Usman Javaid

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Manage Startup Items & Services To Keep Spyware At Bay Using RunAlyzer

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Finding the startup items has become difficult in Windows, as Microsoft Configuration Utility often fails to list down startup scripts from offline malicious sources. One of the solutions that most power users suggest is to search the Windows registry to find and remove all malicious startup programs, but this process is quite tiring and can take quite a while to explore all the programs that surreptitiously invoke their processes and services when Windows logon process starts. If you’re having a hard time finding all the startup programs, processes, services and scripts, we recommend giving RunAlyzer a spin. It’s an advanced system startup manager that collects all the programs and their registry keys under one hood. Read More

Restore Browser Settings & DNS When Changed By Malware

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One of the things that many malware and viruses do while attacking the computer is enable dead or inactive TCP/UDP ports to start listening to malicious external requests. This process sometimes involves shutting down browsers' native antivirus security features, which are specifically incorporated to prevent users from like threats. So, unless you deploy a smart malware detection solution, you may not be able to find and remove the bugs that surreptitiously deteriorate your browser's performance. Most antivirus suites are programmed to detect the malware only when they are accessed or moved to main memory as a part of the basic application operation request. Even if it's not loaded into the memory, it can change the browsers' native features that help prevent external attacks. Developed by Anvisoft, Browser Repair offers a robust solution to tackle malware and threats that attempt to change browsers’ native features. As of now, it supports only Internet Explorer, but has some options, which can resolve issues that you may be facing in other browsers as well. Read More

How To Create A Portable Windows 8 Enterprise To Go Workspace

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If you’re an avid Linux user, then you may be familiar with the Linux Live CD/USB, which makes it possible to use a Linux distribution without having to go through the hassle of installing it on your primary storage device. Linux distros such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Mint OS, etc., all provide an easy way to load the OS into the computer’s memory using just a bootable CD or USB drive. Windows, on the other hand, is devoid of such a feature, or has been, until now. The enterprise version of Windows 8 implements a fairly new concept of booting and running a fully-manageable Windows Enterprise OS from a USB drive using the Windows To Go feature. Read More

How To Install Windows 8 As Guest OS Using VMware Player

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The last time we covered a guide on installing Windows 8 as guest operating system using VirtualBox, we showed you how to customize the guest OS to meet the required OS settings and avoid any conflicts with resources shared by the host PC. The process involved setting a number of options, including selecting Windows 7 as OS type, creating a fixed size virtual hard disk image, enabling the Enable IO APIC option etc. VirtualBox is arguably one of the most powerful virtualization software, but it requires users to install additional guest OS additions, so that all major system components work without any issues. This time around, we bring you a step-by-step guide on installing Windows 8 as guest OS using VMware Player. With the latest version of VMware Player, you no longer need to customize virtual machine settings, create a fixed virtual disk or configure other physical memory, motherboard or CPU related options. VMware Player comes loaded with an Easy Install feature that is programmed to automatically set all the configurations required by the guest OS and install the OS on a dynamic size virtual disk image. Read More

Prevent Windows 8 File Explorer From Deleting Image Thumbnail Cache

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Apart from the new Modern UI look and tablet-optimized features, Windows 8 also comes with new network, personalization, system administration and security related options. Like previous versions of Windows, it enforces strict file access and system component usage restrictions to prevent users from tweaking the default system management, administration and security parameters. Almost all the Special Folders, including user profile folders, system32, library folders etc, have been assigned special permissions by System, and this virtual user allows them to create and read file listings, manipulate extended file attributes, delete folders and sub-folders, and remove junk files from the folders. The Explorer is one such User Profile-related special folder, which can delete thumbnail database as soon as its size reaches a certain limit. If you’re among those who deal with massive photo collections and want to restrict File Explorer folder from deleting your thumbnail database files, here’s is how you can do it in Windows 8. Read More

OutlookAdressBookView: View & Export Outlook Address Books’ Contacts In HTML/CSV Format

