Bulk Convert Excel Sheets into xls, xlsx, pdf, csv and xps formats

We have shared many file conversion tools and online utilities for the file conversion earlier, today here is something that would interests you if you work mostly on the MS Excel spreadsheets. There are occasions when you come across old format excel sheets in .xls format. You may find it easy to convert it if there are not many of those, but am sure you would not like it if the sheets are in bulk.

Here is a simple tool called Simple MS Excel Document Converter that can easily convert the excel sheets for you into mostly used common formats like Xlsx, CSV, XPS and PDF. The program is very easy and free to use too, so it would be your first choice to convert an excel sheet.

Requirements:

The tool, however, requires following items to be able to convert:
• First of all, your computer should have MS Excel 2007 or later installed.
• If you have excel 2010 or later, then you can select the output format as PDF or XPS else you can only select the output format as xls, xlsx or csv.

Be aware that, converting an excel 2010 doc into reduced functionality document like excel 2007 xls format, would remove the features that are present only in the 2010 version.

Conversion:

Converting the sheets from one format is very easy and requires no geeky knowledge. You just need to select three options, Input file which can be either xls or xlsx, Output folder to save the converted file and the Output file format.

When you have selected all the three options in the tool, you just need to click the Start Convert button to initiate the conversion process. The files can be converted in bulk and the status would be presented in the table below. Any entry with red color will depict the error in conversion.

You can download the program from the link below and try it for you.

Download Simple MS Excel Document Converter

EMBRACE+: Notification Bracelet for iPhone and Android

Having smartphone has its own advantages one of which is that you can be in touch with anyone using the apps from anywhere. Another great feature which I like is the notification LED on my phone that glows whenever I receive any alert like a SMS, email, facebook update, alarm or a low battery. But if your phone is on silent or say in a bag, then you will have to monitor it constantly to see if you received any alert or not.

What if I say, you wear a trendy and cool looking bracelet on your hand that displays whenever you receive any notification on your smartphone? Wouldn’t it be a great device to flaunt? Yes it is true, the device is called EMBRACE+ and is under development at present.

EMBRACE+ is a fashion accessory with true functionality! Whether you are in the middle of a workout or meeting, you’ll always be notified about important calls and messages. The EMBRACE+ braceletkeeps you connected to your smartphone and notifies you by flashing different colors for different apps and contacts. Moreover you can customize the color of the bracelet to any color you want. You can set different color to different alerts, say green to text message, blue to email, red to call from your mom etc or just a color to suit your current outfit. 

EMBRACE+ description:

It all started with the developers sitting at a night club checking their phones again and again for the notifications. It was then when they came up with the idea. The device uses optical science and incorporates optical fiber inside but looks trendy from outside. The device is also made water proof so that you don’t have to worry even in the rainy time or at the bath.

The battery is pretty good and can lasts upto 10 days but only takes 10 mins to complete charge. To customize the bracelet you will need an app which would be made available for free in iTunes and Android Store.

I liked the concept, how about you? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Visit EMBRACE+

Backup WordPress Automatically to any Location

With increasing insecurities day by day, no website is safe. Imagine you logging into your site to see some creepy message, that time it would be the backup that you will need the maximum and in case you forgot to backup this time, then all the progress made over the last backup will be gone.

Backup is one thing that can save any website and the webmaster’s hard work. But the problem with them can be, they may find taking the manual backup very boring and tedious. I know many people who are looking for a good automatic backup service that can automatically backup their blog to some central or local location.

If you are a WordPress user, then here is a useful plugin that will help you a lot in taking the automatic backups of your blog. What’s more you just need to schedule the backup on your website and the content will be backed up to the specified location automatically. It will then provide you with the backup logs too.

The plugin is called BackWPup, and is used globally to backup the wordpress blogs automatically to any location. You can select the target location as per you and if you wish to save the data centrally then Dropbox is not a bad option. The plugin can backup your entire wordpress directory including the wp-content directory which is where most of the data resides.

BackWPup can also optimize database, check and repair it, compress and uncompress the DB, store backup to FTP server, dropbox and can also notify you with the backup status. So if you are someone who don’t like to manually backup your installation, then this plugin is right for you. You can try it at the link below.

