Autorun feature Disabled by Microsoft in Windows XP, 2000 and Vista

Microsoft Windows’ one of the interesting feature was the Autorun feature that was responsible for the default action to be performed automatically whenever you insert a drive. Say you have inserted a USB pen drive and the default action for it was to open the contents, Autorun feature helped it to open the drive automatically.

However as you may know, this feature was also exploited the most by the virus makers. You must have known about the file created by virus called Autorun.inf. Thus seeing this vulnerability Microsoft had decided to shut down this feature.

This is the reason why you can’t see the Autorun feature in Windows 7 (however in case you are inserting a disk, you may see this feature in Win 7 as well). To disable thisfeature in the earlier version of the Windows, Microsoft had released a Windows UpdateKB971029 that disables the service in Windows 2000, XP and from Vista.

Although this is an optional update that is not necessary to be installed, we would recommend you to install if it lists in your Update list.

Microsoft Releases Windows 7 Service Pack 1

If you have liked the new Windows OS very much then you won’t want to miss out on the news these days. Microsoft had released the Service Pack of its most liked OS Windows 7 on 22nd Feb.

Microsoft says the standalone update package should weigh in at 527MB for x86 users, about 903MB for x64 users, and 511MB for users on Itanium chips. The service pack is believed to provide major bug fixes in the OS along with the security enhancement features. The update adds Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX, technologies that increase, respectively, the density of virtual machines and the graphical prowess of thin-client hardware.

Apart from these major changes, the service pack also brings some important features like improved HDMI audio-device performance and a fix for printing mixed-orientation XPS documents etc.

In case you have missed to download the update, then you don’t need to worry as the automatic Windows Update will download it automatically for you. The update is numbered as KB976932, which you can manually install as well.

Note: It is a good practise to create a restore point before installing something so as to undo changes if something goes bad.