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Developed By Nirsoft, OutlookAddressBookView is a portable application for Windows that is designed to read contact information from all Outlook Address books and display the details in separate fields, allowing you to easily export the contact list(s) in XML and CSV, HTML and tab separated file format. Unlike Outlook plugins that require you to launch Outlook for performing address book-related tasks, this application doesn’t launch Outlook in the background to import the contact entries. It supports both IMAP and Microsoft Exchange account, and has the ability to read additional contact information for configured Exchange account such as Address Type, Contact Created/Modified Time etc. Just like other Nirsoft’s utilities, it enables users to export only selected entries from the list to local/remote location. You also have the option to view the complete contact information of specific contact in a separate dialog. More details after the break. Read More

FileZillaConfig: Edit Config File & Users Settings Without Opening FileZilla Server

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A while back, we brought you a guide on how to configure FileZilla Server to create personal FTP server in order to let your friends and family easily connect to your PC via FTP clients. FileZilla Server requires setting up Groups and Users features to categorize users into separate groups. You can set file access permissions for users who belong to a specific group, add new users to group, change username and password, and add/remove shared folders. Although FileZilla Server Interface provides a simple way to change the Group and Users related settings, it doesn’t provide a direct way to modify the file access permissions, add & delete users, and change users’ passwords, as one has to bring up the FileZilla Server Interface and then open Users panel to perform the said actions. FileZillaConfig is an open source application that reads Users settings from FileZilla Server.xml file and allows you to change file access permissions of any selected user. It even lets you add new users, view user’s group, remove shared folders and change users’ passwords. Details to follow after the jump. Read More

Disable Display Of Recent Search Entries In Windows 8 Explorer [Tip]

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Just like Windows Vista and Windows 7, Windows 8 File Explorer includes real-time search feature to let you instantly find the required files and folders from any location. It shows you search results for files, folders, apps and other items as soon you start typing in search keywords. Although it provides users with quick search feature, it also displays search suggestions while you enter the search keywords in Explorer search bar. The search suggestions belong to MRU list that is stored and managed in Windows Registry, and if you want to remove the recent search suggestions, then you need to find and remove registry keys where all search suggestions are maintained. Windows 8 Local Policy Editor offers a simple policy setting for Windows Explorer search entries. Instead of manually removing the search entries from Windows Registry, you can use Local Group Policy Editor to permanently turn off display of recent search entries in Windows Explorer. In this post, we will guide you through the process of disabling search suggestions in Windows 8 Explorer. Read More

Backup & Restore Emails From One Gmail Account To Another With Gmvault

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When it comes to backing up Gmail email archive, most users opt-in for desktop email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook etc., to quickly backup not only emails, but also Google calendar and contacts. In order to backup emails from Google Mail account, one just needs to correctly configure email client for required account to save all the emails for offline viewing. Nevertheless, email clients do not support restoring backed up emails from one account to another, and often fail to retrieve the emails in original format. Gmvault is a freshly baked console-based application for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux OS that has been developed to change the way you backup and restore emails from multiple Gmail accounts. Even though it doesn’t offer you a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to perform the backup operation, the console application comes with a simple sync and restore commands support to quickly save emails on your hard drive and restore them to specified Gmail account. Details to follow after the jump. Read More

ContactSync: Sync Specific Outlook Contacts Groups With Network Users

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Want to share specific Outlook Contacts group across the network users, but don’t want the fuss of having to manually pick and send contact cards from Address Book and send them to connected users? Meet ContactSync, an ingeniously simple, yet powerful Outlook 2010 add-on that lets you effortlessly share a specific contact group with anyone connected to your network. It is basically developed to let users easily share their business contacts with their co-workers and keep their shared contact groups synced all the time. It allows you to change the shared contact group, add, remove and edit contacts and replace the currently synced shared contact category with any contact group of your choice. In addition, ContactSync implements duplicate conflict resolution technique for de-duplication of shared contacts. When you share a contact, it immediately looks for contact with similar name and email address to prevent saving duplicate entries in shared contact group. It also uses FileAs and Email fields identify the same contact. Read past the jump for details. Read More

