (Click Thru Ratio) means more clicks on your Google Ads. But, is CTR all about position and colors of your ads? No! It's a lot more than that. CTR also depends upon the quality of traffic, relevancy of ads, and even the subject of your website. Let's get in detail:

Do you own a High CTR website?

Yes! CTR varies from Industry to industry too. It depends upon the keywords you are using to make your web page. It has been observed that more technical the topic is (but not necessarily) less CTR it will give you (for example Search Engine Optimization, Affiliate Network - exceptions are always there), but still works if the Ad content is well written.

However, this is only one condition; there are many undiscovered conditions that affect the CTR of keywords.

At times, a particular season also has an effect on the performance of keywords. For example family of 'Turkey recipe' keyword is more active around November and December only and a quite sluggish rest of the year. It becomes really necessary to study the behavior of keywords before starting a massive website of Adsense around a topic.

Your Ad Position and Color: Old, but very effective

Google heat map helps improve the CTR (Clicks Thru Ratio) of your website by suggesting you the most converting areas for your Adsense Ads. You can have a glance at the Google's Survey that illustrates the ideal placements of ads on your web page.

https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html#17954
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html#17954

https://www.google.com/support/adsense
/bin/static.py?page=tips.html#17954

Darker the area, better will be the performance of your ads. Your visitor tends to click on these darker areas more often than the other areas of the web page. Ads placed near rich content usually do well because users are focused on those areas of your web page. For example, on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the concluding part of high quality content tend to perform well, as the visitors are left with no other choice except clicking the Ad block.

Get Targeted Traffic - The Most Essential Part

Traffic that is interested in your content (also called targeted traffic) is interested in your ads too. Thus, there is every likelihood that your ads will be clicked more frequently. Targeted traffic means more CTR, more earnings, and enhanced ad convertibility. On the other hand, the untargeted visitors are not interested either in your content or your ads, so keep your website's traffic targeted.

You can gather highly targeted traffic for your website by web promotion strategy and effective optimization of your web page structure.

Effective web promotion strategy requires an appropriate Anchor text and more back links from relevant websites. And, to develop an effective web page structure, you have to optimize your Title Text, internal linking of your website, and most importantly your web content, in the best possible manner.

Choose the Right Anchor Text for Back Link Campaigns

Choosing the right anchor text for back links promotes your website to the traffic you exactly need from the search engines. Choose the Anchor text that directly speaks to your visitors and pulls the traffic that your web page requires. Targeted traffic results in increased CTR of ads.

It helps promote your website to that segment of traffic, which is precisely searching for your content (or you can say the traffic that is most profitable to you). Targeting irrelevant keyword reduces your CTR by gathering the traffic which is not interested in your content or ads.

Wisely Choose the Title Text of Your Web Page

Title text of your webpage appears in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) as the Title link to your web page. Therefore, it is the title Text that directly speaks to the surfer on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) about your content's theme. It acts like a Free Advertisement Link to your website.

If your title text does not interest the surfer, you lose considerable amount of much-needed traffic. Figure out a Title text that directly communicates with your potential visitors, brings targeted traffic, and enhances the CTR of your AdSense Ads. Don't overdo your title text, and use less than ten keywords in your title text.

Help Google Detect the Theme of Your Web Page

There are many on-page and off-page elements that affect your ad relevancy. Better targeted ads increase both your CTR and EPC. Here is how to optimize your ads:

Meta Tags

If there is NO CONTENT on your web page, the Google Mediabot will consider the Meta Tags while displaying ads.

Meta tags have a considerable affect on the relevancy of your ads. It is advised never to leave this space empty. Also, try to make it as easy as possible for Mediabot to understand the theme of your web page.

Title Text

Google Mediabot gives good weightage to the keywords used in the Title text, which in turn gets reflected in your ads.

Choose effective keywords for your Title text. Even the order of words in a keyword can affect the ads that are appearing on your web page. So, choose your keywords wisely.

Headings

Google Mediabot gives importance to the Heading text enclosed in

Boost Relevancy Artificially - Use Google's Section Targeting

Now, you can enhance Ad relevancy by using Google's Section targeting. Using this technique you can advise Google mediabot about the areas of your content which should be considered or ignored while matching the Ads with your content.