Download BackWPup

How to Combine Multiple Hard Drives Into One Volume for Cheap, High-Capacity Storage

Once you've gone through a few computers, you probably have more than a few old hard drives lying around. You don't have to let them go to waste, though! Here's how to combine multiple hard drives into one, huge volume that'll hold just about anything.

Storage is pretty cheap these days, and buying a new hard drive is always going to be the best way to increase your storage. However, maybe you're on a strict budget and can't afford a new drive. In that case, you might be better off combining some old drives you have lying around. Or, maybe you have other specific needs that require lots of space on one volume. For example, perhaps you're:

• You're storing terabytes worth of of movies, TV shows, music, or other media you've ripped and want it all on one volume
• You need lots of consecutive storage for video editing, photo editing, or other "scratch disk" needs
• You have a lot of games that have to be stored on the same volume (e.g., Steam games) but can't fit them all on one drive

In this guide, we'll discuss three options for combining multiple hard drives, how to do each, and their advantages and disadvantages to one another.

Option One: Use Symbolic Links

By far the easiest method is to use symbolic links, which are similar to shortcuts, but "fool" your system into thinking its the actual folder it links to. So, this allows you to store a folder on your second drive, create a symbolic link to it on your first drive, and it'll feel like all the files are on that first drive (even though they aren't). And, unlike shortcuts, programs on your computer won't know that one folder isn't the real deal. Let's take the video game example from above: Steam requires all your games to reside on the same drive, but if you have more games than can fit on one drive, you can move some of them to a second drive and set up symbolic links on the first drive so Steam is none the wiser.

To do this in Windows:

1. Find one of the folders that you want to move to your second drive. In this case, let's say it'sC:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Portal. Move that folder to your second drive, and note its location (in this case, we'll say it's D:\Games\Portal.
2. Open up the Start menu and type cmd. Press Enter to open up a Command Prompt window.
3. Type the following command and press Enter:
   mklink /J C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Portal D:\Games\Portal
   Notice that the first path is the location of the link, and the second path is the location of the moved folder. Obviously, replace the two file paths with the paths on your system.
   If you were creating a hard link to a file instead of a folder, you would use /H instead of /J after the command.
4. Reopen Steam and try to launch your game. It will look in the old path, find the hard link, and be directed to the game's new location.

You can also use free software like Link Shell Extension (or, in the case of video games, Steam Mover) to perform the same task without the command line.

To do this in OS X:

1. Find one of the folders that you want to move to your second drive. In this case, let's say it's/Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Portal. Move that folder to your second drive, and note its location (in this case, we'll say it's /Volumes/Games/Portal).
2. Open up a Terminal window (through /Applications/Utilities/Terminal).
3. Type the following command and press Enter:
   ln -s /Volumes/Games/Portal "/Users/yourusername/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Portal"
   Notice that the first path is the location of the moved folder, and the second path is the location of the link. Obviously, replace the two file paths with the paths on your system.
4. Reopen Steam and try to launch your game. It will look in the old path, find the hard link, and be directed to the game's new location.

Of course, you can also perform this function on just about any OS out there, including Linux. Windows users can alsomount an entire drive to a folder using built-in Windows features. Search around for instructions on your specific OS for more information.

Pros: This method's biggest advantage is that it's easy, and allows you to control the location of each specific file or folder. It works with any number of drives of any capacity and speed. If one of your drives fails, you only lose the data on that drive, and the other drives stay intact.

Cons: If you need to do this with a lot of files or folders, it can get to be very tedious and annoying. If you're storing hundreds of videos (like movies and TV shows), this probably wouldn't be optimal.

Option Two: Create a Spanned Volume

If you have a lot of files and folders to work with and you want them all on one volume (and symbolic links aren't ideal), you have another option: creating a spanned volume (also known as disk concatenation). Spanned volumes are like the opposite of partitioning: you create one volume that starts at the beginning of your first disk, and ends at the end of your last disk, creating one giant volume. This is often also referred to as Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD). There's a lot of controversy over whether it is actually correct to call it this, so we won't use it here—just know that elsewhere around the net, you may see these two terms used interchangeably.

