unlocking the features of IE8 and know what you can do with IE8

Written by admin on March 28, 2009 – 10:38 am

            Finally the final version of IE8 is available for download and this new version overcome the flaws in previous release of beta version of IE8 and IE7. Now IE8 is more organized, secure and ergonomic. Beta release of IE8 is unstable but the new version is stable and have many features every web surfer needs.

            IE8 is compatible with Vista, xp, windows server 2003 and windows server 2008 . It is available for 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Download IE8 new version at Microsoft official website and install it safely.

             Compatibility:-

                                                IE8 is incorporated with 2 display engines first one meeting the standards i.e, css 2.1 and second one is the existing one. By default IE8 uses the new engine and you can shift from one engine to another with out rebooting.

                                                Some features:-

  •                                                  If a web page seems to be poor in compatibility issues such as overlapping of text then you can view the page in correct format by clicking on icon Display Compatibility.
  •                                                   This browser also remembers the web pages and sites when clicked on Icon Display Compatibility and displays the web page in compatibility mode in future visits.
  •                                                    Till now all the web pages and sites are compatible with IE7 so therefore displays all the web pages in IE compatibility mode.

        Auto Suggestions:-

                        A new concept called self-suggestion is introduced in IE8 but the more surprising concept in IE8s auto-suggestion is a community based “suggested-sites”.

                        For having these page suggestions click on Favorites Pane and then move to see the sites suggested link.

                        To view the page suggestion given by the browser go to Favorites pane then click on link see the sites suggested. Then you will see the page with suggested sites.

                        Press [alt]+[x] and right click on suggested sites, then you can browse to the suggested sites.

Productivity Accelerator:

                         The greatest innovative part in this new broswer is the IE Accelerator. This is introduced to simplify the access to interactive webservices.

                          Here to better understand this concept, here i quote an example. you want to locate the address of a coffee bar using google maps or any thing else, you have to copy the site in google maps to locate it. But now this work becomes easy you don’t need to do such a work, you have to only select the address and click on the accelerator so that it display a tooltip with the map to locate that address.

                         you can access various types of web services using different accelerators. The web services may be geographical, stock information and news related to selected text or link, city whether for the selected city and not an exception for promotional offers on ebay, offers on travel etc,.

                         Using the Accelerator is simple and here how you can –  Select the text/word/url/address any thing, there appears an accelerator icon near by and select the accelerator you want and you will see the result displayed in a bubble.

                          By default accelerator in IE8 provides you with some basic services that are related to windows live and you can add more accelerators from other developers.

                          How to add more IE8 accelerators?

The procedure is simple and go for by browsing to PAGE menu then ALL ACCELERATORS and SEARCH FOR ACCELERATORS, the page is loaded with some exisiting accelerators Blogger,Google, Yahoo etc,. Select the accelerator you are interested in and click ADD TO INTERNET EXPLORER, then click on ADD to continue using this accelerator.

          Web Slices:      

Another innovative and exciting feature in IE8 is Web Slices. I will make the description simple and effective so that you can understand. Using Web Slices you can subscribe to a web slice in a webpage or website. Using this is simple, you see a webslice on a website which is freequently updating then simply point out on it and you will see a green icon which will appear on upper right of the slice.

working-of-ie8-webslice-feature

Click on the green Icon to subscribe and add the webslice to your favorite bar so that when that slice updates then you will be notified by highlighting the webslice on the favorite bar. When you click that highleted webslice, it will display relevent content and you can go the page having the updated webslice by clicking on the preview.

ie8-webslice-feature-preview-on-favorite-bar

Like Accelerators in IE8, webslices are platform-based approach. That means the website should be enabled with webslices by adding few lines of code. Ebay have built in web slices that enable users to monitor an auction. Microsoft is still working with partners to create more web slices available for most of the sites.

Private Navigation:

               Like Mozilla firefox and Apple Safari browsers, IE8 also comes with private Navigation which is also called Private Browsing. During Private Browsing, no traces are left on the user machine so that other person browing on the same machine can’t know what you browse.

                By browsing in private mode in IE8, any traces of cookies or history is not stored on user computer.