Disable Auto-Termination Of Applications That Block Windows 8 Shutdown [Tip]

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You may know that Windows 8 comes with an auto-quit applications feature that looks for all active console & GUI based applications at system shutdown and restart, and forcibly closes them. Although this feature helps you quickly quit all those applications and processes, which are stuck in deadlock or livelocks, you often require to save all the changes made to currently running application before Windows shutdowns the system. Windows 8, just like previous versions of Windows, allows system administrators to change this system shutdown policy. If you’re an system administrator, you can set Windows to always suspend system shutdown/restart process until users manually close all the running console and GUI based utilities. Using the Microsoft Management Console snap-in namely Local Group Policy Editor, any user who belongs to Administrators group can disable auto-termination of programs at system shutdown. Read More

Clear History Of Recently Opened Documents & Jumplist Items At Log off In Windows 8 [Tip]

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Like previous Windows versions, Windows 8 also saves shortcuts to all the recently used applications, documents, files, images, and folders in User Profile folder, namely Recent. These shortcuts help users easily access all the recently used items, but anyone with malicious intentions can use the shortcuts to get to the folders where your important files are saved. Although Windows 8, like Windows Vista and Windows 7, lets you permanently disable save recent documents shortcuts option, it can come useful in instances where you want to quickly view or open recently edited documents. Windows 8 MMC snap-in, known as, Local Group Policy Editor presents a simple, yet better solution for all user account holders. It allows Windows to automatically delete all the shortcuts to recently used documents as well as, Jump List items when user logs off. If this option is enabled, you no longer have to manually clear the history of recently used documents. Just log off the system, and Windows will clear shortcuts to documents created during the session. Read More

Remove Third Party Application Options Or Tabs From File/Folder Properties Dialog [Tip]

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There are numerous applications and scripts available out there, which integrate their most useful functions and options in Windows right click context menu to let users easily access them and perform the required operations over selected files and folders. The context menu certainly provides a quick way to access app’s features, but when such applications are uninstalled, they often fail to unregister their context menu entries. Likewise, there are some applications like SKTimeStamp(reviewed here), MediaTab (reviewed here) and AveFolderBG (reviewed here), which provide all of their features in folder/file Properties dialog, letting users quickly perform different tasks on files/folders and specific file extensions. Such applications not only increase the file properties dialog load time, but also add hidden information to files’ meta tags. If you’re dealing with an application that doesn’t provide an option to disintegrate or remove its features from folder or file properties dialog, here is how you can remove its options from file/folder Properties dialog. Read More

Bartender Adds A Hidden Toolbar To Unclutter The System Menu Bar [Mac]

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Although Mac OS X menu bar lets you quickly access frequently used applications and their different functions, it doesn’t provide you with an option to manage as well as, hide/unhide all menu bar applications and system utilities’ icons. If you often struggle finding the application icon in menu bar, Bartender may help. The application works just like Windows notification icon customizer that lets users keep only selected applications icons and indicators in system tray, and all other icons can be easily accessed with a click. Bartender offers an additional toolbar, where you can not only keep the applications’ icons of your choice, but also manage them with ease. Furthermore, it comes with a wide range of features that let you easily organize menu bar applications' icons. You can select any active/passive menu bar app from Applications folder and add it to Bartender’s bar. Talking of the additional menu bar, it can be viewed by clicking Bartender’s icon in system menu bar. You can also bring it up using a specified hotkey combination. Keep reading for more details. Read More

TunesTEXT: View & Edit Lyrics Of iTunes Tracks And Embed Them Into Songs [Mac]

