Share one USB printer with more than one PC

Share one USB printer with more than one PC

Share a printer easily!

What if you could share a printer with multiple computers instead of getting up to change your USB cable connection every time? Now you can. Share one printer between two or more computers by sharing the USB cable instead of switching it every time you need to print something. There’s a nifty device called a USB Printer Automatic Sharing Switch that makes it possible to connect a single printer to two or more computers without ever having to switch the cable every time.

This device monitors the USB connections from all the connected computers, and when it detects that one of them is sending a print job to the printer it automatically connects that computer to the printer.

There is a choice of 2-port and 4-port models depending on how many computers you have to connect to the printer.

Installation is very simple as these devices are Plug and Play types that do not require additional skills. You need to plug the computers and the printer into the switch box and then install the software on each of the computers. 

And the good news is that you can get a 2-port switch for as less  as $20! Just one thing to remember is that some models have switches that need to be manually turned on or off in order to make the connection to the specific computer you want to print from. 

However there are automatic models that you can choose and they come with an automatic switch. The difference in price is very less, but the ease of use and time saved is huge.

Click here to look at some the great selection of USB Printer Auto Sharing Switches at Amazon.com


Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

How to block any website on Windows PC

How to block any website on Windows PC

The other day I received a mail from my reader Venugopal, asking me to help out with a peculiar problem - how to block a website on Windows PC so that no one could access it without his permission? You see he had saved all his passwords in his browser and someone in his family had used his PayPal credentials to pay up for a product in an online purchase. Seeing that it was done for a children's product he guessed that it was done by his teen kid who wanted to buy something which would have 'officially' not been approved. So he wants to know if the PayPal site can be blocked in that PC thereby avoiding a conflict.

Here is my reply to him:  Yes, Venu, fortunately there is a way to do it and it is very simple. And it has to do with adding a single line to a Windows file named Hosts.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to Windows using your Administrator account that has Administrator privileges. Usually the one you boot into Windows is an Administrator account by default. I'll tell you why this is important in point number 7 below.
2. Open Windows Explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. then double-click the Hosts file. Select Notepad as the program to open it with.  
3. Make a backup of the Hosts file before doing anything else (just in case anything goes wrong) by copying the contents of that file in a new notepad file and saving it in your regular place like 'My Documents' or 'Desktop'.
4. Now in that Hosts file in notepad, go to the end of the very last line in the file, then press the Enter key to create a new line.
5. Type 127.0.0.1 then press the space bar. Now type the URL of the website you wish to block (in this case www.PayPal.com). 
6. Here, you could repeat steps 4 and 5 in order to block other websites in addition to www.PayPal.com. 
7. Click File > Save as, then click the Save button to save the modified hosts file. Here if you are not an Administrator, you will not be able to save it as it is a system file.
8. Restart your PC, then check to see if your can get to the www.PayPal.com website. If all steps were done correctly, you won’t be able to access it with any web browser.

Here’s a screenshot:

Note: This tip will work for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 8 as well. 

I suggest you might to consider placing a password on your Administrator account as otherwise anyone can simply undo the block from the Hosts file with a simple Google search. If you password protect your PC, no one will be able to alter the Hosts file to remove the line(s) you added.

Put your music collection online and stream it from anywhere - for free!

Put your music collection online and stream it from anywhere - for free! Yes you heard me right. Now you can use some free services to store your music online and access them anywhere from any device.

Music streaming is the hot new craze, what with many services already offering access to millions of songs for a monthly fee - but I am talking about your own collection.

If you have your own music collection on your PC that you have built painstakingly over the years, you can now put it online and stream it from anywhere for free.

Just imagine - you are driving in your car and forgot to upload your favorite songs in your pen drive or CD and now you have to travel with some boring music from the FM stations.

But having your collection online will allow you to download the tracks that you want and voila! you are now able to hear your favorite Bollywood blockbusters!