For more information on the same topic, visit:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=23168&topic=371

For more information on the same topic, visit:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=23168&topic=371

For more information on the same topic, visit:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense
/bin/answer.py?answer=23168&topic=371

Use Channels for Analyzing Your Ads' Performance

Try to relate your traffic logs with your CTR stats. You will get to know which Traffic source is giving you what CTR.

This will help you recognize the traffic segment which is most converting for your website. Channels allow you to analyze your ads' performance, so that you can pin point the changes that your website needs to boost your AdSense income. There are two types of channels available - URL Channels and Custom Channels.

You can use the URL channel to track your performance, without modifying your Ad code. Through URL channels, you can analyze the performance of individual page or a group of pages, based on the directory system of your website.

Custom channels can help you measure the performance of different Ad formats presented in your web pages. And, by pasting channel-specific ad code into your pages, you can track CTR, Impressions, number of clicks each individual ad format is generating, and compare its performance with other web pages.

Block Junk Websites and Competitor Websites from Showing Ads

There are many junk websites that might be displaying ads on your website. These websites steal the traffic from your website and recycle it on their own Adsense ad blocks. Recognize such websites and stick them in Adsense Competitive Ad filter. Also, you can block your competitor websites using this competitive filter.

This trick can sometimes double or triple your Adsense income, augment user experience, and makes look your Google ads more genuine. For more information about this tool, visit:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=21593&ctx=sibling

This trick can sometimes double or triple your Adsense income, augment user experience, and makes look your Google ads more genuine. For more information about this tool, visit:
https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?answer=21593&ctx=sibling

This trick can sometimes double or triple your Adsense income, augment user experience, and makes look your Google ads more genuine. For more information about this tool, visit:

https://www.google.com/support/adsense
/bin/answer.py?answer=21593&ctx=sibling

AdSense Tip: How to Increase AdSense CTR

An increase in CTR can mean a lot to AdSense Revenue.

To increase AdSense revenue, you have to either increase the traffic or CTR. If somehow, you manage to triple your CTR just by tweaking the Google AdSense code, you can get three times more traffic.

Here are a few tips for increasing your CTR.

Topics Covered in this Guide:

- What Google AdSense Engineers say about CTR
- What Webmasters have concluded about CTR
- Traffic and its effects on CTR
- Experiments with CTR

What Google AdSense Engineers Say

- An email conversation with a Google Engineer:

“Due to the dynamic nature of Google AdSense, fluctuations in your revenue will occur. Your earnings will depend on a number of factors, including the types of ads being served to your pages, the cost per click or cost per impression of these ads, and your users' click through selections. Regarding ad placement - the best ad format varies from page to page. We've observed that, in general, wider ads perform better because of their reader-friendly format.

We strongly recommend putting your users first when deciding on ad placement. Think about their behavior on different pages, and what will be most useful and visible to them. You'll find that the most optimal ad position isn't always what you expect on certain pages.”

- Google Optimization Guide:
For example, on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the article tends to perform better. It's almost as if the users finish reading and asking themselves, “What can I do next?” Precisely targeted ads are just like answering their questions.

https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.html

What Webmasters have concluded

Webmasters have diverse views on how to increase CTR. It largely depends upon the keywords you are targeting, look of your website, quality of its content, placement of AdSense ads, page optimization, and various other factors. Generally, AdSense blocks wrapped between the quality content works the best. For the websites having poor quality content, placing the Ads before the start of the content works well.

If you develop a poor quality content website, it will likely give you high CTR and clicks, but you will be getting low priced ads. Besides, nobody will like to add your URL to their favorites. However, if you have quality content that keeps the visitors glued, you may get low CTR, but you will be getting high priced ads and regular visitors.

Proper positioning of ads on your website has direct impact on your CTR. Change the location of the ads and watch the changes in your CTR regularly.

Try to locate the area of the page where the focus of the visitor can be. Generally, AdSense ads near the quality content or other crucial areas like navigation bar tend to perform better. But it really depends upon the keywords you are targeting, and the traffic you have.

