Ubuntu Will NOT Be Next

April 01, 2007 Add Comment

Ubuntu Will NOT Be Next



Xandros and Linspire recently followed Novell and drank the Koolaid. Possibly because those two are known for ease of use (like Ubuntu), possibly because Ubuntu is popular, there have been whispers that Ubuntu is next. Ubuntu is not next. The SABDFL has decided to clear up the rumours. Canonical is not talking to Microsoft about patent deals, except to say "no." Mark makes it clear that as long as Microsoft cannot substantiate any claims, there will be no negotiations. I suppose this means that if Microsoft were to tell us all what they want to have fixed, he'd be willing to work on clearing up the violations or, as I would like to see happen, work on stripping Microsoft of those patents (the stupid, obvious ones).

He goes on to say that he would like (as, I think, many of us would like) to see Microsoft's talk of interoperability become a reality. He suggests a few things, the gist of which involve Microsoft learning to conform to standards instead of making up their own. Not to burst his bubble, but the W3C has been trying that for years. Opera is still the most standards-compliant browser (despite lacking Microsoft's extensive resources), and Internet Explorer is still the least standards-compliant browser. They may have made an attempt to get closer to standards with IE7, but really, the thousands of programmers they have couldn't do it? The millions of dollars Microsoft has couldn't hire programmers who could do it? No, much more likely is that Microsoft considers standards-compliance to be very very low-priority. Vendor lock-in by making as many things proprietary as possible is a very high priority to them. Thats seems hard to achieve on a browser at first glance, but when you consider all of the sites which use broken code to display correctly on IE and end up breaking on Firefox, there end up being a lot of people who won't switch to good browsers because their favorite website uses bad code and "doesn't work" on standards-compliant browsers. Similarly, the harder they make it for OOo to open Microsoft Office documents, the harder it becomes for people to use OOo (unless everyone they know uses it too), and then the more copies of Microsoft Office they can sell.

Disk Maintenance

March 25, 2007 Add Comment

Disk Maintenance


Let's begin with a proactive approach to file system maintenance. What steps should an administrator take to help prevent file system problems from happening in the first place? Here are my seven golden rules on the subject, in no particular order:

1. Upgrade your servers to Windows Server 2003. There's real value in doing this as far as disk maintenance is concerned, for example:

* The chkdsk command in Windows Server 2003 runs a lot faster than the Windows 2000 version of this utility, plus it can fix things like a corrupt Master File Table (MFT) that the previous version of the utility would choke on.
* Powerful new command-line tools like DiskPart.exe, Fsutil.exe and Defrag.exe give you more flexibility for managing disks from the command-line instead of the GUI. These tools can be scripted to automate common disk management tasks you need to perform on a regular basis.
* The new Automated System Recovery (ASR) feature greatly simplifies the task of restoring your system/boot volume in the event of catastrophic disk failure.

2. Use hardware redundancy. RAID 1 disk mirroring lets you recover from catastrophic system volume failure with zero downtime, while RAID 5 is a great way of protecting your data volumes. Windows servers include support for built-in software RAID but you'll get better performance and true hot-swap redundancy by investing more money and buying a hardware RAID controller for your system instead. Don't forget though, keep a few spare drives handy so you can swap them during an emergency—redundancy is useless if you don't have the redundant hardware around to use it. Note that if you do choose to go with the software RAID provided by Windows, mirroring your boot and system volumes requires that these volumes be one and the same i.e. one volume is both your boot volume (contains operating system files) and your system volume (contains hardware-specific boot files).

3. Use a good antivirus program. Viruses can be nasty, and one of the things they can do when they infect a machine is to corrupt the Master Boot Record (MBR) and other critical portions of your hard drives. Not only should you have AV installed on your servers, you should also avoid risky behaviors such as running scripts from untrusted sources, browsing the web, and so on. These are just the kinds of behavior that can lead to infecting your system, so avoid doing things like this on your production servers.

4. Defragment your file systems on a regular basis. This is especially important on servers on which a high number of transactional operations occur as the file systems can quickly become fragmented, dragging down the performance of applications running on your server. To perform a successful defrag you should really have at least 15% free space left on your disk, so make sure you don't let critical system or data disks fill up too much or they'll be harder to maintain. The new command-line Defrag.exe tool of Windows Server 2003 is useful here since you can schedule regular running of this tool during off-hours using the Schtasks.exe command instead of having to defrag manually or buy a third-party defrag tool.