The best option is - Google Play Music:

Google Play Music  is a free service that allows you to upload up to 50,000 songs and stream them from anywhere much like what you do with google drive or Dropbox. Google offers the biggest storage option by far.

Just download the Google Music Manager application ( for Windows or Mac), install it, and sign in with your Google account.

Just sync your music folders and it will automatically copy/build that music collection in Google Play Music.

It will monitor your music folder in the computer and automatically upload any new music you add to your PC, to your google account.

You can also upload songs directly from the website using the browser. You can then sign into Google Play Music on the web, via the Android app, or the iPhone or iPad app and stream music while on the go.

An amazing bonus is that the mobile apps let you download songs for offline listening too; you can just cache them without having to plug back into your computer.

To upload music more quickly, Google Play Music will “match” your local song to a song on Google’s servers (much like what Shazam does to song identification). If Google already has a copy of the song, you’ll get that one without uploading it fully.

If you want an offline copy of your music again, the Music Manager application allows you to re-download your entire collection.

We will look at other options in a future article. 

Help - Networking = Not working (Try the 8 port router)

Question from Ananth Subramaniam:

Hi CG Kish. I need your help in a matter that is technical. I need a six-port wired router (do they exist?). We have a total of 5 staff who need to access the Internet and our office server via LAN and I don't want to have to install two 4-port routers just for two extra systems.
The only problem is that I can’t seem to find a 6 port router. All I can see are 4 port routers in Amazon as far as my eyes go. Do you have any suggestions as to where we might be able to procure one? We cannot use Wi-Fi, therefore are opting for a wired router.


Editor's answer:

Hi Ananth. I have a suggestion for you. After doing a bit of research, I was able to zero in on a wired router that has 8 Ethernet ports.

It’s the TP-LINK TL-R860, and it comes at about $30 at Amazon as of date.

But wait... there is a small limitation with this one. The limitation of this router is that the data transfer speed is limited to 100Mbps on every port.

That should be more than adequate only if most of your PC work involves internet access.

But as you have already said that your staff need to share files with each other and also use the office intranet server, I think you would be better off using an 8 port Gigabit Switch+Router/Modem combo.

You can connect your 6 computers (5 staff's PC plus your PC) to the Gigabit Ethernet switch, and then provide internet to everyone by connecting the switch to the internet modem through a regular router (since you already own a router I think you need not buy one again).

Using this setup your staff can easily connect to the Internet with no visible loss in speed while also allowing them to access the office server at a decent speed that’s supported by the Gigabit switch.

Bottomline -  Choose the second option of an 8 port switch/router/modem configuration that will well serve your needs and in future if you plan to add a PC or two, it will still help and save you the cost of another router!

I hope this helps Ananth. Best of luck!  And do let me know how you went about solving your problem,


Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Delete your Search History from Google and YouTube

How to delete your Search History from Google and YouTube - and reclaim your back.

I am not talking about your local records that are stored in your PC or laptop which you can clear easily.

Google maintains a record of every search you’ve ever made till date, if you have been logged in either Gmail or any other related Google services - in any browser - not just Chrome. And they’ll keep it forever unless you tell them to delete it.

Wait. My intention was not to scare you out, but to inform you that you have the option to remove all your records from Google and also tell Google not to store any thing in future!

 

This article will show you how to accomplish both of these, all in a few simple steps. Luckily, it is quite easy to delete your entire Google search history in one fell swoop. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Visit the history.google.com/history/ page on the Google website, and sign in if you are not yet already signed or are prompted to do so.

Click the Menu icon (it looks like 3 vertical dots in the top right).

Step 2: Click the Menu icon (those 3 vertical dots on the top right).

Step 3: Click Delete options.

Step 4: Select Advanced > All time from the drop-down menu.

Step 5: Click on Remove.

Step 6: Click Delete.