The Traffic:

AdSense comes after traffic. No traffic, no AdSense. Take good care of your traffic. Your visitors expect some valuable information from you. Make sure you are providing quality content to them.

This will increase your visitors’ return back ratio. And only those visitors who are less targeted, will return to the content you are providing. More targeted users mean more CTR. 85% of my visitors add my website URLs in their favorites. And they do return.

Install a website stats monitoring software and regularly look at your web logs. Identify where exactly is the traffic coming from. Try to establish a pattern or relation between your AdSense stats and traffic stats. This will help you analyze the reasons for any marked deviations in the inflow of traffic. This will give you new ideas to develop traffic.

Experiments

Experiment and experiment a lot, till you are satisfied with the tweaks you have done to achieve the highest CTR.

Track your page performance by making channels of ads in your AdSense Control Panel. Keep experimenting till you are satisfied with your CTR. Though, every such experiment will make you lose money for a day or two, as Google may take time to adjust with new changes, but it will be beneficial in the long run.

AdSense Between Posts

AdSense have always stressed that the most effective position for ads are within content, so when I found out you can insert AdSense between posts directly via the LAYOUT, I immediately thought I could insert the ads in the middle of a post, which is impossible to do up to now.

Unfortunately, that insert ads in between 2 posts, not in the midddle of a post, something I had been trying to do for a long time. You can actually do this by messing with the template.

Refer to Incorporate AdSense within the content (click BACK button to get back to this page).

The way to do direct from Blogger LAYOUT it is very simple. Sign into Blogger, which will get you into the Dashboard with a list of all the blogs you have in that Blogger account. In the section for "Blog posts", usually in the middle of the LAYOUT (may be in a slightly different position if you use non-standard Blogger templates):



Click EDIT (highlighted with a red circle). You will get a "Configure Blog Posts" "pop-up".



Tick "Show ads between posts", select your format by clicking on the down arrow or just leave it as the default half-banner and chose you ad colors or just leave it as the default "Blend Template" which is advisable (all 3 highlighted with red circles).

Then just scroll down and click "Save Changes".

Now you don't have to worry about violating AdSense policy as this is done via cooperation between Google AdSense and Google Blogger. However, if you want the AdSense withing the post, you will still have to depend on the hack described in Incorporate AdSense ads within posts and wrap text around them (click BACK button to get back to this page.

The only thing to note is that if you had applied for your AdSense account direct from Blogger, there is nothing extra to do.

If you have got your AdSense account via some other means, and this is the first time you are adding AdSense ads direct from Blogger, you may be asked to grant Blogger access to your AdSense account, which I believe is perfectly safe to do so.

One final thing. Just to make sure that the ads have the same publisher's ID, at the blog with the ads between posts, I click VIEW > PAGE SOURCE to see the page source of that webpage, and this is what I found:



The "pub-12345....." was the same as my AdSense publisher ID (figure altered for security) thus assuring the ads displayed are actually "mine".

Vista Goes Cheaper

Good News For Geeks:

Microsoft is cutting prices for various versions of Windows Vista. In US, CNet reports that customers purchasing a full boxed version of Vista Ultimate will pay the same high $399 price as always.

But the price of an upgrade disc has dropped from $299 to $219.

The base price of Home Premium stays the same at $240, but the upgrade price has dropped from $159 to $129.

Well, one thing is certainly clear. Microsoft is trying to push more copies of Windows Vista.

And while the company claims that adoption rates have been high so far, the truth of the matter is that most new Vista users got their copies when they bought a new computer preloaded with the operating system.

The high price may be one discouraging feature, but wide reports of software incompatibilities and other bugs have also scared away a lot of consumers.

And don't forget the fact that Windows XP still offers most of the features many computer users are looking for, so why upgrade?

Charging hundreds of dollars for software that may not run on existing computers and doesn't offer many advantages over your existing software doesn't make much sense , price cut or no price cut.

Some sources are reporting that the full versions of Vista are getting a price cut, not just the upgrade versions.

