Category: Software

Howto monitor your web site freely for availability

There is a nice and free website monitoring service available – Pingdom GIGRIB.

This website shows the uptime information for the thousands of websites that have been added by our users. The information is public and searchable.

All you need to do is :

a] Create a Pingdom GIGRIB user.
b] Download and install the GIGRIB client
c] Add the websites you want checked in the Pingdom GIGRIB control panel.

However your web site uptime information remains public. You can try the commercial service has a separate network of monitoring servers, more features, and the information is not public.

=> Pingdom GIGRIB website.

Download of the day: Google Desktop for Mac OS X

This is one of the must have app for my Mac Mini :D

Google Desktop is a desktop search application that gives you easy access to information on your Mac and from the web. Desktop makes searching your own email, files, music, photos, and more as easy as searching the web with Google.

Features

  • Fast and easy search for your Mac computer like Google.com for the web :D
  • Search your gmail and web history
  • Google Desktop automatically indexes and allows you to search the full text of all files stored on computer
  • You can launch applications and files with just a few keystrokes

Google Desktop for Mac OS X

Download URL

=> Google Desktop for Mac OS X

Tips for Upgrading to Windows Vista

So how do you make sure that your computer is ready for the edition of Windows Vista?

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor will help you to determine if your Windows XP-based PC can run Windows Vista. You can also use the Upgrade Advisor to determine if your Windows Vista-based PC is ready for an upgrade to a more powerful edition of Windows Vista.

There are also some tips posted by Computerworld:

Microsoft’s new OS is saddled with problems that may dissuade would-be upgraders. If you do decide to upgrade, though, it’s easier than ever before. Here’s the smart way.

Upgrading to Vista: The Gotchas and the Good News

20 most wanted Firefox extensions

There is a good list of 20 must-have Firefox extensions published at computer world web site. These plug-ins give you souped-up functionality, better look and feel, and streamlined development tasks.

Currently I am using following two add-ons
1) Google Toolbar
2) Stumble! Toolbar

You can find some other Firefox add-on information here :)

A freshly installed copy of Firefox is a great software package, but what makes this open-source browser so special is the ability to customize it via extensions and themes to really make it yours. The problem is, there are so many available add-ins, it’s tough to know what’s worth installing and what’s just going to junk up your system.
* Tools for taming the Web
* Visual improvements
* Matters of convenience
* Information gatherers
* Web developer essentials

=> 20 must-have Firefox extensions

Download 32 bit and 64 bit Windows XP / 2000 3dfx Voodoo3 drivers

Voodoo3 was a series of computer gaming video cards manufactured and designed by 3dfx Interactive. 3dfx Interactive was a company which specialized in the manufacturing of cutting-edge 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards.

After bankruptcy, its intellectual assets (and many employees) were acquired by its rival, NVIDIA Corporation.

Download 32 bit and 64 bit Windows XP / 2000 3dfx Voodoo3 drivers
3DFX DIED IN the fourth quarter of 2000 and Windows XP came to life a year after.

But seven years after, drivers for 3dfx cards still appear. First of all, it is nearly incredible that enthusiast community managed to support an operating system which was still in the works. Secondly – it is incredible that drivers that support both 32- and 64-bit Windows have just came out.

This is ninth SFFT driver release based on the new Unified Architecture supporting by one package all Voodoo3 family, including Voodoo3 2000, Voodoo3 3000 and Voodoo3 3500 cards, as well as all 3dfx VSA-100 products and so Voodoo4 4500, Voodoo5 5500 and Voodoo5 6000 cards. It is designed and developed to work with both Windows 2000/XP (32 bit) and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (64 bit) Microsoft Operative Systems.

Download link

Microsoft Windows Vista Crack by Paradox

There is news everywhere about Windows Vista Crack called “BIOS Emulation Toolkit For Windows Vista x86”. It claims that it bypass the product activation requirement of Microsoft Windows Vista.

Here is how it works:

Microsoft allows large hardware manufacturers (e.g. ASUS, HP, Dell) to ship their products containing a Windows Vista installation that does NOT require any kind of product activation as this might be considered an unnecessary inconvenience for the end-user. Instead these so-called ‘Royalty OEMs’ are granted the right to embed certain license information into their hardware products, which can be validated by Windows Vista to make obtaining further activation information (online or by phone) obsolete.
This mechanism is commonly referred to as ‘SLP 2.0’ (‘system-locked pre-installation 2.0’) and consists of the following three key elements:

Download info

Your WordPress blog may get hacked if you are using 2.1.1 version

I’ve updated my blog few days back. But in case if you are still running 2.1.1 makes sure you get updated version.

This morning we received a note to our security mailing address about unusual and highly exploitable code in WordPress. The issue was investigated, and it appeared that the 2.1.1 download had been modified from its original code. We took the website down immediately to investigate what happened.

It was determined that a cracker had gained user-level access to one of the servers that powers wordpress.org, and had used that access to modify the download file. We have locked down that server for further forensics, but at this time it appears that the 2.1.1 download was the only thing touched by the attack. They modified two files in WP to include code that would allow for remote PHP execution.

Read more

Installing and using Java on Windows Vista

Java on Vista: Yes, it Works :)

This blog post from Chet Haase describes in detail what has been done to make the Java platform run well on Vista.

From the post:
Nope. The rumor is not true; we actually work great on Vista. (The rumor about Larry, on the other hand…). In fact, we have been tuned into this release and making Java work on it since it was named after a breed of cattle. Between regular calls with Microsoft, interaction with their engineers when problems or questions arose, and regular testing and engineering during Vista’s development, we have been building a rock-solid release of Java for Vista.

So how did this bizarre rumor originate? Well, older versions of Java do have problems on Vista, and that’s what the original report was about; someone tried running some older version of Java on Vista and noted some problems. But that’s like saying that your favorite XBox game, Bloody Mess X, doesn’t work on XBox360. Of course it doesn’t; the original game was written for a completely different system. Why should you expect it to work out of the [x]box on this new platform? Presumably, given the popularity of Bloody Mess X, the developers are working on a port of the game to the new console (“Even more blood!”), so you will still be able to run your favorite game on this new system.

Microsoft Office 2007 review

The Inq has a review of new Microsoft Office 2007. From the summery:
It’s hard to define, but the new office suite feels good and is comfortable to use. That said if your requirements don’t stretch beyond the normal usage of the odd letter, a spreadsheet to balance your budget and some email then there isn’t a lot to recommend forking over cash for Office 2007, when there are several free options out there are increasingly attractive and compatible with Office documents.

System Requirements:

=> 500MHz CPU
=> 256MB RAM
=> 2GB HDD space
=> CD/DVD drive
=> 1024×768 resolution display

Microsoft Office 2007 review

Read rest of the review at theinquirer…