Step 7: And now to remove any chances of storing your search history go to settings and explore all the options under Manage Activity and Show More Settings

Step 8: Uncheck/Remove those options that are there for saving your history.

Step 9: You will also have the option to remove your YouTube activity and YouTube search history in there.

That’s all there is to it. Your Google search history has now been deleted.

Hope you enjoyed this article! As usual I value your comments and feedback! And if you find it useful please share in Facebook or Google plus to help others!

 

 

 

Print from your Smart Phone or Tablet

How to Print from your Smart Phone or Tablet

All of us agree that smartphones and tablets have invaded our lives in a big way. Nowadays smartphones have become faster and equally efficient as laptops and PC and tablets are slowly replacing the PCs and Laptops in a world where form factor and speed is essential.

There are umpteen improvements in day-to-day work in the form of enhanced software and intelligent software that decides what you really need. However one thing that I found missing was the ability to print from a laptop or smartphone and it took some time for technology to catch up.

The usual way to connect to a printer is via a USB cable connection after installing the drivers and using software that came pre-installed on the device.
If it is not possible, or if you prefer to print wirelessly, you’ll probably need to download an app written just for that purpose. That is advancement for you!

Note: Some wireless printer manufacturers include an app for printing wirelessly from a mobile device on their printers’ installation CDs. If that is missing you can try to download the app available as a free download directly from the printer manufacturer's website (your printer’s user manual should give you the Website URL).

The big question is - what to do if your Printer is not Wireless enabled?

You are in luck! What you need is a PC with Google Chrome installed with your user account and an Android Phone (from where you need to print something) with a free app for your Android device.

This method involves a free service from Google called 'Cloud Print'. 

First, configure the PC that has a printer attached.

1. In your Chrome Browser, sign in to your Google account (by clicking the menu button in the top-right corner).
2. Go to Chrome Settings.
3. At the bottom of the Settings page, click on 'Show advanced settings'.
4. Scroll to the section labelled 'Google Cloud Print' and click the button 'Add printers'.
5. A confirmation page will open. Click 'Add printer(s)'.
6. A Cloud Print web page will open where you can configure many options in your printer settings.
7. After you have installed a printer you can now use the 'manage printer' option that you will see here.

Next, set up the Android device that you want to print from.

1. Download and install one of the free Cloud Print apps. I tried the newly released Google Cloud Print app such as CloudPrint Plus or CloudPrint
2. Open the Cloud Print app and it should show the printer(s) that you set up on your PC.

You should now be able to print from any apps that allow sharing. Open a web page or document you want to print in any app, then click the Share button. Share the document to the Cloud Print app.

You’ll be able to send the file to the printer.  Because Cloud Print works over the Internet, you can use this feature to connect to a printer at your home or office or anywhere!

Note that you must be using the same Google account in Chrome and with the Cloud Print app after which your printer will be seen in the app. In case you did not know, the PC and/or the printer do not have to be switched on when you send the print command. The print job will be queued at Google Cloud Print until you turn the PC and printer on.

You can check what print jobs are waiting by clicking the Chrome “Manage printers” button mentioned above in step 7. If you do not want your printer to always be connected to the Internet, simply click the "Disconnect printers" button mentioned in step 8 above.

That is it! I hope you liked this nifty tip. Let me know if it worked for you or if you have a better suggestion. If this article helped you - please share it around socially!

How to log in to multiple accounts in same website (with Google Chrome)

If someone had to ask me whether they could sign-in into a website with different identities to check out  multiple Yahoo email accounts at the same time, I would have advised them to use a different browser for each account or go incognito in separate instances of a browser (not in a tab)

But now I would ask you to use this plugin for Chrome browser - an excellent extension called Multi-Account Login that lets you easily log in to multiple online accounts on the same website by using just a single instance of your Chrome browser. 

It is the answer to dealing with multiple sign-in identities. 

Previously one would have to open different browsers to login into the same website but with different identities in order to protect single sign-on cookies from clashing. All that is a thing of the past now. 