The BBC reports that the price of Windows Vista Ultimate, for example drops from $399 to $319.

Broader release of IE 8 coming this summer

Although anyone can now download the Internet Explorer 8 browser, Microsoft is gearing this release for Web developers. However, a second beta, slated to arrive this summer, is aimed at a wider audience, Microsoft's top browser executive told CNET News.com.
"It's public," general manager Dean Hachamovitch said of the Beta 1 released Wednesday. "It's out on Microsoft.com somewhere. Anyone can download it."
Although features like Web Slices may appeal to consumers, Hachamovitch said that "the (current) beta really is for developers."


Microsoft isn't saying when the final version of the browser will be released. Hachamovitch also declined to say whether it will be released at the same time as Windows 7, the next version of Microsoft's operating system. He did note that Microsoft released IE 7 for XP ahead of Windows Vista, so it is technically possible to do so.
As was the case with the IE 7 betas, those installing the test version of IE 8 will have to replace their current browser.
The IE 8 beta will run on both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 as well as Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Add “Hide File Names” Option in “View” Menu in Windows Vista

Guys with this 4 simple steps you can add Hide File Names Option in View Menu in your widows Vista...... this trick works only with Windows Vista.

1. Open a folder, in which you want to add this option. If you want to add this option in all folders, then open the parent folder. e.g. if you want to add the option in every folder of E: drive, then open E: drive.

2. Right-click on a blank area in the folder and select “Customize This Folder". You can also get this option from “View -> Customize This Folder.

3. It’ll open “Customize” tab. Now select “Pictures and Videos” option from “Template” drop-down box.
NOTE: If you want to add the option “Hide File Names” to a particular folder then make sure to un-check the option “Also apply this template to all subfolders“, otherwise enable this option.

4. Now Apply it and see the magic.
Now you’ll get an extra option “Hide File Names” in “View“. Which can hide file/folder names in that particular folder.Actually in Windows XP we can hide file/folder names by pressing key and selecting “View -> Thumbnails“. Since they hv removed “Thumbnails” option from “View” menu, I think thats why this option was added to folders having their templates as “Pictures and Videos”.

Pin Your Most Frequently Used Office Documents for Quick Access

When you open documents inside any of the Microsoft Office programs (like Word, Excel, PowerPoint), links to all these recently accessed files are added to the File menu.

It’s like a FIFO (first-in, first-out) queue - as you access new files, the older links get pushed down and eventually disappear as more documents get added to the list.

           Now say you have an Excel Timesheet or a Word Status Report or some other document that you work on regularly.

Rather than hunting for such frequently used files on the computer, you can just pin them up permanently to the Recent Documents list and access the documents very quickly.

To pin documents, just click the grey pin icon next to the document. The color of the pin will change to green indicating that the document will always stay in your Recent Documents list until you un-pin it.

Note: The trick work only with Microsoft Office 2007.

Shutdown And Boot Vista Faster

Before we really get started, it is entirely possible to mess up your Vista install very royally if you don't know what you are doing.

We recommend that only power users or those on the level of Sys Admins attempt these steps. Proceed at your own risk and always create a restore point before you modify any part of the system.

             All the programs used for purposes of this post are freeware applications.

Vista is not XP (thankfully) but like XP it has a lot of startup processes that are, well, pretty much useless.

Though beware, you might actually need some of these if you are on a network or require remote assistance features. If not, then go ahead and turn them off.

Right click on Computer, go to manage and go to Services and Applications then Services (the Standard View makes it easier to manage but that is not a necessary step). You'll see a list of applications and services in this list, thing is, you don't need quite a few of them.

Some may have already been disabled or are set to manual, that's fine, leave them like that, Vista has decided on its own they are not needed or will be activated when required.

We want to look at the ones that are set on Automatic. You can organize the list either by name or startup setting, for me, I have them organized by name since it makes it easy to compare to other lists.

I have used this process list for disabling items, each one is described for you so you can decide if you need it or not. Note that disabling the IKE and AuthIP Service will disable just about every single networking and network connection process on the computer.