                You can enable safe browsing by following these steps:

  •                 Browse to SECURITY MENU in IE8 
  •                 Enable Browse on Private 
  •                 To conform check the INPRIVATE logo on navigation bar.

                             TIP :

Want to Open Window Navigation, then here is the short cut [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [P].

Smart bar:

Most of you guys will visit the previously visited sites/pages. Smart bar in IE8 allows you to find a site already visited. The job is done by searching Rss feeds,history and in favorites.

This saves a lot of time by providing entire url of the site by making use of first few letters.

Place the cursor in the address bar of your browser, type a few letters and a menu is driven providing with hits from favorites,history and rss feeds.

some shortcuts

Access smart bar : [alt]+[d] and type couple of letters

Access search bar: [Ctrl] + [E] and first two letters of query.

Enhanced Protection:

Internet Explorer8 is added with two improved security features. They are listed below:

  • SmartScreen Filter
  • Domain Highlightning.

         SmartScreen Filter is enhanced version of phising filter in IE7. The features of phising filter in IE7 are extended such as malware downloads,programs that are dangerous and blocks that download code. It will also protect from “Rogues” which pose as antivirus but they are traps by hackers. Now This browser also detects favorite techniques of infilteration of cyber criminals – cross site scripting.

         The next feature incorporated into IE8 is Domain Filtering which detects phising attacks.

Browser anticrash:

IE8 features an innovative design to prevent browser crashes. It do so by using two mechanisms, the first one is by isolating the tabs from each other so that if a tab crashes other tabs will not be affected.In addition to this if one of more tabs are going to crash then browser starts automatically reloading the tabs.

                Another Innovative feature that prevents crash in IE8 is explained. If you thing one or more extensions in browser is causing crash, you can load the browser with out loading any extensions. This can be done in following way.

  • Press [Windows] + [R] desktop.
  • You will see list of process, enter iexplore.exe -extoff 
  • Validate by pressing OK.
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How to take full control on a file, registry key, folder or a drive in windows vista

Written by admin on March 24, 2009 – 10:04 am

           The security restrictions  involved in Windows Vista will be really frustrating to the standard user or even for administrator. For security reasons some operations are restricted for standard user and admin also like deleting some files are restricted or modifying the file is denied.

            So taking ownership on the file/folder/drive/registry key is a simple process but you have to take a note on one thing “Even administrator having full rights cannot modify or delete the system files in windows vista”. If you want to know why you can’t do that to system files in vista here is a small explanation; Vista System files are owned by service named TrustedInstaller and windows file protection system will keep these files safe from being overwritten and if you ever try you will get “Access Denied” error.

             Follow the below simple steps and you will take the ownership on a file/folder :

  • Run CMD.exe  ( start -> Run -> type CMD  <-’  )
  • Point the mouse pointer on the top of the Command prompt window and make a right click on that and select
    “RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR”.
  • UAC prompt will occur, click continue 
  • Now type “takeown /f full_path_of_file”                                                                                                                                                      Example:  takeown /f c:usersexample.txt
  • After entering the command you will get a message displayed in command prompt saying that the message is completed successfully.
  • Now you are the owner of the file.
  • You have to execute another command “icacls (full_path_of_the_file) /grant (your user-name):F”                                                                                           Example:  icacls  c:usersexample.txt /grant ram:F                 
  • Again you will be displayed with the message command completed successfully. 

You have now the full ownership on the file and you should be able to modify or delete the file.

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Install Microsoft windows7 on a virtual machine with the latest software Virtual Box

Written by admin on March 21, 2009 – 3:30 am

       Every one wants to test the new operating system from Microsoft i.e, Windows7 which is still in Beta Version. Microsoft have made it available for everyone to download and test the latest operating system. Installing this new operating system which is still in Beta stage and testing this on your computer system which have already an operating system installed is an inconvenient procedure because it is not a stable release. 

      It is possible to install windows7 in duel boot mode with existing operating systems as windows Vista or Xp but why still take chances with the new unstable operating system. But here is a fantastic solution which makes to run Windows7 in virtual machine and this is the better solution. Only thing you have to do is download the free and open source Virtual Box.