5. Run chkdsk /r on a regular basis. This command finds bad sectors on your disk and tries to fix them by recovering data from them and moving it elsewhere. You can run this command either from a command-prompt window or from the Recovery Console if you can't boot your system normally. Remember that when you try and run chkdsk.exe on your system or boot volume, Windows configures autochk.exe (the boot version of chkdsk.exe) to run at your next reboot. This means you'll need to schedule downtime for your server when you perform this kind of maintenance so that autochk.exe can run.

6. Check your event logs regularly for any disk-related events. Windows sometimes determines on its own when a disk is "dirty" i.e. there are file system errors present on it. In that case, Windows automatically schedules autochk.exe to run at the next reboot, but it also writes an event to the Application log using either the source name "Chkdsk" or "Winlogon". So filter your Application log to view these kinds of events on a regular basis or collect them using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) or whatever other systems management tool you use on your network.

7. Back up all your volumes regularly. As a last recourse in the event of a disaster, having working backups of both your system/boot volume and data volumes is critical. ASR in Windows Server 2003 makes backing up the boot/system volume easier, while backing up your data volumes can be done using the Windows Backup (ntbackup.exe) tool or any other backup tool such as one from a third-party vendor. Whatever way you choose to back up your system, do it regularly and verify your backups to ensure you can recover your system using them.


8. (the Platinum rule) If your disk starts to make funny sounds, don't ignore them—do something. Disk failure is often preceded by funny sounds emanating from your computer. These clicking, scraping, screeching, or other types of sounds mean trouble, so when you hear them it's time to make sure you've got a recent backup and a spare disk handy just in case. And it's also time to check your event logs, run chkdsk –r, and use other maintenance and troubleshooting tools to check the health of your disks. Don't ignore these funny sounds! 

You Ever tried to rename Your Recycle Bin

March 21, 2007 Add Comment

You Ever tried to rename Your Recycle Bin


Hey Guys just follow these simple steps and change the name of your Recycle Bin(where temporarily deleted files are stored)


  • Go to 'start' menu and Choose 'Run' command.
  • Type 'regedit' (without inverted commas). U will see Registry Editor  Window on Ur Screen. 
  • Now, On the Left Hand Side of the Window you'll see a Tree of folders Just Double Click on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER folder>Now in the new folder Tree DoubleClick on the 'Software' folder > then Double Click on 'Microsoft' folder>'Windows' folder>'Current Version' folder>'Explorer' folder>'CLSID' folder.
  • Now, You will see a Tree of 3 or 4 folder(don't worry about the no. of folders). Just Click on the folder : '{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}'.
  • Finally, after Clicking on '{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}' folder Go to the Right Hand Side of the Same window and Double Click On the Default Option and Write in the name You want for Your Recycle Bin e.g. :- Trash #. Click O.K. button. Go to Your Desktop and Refresh the Desktop and See the magic. Your Recycle Bin has been Renamed.

Windows Shortcuts

February 22, 2007 Add Comment

Windows Shortcuts


Logo+BREAK (Display the System Properties dialog box)
WindowsLogo+D (Display the desktop)
Windows Logo+M (Minimize all of the windows)
Windows Logo+SHIFT+M (Restore the minimized windows)
Windows Logo+E (Open My Computer)


CTRL+C (Copy)
CTRL+X (Cut)
CTRL+V (Paste)
CTRL+Z (Undo)
DELETE (Delete)
SHIFT+DELETE
(Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)
CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)
F2 key (Rename the selected item)
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word) CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word) CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)


CTRL+A (Select all)
F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)
ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)
ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)
ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)
CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)
ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)
ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)
F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)
F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)
SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)
ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)

Windows Logo+U (Open Utility Manager) Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts
Right SHIFT for eight seconds (Switch FilterKeys either on or off)
Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (Switch High Contrast either on or off)
Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK (Switch the MouseKeys either on or off)
SHIFT five times (Switch the StickyKeys either on or off)
NUM LOCK for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys either on or off)
Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager) Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
END (Display the bottom of the active window)
HOME (Display the top of the active window)
NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) (Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder)
NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) (Display the contents of the selected folder)
NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) (Collapse the selected folder)

Do you know this Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

February 10, 2007 Add Comment

Do you know this Windows Keyboard Shortcuts



In my training practice one of the biggest complaints we get is our persistence in requiring our students to know their shortcuts and to practice in class using the keyboards. To become truly effective and productive in using any of the Microsoft Office Applications you must know the shortcuts.