Here’s how to install and use the Multi-Account Login extension:

First, install the extension - visit this page and click the 'Add to Chrome' button.

Secondly to log in to more than one account on any website - simply click the green 'New Account' icon, in the upper right-hand corner of the Chrome window (as seen in the screen shot window).

After you click on the icon, a new tab will open in which you can log into a different account. 

Doing this again will allow you to login the same website with different IDs. That is all.

This extension is completely free for personal use.

Let me know if you have other suggestions. I would love to hear them.

Simple guide to creating a self-hosted WordPress site (for Indians)

If you are interested in creating a self-hosted website read this simple guide to creating a self-hosted WordPress site (for Indians). There is no doubt that among the paid website software suite, WordPress is the most powerful blogging platform there is, and it’s completely free. It boasts of some of the robust and busiest websites on the Internet (you can check by the footer - 'powered by WordPress' - mentioned at the bottom of many a website), and though they are actually blogs (as WordPress is a blogging platform in a true sense), many of them appear far different than a typical “blog”.

It’s mighty easy to open a free account at WordPress.com and begin blogging in 5 minutes, but there nothing comparable to installing WordPress on your own paid hosting account with your preferred domain name. And it’s really easy to do!

Before we start, remember that you need to define your requirements like type of site (who it caters to), name of the site (remember to get it right as you cannot change it again) and the amount of money you are willing to spend. The last point is very important as you need to plan how much hosting space you need.

The first step is to head over to a good domain registrar cum hosting reseller and purchase a domain name (i.e. www.example.com) with site space for your WordPress blog. I am using Chennai-host for years, (but there are numerous registrars to choose from).

Why Chennai Host? They have all the options that you need in one single site. This is what you will see when you visit their site -

 

Just type in your required name in the box labelled 'DOMAIN NAME' and click on 'GO!'.

Make sure you're seeing the default option ticked - 'I want Chennai Host to register a new domain for me' - as seen in the screenshot below - 

On the next step you will be adding your domain purchase to the cart and also need to buy a hosting plan as seen in the screen shot below.

Remember to update the cart and checkout once you have filled in the required options such as the domain name and the hosting space. 

For hosting space plans I recommend getting the silver Linux hosting plan as it has good mix of price for functionality. Once you go professional and have plans for more than 2-3 blogs then you can go for the Gold Plus plans. But if you are a first time blogger then the Silver Linux hosting is good enough (atleast for a year to begin with). 

Regardless of the plan you pick, my instructions will work for you; only the mathematics will be different.

Keep in mind, you will be required to pay the annual rate in advance. That is how I found that a 3 year package works at 1200x3=3600/- which is cheaper than buying 1 year plans for 3 years separately. You can see that the savings are a cool 1000/-INR.

Once you have purchased a web hosting plan you’ll receive an email containing all the information you need in order to set up your WordPress blog. Two critical bits of information that will be sent in that email are the web addresses for the primary and secondary DNS servers that tell your visitors’ web browsers where to find your blog amongst the millions of other websites that inhabit the World Wide Web.

Now the next step would be to enter the cpanel page of your new site. Just add cpanel to the site name that you registered (for example if you registered www.,testmysite,.com then you need to use www. testmysite. com/cpanel to access your cpanel)

.

Once inside you have to follow the steps required to install WordPress by creating a user with all privileges and then running the WordPress installation program.

There is all that there is to get a WordPress site up and running (and in case you are having any further doubts, I will discuss how what to do after installing WordPress platform in a later post).

Learn More About WordPress

If you want to learn more about WordPress, I recommend you visit WP101.com. This is a tutorial website with lots of videos on every aspect of WordPress installation and maintenance.