     Using Virtual Box you can create a total new machine in the existing machine. Download Virtual Box following the above link and install it on your System. Virtual Box is available for different platforms such as Linux, Windows, OS X and Solaris. 

     When installing Virtual Box a dialogue box appear with a message such as “it is a not tested software which you are going to install”. Ignore the message by choosing CONTINUE ANYWAY.

The important thing you should have is the ISO file of the Windows7 operating system. Microsoft has stopped the distribution from Microsoft website. So, you can download it from Torrents or you can download it from any other site. Then burn the ISO file on a DVD because the file is large and cannot hold in a CD.

Open the VirtualBox and create a new machine as below in the image.

starting-step-in-creating-a-virtual-machine-for-windows7-using-virtual-box

 Move to the next window by clicking on Next where you have to select memory requirements to be allocated for this new virtual machine. For Windows7 the minimum requirement of memory is 1GB and it is enough and set the memory to 1024MB which is equivalent to 1GB.

starting-step-in-creating-a-virtual-machine-for-windows7-using-virtual-box

when you proceed to the next window it asks to create a new virtual drive for this OS. In my best view Select the default option “Dynamically Expand the storage” which helps in reducing disk space on your PC. The size of the disk is should be on arbitrary mode since you want to use Dynamically expanded storage.

So the task of creating memory for virtual machine is over and you have to configure in order to use windows7  that makes use of windows7 iso file. Select Virual machine by clicking on settings and then navigate to CD/DVD ROM option if you have burned the iso file on to cd/dvd else if you have the iso image on your hard drive you can navigate to that point and select the iso image.

mount-windows7-iso-image-into-virtual-machine 

You have now configured the virtual machine you now have to click on the start button to make the virtual machine start working.

Now the windows7 installation starts, follow the steps and install windows7 on the virtual machine. You now have installed windows7 successfully and you can now able to install the guest addition feature.This feature will help you in making better video and audio support for the new virtual machine. It also provides better integration of virtual machine with the main machine.

To install guest addition feature,  press the right Ctrl key on your keyboard then enter the Devices menu and select Install Guest Additions.

windows7-final-installtion-step

 Reboot the virtual machine because Virtual devices will start to work only after rebooting.

As you have installed Guest Additions you can now share the clipboard, or have access to files on the main operating system.Press CTRL+F in order to view the entire screen on virtual machine.

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Did your sidebar disappears when you install the latest version of Internet Explorer IE8 on vista machine

Written by admin on March 21, 2009 – 2:40 am

              Windows Vista  have now become popular and is installed in most new PCs and Laptops. But this OS from microsoft is not still in stable condition. It takes time to rectify most of the problems and fix these loopholes. But it would become most popular Operating system in the future and i hope so.

               Vista users have discovered the latest problem after installing the latest version of Internet Explorer and i too have faced the problem when IE8 is installed on my Dell Notebook. The problem is what you see in the title “Sidebar in vista disappeared on the next start of my Notebook”. I did one thing which is simple but it is not effective solution for solving this problem. I have restored to the systems earlier state which might be a simple solution but you will loose the usage of Internet explorer 8.

               The latest solution for this problem is discovered and is an effective method to fix this loop hole. The problem occurs because of missing XML registration in the system.

               This problem can be fixed by following the below steps :

+ Close the windows sidebar and this can be done by making a right click on the Sidebar Icon in the Notification area         and click Exit.

+  Then do the following   Start   >  Programs  >  Accessories  >  right click Command Prompt   >  Run as Administrator.

+  Type the following commands

      *regsvr32 msxml3.dll

      *regsvr32 scrrun.dll

      *regsvr32 jscript.dll

On successful registration, You will see the message like this “DllRegisterServer in <filename> succeeded for each command executed”.

Now open Windows Sidebar and now it will be seen. For opening sidebar you can also execute sidebar.exe in cmd prompt.