See, what many people don’t realise is that if you rely on using the mouse only, you waste an incredible amount of time because each time you want to use the mouse, you must first stop. Take your hands off the keyboard. You then go to the mouse and then use it. You stop using the mouse and then go back to the keyboard and keep typing. If you do this you will find that you are only 20% effective compared to somebody who uses the keyboard only.

Why? Well, it is quite simple. All the time spent moving from the mouse to the keyboard is lost time or non-productive time, so people who use the shortcut keystrokes exclusively will often be five times more effective then somebody who doesn’t because they don’t have that lost time moving from the keyboard to the mouse and back again.

In some jobs, like call centres you will find that knowing your shortcut keystrokes compared to not knowing them can mean the difference between keeping your job or not. I have noticed in many telecommunications call centres throughout Australia and overseas they are now converting their systems to windows based software. What they have also done in these jobs is set some key performance standards that are really quite amazing. For example one telco I know of, in their faults departments, require that all fault calls be actioned and concluded from the moment they take the call to the finish of the call within 3 – 5 minutes. This is an awesome requirement and many of the call centre staff who were not familiar with the shortcut keystrokes found their jobs were in jeopardy simply because they couldn’t get all the data into the system within the allotted time frame. Essentially it was found as I mentioned before that those people who were reliant on the mouse were only 20% as effective as those who used the keyboard exclusively.

So … What Shortcut Keystrokes Should I Know?
This is a challenging question as many of the common applications we use in today’s market place have different shortcut keystrokes. One thing I have learnt since my wife won an Apple computer is that many of the shortcut keystrokes we use in windows don’t correlate to other operating systems, but also in the same breath. Many Do!

Some of the most common keystrokes we do have in Microsoft Office are these

[Ctrl] + [N] – New Document
[Ctrl] + [O] – Open Document
[Ctrl] + [P] – Print Document
[Ctrl] + [S] – Save Document
[F7] – Spell Check
[Ctrl] + [X] – Cut
[Ctrl] + [C] – Copy
[Ctrl] + [V] - Paste
[Ctrl] + [F] – Find
[Ctrl] + [H] – Replace
[Ctrl] + [K] – Insert Hyperlink

What you will find is that the shortcuts I presented are the most common ones are the same regardless of which Microsoft Office Application you are working with.

One of the other things you will notice is that in many of the Microsoft Office Applications some of the shortcut keystrokes are similar.

For example in Microsoft Word to get to the start of the line you can press the [Home] key, to get to the end of the line you press the [End] Key. In Microsoft Excel to get to the start of the row you press the [Home] Key, to get to the end of your data you simply press the [End] Key. There are even similarities with other Microsoft Office Applications like Microsoft Access. In a table in Microsoft Access, to get to the first field of a record you press the [Home] key and to get to the end of the record you press the [End] key.

These similar shortcut keystrokes also apply in other non-Microsoft office Applications. For example if you are writing an email in Microsoft Outlook Express. You can get to the start of the line by choosing the [Home] key and you can get to the end of the line by using the [End]
The really cool part about many of the applications that run on Microsoft Windows is that the software development guru’s have maintained which shortcuts are used to do certain functions which means we users have a much easier time of it, learning the shortcut keystrokes.
Some of the more common shortcuts for moving the Insertion Point in Microsoft Office are –

[Home] – Moves to the start of the line
[End] – Moves to the end of the line
[Ctrl] + [Home] – Moves to the First Character first line of the document
[Ctrl] + [End] – Moves to the Last Character last line of the document
[Ctrl] + [Left Arrow] – Moves one word to the left
[Ctrl] + [Right Arrow] – Moves one word to the right
[Page Up] – Move up by one screen
[Page Down] – Move down by one screen

Learning the shortcut keystrokes for the Microsoft Office Application Suite should be mandatory for any computer training course. If you don’t know these keystrokes you will never be as effective as someone who has. Often when you go to job interviews or to recruitment agencies they will test you to see if you know these using systems like those from Self-Test Software. Many a time, I have heard stories where people have missed out on job opportunities simply because they were too slow during testing at the recruitment agencies.
The bottom line is this, if you want to be more effective in using the computer you must learn your shortcuts. If you know them, passing certification exams like the Microsoft Office Specialist program will be much easier as well.