To create a spanned volume in Windows:

1. Back up any data on your drives, since you'll need to erase the ones you're spanning.
2. Open the Start menu and type diskmgmt.msc. Click on the option that appears and find the disks you want to combine.
3. If your disks have data on them, right-click on each and choose "Delete Volume." Make sure you're deleting the correct volumes!
4. Right-click on the first of the now-empty drives you want to add to your span and choose "Create New Spanned Volume."
5. When the New Spanned Volume wizard starts, click Next until you get to the Select Disks screen. Highlight the second disk you want to add to the span, then click the Add button. Continue this process until all the disks you want are on the right size of the selection wizard, then click Next.
6. Assign your spanned volume a drive letter, then click Next. Format it as NTFS and give it a name. When it's finished, you're ready to use your new spanned volume.

To create a spanned volume in OS X:

1. Back up any data on your drives, since you'll need to erase the ones you're spanning.
2. Open up /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and click on one of the drives you're going to use. Head to the "Erase" tab, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" from the dropdown menu, and click Erase. Repeat this process for the other drives you want to include in the span.
3. Click on one of the now-empty drives you're going to use, and click the "RAID" tab. Give your set of disks a name, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format, and choose "Concatenated Disk Set" for "RAID type."
4. Click the plus sign to add the array to the list.
5. Drag your hard drives one-by-one from Disk Utility's left sidebar into the right pane, under the disk set you just created. When all the disks are in place, click Create to create the spanned volume.

Spanned volumes are a little different in every operating system, but the process is similar. Linux users can use a feature called Logical Volume Management, and most other OSes should have an option for this too—heck, even Nas4Free has it built right in. Google your own OS for instructions on how to perform similar functions (and remember, it might be referred to as JBOD or disk concatenation).

Pros: Managing a spanned volume is much easier than managing symbolic links, since once you've created it, you don't actually have to "manage" anything. It just shows up on your computer as one big drive. When it runs out of space on the first physical disk, it moves onto the second without you having to worry about it. This also works with any number of drives at any combination of speeds, unlike RAID.

Cons: The biggest problem with spanned volumes is that they introduce a greater probability of drive failure. If you have a volume spanned over three drives, that's three drives that could fail instead of just one, and if one of your drives fails, you lose all of the data in that spanned volume (though some of it may be recoverable).

As such, we don't recommend this option for most scenarios. However, if you have a lot of data that isn't particularly important—or is backed up elsewhere (like a bunch of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs that you've ripped)—this might be an okay option. Just be aware of the downsides and the necessary precautions to keep your data safe.

Option Three: Set Up a RAID Array

The last option is using a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, also known as RAID. It offers a lot of benefits that disk spanning doesn't, like speed, reliability, and protection against drive failure. There are a number of different types of RAID, though, and they each serve slightly different purposes. Here are the most common:

Click to view

• RAID 0 is similar to a spanned volume: its main goal is to combine multiple drives into one big volume. However, instead of spanning your volumes, it uses something calledstriping: instead of filling up one drive and moving onto the next, it writes data across all of your drives. This means read speeds are faster than a spanned volume, since you can read multiple parts of the data at one time. However, if one drive fails, then you lose all your data with little hope of recovery.
• RAID 1 doesn't actually combine multiple disks into one big volume at all. Instead, it implements a concept called mirroring: Whenever your main drive is written to, your computer writes the same data to your second drive. Your second drive is a mirror of your first one so that if one fails, you can pick right up with the second drive as if nothing went wrong.
• RAID 10 combines the best of RAID 0 and RAID 1: you create a mirrored RAID 1 array, then combine that with other RAID 1 arrays for one big, mirrored volume. This type of RAID requires quite a few disks (two to combine and another two to mirror, at the minimum), so it can be quite costly.
• RAID 5 introduces a feature called parity, which is another method for keeping your data protected from drive failure. Unlike RAID 10, in which you need to use half of your drives for redundancy, RAID 5 can store that recovery data in much smaller parity bits, spread across your drives. That means you can use more of your drives for data and hopefully save a bit of money. RAID 5 will be much slower to write data than RAID 10, though, so there is a tradeoff.

These aren't the only types of RAID, but they are the most common. We could do a whole set of features on each type of RAID, so we won't go into a ton of detail here, but you get the general concept: with RAID 10 or RAID 5, you can expand a volume across multiple disks without worrying about an increased risk of failure, as you would with disk spanning.

There are a number of ways to set up a RAID array. You can use software RAID, which is built-in to many motherboards and follows very similar instructions to creating a spanned volume (you would just choose a striped, mirrored, or RAID 5 array instead). Many people argue that hardware RAID, however, is more reliable, which involves installing a RAID card into your PC and setting up RAID using that. The process varies from computer to computer and from RAID card to RAID card, but our guide to RAID mirroring should help get you started if you're interested. Windows 8 users might also check out the new Storage Spaces feature, which isn't RAID, but has a lot of similar goals and features.

