My List of softwares

As a reader of this blog has asked , here is the list of my favorite tools . Most of them are freeware .
1> Desktop Blogging Client : Windows Live , w.bloggar

2> Statistics Tool for blog : Google Analytics

3> Bookmarking : FireFox Extentions

4> Blog Readers and E-mail client : FeedDemon , Opera@USB , ThunderBird , GoogleReader ( online RSSReader )

5> Image Editors : paint.NET , GIMP , Google picasa and PowrePoint

6> Browsers : FireFox , Opera@USB

7> Media Players : VLC , RealPlayer ( My system have Adobe Media Player also)

8> Communication : Google Talk ( integarted in Gmail's Browser Window )

9> Screen Capture : Wink , Techsmith SnagIt

10> office suite : OpenOffice

11> AntiVirus : Avast Free

12> Audio Video Creation : Window's Movie maker (Adobe creative suite is also installed in my PC ).

Other cool tools I love are GoogleDesktop , Oxford's OALD software ( from CD-ROM ) , PortableApps etc . Moreover , I have subscribed to some 150+ RSS feeds and about 25 Google alerts . I am happy with present status of my blog . Yet , it is not very popular and has just 50+ readers , i hope that in future i will blog with more passion and help my readers just like other TechBloggers .
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first public beta of OpenOffice 3 released

first public beta of OpenOffice 3 hasbeen released .

Freeware lovers , Open your eyes because it can reads Office 2007 documents and will soon add an option for PDF editing .

Follow the link : http://www.labnol.org/software/download/openoffice-org-3-reads-office-2007-documents-download/3207/

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Posted On TechRaga : http://Blog.ArpitNext.com

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Your Password protected Word and Excel files are no more Protected

Most of you when working with confidential document or spread sheet , simply choose the option to save it with password protection . To do so ( In MS Word 2003 ) , you use File > Save > Tools > Security Option and then choose a password to protect your file from unauthorized access . Hence you can hide your data from being spread , specially when using a shared computer in offices .

But do you know that your file can be viewed without any password cracking ! Yes !!

The way is very simple and one don’t need any hacking skill . Just Installation of “Google Desktop” ( Read1 Read2 ) can do a crack . To know this just open the Preferences setting page of Google Desktop . There are setting options for Indexing Password protected documents ( see screenshots ) .


Just check the check-box for opting Indexing password-protected office documents . And , now Google Desktop will index all the password protected documents . Also , it will create cached and preview option , just like a normal file . And , anyone can view your file by searching any keyword present in document or even the name of the file .


Google desktop will also keep cached versions of those files ( Read more ) , so your data will be avail on computer even if you delete the file from computer .

To avoid such theft , ensure that above option is off .

Take care while using Google Desktop .

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Posted On TechRaga : http://Blog.ArpitNext.com

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Endorsement of Tropicana By IMA and 7 Indians among top 100 Intellectuals

This is going to be again a non-IT post, but it deserves to be published on my blog. The latest issue of influential “Foreign Policy” magazine has identified the world’s Top 100 “Public Intellectuals”. In its second such exercise, India comes out shining too. The list includes 7 Indians. Historian Ramachandra Guha, political psychologist Ashis Nandy and Environmentalist Sunita Narain are the four who live in India. Four other Indians based outside also make the list - : Economist Amartya Sen, journalist Fareed Zakaria and novelist Salman Rushdie.

Sunita Narain is among the two Environmentalist included in the list. I watch her in a show on NDTV 24x7 last night. The debate was on the endorsement of Pepsico - product “Tropicana” By IMA: Indian Medical Association. No doubt, Sunita was against this move of IMA.

I am also on her side, because an endorsement by IMA means endorsement by Doctors. And should a doctor endorse a product from Pepsi? Fizzy or carbonated drinks from Pepsi will certainly gain from this endorsement, yet the Tropicana is claimed to be purely natural juice, even un-sweeten! IMA has approved many other products like Dettol : the household germicide.
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Posted On TechRaga : http://blog.arpitnext.com/
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Get a background image for USB drive Window

One of my favorite bloggers ( he is not so popular yet ... but on the way to be ) "Rakshit Khare" has posted a very cool tip on his blog . I want to share it with all of my readers . It is about giving your USB devices a Background Image !