How to Control Multiple Computers with a Single Keyboard and Mouse

If you have two or more computers at one desk, you don't want two or more sets of keyboards and mice cluttering up your workspace, too. You can buy a hardware gadget that lets you share a single keyboard and mouse with several computers (which involves a mess of tangled wires), or you could use a free software solution called Synergy. The Synergy application runs on all the computers you're using—the one that has the keyboard and mouse connected and the one(s) that do not—and lets you control all of them from that keyboard and mouse. That means you can move your mouse off one computer's screen and it will appear on the other, where you can type and work as well. Synergy also lets you share Clipboard contents between computers. If you copy information to the Clipboard on one computer and move your mouse to the other, you can paste it there, even though they're two different systems. Note: We've covered Synergy in the past, but a recent update to the Synergy application has made setting up and using Synergy even easier, so we thought it was a good time to update the post and highlight this incredible app again. Synergy works between any number of PC, Mac, and Linux desktops. Below, we're going to explain how to set up both Windows and Mac sharing or Windows-to-Windows to share a single keyboard and mouse using Synergy. Before you get started, you need to know two terms—server PC and client PC. When you set up Synergy, you'll have one "server": this is the computer that has the keyboard and mouse physically connected to it. The rest of the computers will be "clients." First, set up the server. If you're sharing a keyboard and mouse between two Macs, consider Teleport, a free, Mac-only tool that works very much like Synergy but is a little easier to set up with Mac-only keyboard- and mouse-sharing. What You'll Need: Two or more computers on the same local network. Synergy for Windows: If you'll be running one or more Windows PC's in your setup, download and install the Synergy Installer for Windows on each PC. (As of this writing, the current version is labeled 1.4.2 beta.) SynergyKM for Mac: If you want to run one or more Macs on your setup, download and install SynergyKM on each Mac you want to use. Note for Linux users: I haven't tried it, but quicksynergy looks like it could be a good graphical interface for Synergy. If you know of a better option, let's hear it in the comments. Before you get started, you need to know two terms: server PC and client PC. When you set up Synergy, you'll have one "server": this is the computer that has the keyboard and mouse physically connected to it. The rest of the computers will be "clients." First, set up the server. Set Up the Synergy Server Download Synergy for Windows and install it on your PC. As of this writing, the most current version is Synergy 1.4.2. Install and run Synergy, then select Server (Share This Computer's Mouse and Keyboard). Then click the Configure Server button to open a Server Configuration dialog, where you'll add all the computers that will be controlled by the server's keyboard and mouse and their position in relation to each other. If you want to use a Mac as the server, the process is very similar using SynergyKM; launch the preference pane, select Share my keyboard and mouse, and move to the Server Configuration tab to set up your screens. Configure Multiple Synergy Screens In the Screens And Links tab of the server configuration, you should already see your host computer in the graphical layout screen. My server computer name is Windows, so that's what the first Synergy screen name is. Now, to add the other computer (your client) to Synergy, you need to know its name as well. By default, the client uses the same name as your computer on the network (for example, my server is Windows; my client is Hack). To find the name of your computer in Windows, open your Start menu, right-click Computer, and select Properties. Your computer name is listed under Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings. On a Mac, open the Sharing preference pane; your computer name is listed in the top text input. Once you know your computer's names, drag and drop the monitor icon from the top right of the Screens and Links dialog onto the layout (we're still working on your server PC); drop the new monitor icon next to your server in the same layout as your monitors are on your desk. For example, my Mac's monitor is to the left of my Windows monitor. Double-click the Unnamed screen you just added, then enter the client's screen name. When you're done, you should see two computers on the Screens and Links grid that mirror the monitor setup on your workspace. If you have a particularly wild screen position (a checkerboard of flat­screens, perhaps?), you can even set up screens on top of and below each other here. Set Up the Synergy Client Download and install Synergy on the client computer (the one without the keyboard and mouse connected). On Windows If you're Synergy client is going to be a Windows computer, download the same Synergy installer for Windows. After you've installed your Synergy client, launch Synergy exactly the same way as you did on the server, except choose Client (Use Another Computer's Keyboard And Mouse). Enter the name of the server computer. To try the connection, click the Start button: first on the server and then on the client PC. Try moving the mouse off the server screen. If all goes well, it will land on the client screen safely! On Mac OS X If the second computer is a Mac, download SynergyKM. After you've installed SynergyKM, launch the SynergyKM preference pane, then choose Connect to a shared keyboard and mouse. Enter the name of the server computer in the Client Configuration tab and click the Apply Now button. To try the connection, click Turn Synergy On in the General tab.: first on the server and then on the client PC. Try moving the mouse off the server screen. If all goes well, it will transport seamlessly to your client PC. Note: If you have any problems during this step on your Mac, I've found that entering the server's local IP address seems to work. When you're satisfied with the results, close the Synergy window. Synergy will continue running in your system tray, from which you can start or stop the application as needed. Now you're sharing the mouse and keyboard between two computers simultaneously. Piece of cake.

iOS Development Tutorial Series: Hello World

Although it seems very Cliché, our first iPhone app will be a Hello World program. Mostly everyone starts out programming with a Hello World exercise, so let’s not stray from the group since it seems they are doing well…

As we go through this series I will explain concepts like Objective-C (the programming language iOS apps are written in), iPhone development, and programming in general…

Lets get started!

1. Open Xcode and click “Create a new Xcode Project”
2. Select “View-Based Application” and click choose…

3.Give your app the name “HelloWorld”

When the application project opens you will be presented with a view similar to this…

If you click on the files from the classes folder you will be able to see the code in the right window. As you can see Apple gives you some pre-written code that is commented out. On that note, I’ll explain to you what a comment is… A comment is text that will not be executed by the compiler (Xcode). A comment that is just one line will with start with a “//” and a comment that is more than one line long is started with a “/*” and ended with a “*/”… Comments come in very useful when developing programs. You can use comments to document code for later viewing or to document code for other developers.