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At AddictiveTips, we all love the desktop widgets for iTunes that let us play/pause tracks and navigate through the iTunes Movies and Music library without having to bring up the main interface. Earlier, we’ve featured some applications that provide an on-screen controller for iTunes myTunesConrol, Skip Tunes, You Control, Bowtie, just to name a few. This time around we have a feature-rich dashboard widget for iTunes called TunesTEXT, which has been designed to not only control iTunes, but also show and embed lyrics of the songs you play from Music library. In contrast to previously featured app that only displays the lyrics of the songs, this widget also embeds the lyrics into tracks’ metadata, so that you can read the lyrics of the songs on your iPod. Additionally, it lets you change the font size and set lyrics text-related settings according to your preferences. Details to follow after the jump. Read More

iConvert: Convert Videos, Extract Audio & Send Them To iTunes [Mac]

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When it comes to converting videos into iOS devices’ compatible format, there are numerous applications available at your disposal, but unfortunately, only a few media conversion utilities offer an easy way of converting videos into different formats. The video converters require setting video size and resolution, along with video and audio parameters to convert and optimize video for iOS devices. However, if you’ve been looking for a tool that can not only convert videos into iOS devices’ supported formats, but also send converted video to iTunes, then give iConvert a shot. The application has been designed keeping the need of quickly converting videos and synchronizing them with iOS devices in mind. It has the ability to not only convert videos for iPhone, iPod and iPad, but also extract audio from video and send it to iTunes Music Library. Read More

View WiFi Network Strength Parameters & Public IP From Menu Bar [Mac]

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Like other OS platform, Mac OS X also shows network icon in menu bar, letting users view current status of active network(s), modify network connection settings, and open Network Configuration window to set advanced options. Although the dynamic WiFi network icon shows the network strength in the form of signal bars, Mac OS X doesn't natively offer different network indicators to check other important attributes of WiFi network, including local and public (external) IP address, Network Interface Card’s MAC address, Noise and Ping response time. While one can easily check these attributes of WiFi connection using any third-party network utility, most applications require users to bring up their main interface to view information regarding current Wi-Fi network. For instance, if you need to keep a check on ping response time, you either have to run Network Utility from Applications—>Utilities or use ping command in Terminal. Network Strength is a small application for Mac OS X that displays network strength (percentage), local and public IP address, MAC address, Noise and ping response time, all in menu bar. Read More

Broomstick: Hide & Reorder Third-party Mac Apps’ Icons In Menu Bar

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Most Mac OS X applications reside in menu bar to provide instant access to their frequently used functions, but unlike Windows where one can easily hide icons from Notification area, Mac OS X doesn’t allow hiding all icons from the menu bar. In order to hide an icon of third-party application, you either have to change application icon position from menu bar to system dock (if supported) or remove/quit the application. Broomstick is a miniscule application that lets users keep only specified icons in menu bar. Supporting hide and show menu bar icons feature, it also lets you re-order the applications’ icons in menu bar. Using this feature, you can choose to keep most frequently used applications’ icons next to Spotlight search bar or date / time icon. Apart from Mac OS X native applications’ icons, Broomstick supports numerous third-party applications’ icons including Avira, Click.to, Droplr, GrowlTunes, Hiss, MuteCon, NoSleep, QuitRead, RemotelessHelper, WallpaperClocks and more. Read More

Maintenance For Mac OS X Lion: Run System Optimization, Cleaning & Rebuild Tasks In One Go

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Developed by the makers of OnyX and Deeper -  Titanium Software, Maintenance is a small, yet extremely useful application for Mac OS X Lion that lets you perform a variety of system maintenance tasks with a click. Unlike other system optimization and maintenance tools, which attempt to delete critical system logs and application temporary data from system wide locations, Maintenance allows you to clean junk files only from current user account folders, keeping all the important system utilities files and users' data safe. Since Maintenance is a low-level system cleaning and optimization tool, you can choose to perform junk cleaning from system-wide locations, and set it to perform maintenance operations for other users as well. Talking of its features, you can run a variety of maintenance tasks including repair permissions, reset Spotlight index, create new LaunchServices database, rebuild Mail-mailboxes index, remove application, font and system cache. Read past the jump for details. Read More