Disclosure Note: The link above to ChennaiHost is an affiliate link - which means the company pays me a commission every time someone signs up via one of my links. But this does not influence my recommendation, because all hosting services have similar programs. I recommend ChennaiHost because I honestly believe they offer the best hosting available for Indians (and especially Chennaites) :) If you think there is a better host please mail me or message me in Facebook.

Stay tuned for more updates in this regard! Share if it helped you.

Blank bookmark favicons in Firefox

Hi Kish (aka CoolGeek)

I have a strange problem that has been plaguing me for years now. I find it strange that there are many Blank bookmark favicons in Firefox, that have no icons (favicons) beside them, in my bookmark toolbar. I thought it was a problem that would go away by itself and after so many years I find that it has been there like a permanent scar on my Firefox browser window. 

I cannot see the small icons for many bookmarks - some of them are even the highly popular ones like gmail.com. I am not sure if there is even a solution for this as I have a feeling that it is more user-related than browser-related bug.

So is there a way to get the lost or blank bookmark icons in Firefox, in my Firefox bookmark toolbar?

Thanks - Hemant Sareen.

Most bookmark icons (favicons) are blank in Firefox - CoolGeek answers:

Hi  Hemant. Your problem is not something that has no solution. In fact I too had this problem some time back and when I researched the case of the missing favicons I found that they got corrupted after Firefox 3 and later versions of Firefox due to some changes in the way they are stored and exported..

Many years ago after synchronizing my FF bookmarks on other laptops I lost all my favicons. The only way I could restore those favicons was to open each bookmark to reload the favicon. It was a good solution then but now that I have more than 1000 bookmarks... that wouldn't work for me. 

Fortunately I found something that works perfectly for me :)

Bookmark toolbar shows missing favicons.

Then there are also some plugins that are culprits like Ad muncher that prevent sites from changing favicons resulting in missing or blank favicons.

Another reason I found out was due to user negligence. 

Make sure that you do not run Firefox in permanent Private Browsing mode. Sometime you may tell Firefox to "never remember history" when you enter Private Browsing mode and select: Tools > Options > Privacy > History>Never Remember History" from the drop-down menu. See screenshot above.

Now that we discussed some possible reasons with regard to the missing icons let's see what we can do about it.

I have used this addon for Firefox that solves my and your problem immediately. 

Its aptly called  - 'FavIcon Reloader'. A small tool to reload/rebuild the Favorite icons.

How to install and use this addon:

Click on the Green Button that says 'Add to Firefox'

Visit this page in Firefox - Favicon Reloader and click on the green button that says Add to Firefox. See screenshot above.

Restart Firefox after you have given the OK to install this addon in the popup window.

After installation you will find the addon in the bookmark menu and in the context menu.

It finds those bookmarks that are without FavIcons and tries to fetch them from their web site.

Press the Play shaped button at the bottom of the addon window and wait for a few minutes (depending on how many bookmarks you have in your bookmarks folder).

It will start the process of downloading all the favicons for all your bookmarks and after its complete you can close the window.

I have tried that Addon and I must say that I am mighty pleased with it. This addon is exactly what I needed. I hope I have solved the case of the missing favicons!

 Feedback and comments are welcome! Share this article if you find it useful!

Microsoft Windows 10 will be released on July 29

Microsoft Windows 10 will be released on July 29.

The folks at Microsoft have just announced in a blog post that Windows 10 will be released to the general public on July 29. And it will be free during the first year!

Truth be told I was downright disappointed with Windows 8 and like everyone else on the PC planet I was wondering if I did the right thing in moving over from Windows 7.


Windows 8.1 seemed to resolve many of Windows 8’s quirks and issues, and after beta testing the “Preview” version of Windows 10 for quite some time I feel that, in my humble opinion, Windows 10 is the best version of Windows ever. Atleast something that made me happy personally. And I am sure you will be too.

If you desire to upgrade your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 OS installation to Windows 10 (which I strongly recommend you to do), the upgrade process is quite simple to complete.