Before we start writing our first app I need introduce and explain a few concepts, OOP (Object Oriented Programming), MVC (Modal View Controller), and “.h” and “.m” files. Let me take a shot at explaining OOP to you… The Object in Object Oriented Programming is basically two files of code (.h and .m) that work together so that a developer can call that code in their own programs. This provides a massive framework for developers so that they don’t have to start completely from scratch. If you are having troubles understanding the object oriented programming concept you can ask me questions by emailing me at Derek@homeschooldev.com.

Now lets start with the “.h” and “.m” files. Open up the “HelloWorldViewController.h” file by single clicking on the file. As you can see, the code is displayed in the window to the right. A “.h” (header) file is a basically a blue print to an object and a “.m” (implementation file) is where all the code is implemented and executed from. If you don’t understand this concept yet, that’s ok, we will come back to it…

MVC (Model View Controller) is something that is used when developing apps for iOS and Mac OS X. It is something that splits up the code and the actual interface that the user sees. Model, is the users data and the data you display to the user, View is what the user interfaces with and a controller is your code that manages the link between the view and the model. This concept may seem edgy now, but it will grow on you very quickly and makes the life of a programmer much easier and organized.

Lets get coding!

In the header file, “HelloWorldViewController.h”, we are going to declare an IBOutlet. An IBOutlet is what connects your code to a visual object, such as a label or a button.

3. Between the curly braces type “IBOutlet UILabel *label;” and outside the curly braces type “-(IBAction)button;”

An IBAction is a method (block of code) that can be called. An IBAction is recognized by the view and allows you to connect that specific method (block of code) to a UI item, such as a button so that the button will execute that block of code.

That’s all we need to do in the header file… Now lets start designing the interface.

4. Open the folder named “Resources” and double click the file named “HelloWorldViewController.xib”

View HTML Code of any Webpage with WinHtmlDump

If there is some website or a webpage that has attracted your attention and you wish to see its HTML code, then what you usually do? You go to file menu of the browser and select the View HTML code option.

Although this practice is not that bad, but there are better ways of doing the same thing. Here is a tool called WinHtmlDump that is specifically meant to serve this purpose. The tool is nothing but a core HTML code viewer that helps you to view the HTML code of anywebpage even without opening it.

The tool is a HTML web page viewer and you don’t even need to run the web browser to see the code of any web page. This program works with all versions of Windows. If your system is Windows XP or older, it requires the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 or higher. What’s more, the tool is free to use.

Download WinHtmlDump

Steps to Remove Chrome.exe Virus

One of our readers was facing the issues in his system due to this virus calledChrome.exe. Although it usually is a setup file that is used to install Chrome browser but this can be a virus file if found in other locations than expected.

How Chrome.exe virus affects

The worm is found to spread itself through online messengers and internet. It also emails some link to all the people in the contact list asking to click on the link thereby downloading the worm.

It also downloads other malware and it will also attempt to propagate via the means of creating copies of itself onto removable devices such as USB flash and hard drives.

Solution:

You should try the following steps to remove the virus from the system.

1. The first try to remove the virus is to perform a System Restore as this can work if your restore files are not yet infected.

2. Now if the first step doesn’t work, uninstall the chrome browser from the system and follow the steps below.

3. Boot the system in safe mode, kill the task of chrome.exe (if any) from the task manager and remove the chrome.exe (if any) from the startup list which you can see by typing msconfig in the Run box.

4. Now search for chrome.exe file in the Windows drive and delete any file found. We expect the file to be located at following locations

C:\Windows\chrome.exe
C:\Windows\system32\chrome.exe

5. Open registry editor (by typing regedit in Run box) and navigate to the following location
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

Ensure that the value of Shell key on right side is none other than Explorer.exe

6. Search for Chrome entry in the registry editor and delete if you find any.

Reboot to boot the system in normal mode. This should remove the virus for you.

WTF Desktop Environments: GNOME, KDE, and More Explained

You can customize nearly every last inch of your Linux installation to fit your liking, and it starts with choosing the right desktop environment. Whether you're a Linux beginner or you're just looking for a new interface, here's an overview of how desktop environments work and how to pick the right one for you.

