How to tweak Windows 7 for speed, looks and functionality

It looks great, performs well and is packed with so many small improvements that we'll soon forget Vista ever existed. But at the same time, it's important not to get carried away by the hype.

TechRadar Link

Top 25 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2009

2009 has been an eventful year for several well-established torrent sites, with The Pirate Bay, isoHunt and Mininova all battling in court against the entertainment industries. For the latter, this legal action has resulted in a partial shutdown of the site, a painful decision after years of loyal service.

TorrentFreek Link

Facebook gives users more control of privacy

Facebook is launching new privacy settings, designed to simplify the process for its 350 million users.
It is the latest in a string of changes that have been made to its privacy policy this year.
The site claims that only 15-20% of users have ever adjusted their settings.

BBC Link

How to Carry Your PC in Your Pocket

Smaller laptops and netbooks have made traveling with a computer more convenient than ever. Still, there are times you don't even want to carry one of those. With a free program called PortableApps, you can carry several computer programs and all of your data, bookmarks, settings, email, and more in your pocket. The applications can be installed on a flash drive for use on any Windows computer. Borrow one at a library, hotel lobby, clients office, coffee shop or anywhere else, you are set to go.

Link
Application Site Link

How Facebook's New Privacy Changes Will Affect You

In a late night post on Facebook's company blog, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a round of upcoming changes that will affect all users of the social network. Specifically, the changes focus on new privacy controls for information sharing. For those who have been following Facebook closely, the announcement doesn't deliver any new information, it only confirms some previously discussed plans. However, for Facebook's user base, now 350 million strong, the updates represent a major overhaul as to how privacy is handled on the site.
Link

How to Use Google Contacts to Effectively Manage Your Contacts

One of the best ways to manage the many contact records we have in various places and on various electronic devices is to centralize and choose one place which can store all of those contacts and then have our devices sync with that one location. Google Contacts is a very powerful tool that can effectively serve as the one location that drives centralization of our contacts. This works especially well if you use Gmail as your primary email account and/or a Google Voice account.

Below we will explore how to use Google's Contacts web application to setup a centralized location to store our contacts and then how to access instructions to Google's Mobile Sync services.

Link

World’s Oldest Working Computer On Display

And you thought your computer was a dinosaur. Recently, the world’s oldest working computer was dug out of storage and restored to working order at the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. The Harwell Computer, also known as WITCH (Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell) is a relay-based computer that was first functional in 1951. From 1952-1957 it was in use at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Oxfordshire. It spent its remaining years, until 1973, as an educational tool at Staffordshire Technical College. After that, it was donated to the Museum of Science and Industry in Birmingham, where it has since been in storage for nearly 30 years.

Link

How to Create a Mail Merge in Microsoft Word 2007

Mail Merges are great for sending the same message to multiple recipients via fax, email, or U.S. mail. Each can encompass unique information and not take hours to do so. You’ll only be required to create the message once. In addition to the message, a list of intended recipients is needed. If there is already a list on your computer, you may use it. If you need to create a list, no problem, one can be created during the merge. Get started by using the steps below.

Read from EHOW

How to Remove Unwanted Items from “Hide Inactive Icons” Customization Box in Windows XP, Vista and 7

In the NOTIFICATION AREA ICONS list located in the taskbar, there are list of programs that you can hide or show. When you uninstall a program, the icon for that program remains. How do I remove icons for uninstalled programs from this list?

Read it from askvg.com

Exchange Server 2010 Release Candidate Available Today!

Read from Bink.nu

What's really new in Windows 7?

Bring an open mind. One refrain I hear regularly from Win7 skeptics is that Microsoft is indulging in “change for the sake of change.” But every time I look at a feature that’s been redesigned, I see a reason for it. If you’re willing to try to adapt your behavior, you’ll be more successful.
There’s a learning curve. If you’re bound and determined to do things the way they’re done in Windows XP, then stick with Windows XP. If you’re deploying Windows 7 in an organization, you’ll need to budget for training. To Microsoft’s credit, they’ve resisted the urge to stuff their new OS with wizards and pop-ups bragging about the new features. The flip side of that bargain is that you’ll need to invest a little effort to find the new stuff.
One size does not fit all. Microsoft’s Raymond Chen neatly summarized the dilemma of developing for the Windows interface: “No matter what you do, somebody will tell you that you’re an idiot.” If they fail, they create an annoyance, of which Windows 7 still has its share. But hopefully those are fewer and less annoying than they were before.