All you would need to do is install the “Windows Update” that will be released on July 29 to upgrade your OS to Windows 10.

If you like, you can tell Windows Update to install Windows 10 automatically by reserving your free copy of Windows 10 as of now. Just click the square little “Windows Icon” that would by now be displayed in your task bar. It should look something like this:

After you double-click the icon a box will box up asking if you wish to reserve your copy of Windows 10. To reserve your copy and instruct Windows Update to install it automatically upon its release, simply click the OK button.

For those of you who choose not to reserve your copy of Windows 10 and have Windows Update install it automatically, it will still be possible to update your PC to Windows 10 manually after its July 29 release.

Don't forget to check out Cortana, the world’s first truly personal digital assistant that helps you get many tasks done. Cortana learns your personal preferences, your mood swings and your requirements to provide relevant recommendations, fast access to information, and important reminders. Interaction is natural and easy via talking or typing. 

And the Cortana assistant works not just on your PC, but can notify and help you on your smartphone too if you have the windows mobile 10 OS on your cell phones. 

Oh... the mood swings part was just to get you excited btw... However it comes very close.

Buying an used SSD?

Buying an used SSD?

Can we buy an used SSD hard disk that is selling for a bargain? Think twice. While installing an SSD hard disk as the OS drive in your laptop is the best upgrade you can make in terms of the speed up and the saving of time, but in this case buying an used SSD is not a good idea.

There are several reasons why I will not suggest buying a used second-hand Solid State Drive:

1 – Limited Write count. SSDs can only be written to a limited number of times, and every write, uses up a portion of an SSD’s life unlike traditional spinning hard drives,. And since you can never know how many times a used drive has already been written to and what is its write count - before buying it -  you have no way of knowing how much life is still left in it

2- Dead cells count: Even though a used SSD might be working fine, it could contain non-working memory cells – a condition that tends to deteriorate once an SSD starts to fail in this aspect.

3 – New SSDs are affordable. While I accept that SSD’s are more expensive per Gigabyte of storage space than hard drives cost-wise, their prices have reduced greatly, of late. Decent sized SSDs are quite affordable these days and add the amount of time you would be saving!

4- Veracity - No one knows if the used SSD is second-hand or third-hand or even worse. After all the age of the SSD is not an indicator of its health. So better be safe than sorry.

In fact, you can pick up an awesome Samsung 850 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD for less than $200 on Amazon. The cost extra will certainly pay for itself in the long run.


Bottom-line: I feel that it is a much better deal buying a new one than paying for a used drive that might not last very long especially if it is the primary drive in your main laptop or computer.

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links. Amazon prices are subject to change.

How to disable access to the Control Panel in Windows 8

Dear Geek - Is there a way to disable access to the Control Panel in Windows 8? I ask this because I do not want my guest's kids tampering or fiddling with my computer's settings and I cannot give them guest user access since that would mean I would have to re-install some big software program all over again. Thanks in advance.

Nithish Rane, Aurangabad.

________________________________________________________________________

Dear Nithish - Yes. The answer to your question is positive and there is a way to do it. Just follow these steps and you are good to go.

• Press the Windows+R key combination to open the “Run” box or click on the Run command in the start menu (if you have it enabled).

• Type gpedit.msc in the Run box, and press the Enter key. This will open a Group Policy editor window.

• Go to User Configuration>Administrative Templates>Control Panel.

• Double-click on - Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings. A dialog box will open up on your screen.

• Select Enabled, and click the OK button.

________________________________________________________________________

That is it. Whenever someone tries to access the Control panel they will get the message that access has been disabled.

Whenever someone tries to access the Control panel they will get the message that access has been disabled.

Why you must calibrate the colors on your computer monitor

Why you must calibrate the colors on your computer monitor.

Do your photos look different on your computer monitor than they appeared on your camera’s LCD display or when they are seen in another computer/laptop? 

If so, its time to calibrate the colors on your monitor.And not only now but once in 4-6 months.