Windows and Mac OS X come with pretty specific graphical interfaces (you know, the windows, the skin, the system toolbars, etc.) that aren't really built for customization. With Linux, you can fully customize not only how your desktop looks, but even its functionality, and the settings available in its preferences. If you're a beginning Linux user, you may have heard of popular desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, XFCE, Openbox, or others—but what do they all mean? Here, we'll discuss what desktop environments are, and how to try new ones out on your existing Linux installation.

What Are Window Managers and Desktop Environments?

While Windows and Mac OS X were designed around a GUI and, for the most part, are fixed to that specific GUI, Linux's GUI is completely separate from the operating system itself. It's split up into a few different parts: atop the command-line operating system is the X window system, which is what draws the GUI onto your screen. On top of that is what's called your window manager, which allows you to (surprise, surprise) manage the windows on your screen: move them around, drag and drop files, scroll up and down, and so on.

You can get a usable GUI with just a window manager, though it's fairly minimal. You usually won't have any panels, taskbars, or a ton of menus to work with, so there's a bit of a learning curve. It may work for low-powered machines, but more often, people use a window manager coupled with a desktop environment, which lets you choose between different taskbars or docks, customize the appearance of your system, and tweak settings through the GUI. Popular examples of desktop environments are GNOME (which comes bundled with a window manager called Metacity, though many others are available) and KDE (which comes with its own, KDE-specific KWin window manager).

Seem overwhelming? It's definitely a different experience than Windows and Mac OS X provide, where you just install the OS and go. What's really cool, though, is that because there are so many different desktop environments, you can fully customize your experience by finding the right one for you. That is, if you have, say, an older machine, you can run a window manager by itself, or find a less less resource-intensive desktop environment. On the other hand, if you want a window manager that gives you lots of eye candy or configurable options, you can do that too.

Note: While window managers and desktop environments are separate things, the purpose of this article is to show you the versatility you have in choosing your Linux desktop, which includes using both desktop environments and window managers on their own. To make this explainer easy to understand though, I'll be using the term "desktop environment" to mean desktop environment coupled with a window manager, or a window manager on its own.

Installing and Running a Desktop Environment

Desktop environments are separate from the operating system itself, so you have a lot of choices beyond what comes with your Linux distro. Here's what you need to know about experimenting with desktop environments.

Running Desktop Environments

The cool thing about desktop environments is that you can install more than one on the same machine, and pick which one you want to use each time you log in. Many of your settings will stick between different window managers (specifically, the ones built in to applications and the ones you've set at the command-line or config file level), while others will be reset (namely the ones related to managing your desktop, like window appearance or keyboard shortcuts).

Each desktop environment comes with a few essential programs of its own, too, so if you install more than one on the same machine, you'll notice that you have a few extras in your menu. GNOME, for example, uses Nautilus as its default file browser, while KDE uses Dolphin—so if you have both GNOME and KDE on your system, you'll see both file browsers in your menu, no matter which environment you're currently running. Furthermore, each desktop environment has its own apps that you can download from your distro's package manager: things like IM clients, mail clients, BitTorrent applications, and other things.

While you can generally use an app in any environment, most people choose to use apps specifically tailored to the environment they're using, because they'll have tighter integration with the desktop. For example, GNOME users prefer to use Pidgin as their IM client, while KDE users tend to use Kopete. That said, certain apps—Firefox, Chrome, and the GIMP come to mind—are designed with the GTK toolkit (upon which GNOME and XFCE are based), but are often used across other desktop environments, simply because they're the best at what they do. In the end, it's up to you—again, the biggest advantage of the way desktop environments work is that you can completely customize how you use your system.

Installing Desktop Environments

Certain Linux distributions come with default desktop environments. OpenSUSE, for example, uses KDE as its default desktop environment. Others, like my personal favorite Arch Linux, let you pick which desktop environment you want to use when you install it. Ubuntu's a bit special: while the default version is based on GNOME, it also has branded versions for other desktop environments, like Kubuntu (which uses KDE) and Xubuntu (which uses XFCE).