Pros: Higher levels of RAID offer the ability to turn multiple drives into one, big, often fast volume without worrying about losing your data. RAID is not a replacement for backup, but it does make your life a lot easier if one of those drives fails. RAID 0 does not provide this redundancy, but is still faster than a spanned volume.

Cons: Unfortunately, RAID has a few downsides too. To start, higher levels of RAID can be expensive, since you need quite a few drives to pull it off. They'd also have to be the same size and speed, or you'd have to sacrifice some of their size and speed. That is, in a RAID array, you're stuck using the smallest disk's capacity for each drive, and the slowest disk's speed for each drive. As such, it isn't ideal if you have a bunch of disks lying around and you're trying to save some money. But, if your data is important, it can help keep that data safe, too. RAID 0's biggest downside is not only the lack of redundancy, but the fact that if you lose one drive, you lose all your data—with little to no hope of recovering it.

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Combining multiple disks into one volume is a fairly controversial practice, as it can increase the risk of drives failing. However, if the situation is right—that is, if your data is unimportant, if you have it all backed up, or if you have redundancy built-in—combining those drives can be pretty handy.

Call other iOS Users for Free using Facebook Messenger

acebook is very popular as a social site among every one today and to strive for the next level it is constantly changing and upgrading its features. Till now people can see the updates of their friends and like their photos and all but their mobile app for the iOSusers got a new feature recently.

All the Apple devices users now can call each other for free using the Facebook’s newCall feature within the Messenger app. That means if you are running a device on wither a WiFi or the Data plan, you don’t need to exhaust your minutes. Just make sure that you have enough Data as your plan so that you are not charged for any overages.

With the new Facebook app version 5.5, users can call their buddies in US or Canada for free using the Facebook Messenger app in their iPhones or iPads. To be able to use this call feature, you just need to install this latest facebook messenger app in your iOS device, and have a good speed data plan so that the voice doesn’t breaks.

If you run this app, then to call other user you just need to select his/her name and click the “i” button on the top right which shows the profile information. Here you will find the Call button as shown, clicking on which will call the other person using the internet on your phone.

Common sense suggest that one should have his/her mobile number added to his facebook profile so that someone can call him/her and if there is no number added, then this button would be disabled. The app looks like more of Viber but the advantage over it is that one don’t need to setup an account on Viber and is accessible if he have his phone number added on the Facebook profile.

Please note that this function is currently available for iOS users only.

Charge your Cell Phone Battery with a Hot or Cold Drink Glass

One thing that I never like to see is my dying phone battery when I am out for a party or at work with no charger with me. The red sign of the battery is the most dreadful sign at this moment. While most of us have the spare charger but it is the time and the feasibility to charge the cell phone that keeps us away from charging.

What if I tell you, you can now charge your cell phone with that glass of cold beer that you have in your hand or with a cup of hot coffee? I am sure you won’t believe me, but thanks to this compact heat engine (that we are discussing today) you can, almost anywhere, charge up your cell phone battery.

The team of some developers called the “Epiphany Labs” has developed a small device that can actually charge up your cell phone battery with a glass of any hot or cold drink. The device is called “Epiphany onE Puck”. The Epiphany onE Puck can connect to your iPhone, any Android phone or any iPod that uses the USB charging method.
So basically any USB device that can be charged through a USB cable and draws a power of up to 1000 mA or less can be charged using this Epiphany onE Puck device.

How Epiphany onE Puck works:

The device has two sides, one for Hot drinks (Red side) and other for the cold drinks (Blue side). The device makes use of the difference in temperature of the device itself and the drink, to convert this energy difference into the power, enough to charge up the mobile phone.

That simply means, higher the difference in temperature, higher and faster the charging will be. So a freshly brought cup of coffee would produce more charging than a cup of mild hot coffee.

Thus next time when you are at some club holding a beer or at work grabbing a coffee, you don’t need to run away to charge up your cell phone. This device is compact enough to be carried in pocket and looks good too.