How to calibrate your monitor’s display?

Follow these steps if your PC is running Windows 7:

1 – Go to the Start button.

2 – Click Control Panel.

3 – Go to Hardware and sound.

4 – Click Display.

5 – Click Calibrate color and follow the instructions on the screens that follow.

 

Follow these steps if your PC is running Windows 8/8.1:

1 – Click on search panel of the Start Screen, then type 'calibrate'.

2 – Select 'Calibrate display color' from the list of search results.

3 – Follow the instructions on screen, that follow.

Calibrating your monitor every few months is a good idea. Electronic products tend to get affected by heat and therefore these settings need to be re-calibrated often.

3G Internet sharing WI-FI devices - TP-Link MR3020 and Asus RT N 10U

Today we see a lot of people using the 3G facility on their mobile to connect other devices like a laptop or another mobile. There is also the 4G that is slowly coming up in many cities in India. So the chances that if you have a Hotspot option in your mobile you will use it to connect other devices to that 3G.

What if you do not have that option? Or if you do not want to use that option for a long duration as it consumes your mobile battery charge rapidly?


That is where my recommendations come in.

 1. TP-Link TL-MR3020 Mini Pocket 3G/4G Wireless Router (Grey). This nifty device  will just the job. Whether you want to share your existing Broadband connection or share a 3G Dongle give it a try.
 

With advanced killer features like

• Sleek, portable design with and Mini USB Port
• IP-based bandwidth control allows administrators to determine how much bandwidth is allotted to each connected device.
• Decent range of signal. Users reviews here are positive and can be read here.
• Work with many 3G Modem USB dongles.  You can find the list of compatible usb modems on TP Link website http://www.tp-link.in/ 

So if you are still not convinced look at the 1000+ positive reviews and get convinced.


2. Asus RT N 10U 3G/4G Router

• 3G/4G sharing is a breeze. Use it with the regular cable broadband to ensure seamless connectivity. 
• Regular LAN for Broadband and local networking
• USB port doubles up as: FTP server, printer server, and 3G/4G modem
• Fantastic range of WI-FI signal 

The two cons I have against it is that 

• USSD command is not supported which means you can not check your prepaid balance using the short-codes (like for e.g, *111*6*2# as in Vodafone). 
• Its form factor is not something like the one above.

Other wise its a superb bang-for-the-buck device.
In case you have any doubts please read the info and reviews here and then go for it.

See you all folks with another dose of geeky advice!

Best place to get a replacement battery for laptops in India

Question from Nitin Jhaveri: Help me CG. I have some doubts regarding my laptop. Can we put the Laptop to sleep for long periods of time since my battery seems dead and where can we get good trustworthy battery replacement? Reason I ask is because I have trouble with my laptop, in which I can't have the Laptop without charging wire connected permanently as else it shuts off instantly on battery mode. So I finally decided to look into a new battery.


Hi Nitin, केम छो ?

Are you sure that its the battery and not the charging jack or wire that is faulty?? Try asking a friend to loan his adapter wire for a few minutes to see if the supply is going through. Another idea is to take it to the nearest Comp shop and have them checked with other adapters. Hope its not a big issue.

Most people I know using modern laptops use sleep as the most common method of leaving the laptop. For laptops I have had, I always let it sleep for short durations but for longer time periods it will be a drain on the battery so it is a definite no-no for me.

Technically from a fully-charged battery, sleep may last several days. However, it is not advisable due to the following reasons:

• Wastage of battery charge reducing its efficiency.
• Increasing the charge cycles so that also is a minus.
• Heat generation.
• Hard disk goes to off mode when battery gets completely drained raising chances of HDD bad sectors.
• Waste of energy so not a good idea if you are bothered about the green aspect of saving energy.

Regarding your second question here is my answer.