Windows XP - Clean booting Troubles

January 15, 2007 Add Comment
If your computer does not want to start normally or is giving you errors that you cannot diagnose then Windows XP has a feature to help troubleshoot these issues when you start your computer. This process is known as clean booting. This will start the computer with a minimum amount of processes to allow you to better troubleshoot your problem.

Be warned that after you follow the instructions for a clean boot, you may lose some functionality of your computer. When you restore the settings, you will restore the functionality, but you may receive the same error message or encounter the same problem.
Here are the steps to perform a clean boot in Windows XP

Make sure you are logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group.

1. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig, and click Ok.

2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then clear the Process System.ini File, Process Win.ini File, and Load Startup Items check boxes. You won’t be able to clear the Use Original Boot.ini check box.

3. On the Services tab, select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.

4. Click OK, and then click Restart to restart your computer.

5. After Windows starts, check to see if you still have the same problem or error.

Run msconfig again and check the General tab to make sure that the check boxes that you cleared are still cleared. Continue to step 6 if none of the check boxes are selected. If the Load System Services check box is the only disabled check box, your computer is not clean booted. If additional check boxes are disabled and the issue is not resolved, you may require help from the manufacturer of the program that places a check mark back in Msconfig.

If none of the check boxes are selected, and the issue is not resolved, you may have to repeat steps 1 through 5, but you may also have to clear the Load System Services check box on the General tab. This temporarily disables Microsoft services and permanently deletes all system restore points. Do not do this if you want to retain your restore points for System Restore or if you must use a Microsoft service to test the issue.

6. Click Start, click Run, type msconfig and then click Ok.

7. On the General tab, select the Process System.ini File check box, click Ok, and then click Restart to reboot your computer. If the issue continues, the issue is with an entry in your System.ini file. If the issue does not continue, repeat this step for the Process Win.ini File, Load Startup Items, and Load System Services check boxes until the issue occurs. After the issue occurs, the last item that you selected is the item where the issue is occurring.

Note Microsoft strongly recommends that you do not use System Configuration Utility to modify the Boot.ini file on your computer. Doing so may make your computer unusable.



Manual steps to start the Windows Installer service if needed

The Windows Installer service does not start if you disable Load System Services. To use Windows Installer in this case, you need to start the Windows Installer service manually.

1. Click Start, Run and then type services.msc and click Ok.

2. Right click Windows Installer, and then click Start.

If you run a Setup program without manually starting the Windows Installer, you may receive the following error message:
The Windows Installer service could not be accessed. Contact your support personnel to verify that the windows Installer service is properly registered.

Manual steps to return from a clean boot state

1. Click on Start, Run and type msconfig and then click Ok.

2. On the General tab, click Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services.

3. Click OK, and then click Restart when you are prompted to restart your computer. 

CakePHP Routing

December 08, 2006 Add Comment
CakePHP Routing 


I'm currently playing around a bit more with CakePHP. I'm rewriting our CMS system based on the CakePHP framework. It's a great learning exercise because you constantly have to deal with real life problems!

Just now I was wondering about the url structure of the website. The CMS has two different "areas" designed for two different end users. First there is the site itself (displayed to the visitor of the website) and second there is the CMS administration panel. Because I started designing the system from the administration panel's perspective, I soon discovered that thát part of the website was going to be accessed at the root (/). This of course isn't a logical structure, as it would require the pages the visitors visit to have a prefix or something.. So I looked into CakePHP's routing system and came up with some solutions to my problem.

First of all, there is CakePHP's CAKE_ADMIN config setting. This is a routing solution that allows a function called: index() in controller: users to be accessed like this: /admin/users/index. All you need to do is rename the method to: admin_index() and set the CAKE_ADMIN variable to 'admin'. This seemed like a nice solution, but frankly it wasn't. You can still access the controller without the /admin/ prefix, but it will then give out errors (view for admin_index() could not be found). So I went to play a bit more, and found out the following:



  • You can easily reconstruct Cake's default routing (i.e.: /controller/action/param1/param2/...) by using the following route: $Route->connect('/:controller/:action/*', array());

  • The order in which routes are set matter: if one route is successful, Cake will not bother to look at the rest of the routes.So I designed my own /admin/ prefix, like so: $Route->connect('/admin/:controller/:action/*', array());


Then by changing the default route (for '/') to the following line:
$Route->connect('/:page/*', array('controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'output'));

I can have nice page structures, which are rerouted to /posts/output... Using this structure /posts/output knows which page to load by looking at $this->params['page'] (:page is a custom parameter!). Even better, secondary parameters are still passed (thanks to the trailing /*)!