Read it from ZDNet

Google launches a deadly 'stealth' social network

Google already has a social networking service that theoretically competes with the likes of Facebook. It's called Orkut, and only Brazilians care about it. Orkut is no threat to Google. But Google launched an initiative a few hours ago that just might end up killing Facebook off as the number-one social network. The initiative is called "Social Gadgets," which can be installed on Google's iGoogle launch page site. Here's why Facebook should be very, very nervous.

Read from Raw Feed

How to make a HUGE performance increase on your computer INSTANTLY

This one is so easy and quick, but it actually makes the largest difference in computer performance than ANYTHING else. It means more to your computer than how big your hard drive is, how much RAM you have or what graphics card you have. Don’t believe me? See for yourself! I am a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician with 12 years of IT experience. Don’t forget to check out the rest of my computer tuning series of articles!

Read from eHOW

Unveiling the “Sixth Sense”

Unveiling the “Sixth Sense” game-changing wearable tech

This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some.

Watch it from TED

10 million PCs infected by identity theft malware

A little over 1% of all internet users are exposed to identity theft malware a study by IT security vendor Panda Security revealed.Based on the online analysis of 67 million computers in 2008, the company found that more than 10 million users worldwide were infected with potentially harmful malware related to identity theft, such as Banker Trojans that are designed to stead account information from banks and their customers.

ITP News

Facebook debuts in Arabic

Facebook is now available in both Arabic and Hebrew as part of plans to customize itself to every language in the world.The social networking service, which is already available in 40 languages including French and German, has also made a series of changes to user home pages based on feedback from 30,000 emails.

ITP News

iPhone launches in UAE and Saudi Arabia

The iPhone 3G has officially been launched in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Etisalat announced on Sunday.

ITP Link

Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job

Searching for a job can suck if you constrain yourself to the typical tools such as online jobs boards, trade publications, CraigsList, and networking with only your close friends. In these kinds of times, you need to use all the weapons that you can, and one that many people don’t—or at least don’t use to the fullest extent, is LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has over thirty-five million members in over 140 industries. Most of them are adults, employed, and not looking to post something on your Wall or date you. Executives from all the Fortune 500 companies are on LinkedIn. Most have disclosed what they do, where they work now, and where they’ve worked in the past. Talk about a target-rich environment, and the service is free.
Here are ten tips to help use LinkedIn to find a job. If you know someone who’s looking for a job, forward them these tips along with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Before trying these tips, make sure you’ve filled out your profile and added at least twenty connections

Read from How to Change the World

Facebook clocks fifth birthday

Facebook is giving its 150 million users a mystery virtual gift to celebrate its fifth birthday.
The gift shop's presents usually range from cuddly bears to a pint of beer and from champagne to a four-leaf clover.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg said, "In the spirit of celebrating connections between people, we encourage you to use this gift to give thanks to [those] you are connected with on Facebook."
In the battle for online friends, Facebook is now the world leader.
In a blog post, Mr Zuckerberg acknowledged the company's work in achieving its place as the biggest social network to date.
"Building and moving quickly for five years hasn't been easy, and we aren't finished.
"As we celebrate Facebook's 5th birthday, we continue to work hard to evolve Facebook and make it as simple as possible to communicate with and understand the people and entities that matter to you," wrote Mr Zuckerberg.
In the blog he has also taken a trip down memory lane and shared old images of how the site has changed since it was launched in 2004.
BBC Link

9 Web sites IT pros should master in 2009

Here's a time-saver for IT executives swamped by last-minute budget cuts and end-of-the-year performance reviews: We've written your 2009 goals for you, with our list of nine Web sites you need to study during the next 12 months.
This list is not for geeks. It’s for IT professionals of a certain age, who don’t spend every waking hour online but need to keep up with the latest innovations on the Internet.
Master these Web sites, and you’ll prove you can innovate during the most trying economic times. And you’ll do it more efficiently than your 20-something employees, who waste too much time chasing the new, new thing on the Internet that may not survive the downturn.

Link