It serves you better NOT to disable it, you will still be able to connect to networks if you do but you want be able to monitor them or switch networks, best to leave that one on.

Here is list of services that are completely safe to disable (for most users):
Telephony (keep enabled if you use a modem)
SSDP Discovery
Shell Hardware Detection (disables autoplay events)
Server
Remote Access Connection Manager
Program Compatibility Assistant (face it, this service is useless, if you've ever tried it, you know what I'm talking about)
Portable Device Enumerator Service (if you use Windows Media Player with your MP3 device, keep this service on)
Perclilint
IPSec Policy Agent
IP Helper
Internet Connection Sharing (leave on if you have shared resources on a network)
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Diagnostic Policy Service

(who pays attention to Windows Diagnostics anyway?)
Then there is msconfig, Vista users have the luxury of simply typing msconfig in the Start menu search box and launching it that way.

Go to the Startup tab and select items you don't need, Java Update, Adobe Reader, any toolbars, iTunes helper and such are prime examples of things you can get rid of, they will start when/if they are needed.

If you aren't sure about an entry, use a search engine to find out what the entry is.

If you don't want to use the built-in tools of Vista to do that then I recommend CodeStuff Starter, which has the msconfig features as well as the Management features so you can access everything from one program.

CodeStuff also makes it easier to restore your system if you messed up.

It has been a dream of many to control exactly how their computer boots, granted msconfig, computer management and CodeStuff certainly make that process more manageable but it can get better and it does. 

Last on our list (but certainly not least) to tell Vista that you are the boss is Vista Boot Pro 

3.1. The primary function of Vista Boot Pro 

3.1 is to control the boot cycle if you have a second operating system installed, sure you could rely on the Vista Boot Loader but whats the fun in that?

Vista Boot Pro edits the Boot Configuration Files in the registry for you, without fail or flaw.

The other way to edit the BCD file is well, to go into the registry and even I am leery about that.

Vista Boot Pro allows you to manage the Vista Boot Loader itself, edit which operating system boots first, configure the way Vista starts up and features its own Backup and Restore Center, just in case, you never know.

Vista Boot Pro is also available for Windows XP (Home, Pro, MCE 2005 and x64), Windows 2003 or Longhorn Server. Options may vary depending on operating system installed.

By disabling some processes and startup items, you are also on your way to a more secure installation of Vista but that's not everything you can do to maximize your Vista experience.

This will be a continuing series of posts for optimizing Vista so stay tuned for the next one.

Disabling Windows Vista UAC

There is an easy way to disable Windows Vista UAC (User Account Control), it will only take seconds.

1. Click on the Start menu and click on the Control Panel
2. From the Control Panel search box, type and search for "disable uac" (without quotes)
3. Click on the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure", then uncheck "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer"
4. If you're done just click on the OK button, reboot you're computer when prompted

Connecting Two Wireless Routers

Bridging two wireless routers involves configuring both networks manually.

Visit each network location - which should be recognized by your computer automatically - and configure the appropriate Service Set Identifier (SSID), Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP) or WiFi Protected Access (WPA) key and authentication information. 

Make sure you know the SSID and WEP or WPA key ahead of time.

Connecting An Xbox 360 to a Wireless Router

Connecting an Xbox 360 to a wireless router allows you to use Xbox Live without physically connecting your Xbox to a cable.

              Power up your Xbox system and the router, then plug the wireless networking adapter into the two slots at the Xbox's rear. Unplug any existing Ethernet cables and connect the USB connector to the port adjacent to the adapter.

Use the system area of the Xbox dashboard to adjust your network settings. This should connect you to the wireless network.

Connecting a Printer to a Wireless Router

First, check the documentation that came with your printer to determine how it's designed to connect to computers.

           Connections made through Ethernet, USB and (obsolescent) parallel ports are common, but newer printers are sometimes wireless-enabled and allow you to simply add them to your wireless network.

 
Refer to the owner's manual for your particular wireless router.

Inside, find the default IP address and the default login info.

If you own a Linksys router, the IP address is usually 192.168.1.1. Other popular brands D-Link and Netgear generally use 192.168.0.1.