Since CakePHP uses ordering in the routing, it stops routing after a route was successful. So if you place the /admin/ route above the /:page/* route, administration should be fine!
Also, you might want /admin/ to be accessible without passing on controller/action, etc. (i.e. you would end up at the start page for the administration panel). To do this, include the following route (place it at the top):
$Route->connect('/admin*', array('controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'index', 'page'));

This will reroute a request to /admin to a default routing location (for me: /posts/index/page)

What I find strange is the fact that the above route doesn't stop Cake from looking on (it will still find the more elabore one; /admin/:controller/:action/*). This is possibly because of the trailing Asterix (*)?

You can of course use these techniques to set up different "areas" for your website (while physically all files are located in the same Cake folder). For instance you could have the following areas:
/blog/
/shop/
/customer_service/

simply by setting up your routings properly.

Please note the 'standard' routing variables:
/somedir/:controller/:action

Here: :controller sets the controller Cake will use and :action sets the action that will be invoked. Furthermore you can set custom parameters with this:
/blog/:page
Now the value for page will be available by using: $this->params['page'].
By the way, other parameters are available in the following array: $this->params['pass']!

Increase Your Google Page Rank: SEO tips

December 06, 2006 1 Comment

Increase Your Google Page Rank: SEO tips


Google Page rank is based on back links. Back links are Links pointing to your website from another website. The more back links you have the higher your PR will be.

1. Join forums, forums are a great way to achieve links to your website. In most forums you are allowed to have a signature and in your signature you can put a link to your website. But another important note to look on is making sure the forum is somewhat related to your website. You will still get credit if it's not, but if it's related to your website than you will be accomplishing two tasks at once.

You will be advertising for your website (bringing in targeted traffic) You will also be building your websites presence.

Your websites presence is very important to your survival. The more people see, or hear about your website the more credibility you will have and this increases your chances of having these visitors come back and possibly become leads.

2. Submit to search engine directories. Search engine directories are a good way to get a free link to your website. They also increase your chances at being listed higher on popular search engines like Google, and overture.

Most search engine directories allow you to submit to their website for free. This will allow you to increase your web presence by being listed on another search engine, and it will also be a free link.

Remember the more links you have the higher your PR will be

3. Using ezine ads (or newsletters). Creating an ezine will probably be the most beneficial step you can take to increasing your web presence. When you create an ezine you will be able to keep visitors coming back to your website for more by using signatures and giving special deals.

Ezine's will also allow you to increase your back links. By creating an ezine you can submit your information about your ezine to an ezine directory. This directory will than link to your website(thus giving you a free link).

4. Creating and publishing articles. Articles are an easy source of generating new traffic. You can include your signature in your article. This will bring in more traffic from article submission directories.

Your signature usually consists of 4 to 8 lines. Usually the first line would be the title of the website that you are trying to advertise. The last line would be the link to the website and the lines in between these would be a sales pitch to draw your viewers into your website. 

5. Links from related websites. Gaining links from related websites can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can attempt. 

They are very easy to find, but can be somewhat difficult to obtain links from.

To find related websites, all you have to do is go to a search engine... say Google... and type in your subject. Maybe your website is based on ford mustangs. 

You go to Google and type in ford mustangs, than you look around for pages that are somewhat related to your website. After you have done this (which should be very easy) you have to contact them in some way to get your link posted on their website. This can be the most difficult task because a lot of webmasters ignore e-mail's from people requesting links because they don't see the importance of it at the time. Some other reasons could be that they are rarely online, or they delete spam mail and sometimes delete their important emails in the process.

Important note: When looking for link partners don't just link with websites that have a page rank of 4 or higher. Link with anyone and everyone you get a chance to. If you link to someone that has a page rank of zero, this will not hurt your page rank. It will only increase it because you are getting a link back to your website. Google doesn't look at your back links page ranks to determine what yours is going to be. It simply looks at how many back links you have. 