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alienware m17 – Extreme gaming notebook – a solid solution for gamers

Written by admin on March 20, 2009 – 1:54 am

Play next generation gaming with the new alienware M17 notebook which is exclusively designed for the gamers. This notebook is affixed with ATI CrossFireX and this is the first time ever alienware offers with the advanced graphic capabilities on mobile platform.This notebook is offered with Dual ATI GPUs so it delivers superior graphics and higher frame rates.
alienware-m17-for-extreme-gamingThis notebook offers extreme processing with latest generation Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Quad processors. These processors delivers a dramatic leap forward in 3D gaming, multitasking and more on a mobile PC. Learn more about Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core 2 Extreme processors on Intel website.
Alienware M17 is equipped with duel 500 GB hard drives. So M17 is capable of storing 1TB of data.The RPM of these drives is 7200 so faster data access. These hard drives have Free Fall Sensors which protect data loss.These sensors lock the drive head if the notebook is dropped and keeps the head from being damaged.
Alienware M17 is preloaded with Windows Vista 64 bit. 64 bit operating system can unlock the hardware’s dynamic features. Wanna know about Windows vista 64 Bit operating system go through this link.
M17 can hold 4GB DDR3 Ram for most resource intensive games and applications. Alienware M17 is designed for extreme entertainment. watch movies and play games in extreme HD environment.
Design of Alienware M17 comes in either the Skullcap or Ripley case designs. Alienware M17 comes in Stealth Black finish.
AlienSense facial recognition software utilizes the 2.0 Mega px cam that confirm your identity to log in to the notebook.
The keyboard in AlienSense M17 is illuminated and you can choose the colors Fusion Red, Astral Blue and Terra Green to be illuminated on the keyboard with single touch.

 

Technical details:-

  • Processor      -       Intel Core 2 Extreme/ Intel Core 2 quad core mobile processor
  • Memory         –       Dual 500 Gb hard drives
  • Graphics        -        Cross FireX 
  • LCD                  -         Clear View LCD : Display Images at extreme High definition 1200p with clear view technology
  • Memory         –        4Gb DDR3 
  • Security         –        Biometric Facial recognition
  • Entertainment  -   TV tuner card with full DVR functionality, an HD LCD and HDMI output
  • Case Design  -         Skull cap/Ripley case design
  • OS                     –         Windows vista 32 or 64 bit
  • Optical Drive-        
    • 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
    • 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology
    • Dual Layer Blu-ray Disc Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)
    Posted under Gaming Notebooks | Comments Off

    World’s fastest desktop processor from Intel

    Written by admin on March 10, 2009 – 2:31 am

    Every body is looking for better performing processors so as to enable complex applications to run on their Pc’s. The processor speeds are increasing day-by-day and the companies are Introducing high performance  processors by making use of high end technologies. In my view Intel is the best choice for processors, Mother boards. They are introducing new technologies into their processors year by year and is known as the world’s best processor manufacturing company.

    Intel have now introduced the latest Desktop Processor, Intel Core I7. It is the most advanced Desktop Processor and is the first to come from the family of Nehalem processor designs. Many new features are introduced with this processor like Turbo Boost technology. This advanced Processor from Intel speeds top end games,video editing and some other complex activities upto 40% that too with out consuming more power. It is the first processor ever to get 117 points for the SPECint_base_rate2006* benchmark test – This test is used to measure the performance of the processor. No other processor ever reached the 100 benchmark.

    Intel core I7 planets fastest processor

    Intel core I7 planets fastest processor


    Coming to the technical details, Intel Core I7 processor uses Turbo Boost Technology which accelerates the performance to match the computer work loads and user needs. This processor is made up of the latest transistors called Power gate transistors using advanced 45 nm technology.

    Power Saving Techniques

    • Intel Core I7 processor consists of 4 cores.To boost performance Turbo Boost technology in Core I7 processor automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more cores of the processor for single and multi-threaded applications and sees that not much power is consumed.
    • Another feature is included in this processor which is formerly included in the Intel-based Notebooks. This allows the Desktop’s to go into sleepy states.

    Intel Core I7 processors comes in three varients

    Processor Clock
    Speed
    Cache Memory Speed
    Support
    Intel® Core™ i7-965
    Extreme Edition
    3.2 GHZ 8 MB DDR3-1066
    Intel® Core™ i7- 940 2.93 GHZ 8 MB DDR3-1066
    Intel® Core™ i7- 920 2.66 GHZ 8 MB DDR3-1066
    Posted under Processors | Comments Off