How to add a speaking welcome message to your computer?

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Have you ever wanted to hear a welcoming voice from your computer when you log into it just like you see in the movies? Would not it be cool if your computer welcomes you in a beautiful voice whenever you log in to your PC? Yes, absolutely. I also like to have fun with the small tweaks in my PC. So how will you make this happen? 
Add speaking welcome message on startup
How your computer will speak? Well, I will show you a small trick using which you can make your computer welcome you at the start up. We will use a simple vb script to do this thing. Let me tell you that, this trick will be applied only on Windows computers, i.e. running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems. Unfortunately this will not work on machines running a Linux flavor. So, let’s move on with the tutorial.
Method I : Downloading the small .vbs file.
·         I have created one vb script file which is ready for you. You can download the .vbs file from here.
·         After downloading, locate the downloaded file and open it with Notepad by right clicking on it and selecting Open With > Notepad.
·         You have to do a minor change in the script
·         Replace the text “Welcome message” with your desired welcome message like Hello or Good morning or Good day or anything you want to hear from your computer and in place of “YourName”, write your real name and save the file.
Alternative Way : Creating your own .vbs file.
1.       Open any text editor like Notepad, Wordpad or Notepad++.
2.       Copy and Paste the following code to your text editor.

Dim message, talk
message="Welcome Message, YourName"
Set talk=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
talk.Speak message



3
.       Save the file by clicking on File>Save as  . Give any name in File Name and select All Files(*.*) in Save as Type tab. Give a .vbs extension to the file. E.g. Welcome.vbs.
Now your primary work is complete. Now you have to place the file you have just created to its appropriate place. If you are using a Windows XP operating system, then navigate to the path : C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup  or if you are using a Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating system then navigate to
C:\Users\ YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.  I am assuming that C is your system drive. If not, then replace C with your system drive letter and replace ‘YourUserName’ with your computer user name. Copy and paste the file you have downloaded or you have just created. Now you are done. The next time you start your PC, it will welcome you with its mechanical female voice along with your name. To check, you can reboot your computer.
For best result, you can change the sound scheme of your computer to ‘No Sounds’. To do so, follow these things:
If you are using a Windows XP system:
*      Go to Control Panel.
*      Switch to Classic View.
*      Click on Sound and Audio Devices.
*      Click on the Sounds tab.
*      In the Sound Scheme option, select ‘No Sound’.
*      Click Ok to save.
If you are using a Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC:
*      Go to Control Panel.
*      Click on Hardware and Sound.
*      Then Click on Sound. Another window opens.
*      Click on Sounds tab.
*      Select ‘No Sounds’ from Sound Scheme option.
*      Apply and press Ok.


You are done. Enjoy.
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How to install Windows executable softwares on Linux, Mac or Solaris

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Do you really miss your windows softwares when you are working on a Linux box or a Mac?
Use Windows Software in Linux Do you wish you could use your Windows softwares like right from your Linux operating system? In general, Linux, Solaris, Mac and Windows all use different software architecture; so we cannot run Windows softwares on Linux or Linux software packages on Windows systems. But is there any way to use Windows executable softwares from Linux? The answer is definitely positive. You can run Windows softwares on Linux systems too. But to do so, you have to install another software program named Wine on your Linux box. I am operating on a Windows 7 and Ubuntu dual boot PC. Sometimes when I'm using Ubuntu, I want to run some Windows program right from Ubuntu without switching back to Windows. Wine falicitates the purpose very well. I will describe the process of installing and using Wine in simple words in this short tutorial.

What you need to have to run Windows programs on Linux?
You will have to install WineHQ on your Linux system as a prerequisite to run Windows programs. After installing Wine, you will be able to run Windows applications on other Operating Systems like Linux, Solaris or Mac.
What actually is Wine?
Wine is basically a software program which provides facility to run Windows applications right from your Linux system or other operating systems you are using. Are you a web author and miss your image authoring program Adobe Photoshop while using Linux? Well, Wine will perfectly fulfill your requirement and you will be able to run such popular windows applications like Adobe Photoshop, games like Far Cry etc. To know more about wine, you can go to the WineHQ program’s official website http://www.winehq.org.
How do I install Wine on my Linux system?
To install Wine, first download the latest stable release version of WineHQ program, or alternatively you can try installing the developer release version. To download the latest stable version of Wine, click here. To download the developer preview version click here. To select the version of your Wine installation program, visit Wine website clicking here. After downloading the installation package, extract the archive and make build and install it to your system. If you are an Ubuntu Linux user, then open the terminal and type the following:
 sudo apt-get install wine
 Enter your password if asked to, and then the installation will start automatically; and you do not need to download and install the program. You will be asked if you want to proceed, press y to proceed. You have to accept the EULA (End User License Agreement) that appears during the installation process. Press the arrow key and proceed to the finish line of the EULA and press on Accept. Your installation of Wine will be finished in a few minutes. The same process as Ubuntu will be applied to LinuxMint and other Debian based Linux flavors. To install on other versions of Linux box, download the installation package from Wine website and do the following:
a.Extract the installation package using your archive manager, and copy the extracted folder to your home folder.
b.Open the terminal and change your current directory to your home folder using the cd command.
c.Make and Install the package you have just extracted.