You can visit the homepage for more information about the Epiphany onE Puck[via]

Visit Epiphany onE Puck

Convert Audio and Video between any Known Format, Split or Join Media too

We have lot of devices with us that can play media like audio and video for us but not all of them use the same format for the playback. Some uses the DivX format while others use some other codec. This can irritate you if you wish to play some video on your phone but don’t have the right converter.
Also different devices use different settings so that they can give you the best possible playback. For this purpose you definitely require a media converter but in the world of internet when you have so many converters available choosing the right one that can server all the purposes for you, can be difficult. We have also written some in the past.

To help our readers, here is one converter that will eliminate all the others written in the past. This converter, so far, is the best converter that I have come across. Named as Video to Video Converter, this converter is more than capable to just convert the video from one format into another.
This converter can convert media from any known format into any other known format. Doesn’t it sound like the master of all converters? Well Video to Video Converter supports more than 200 input formats and more than 700 output formats (way too many for one can think of). The converter supports a large number of output video formats: AVI, DivX, Xvid, mpeg-4, AVC/H264, mpeg, mpeg2, MOV, WMV, 3GP, 3GP2, MKV, WEBM, SWF, FLV, RM, ASG, GIF and others.

Moreover the converter can also be used to split or join movies. Yes if you wish to crop some part of a video and delete the rest, then also this can be used. And in case you wish to join some videos, say to make all your old videos into one, this works well.
Using the converter is very easy, you can either select the presets or set your own settings before decoding. You can also make use of the Android phone settings, to directly convert the media for your phone. The best part about the tool is that, it is Free. Could you believe it?
Well give it a try.
Download Video to Video Converter

Solve Simple Volumes become inaccessible due to power loss shortly after creation

Disk Management which is the standard utility present in our computers is used for managing the hard drives and its space. This is a great and simple utility to use as it helps in easy creation, deletion or renaming of the disk partition.

But it was the following problem which one of our readers faced while creating a new partition. So if you are also unable to access a new volume that you just created and are seeing this error message then this post will help you.

“The operation failed to complete because the Disk Management console view is not up-to-date.  Refresh the view by using the refresh task.  If the problem persists close the Disk Management Console, then restart Disk Management or restart the computer.”

Moreover if you try to follow the instructions as mentioned in the message like restarting the device management or the computer, you will find that nothing works. So what you need to do here is re-install the volume. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Device Manager first, type devmgmt.msc in the Run box to open.
2. Now you need to open the Storage Volumes tree there as shown below. If you can’t see the Storage Volumes then go to View and select the Show Hidden Devices.
3. Under Storage Volumes, you should notice a volume listed as “Unknown device.”  Right click on this device and choose “Uninstall.”  When asked to confirm, choose OK.
4. If you are asked to restart the computer, go ahead and if not then go toAction -> Scan for Hardware Changes.
5. Once the scan is complete and installation of the volume completes, you will be able to access the volume.

Note: If the power loss occurs within a few seconds of volume creation, in rare circumstances you may be prompted to format the volume after you follow the above steps.  If this occurs, the file system configuration was not written by the time the power loss occurred.  You may need to reformat or recreate the volume.

For more information and to use the automatic tool to fix this problem visitMS site.

Why not all Applications are Portable and require Installation?

We need more and different kinds of programs and applications in our systems. Installing these applications also helps us in our several situations. Whenever I come across a new program, I first check its size and the space taken after installation.

Today we also have the option of going for the no-installation programs called as Portable Apps. These portable applications are so easy to use and carry that we just need to take them with us and use them anywhere on any computer. Then the question that came to my mind is If using the portable apps is possible and easy, then why not every application is portable and why do they require installation?

With Windows came the concept of config.ini files which are nothing just the configuration files of the tools having information about the program. But managing these files was somewhat difficult, thus came Registry which replaced the config files.

Now the configuration settings of the programs were stored at the same place called as Registry. But not all programs removed the registry when they were removed from the system.

But I guess the idea is to keep the entire configuration files of the tools at the same place, their other dependent files at other and the user data at some other location. Also creating a portable app of a tool has its own disadvantage. If an application is huge like the MS Office or the iTunes, then running the portable version of the app will slow down the system and also result in slowstartup. Moreover the portable app with all its config files at a single place (called the portable app) will consume lot of space.

Thus to get instant startups we have some programs that still require those horrible installation procedures. What do you think?