Here is the screenshot of the window :

To create a background , first choose an Image for that . Then create a file with name "desktop.ini" and contents as the following code :


[{BE098140-A513-11D0-A3A4-00C04FD706EC}]
iconarea_image="back.jpg"
iconarea_text="0xFFFFF0"

and save it to the USB drive . Note that you should replace the back.jpg with the name of image's file . Also you can modify the last syntax of the code to iconarea_text="0xFFFFFF" . You can use Notepad for editing .

After saving it make the file hidden ( Right click > Properties -> ) . Now just refresh the window and you will have your background .
Don't forget to save that background image to save in the USB drive !

Thanks Rakshit !

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Posted on TechRaga : http://Blog.ArpitNext.com

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BigB, BigAdda and Blog

As, the world was celebrating RSS day on the 1st may (I knew it quite later) the Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan announced to start a blog. You can check it here .

I saw an interview of Big B on TV , in which he was claiming that blogs have become a need for him , as he can connects to his fans directly now and clarify the rumours about "him" ( I think he mean Ash ) .

The domain name of blog also says something which forced me to write this post. Big B’s blog is hosted on BigAdda a social networking site promoted by Anil Ambani's ADAG - Adlabs. World know that Anil is close friend of Big B (but not as closer as Amar Singh) and hence, here is a friend for the support of other's venture.

India’s largest multiplex chain, Adlabs is going for a re-branding exercise like Hutch, to get common name with the group’s other entertainment ventures such as FM radio, music and movie production. In coming days all 54 multiplexes of Adlabs across the India would be named as “Big Cinema”.

The another bollywood actor who is famous for his blogs is Aamir Khan, who started his blog during the production of his movie "Laggan”. I have also heard about the homepages of John Abraham and Ritiek Roshan, but never try even to google them.

(PS: - Kareena said in a press conference: " I am not size Zero”. One friend has rated my size as Size 8. Thanking him for his rating and no more posts about movie stars now! )

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Posted On TechRaga : http://blog.arpitnext.com/

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Use Google Desktop as Back-up tool

Here is a very cool option for having an Automatic back-up of all your files on computer !
Are you using Google Desktop ?? Use it .
I have already written about this great tool provided by Google ( Read Here ) .

Suppose you have deleted any file misfortunately , And now you need it !
Ok ! Just search the file’s name using Google Desktop ! You will find it here !


When you click on the file name … you will be sent to the cached version of the file . And , here is your file !! You can also see various previous cache versions !
You can also click on the “Preview” link to see just text only version of that file too . ( see screenshots ) .

One thing more , to have this option you must deselect the option to Remove deleted files from search results , else no deleted item will be shown in results !!

This feature can be used for files stored on USB drives , hence you can have those files even if USB drive is removed from computer .

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Google Alerts : best tool from Google

I passed my last night in a discussion with one of my friend about Google and its services . Our prime issue was to find out the best service or tool offered by Google . No doubt the Google's search engine was at the top in the list . But , we were determined to explore other services .
We considered Gmail , GTalk , Blogger ..... and so but found that these services have alternatives ( and sometimes a Better ) . Our discussion ended with the result that the "Google Alerts" is the best , most powerful and unique service offered by Google . Yet , option for "cached version" is also powerful and unique .

By "Google Alerts" one can get an instant email notification whenever something happens to any matter or topic . for example , if want to know the latest happenings of a topic say : "Free Antivirus" , you need to do just onething - Create a Google Alert !!! All the updates related to "Free Antivirus" from blogs, web, Google groups as well as Google News will come to your Inbox , as soon as they are tracked by Google . You can also choose the sources ( Blogs , News , Videos etc ) .
Hence , you can have updates of all your favorite keywords and topics easily . If you are a Ego-surfer then Google Alerts can be a boon for you . Just enter "link:mysite.com" or "site:mysite.com" or simply your domain name !

Another , very cool idea may be getting all these updates vai RSS and hence you can read them in your RSS reader . But , I couldnot find anything like that with Google Alerts !! But , the alternative is there !!

Here is that : Search the Keyword on Google.com Using Advanced Search Option and select “past 24 hours” (or suitable gap) in the date field. This will filter all web pages from Google search results that were indexed more than 24 hours ago. Now , Copy the Google URL from the address bar of browser and paste that into the input box at Page2RSS.com . Page2RSS.com is very useful site which will create an RSS feed of your search results (or any other webpage ) that you can subscribe via email or in any news reader just like feeds of Blogs !! Now , whenever you like to Search New Items related to that Keyword just check the feed-updates in your blog reader !! But , I am not very sure about the reliability of Page2RSS .

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Posted On : TechRaga ( http://Blog.ArpitNext.com )

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