I have installed Wine on my Linux system. Now how I install Windows programs on it?
After installing Wine on your system, you will be eager to install and use Windows programs on it. To install any Windows program on your Wine installed machine, first download the Windows software and copy it to your Home directory. Open the terminal and type the following:
Wine
For example, if you want to install Google Chrome on wine, type 'Wine ChromeSetup.exe' without quote.

What softwares does Wine supports?
Wine supports a large number of windows applications to be run on its environment. For the full list of softwares you can run on Wine, visit the wine website or go directly clicking here.

It is showing failure installing applications. What should I do?

Wine may fail to install any windows application because of incompatibility or  incorrect architecture of your operating system; i.e. If you are using a 64 bit version of Linux and trying to install a 32 bit version of Windows application, then this is not going to work. Check the compatibility list of softwares and download the correct version. Enjoy the great experience of using Windows program right from Linux. 
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How to recover Linux After Installing Windows (Linux-Windows Dual Boot) :: The easiest way

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Have you experienced the problem with booting your computer with dual copy of Linux and Windows? This is a common problem in a Windows-Linux dual boot PC. If somehow you need to re-install your Windows version, then the Linux partition disappeared. You can bring your Linux back easily. Just follow this article.

May be you had two operating systems installed in your PC, one Linux and the other is
Recover Linux After installing Windows
Windows and somehow you need to reinstall your Windows copy. After reinstalling Windows, the previous GRUB is rewritten and now your Linux system is not shown in your boot menu. Well I have also faced this problem and tried to get rid of the same and searched the net for a solution. Most likely you are not interested in formatting your Linux system and reinstalling it, because that will erase all your necessary documents and files from the Linux partition. So what to do? You want both Windows and your Linux on the same computer and you want your previous Linux installation back into work. Here I will show you some tips to get your Linux operating system back along with Windows.
If you search on the web how to recover Linux after installing Windows, most of the techies will tell you to start doing it in the terminal way writing commands in the terminal. But of course there is easier way to do this. If you are not so technically sound or do not want to remember the long commands that you need to type, then go ahead, I’m going to tell you the easiest way to get back to your Linux installation.
I’m using Ubuntu Linux and will describe the recovery process considering Ubuntu OS, but this should work on most of the Linux flavors. Here we go.
1.       Get a copy of Boot Repair CD. To download the ISO image, click here.
2.       Burn the ISO image into a CD or make your USB flash drive bootable with this ISO. To make a flash/pen drive bootable, you need to burn the ISO into it with softwares like Linux Live USB Creator (Get it from Here) or Universal USB Installer (Get it from Here). If you need help getting your flash drive bootable, please check this Hub: How to use your flash drive to try Linux without installing or install Linux from USB flash drive.
3.       Now boot with the Boot repair CD or your flash drive selecting appropriate boot device.
4.       After booting into your new OS, you will see Boot repair running. Select Recommended Recovery option. After successful recovery, reboot your computer and there you will see the list of operating systems you previously had, in the boot menu.
  There is another option to recover Linux system if you don’t want to try the above described option. This is how you will do this:
First you need to have a live copy of your Linux CD. If you do not have one, then download one from the web and burn it to a CD. Alternatively, you can make a live flash drive or pen drive using the live CD. To make flash drive bootable, see above description.
After getting the Linux distribution and equipped with your live version of it, you are ready to go. Boot into Linux using your live CD or flash drive. Then install Boot Repair typing the following commands to the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install boot-repair

or type this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair


after getting installed, click on recommended recovery option and it will recover your previous boot options. Reboot your computer and see in your own.    
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If Facebook is not working properly on Google Chrome : How to solve it?


This is a common problem with Google Chrome users. Sometimes when I try to run facebook on Google Chrome, it does not load correctly. Only a cached page appears and nothing is displayed in its original position. Sometimes I do not see comments or likes against posts.
only the posts appear and Likes and comments disappeared. Sometimes the comment box or Like button does not work. I press Like button for million times, but it does not show up. Facebook simply goes out of control. This is simply irritating. I have some simple steps to solve such problems with clearing the browser cache. If Facebook is not working properly on Google Chrome, such as the messenger is not working, you can not post or comment on status', or if you cannot get into your inbox,follow these simple steps and it should certainly fix your problem.
1. Click on the wrench on the top right corner of your browser (after the address bar. You may see it as three parralel lines also).
2. Click Settings. 
3. Scroll below and click on 'Show advanced settings' link.
4. Under Privacy, Click on 'Clear Browser Data'.
5. Select 'the beginning of time' and Clear Browsing data. Check all the options given there. This will clear all your browsing history and cookies from the beginning of time you are using Google Chrome.
6. Now Close the tab and Open Facebook. log into your facebook account. Now it should work properly. See it yourself. 