So if Google one day decided to link to a website that was just created and this website has a page rank of 0 and has a domain that goes something like this: mywebsite.geocities.com it's page rank wouldn't increase even though Google's page rank is 10, it's rank would still be zero because it would only have that one back link.

Microsoft Word Helpful tips

December 05, 2006 Add Comment

Microsoft Word Helpful tips




Evidently the chap who said there are no shortcuts to any place worth going was not a practical sort of fellow. Quite unlike us who dote on the shortest route to success with application like MS Word.

Our series on making you an expert at Microsoft Word continues with more tips and tricks for the world’s most ubiquitous word processing application.

Formatting Killer

Want to kill all formatting in Word doc? Select the whole document by pressing Ctrl+A, or select just a portion of the document that you want to remove formatting from, And simply press Ctrl+Shift+N.

Password Protection

To prevent all and sundry from opening sensitive Word document, open the file you want to protect. Select Tools > Option and click on the Security tab. Against the “Password to open” box, type in your password and click on the OK. In the “Reenter password to open” box, key in the password again. Click on the OK. If you want a more than 15-character password, hit the ‘Advanced’ button and select RC4 encryption. Remember, these passwords are case-sensitive. And just ensure that you never forget the password…

Professor Calculus Here!

If you need to do a lot of calculation in Word, do not flap your arms around looking for a calculator, or sit around sighting with pencil and paper. Use Word’s calculator. First add the Tools Calculate button to your Word toolbar. Click on the Tools in the Word menu. Or right-click on the toolbar. Then click on Customize. In the Commands tab, find Tools in the left pane (Categories) and click on it. Next, in the right pane (Commands), scroll down the tool calculate, click on it and drag it to your Word menu, placing it between the existing icons. Releasing the mouse button creates the toolbar button. Close to the Customize dialog box. Now for calculations in your Word doc, select the numbers you want to add/subtract/multiply etc. and click the Tools Calculate button. You will see the total in the status bar below.

Where's that file?

Want Word to remember more than just five of your recent documents that appear that the bottom of the file drop down menu? Select Tools > Options, and click on the General tab. Next to the text “Recently used file list”, key in 9. Click on OK.

Need for Speed

If you have a slow PC, navigating and editing complex Word docs can be a real drag. To speed up the display, you can choose view your document in a draft font. This really speeds up screen rendering by hiding all complex screen formatting while retaining all the content intact.
For this, go to Tools > Option and select the view tab. Here, check the “Draft Font” box to enable it and click on OK. Then in the Word menu, click on View >Normal. Now you entire document will appears in a draft font with basic formatting like bold, italic, or underlined text. The change is only in the onscreen appearance of the document; the original formatting of the document is retained.

Table Magic

You can easily create a table in Word 2003 without clicking and editing data in each and every cell. To do this you need to key in you table data in a ‘comma-delimited format’. And that means something as simple as this:
Antenorio, 101
Tina Hancock, 95
Tara, 94
Smith , 76
John, 89

Highlight this text. In the Word menu go to Table > Insert >Table. That’s it. You can also work on its appearance via the Table > Table Auto format command to apply various style, or edit the table’s display properties manually.

WordPress Plugin: show Google Analytics & FeedBurner Reports Statistics

December 01, 2006 Add Comment

WordPress Plugin: show Google Analytics & FeedBurner Reports Statistics



If you’re using WordPress as your blogging platform, and also use Google Analytics to track web traffic statistics reporting and tracking tool, and FeedBurner to manage your web feeds and track the feed stats and syndicated traffic, then you will like the Google Analytics and Feedburner Reports plugin for WordPress. The plug-in allows WordPress users to easily view the Google Analytics and Feedburner website traffic reports, both are popular third-party web analytics and traffic tracking tools, from WordPress administration area by adding a top-level Reports tab.

At the Reports tab, WordPress users will be able to view 7 day overview of important web traffic statistics, including daily page views  daily unique visits, daily circumlocution  referrers, and etc. Other features include:

Provides a birds-eye view of what’s going on with your site.
Retrieves data from Google Analytics and Feedburner.
Reports are represented visually with graphs.
Choose the reports you want to view.
Ability to automatically install the Google Analytics tracking code for you, along with optional outbound link tracking.