Category — Windows

Seems like us normal people can download XP Service Pack 3 by clicking here straight from Microsoft. This is the regular 32-bit English version. I got this tip from Lifehacker this morning. Download now and will update how it goes. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: Well so far so good. I haven’t received any errors in terms of usage as of yet. The update process to Service Pack 3 took a good 45mins. I don’t see any drastic changes yet but time will tell.

Lifehacker Gina Trapani has a very nice write up of Practicing Simplified GTD which is something I am currently in the process of implementing myself. It’s very detailed but not long enough to be boring. The article is to the point and basically offers a simplified version of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” productivity bible. It tells you to make three lists which include a To-do List, Projects list and a Someday/Maybe list. If you need help creating the perfect to-do list here is an article to help you do just that. It also points out that you need to perform daily and weekly revisions to keep everything updated and productive. It also has tip on how to organize you email inbox and here you take advantage of Gina’s three folder “Trusted Trio” system. In the end as you keep practicing these techniques or any other ones at that you will eventually develop your own customized version of GTD that suits your needs.

I am personally applying the above mentioned GTD system to increase my productivity and so far it has been working great.

On another note over at Keener Living you can download an ebook based on the website articles themselves which help you use technology to your advantage when organizing your lifestyle.

Lifehacker Gina Trapani wrote a nice article accumulating the top 10 Wi-Fi tips that can increase your signal range and make your wireless network secure. Tips include things like better router placement, extending your signal by using a repeater or a bridge, using  Wireshark to sniff your wireless network packets passing through, enabling WPA Encryption to make your network much more secure than using WEP, enabling MAC address filtering to restrict your wireless network even more, stop SSID (Network Name) broadcasting, using NetStumbler to detect other wireless networks with information about how secure they are and also for war-driving purposes, using portable routers share a wired connection in hotel rooms for instance, a nice youtube video showing how to use tinfoil to increase your signal range, and of course using DD-WRT Firmware to enhance your routers usability and adding more features making your $50 router into a $600 one. It also includes instructions on how to flash the firmware to your router.

A new Firefox add on has sprang up called RetailMeNot which basically observes when you are on a shopping website like amazon.com and automatically displays available discounts for it. I have been using it for a while and it seems really cool. I have yet to actually buy anything using on the coupons but still it is a really nifty extension to have in Firefox. Originally posted on Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Engadget has come upon some new info with screen shots regarding Windows Mobile 7. It seems to feature new ways of interaction with touch screen devices for example multi touch recognition which would be similar to Apple. Some rotating and shaking action and some sort of camera gesture implementation. It appears too good to be true though. But then again Microsoft has thrived upon marketing itself hence the success over the years. Will this come to reality ? is a very big question on everyones mind but even if half of what is expected from what can be seen from these pictures is implemented then Windows Mobile would be much more closer to perfection (If there is such a thing when it comes to windows. HAHAHAHA!!!!)

Appupdater is a another program posted here at Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy that can be used to update your windows apps. It will be familiar to linux users as its command based. I have used this a couple of times and it works really nicely as it scans all the installed software and checks for updates and asks your permission before installing the updates.

Web Worker Dialy has a nice article posted by Samuel Dean referring to four websites that contain free software apps of various kinds. These include:

1. tinyapps.org
2. Sourceforge.net
3. PC Magazines Download Center
4. Download.com

Secunia is a freeware app which is Window only and helps keep applications on your system upto date and also notifies of obsolete apps. Its similar to windows update but much more powerful. Specially helpful if you have a lot of application on your system like I do. Posted at Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Nice hack when you really need to go on to the internet in extreme IT lock down policies. Of course use this at your own risk as posted in Lifehacker by Adam Pash. Basically you can open any app and press F1 to get to the help section and then go to tools and click on jump to url and you should be good to go.

One thing also possible is to use the portable version of firefox. To use this you can load it on a USB Drive and stick in your work computer and in most situation you can browse the web without any issues unless the access blocked at routers end but thats very unlikely.

I love the word free specially when it comes to software. Lifehacker Kevin Purdy posted a nice snippet about new free software available at donation coder. Apps include one that show info about your music library and another one to monitor your system for bugs plus plenty more to accomplish various things like the image to text converter is pretty cool. And the best is that its all FREE!!