Installing a Wireless Router

First, turn off the PC and modem, then remove the Ethernet cable from the PC and plug it into the router's WAN port. 

Install a second Ethernet cable between the PC's Ethernet port and one of the router's Ethernet ports.

Power the modem, router and then PC, waiting for the system to boot and initialize before attempting an Internet connection.

Most routers are programmed with the manufacturer's default settings, including the network's name or service set identifier (SSID), channel and sign-on password.

These default settings generally may be changed using included software or an online setup utility provided by the router's manufacturer.

Configure the router by entering the router configuration IP address at the URL provided, followed by the configuration utility ID and the default password.

To find your router's default IP address and the default login info, refer to the owner's manual. If you own a Linksys router, a popular brand, the IP address is usually 192.168.1.1

Two other popular brands, D-Link and Netgear, generally use 192.168.0.1

Installing And Configuring a Wireless Router

A wireless router affords laptop or portable computer users greater mobility in their homes and businesses.

In most home networks, wireless routers are connected to a cable or DSL modem, and the router sends the signals and information that make up an Internet protocol (IP) thread to the user's computer via radio signals rather than wires.

To communicate with the wireless router, individual computers house transceivers such as an internal expansion card, a peripheral docked by USB or, in the case of laptops, a PC card or hard-wired internal device.

For those accessing the Internet through a high-speed connection, a wireless router can also serve as a hardware firewall (as opposed to a software program), enabling protection from undesirable outside computers without exhausting as many system resources as traditional firewall programs.

Quick Access to Your System Drives

Simply click and drag your My Computer icon onto the Task Bar near the right side icons next to the clock.

This will create a cascading menu from where you can easily access just about anything on your system.

Or Right Click on the Taskbar

Then Select Toolbars: New Toolbar

Then Select your Favorite Folder or Select Computer Folder

Done..

Microsoft Update For IE Fixes Aurora Bug and Others

A cumulative update for Internet Explorer from Microsoft fixes the infamous vulnerability in the browser used recently to attack Google and other major companies.

7 other IE vulnerabilities were also fixed, as it appears that Microsoft may have had this update ready to go for February.

    This episode began not 2 weeks ago when Google announced that they had been the target of significant attacks from sites in China seeking to steal intellectual property and compromise GMail accounts of human rights activists. 

                            The company said they would no longer censor search results on their Chinese sites and would, if need be, withdraw from China. Google was not alone in being attacked; Adobe and many other corporate and government sites were.

      The attacks, which collectively have come to be known as "Aurora," were at first credited to a malicious Acrobat PDF file, then to the IE 0-day vulnerability fixed in this update.

In fact, many different malware and vulnerability techniques were used; some were the IE 0-day and some malware experts claim that a PDF was indeed used in others.

The update code is available through all the usual channels: Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Windows Software Update Services (WSUS).

The bulletin for the update lists the update as Critical for all platforms other than Internet Explorer 6 on Windows Server 2003. 4 of the vulnerabilities, including the Aurora bug (designated CVE-2010-0249) are rated by Microsoft as likely to result in consistent exploit code, and of course Aurora is already being exploited.

5 of the other 7 vulnerabilities have descriptions essentially identical to that of the Aurora bug, and all 6 have consecutive CVE numbers.

This, combined with the Acknowledgements section of the advisory, indicates that once notified of Aurora, researchers found other related vulnerabilities and reported them to Microsoft. TippingPoint and the Zero Day Initiative are the big contributors this month.

             The remaining 2 vulnerabilities are a cross-site scripting bug that could allow certain scripts to run in the wrong security context and a URL validation vulnerability that could allow remote code execution by way of a maliciously-crafted URL. On any other day this latter bug would be big news.

Search Screen to the Classic Look

When I first saw the default search pane in Windows XP, my instinct was to return it to its classic look; that puppy had to go.

Of course, I later discovered that a doggie door is built into the applet.

Click "Change preferences" then "Without an animated screen character.

" If you'd rather give it a bare-bones "Windows 2000" look and feel, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ CabinetState.

You may need to create a new string value labeled "Use Search Asst" and set it to "no".