There are many places to buy replacement laptop batteries, but my favorite is Amazon (US) (and the Indian Amazon would be the first place to go if you are from India due to faster Shipping).

Why Amazon ? There are several reasons:

• Price – Amazon has consistently lower prices in almost everything. Why pay more to your laptop manufacturer when you can get the same battery or a high quality equivalent for a lot less on Amazon?

• Stock variety – Amazon probably has a good selection of recent brands' replacement batteries to choose from.

• Trust – Quality of Amazon products will matter a great deal if its something as critical as a Laptop.

• Free Shipping – Amazon will generally waiver the shipping charges when the order total is $35 or more.

• Easy Returns – If you happen to order the wrong battery or if it is defective, no worry. Amazon’s easy return policy makes it easy to return and get a replacement immediately. If the product is defective they will arrange to pick it up or may reimburse the courier cost.

However don't take my word for it. Read their return policies here to know more.

How to Order a replacement battery for your laptop from Amazon.  Here’s how:

• Visit www.Amazon.com or Amazon.in and type your laptop’s brand and model number along with the keyword battery into the search box, then press Enter. For example, if you need a battery for a Dell Inspiron 15R N5010 you must type the following into the search box:

Dell Inspiron 15R N5010 battery

• Browse through the list of replacement batteries presented and select the one you’d like to buy. 

A general rule of thumb is to look for a battery with good reviews + rating on Amazon.

That is all there is to be done.

 

I am wondering why I did not use Amazon for my earlier purchases.

If you have any similar questions don't hesitate to get in touch with me using my contact link.
If your problem is solved I may consider posting your query as an article!


Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.





 

Add a Start Menu to Windows 8 (or 8.1)

Many of us were downright distraught when we saw the start button missing in the Windows 8 version. It looks like these MS guys toyed with us. They first made us addicted to the Start menu and then suddenly pull it from beneath our feet with the notion that it was a good idea to move on.

Not me.

I like to see what I want in my OS. So here is a handy li'l trick to bring back that button!

First, download Classic Shell (latest version of Classic Shell is 4.2.1) and install it from here. When a screen pops up asking which features to remove, select Classic Explorer and Classic IE9 since Windows 8 already had the latest versions.



After Classic Shell has been installed you’ll see your new “Start” button. The first time you click on it a configuration screen will pop up which will allow you to select a style to use.

Choose between 3 different styles: Classic, 2 Column and Windows 7.

I suggest choosing the style you are already most comfortable with, which for most people is probably Windows 7. After you’ve made your selection, Click “Yes” on the confirmation prompt and then “OK” to activate your selected style.

Also make sure that you fiddle around and see what are all the available options in Classic Shell
(see image on left).

You will love it!

I liked the option to show the free disk space and the total file size in the status bar.









Another one that bowled me over is that this plugin brings back the simpler dialog box from Windows XP. In Windows 7 when you copy files and there is a conflict, you are presented with this:

Now you will see this instead:

This one (from XP style) is pleasant and better for the eyes ain't it?

So there you are folks! Have fun till I bring something interesting for you all, the next time!

How to open “My Computer” with the keyboard.

The desktop of almost all computers has a “My Computer” icon which opens up the file explorer window (aka windows explorer) when you click on it. This feature is one of the most used components of Windows which means that many of us click on it several times a day.

Here is a tip: There is a super-fast way to open “My Computer” without even touching the mouse! 

Simply press the “Windows" key and the “E” key at the same time on the keyboard. The “Windows” key is typically located at the lower left corner of the keyboard below the alphabet "Z" (see diagram at right).

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And what if the My computer icon is missing from the Desktop?

We have a solution for that too.

Here’s how: 

1 – Right-click on an empty area of the Desktop.

2 – Click Personalize.

3 – Click Change Desktop Icons.

4 – Check the box beside Computer in the menu window that pops up. You can choose to either display or hide any of the icons listed inside this window simply by checking or unchecking them.

5 – Click Ok.