If you're running a distribution other than Ubuntu, you can just install another desktop environment using your package manager (e.g. by running pacman -S kde in Arch). The next time you log out, you'll be able to log into another desktop menu from a dropdown menu on the login window.

If you're running something like Ubuntu, which has a few different "branded" desktop environments available, there are a few different ways to try one out. Say you're running the default, GNOME-based version of Ubuntu, and you want to try out KDE. You can either install Kubuntu and get the Ubuntu-branded version of KDE (with a bunch of extra apps installed, like an IM client and a mail client), or you can just install KDE. Generally, I'd recommend installing the Ubuntu-branded versions in these cases, since they come with a bunch of apps designed specifically for that desktop environment and, like I said, you generally want to use apps that integrate well with your desktop.

What Desktop Environments Are Out There?

GNOME

GNOME is the most popular Linux desktop environment, and the one that most Ubuntu users are probably familiar with. It's fairly low on system resources and very simple to use, so it's great for new users of Linux—especially those that aren't super tech-savvy. Of course, that doesn't mean advanced users won't love GNOME. It has quite a few advanced settings that let you configure the environment to your liking. While I'm reluctant to compare its interface to other operating systems, since it's fairly unique, I'd have to say its combination of a menu bar at the top and the taskbar at the bottom make the interface slightly more Mac-like than Windows-like (especially if you're using Ubuntu's new Unity interface). Coupled with the popular Compiz window manager, you can add some pretty nice eye candy as well.

KDE

KDE is a bit more resource-heavy than GNOME, as well as a bit more complex. Instead of aiming to create an easy-to-use interface, it's more about always evolving and adding lots of functionality, whether it be for beginners or more hardcore geeks. It's probably the best looking environment around, and it has a very cool widget-based desktop built in to the environment. Its menus are set up very much like Windows, with one main menu located in the bottom left corner of the taskbar from which you launch apps and view settings. KDE actually has a ton of different configuration options available from this menu, but it's pretty hard to navigate, even if you're comfortable with computers and Linux in general (especially when the settings are part of the desktop widgets, which also manage everything you see in the taskbar). There are just so many different preference panes and settings that it can take awhile to figure out where the settings you want to tweak are located. It also has a few characteristics that will confuse new users—like the fact that dragging and dropping files always results in it asking you whether you'd like to move a file or copy a file—that you can't seem to change. If you're an advanced user looking for a lot of configuration options, KDE is a great choice—just know that there will be a learning curve, even if you're fairly tech-savvy.

XFCE

XFCE is designed to be very lightweight, without sacrificing usability. It's actually very similar to GNOME, so new users probably won't have too much trouble getting around. It isn't the prettiest, but if you have an old computer (or a low-powered machine like a netbook), this will make it run faster than any other operating system will (or than GNOME or KDE will, for that matter).

Window Managers

These are the three most popular desktop environments, but you have a lot of options available to you, including installing a window manager without a desktop environment. Installing a window manager on its own (like the popular Enlightenment, Fluxbox, or AwesomeWM window managers) will definitely be a different experience than using a full desktop environment. They often lack taskbars, panels, and obvious menus, so there's a pretty serious learning curve, but they're definitely the most lightweight way to add a GUI to your Linux machine. They're great for super low-powered machines, servers, or in other niche situations where you don't need a full desktop environment (I, for example, use Fluxbox on my home theater PC, since I need a window manager tolaunch video games from XBMC). It's not a route I'd recommend to most people for their main computer, but it's worth a mention for those looking for something completely different.

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This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what's out there and what you can do with different desktop environments, but we hope it's inspired you to branch out a bit and take a look at your other options. It's all about your personal preference (and the hardware you're running), so don't be afraid to experiment! If you've got a favorite window manager or desktop environment, be sure to tell us about it in the comments.