If you are using older version of Goolge chrome browser, them you should follow these steps:
1. Click on the wrench on the top right corner.
2. Click on Options.
3. Click Under The Hood on the left sidebar.
4. Click Clear Browsing Data
5. Choose "Beginning Of Time" and make sure to check "Empty The Cache" and "Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data". Then click Clear Browsing Data. This will troubleshoot your problem.
If you are using Mozila Firefox and getting problem in browsing facebook, then you have a solution here. When you see the green task bar above and nothing is displayed in firefox, then just Zoom in and Zoom out will solve the problem. Simply Zoom in and Zoom out your browser until you have facebook displayed properly. To do so Press Ctrl and hit + to Zoom in and Ctrl and - to Zoom out your browser. Try it. This should solve the problem. Enjoy facebooking.
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How to make a bootable Windows 8 DVD on Ubuntu Linux

This article is about:
How to make a bootable Windows 8 DVD on Ubuntu Linux
Perhaps burning a disk into a portable USB device is quite easy for you. You might have done this work for quite some times to count. However, most of us don't know how to do this in a Ubuntu or Linux environment. USB flash bootable disk writing utility like UnetBootin or Universal USB Creator or Linux Live Creator are common examples, using which you can burn a bootable disk of any Linux distribution to a USB key. Using a USB flash drive to install a operating system is useful in many dimensions. It helps you easily install an operating system to your computer if you don't have a CD/DVD ROM drive or if it is not working at all. It saves you money of buying DVDs. You can try almost all modern operating system distributions without installing to your hard drive right from a USB key installation. Using a program like Unetbootin or others I have mentioned above , we can create live installation media so easily. Unetbootin is also available for Linux, that means you can burn your USB key with live installation media from Linux environment too. But when you try to create a live installation Flash drive with the above mentioned tools, they will not be of any help. I use a laptop running Windows and Ubuntu 12.04 in a dual boot mode. But some days back, somehow my Windows installation got crashed and I had to reinstall it. When I looked for a solution to burn the ISO image of Windows operating system to a USB flash drive from Ubuntu, I could do nothing with the available tools. However i found one small beautiful tool to burn Windows ISO files to USB key right from Linux. I easily burnt the Windows 8 ISO file to my USB flash drive and installed to my laptop and within half an hour, i got back my Windows 8 system. I am going to explain here how you can create a live USB flash installer for Windows 8 using Ubuntu Linux. You need to download and install one small program called WinUSB to achieve this task. Just follow the below mentioned steps:   


1. Open terminal (you can use shortcut: by pressing Ctrl+alt+t). Add this repository first:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:colingille/freshlight

2. Get your system updated:

sudo apt-get update

3. Install WinUSB using the following command:

sudo apt-get install winusb

Now, WinUSB has two mode of operation. you can burn your Windows 8 ISO image or Windows 7 ISO from the terminal itself using WinUSB or you may use the graphical method. To do this from the terminal, run this command to format the USB key first:

sudo winusb --format <iso path> <device path>

where <iso path> should be replaced with your actual ISO images path and <device path> should be replaced with your USB device path.

When the USB device is formatted, using the above method, install a Windows partition and edit the Master Boot Record. Run this command:

sudo winusb --install <iso path> <partition>

The above method of installing from Terminal works fine but you may also use the graphical method since WinUSB has a graphical user interface. Yo do so, follow these steps:

1. From the Unity panel(Windows key) search 'WinUSB' and click on the WinUSB program icon to launch.

2. Select the ISO image of Windows 8 / Windows 7 from your hard drive location clicking the browse button on 
'From a disk image(iso):' option.
3. Select the target USB flash device on 'Target device' area.

4. then click on 'Install'. You are done in a few minutes when the program installs Windows 8/ Windows 7 to your USB drive.
Now reboot your system and boot from your USB key to install Windows. That's it. Good luck.  
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10 Security Enhancement for Windows You should Adhere

Here's another copy-paste article. I'm sharing it because it is really informative.


1. Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly (_http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates); have your Office CD ready. Windows Me, 2000, and XP users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options.

2. Install a personal firewall. Both SyGate (_www.sygate.com) and ZoneAlarm (_www.zonelabs.com) offer free versions.


3. Install a free spyware blocker. Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy (_http://security.kolla.de). SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies.

4. Block pop-up spam messages in Windows NT, 2000, or XP by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.

5. Use strong passwords and change them periodically. Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would be f8izKro@l. This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.

6. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous vulnerabilities.

7. Buy antivirus software and keep it up to date. If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition (Grisoft Inc., w*w.grisoft.com). And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at w*w.pandasoftware.com/activescan and _http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

8. If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.

9. Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security Supersite at _http://security.ziffdavis.com, so that you learn about emerging threats quickly and can take proper precautions.

10. Be skeptical of things on the Internet. Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person. Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support." 

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Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Media Player 12





Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 7


Here is a list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows Media Player which will provide ease of use to you.

Shortcut
Action
State
Ctrl + 1
Switches to library mode
From any mode
Ctrl + 2
Switches to skin mode
From any mode
Ctrl + 3
Switches to player mode
From any mode except full screen
Ctrl + 7
Add to Play
In library mode
Ctrl + 8
Add to Burn
In library mode
Ctrl + 9
Add to Sync
In library mode
Ctrl + A
Selects everything in a list
In the library or list
Ctrl + B
Previous (Item or Chapter)
With content playing
Ctrl + E
Focus on Search text box and switch to library mode if not there
Ctrl + F
Next (Item or Chapter)
With content playing
Ctrl + H
Turn on/off shuffle mode
Ctrl + J
Eject
In any mode
Ctrl + M
Toggle menu bar in library
In any mode
Ctrl + N
Create playlist
In library mode
Ctrl + O
Shows Open Dialog
In any mode
Ctrl + P
Play/Pause Toggle
With content queued up
Ctrl + Q
Adds selected track to open list
Default is Play list
Ctrl + S
Stops Playback
With content playing
Ctrl + T
Turn on/off repeat mode
In any mode
Ctrl + U
Shows Open URL Dialog
In any mode
Ctrl + W
Stops playback
With content playing or paused
Ctrl + Shift + B
Rewinds playing content
With DVD playing
Ctrl + Shift + C
Caption On/Off Toggle
Playing content which has captions
Ctrl + Shift + F
Fast forwards playing content
With content playing
Ctrl + Shift + G
Play Speed Fast
With content playing
Ctrl + Shift + N
Play Speed Normal
With content playing
Ctrl + Shift + S
Play Speed Slow
With content playing
Ctrl + Right Arrow
Next playlist in playlist history
Focus not on Seek bar
Ctrl + Left Arrow
Previous playlist in playlist history
Focus not on Seek bar
Ctrl + Right Arrow
Skip forward (large increment)
Focus on Seek bar
Ctrl + Left Arrow
Skip backward (large increment)
Focus on Seek bar
Shift + Right Arrow
Skip forward (small increment)
Focus on Seek bar
Shift + Left Arrow
Skip backward (small increment)
Focus on Seek bar
Right Arrow
Skip forward
Focus on Seek bar
Left Arrow
Skip backward
Focus on Seek bar
Ctrl + Click
Resize player to image
In Now Playing mode
Escape
Return to Now Playing
Full Screen Mode
F1
Opens Help file
In any mode
F2
Edit meta data column
In library mode with an item selected
F4
Switch view mode
In library mode, focus in list view
F5
Refresh screen
Focus on library or in online services
F6
Increases album art
Focus in list view
Shift + F6
Decreases album art
Focus in list view
F7
Mutes sound
In any mode
F8
Decrease sound volume
In any mode
F9
Increases sound volume
In any mode
F10
Show menu bar in library
From any mode
Shift + F10
Context menu shortcut
In any mode
Alt + 1
Video Size 50%
In Now Playing or skin mode, with a video playing
Alt + 2
Video Size 100%
In Now Playing or skin mode, with a video playing
Alt + 3
Video Size 200%
In Now Playing or skin mode, with a video playing
Alt + Enter
Full Screen Toggle
In Now Playing, skin, or full screen mode
NOTE: These tips are for Windows Media Player in Windows 7 only.


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Shell Keyboard Shortcuts : BASH keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation:
Left/right cursor key
Move left/right in text
Ctrl+A
Move to beginning of line
Ctrl+E
Move to end of line
Ctrl+right arrow
Move forward one word
Ctrl+left arrow
Move left one word
Editing
Ctrl+U
Delete everything behind cursor to start of line
Ctrl+K
Delete from cursor to end of line
Ctrl+W
Delete from cursor to beginning of word
Alt+D
Delete from cursor to end of word
Ctrl+T
Transpose characters on left and right of cursor
Alt+T
Transpose words on left and right of cursor
Miscellaneous

Ctrl+L
Clear screen (everything above current line)
Ctrl+U
Undo everything since last command1
Alt+R
Undo changes made to the line2
Ctrl+Y
Undo deletion of word or line caused by using Ctrl+K, Ctrl+W, and so on3
Alt+L
Lowercase current word (from the cursor to end of word)
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