How to: Find out domain expiration date

My friend recently lost her domain name as she forgot to renew it. Now there is no way she can get back the domain name. So how do you find out domain expiration date?

There are 3 simple ways:

By checking the public WHOIS database

Visit whois service here and enter your domain name. You can also use your domain registrar whois service to find out information.

By logging into your domain service providers account

Login to your domain registrar account and list expiring domain. Make sure you set all domains to auto renewal. Finally, make sure your credit card / payment information is upto date to avoid delays.

By using automated shell scripts for Linux /UNIX / Mac OS X

You can grab modified shell script that run as a cron job from your own Mac OS X / Unix computer. This script checks to see if a domain has expired. It can be run in interactive and batch mode, and provides facilities to alarm (email) if a domain is about to expire in advance.

Free Windows Software

If anyone has any information about free domain remainder utility for Windows XP / Vista, please add them in the comments.

Most domain register provides a series of reminder emails to you as the domain name approaches its expiry date. Make sure you whitelist those email address. If domain names are quite important register them for 5-10 years and lock all domain names.

Howto make global calls from mobile and pay local rates only

You can make global calls from your mobile and only pay your cheapest local rate.

With Nimbuzz Voice you eliminate the huge tariffs mobile operators charge you for international calls you make with your friends.

Nimbuzz Voice services will change the way you use your mobile today. You can experience the fun of mobile group calls with your friends, or calling your buddies on their mobile or PC. At your lowest local rate. Much more services are being developed.

Nimbuzz is testing new local access numbers. Do you live in China, Hong Kong, India, Russia or South Africa? You can now make calls using this service.

Check out nimbuzz service.

Compress a pdf file?

PDF (Portable Document Format ) format is already optimized and he de facto standard for document publishing on the internet and other media.

A PDF file is often a combination of vector graphics, text, and raster graphics. The basic types of content in a PDF are:

* text stored as such
* vector graphics for illustrations and designs that consist of shapes and lines
* raster graphics for photographs and other types of image

Because all graphics and other stuff PDF file is optimized. You can use program such as Winzip or 7-Zip (or command line utility winzip/zip) to package and compress a pdf file. My personal experience shows that you will not gain much benefit from compressing a PDF file as compression ratio is very small.

I’d be interested to hear if you have other software program to consider when compressing a PDF (remember it must provide a good compression).

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 of the day: VMware Converter 3.0 to covert physical system to Virtual Machines

Now you can covert physical Machines to Virtual Machines with free VMware Converter 3.0 software.

From the product page:
Use the intuitive wizard-driven interface of VMware Converter to convert your physical machines to virtual machines. VMware Converter quickly converts Microsoft Windows based physical machines and third party image formats to VMware virtual machines. It also converts virtual machines between VMware platforms. Automate and simplify physical to virtual machine conversions as well as conversions between virtual machine formats with VMware Converter.

Benefits

=> Disaster recovery : Clone and backup physical machines to virtual machines as part of your disaster recovery plan.

=> Ease of use : Quickly and reliably convert local and remote physical machines into virtual machines without any disruption or downtime.

Woot! :)

Download link

Windows command line download, file transfer tool

How do you transfer files asynchronously between a client and a server using command line tool?

There is a nice tool called BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) for this job.

BITSAdmin is a command-line tool that you can use to create download or upload jobs and monitor their progress.

From BITS page:
A download job downloads files to the client, an upload job uploads a file to the server, and an upload-reply job uploads a file to the server and receives a reply file from the server application.

BITS continues to transfer files after an application exits if the user who initiated the transfer remains logged on and a network connection is maintained. BITS will not force a connection.

BITS suspends the transfer if a connection is lost or if the user logs off. BITS persists transfer information while the user is logged off, across network disconnects, and during computer restarts.

A must have tool for admins. For example download xyz.pdf from http://foo.com web site:

bitsadmin /transfer xnase http://foo.com/xyz.pdf downloaded.pdf

More examples available at MSDN web site.

Easy to use free accounting software from Microsoft for Windows XP

Accounting software use to record and processes your financial transactions within functional modules such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and trial balance. In short you can keep track of your expenses, purchases and incomes etc.

Large business use specially developed accounting software. Small business or individual may purchase software from local computer stores. It varies greatly in its complexity and cost.

Microsoft is offering easy to use free accounting software called Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007. It is an essential tool for managing your business finances. Whether you’re a small or home-based business, you can use this simple accounting program to make pen and paper-based tasks a thing of the past.

With the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Office, Office Accounting Express 2007 is easy to use and helps you save time, get organized, and do business online.

You only need to enter data once so you can save time managing everyday financial tasks. All of your customer and financial information is stored in one place so that you have a complete view of your business. You also have the tools you need to sell online through eBay and get paid faster.

Features:

  • Easy to learn and use
  • It saves time
  • Store and organize all your information in one place
  • Get reports of your financial position

Free Download

=> You can download software here [208 MB]

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 is the best anti virus software out there

Few days back I wrote about top 3 free anti virus software.

Kaspersky Lab is a computer security company. It also provides the Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 which win the CNET 2007 antivirus performance award. Kaspersky Anti-Virus engine also used by Microsoft, Juniper Networks and other third party companies.

From the article:

Despite a very competitive antivirus landscape, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6, released earlier this year, still stands heads and shoulders above the latest Norton and McAfee products and thus deserves our Editors’ Choice for antivirus protection.

For the first time in nearly two years, we have an Editors’ Choice winner for antivirus protection. Of the products we’ve tested and reviewed thus far, we think Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6 offers the best value and performance. Norton AntiVirus 2007 improved some over last year, but McAfee VirusScan Plus 2007, despite adding a firewall, failed to move up.

Trial Download

=> Kaspersky Lab website.

Download: Windows Kernel Memory Space Analyzer tool

This is a free tool available from Microsoft.

The Kernel Memory Space Analyzer is a tool to help expert debugging engineers analyze Windows crash dump files.

From the site:
Debugging Windows system crashes can be a highly daunting task. A high level of expertise is generally required to properly classify and diagnose all but the simplest problems. Significant time can be expended simply getting to the point where the symptom of the problem is determined, let alone the point where the actual cause is understood. In addition, analysis procedures are often repetitive and prone to guesswork.

Kernel Memory Space Analyzer (Kanalyze) is a tool to help expert debugging engineers by performing heuristics analysis of kernel memory space. The Kanalyze identifies a broad range of kernel space data items in the crash dump by;

  • categorizing the data items into the data types for modeling purposes
  • locating the data items into the Kanalyze Type Namespace hierarchy
  • identifying and reporting anomalous conditions by validating the data items and the relationships among them?

Download link