Related posts:

1. Download Portable setup of your Software
2. Portable Start Menu for Windows
3. Portable Firefox 5 – for USB
4. Transfer Installation files from one drive to another

How to Get Anything You Want with Minimal Negotiation

We think of negotiation as a game for experienced professionals, but in reality, it's not very hard to do. From getting a salary increase to haggling a better deal on a car, even the shyest amongst us can get what we want out of a negotiation. Here's how.

Whether you realize it or not, you probably negotiate all day long. It's not always about getting $2000 off a used car. It might be as simple as getting the lunch time you want, or convincing your significant other to go to a party with you. That means you have practice, and even if you don't consider yourself an expert negotiator you can still get what you want without being confrontational. Let's start with the basics of preparing yourself for a negotiation (when it's possible) before digging into some tips anyone can use.

Prepare Yourself for a Negotiation

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Negotiation is as much about preparation as it is about making a deal. Whether it's negotiating your salary or getting a better deal on something you're buying, the more prepared you are the better you'll do. Here's the basics of how to prepare:

• Research as much as you can: Knowledge is power in a negotiation, and the more you know the better. For salaries, sites like Glassdoor andSalary.com can give you the average price people make in your position. Likewise, a quick search on Google can reveal the average cost of most things you'd buy on Craigslist, Trulia shows you the average price on homes in an area, and Kelley Blue Book is an excellent resource for used car pricing. Regardless of what you're negotiating, the more you know, the more comfortable you'll feel negotiating.
• Practice beforehand: It might sound silly, but if you're really nervous about negotiating, then it's worthwhile to practice. Run through the reasons you think you deserve the price you want in front of a mirror, or with another person to get feedback.
• Stay calm and don't argue: While it may seem like it, a negotiation is not a debate, so don't treat it like one. Arguing in a negotiation gets you nowhere, and if you let emotions get in the way you're bound to lose the other party's attention. Keep it simple and stay calm. A negotiation isn't about "winning," it's about making a deal where everyone walks away with something of value.

A little preparation goes a long way, but the heart of your negotiation is the tactic you use. Here are some good examples. Photo by Julie Vazquez.

Expand the Pie, aka "Find Something Negotiable"

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Expanding the pie is a negotiation technique that's perfect for people who aren't interested in negotiations for one simple reason: it's win-win. The term comes from the idea that negotiators are often negotiating about a single pie, where one person gets more than the other. However, if both parties work to make the pie bigger, everyone walks away happy.

The best example of this is a salary negotiation where your employer isn't able to give you more money. If you can't get more money, you need to "expand the pie" by offering up alternatives to a raise.

For example, let's say you walk into your bosses office because you feel you're underpaid. Your boss agrees with you, but says that they just don't have the money to give a raise. Instead of walking out despondant, think of other perks you can ask for that don't require money. This might include working from home for a few days, extra vacation time, shorter hours, or any other "free" perks you might want.

The main idea is simple: When something isn't negotiable, you need to find something else that is. So, if you find yourself stuck in a negotiation that isn't going anywhere, ask the other person, "why?" In the case of a salary negotiation, it might be the fact the company doesn't have the money. In other negotiations, the answer might reveal another way to solve the problem. Photo by Beth Punches.

Use the 15-20 Percent Rule

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For many of us, the very thought of negotiating a deal on Craigslist or for a used car is cause for anxiety. However, the 15-to-20 percent rule is one that all of us can do.

Let's assume you're buying a used iMac off Craigslist. The seller has it listed for $1200. That seems like a lot to you, so you offer them $950 (about 20 percent less than they're asking). From there, you might haggle up to a $1,000, but chances are they'll take the $950. Why? Because in the case of Craigslist, many sellers list their items for around 15-20 percent more than they'd take for them.

The same rule of thumb can also be applied in reverse when you need to throw out the first number (if your limit for spending is $6,000, offer $5,100). This takes care of the nervous negotiators biggest fear: throwing out a number. Photo by Broad Bean Media.

Keep Quiet and Listen for Clues

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If you're not an expert negotiator, one of the best things you can do is let the other person talk, and listen for clues of where they might bend. Inc. suggests that silence is one of your best tools:

If you make an offer and the seller says, "That is way too low," don't respond right away. Sit tight. The seller will start talking in order to fill the silence. Maybe he'll list reasons why your offer is too low. Maybe he'll share why he needs to make a deal so quickly. Most of the time the seller will fill the silence with useful information—information you would never have learned if you were speaking.

This is probably the easiest tactic to use when you're learning how to negotiate. The more you know about a situation, the better you understand it. This can work great for something like a used car, where if you're silent they'll start listing off everything that's great with the car. When they run out of stuff to say, they might reveal what's wrong with it, like, "That offer is too low, this car only has 100,000 miles on it, but it's a Subaru, and it's in great shape. Sure, it needs a little work on the engine, and the rear window doesn't work, but it starts every time." That's all the information you need to make a counteroffer, "Well, how about you drop the price since I'll have to get the engine looked at and the rear window fixed, because my dog will freak out if I can't roll down the windows?"

If you're lucky, the person will talk enough to give you the information you need to swoop in and make an offer you're both comfortable with. Photo by Jennifer Moo.

The Nibble, aka "One More Thing"

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The nibble technique is a tried-and-true method of negotiation. Essentially, it's all about pushing for tiny, little improvements to a deal. In a recent episode of Planet Money, Columbia Business Professor, Adam Galinsky describes a negotiation with an airline looking to bump some people off an overbooked flight:

It started out at about $300 [voucher], and I didn't want to do that.... Eventually they're offering a voucher for $1000 for a flight I paid $180 for. So, I went up there I said, "If I get bumped off this flight will you put me in first class tomorrow?" [they say yes] Then he adds, "I need to stay somewhere tonight, will you put me in a hotel?" [they say yes] Then, "A boys got to eat, will you pay for my dinner tonight?" [they'll buy him dinner] and finally, someone's supposed to pick me up in a car tonight, can you have someone pick me up tomorrow?" [they get him a car service]

Galinsky was able to get a $1000 voucher for a future flight, a first-class ticket, a free hotel, a free meal, and a free ride from the airport by simply asking for them using the "one more thing" technique. The lesson here? If you don't ask for something, you can't get it. When you're negotiating with a someone, especially a big company, see how much they're willing to give you for free. Photo by Quinn Dombrowski.

Avoid Meeting Face-to-Face with a Well-Written Letter or Phone Call

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Without a doubt, the best way to negotiate is face-to-face. However, if you're simply not comfortable with that, a letter or phone call is effective in certain situations.

For example, if you want to negotiate a new price on your rent, a letter is more than enough to get you there. Likewise, a formal salary request letter is a great jumping off point to start the negotiations for a higher salary. Even a simple email to your new employer can get you an extra month of pay. Sure, you'll still likely need to meet face-to-face with your boss to discuss the raise, but at least you'll have the time to present your argument without feeling flustered.

Negotiation isn't just about the big ticket items either. Even negotiating your monthly bills like cable or internet over the phone can save you a lot of money and works on the same basic premise. Negotiating something like your cable bill is also great practice for larger negotiations like a salary or a car. Photo by Scott Raymond.

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In the end, negotiation is all about deciding what you want, and figuring out a way to get there. It's not nearly as hard as it seems, and a lot of the time you'll walk away with what you want because most people don't like negotiating. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, we've highlighted plenty of advanced tips over the years. Once you're comfortable and get through your first few deals, you'll be able to negotiate just about anything.

Solution to Windows Delayed Write Failed Error

This is some strange problem faced by one of our readers as he was unable to save any data on his hard disk due to this error message that pops up which read as “Windows Delayed Write Failed”. Usually this problem does not occur even if your hard disk quite old or have bad sectors but you can still come across this alert message while dealing with huge volume of data which involves either single heavy file or large number of small files.

So if you are also seeing this message in your Windows system, then below are some steps that you can follow to solve this problem and fix your system.

1. What you need to do is first kill the process that might be running in the background. So if you are unable to do that through task manager, you can make use of the command prompt for this.

Go to Run -> cmd -> type tasklist. This will give all the tasks running in the background. Now type taskkill /im XXXX /f (where XXXX is the process number).

You need to kill some weird looking process somewhat similar to WKocfFMPaI.exe

2. So if you have the process number of this process as 1234, then typing taskkill /im 1234 /f will terminate the process.

3. Now you need to fix the issue by making changes in the registry editor. Go to Run -> regedit

4. Now navigate to following location HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Run

5. In this key you will see the same weird looking file, just delete it and exit the registryeditor.

6. Restart the system

After the system has been restarted, you should now see the system free from the error message and the hard disk should now work fine.