Best Tablet(s) for children doing Online classes from Home

Here are a few to consider based on your budget. Ordered from Best to OK. All of them have a 4G sim slot to suffice your needs and you can convert them into a mobile hotspot (for backup purpose). 

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab A (Rs. 21,499) https://amzn.to/2SbiYJ5 

2. Lenovo Yoga Smart Tablet (Rs. 20,999) https://amzn.to/35Hc6pS 

3. Lenovo Tab M10 HD Tablet (Rs. 13,400) https://amzn.to/2TP3YRO 

4. (Renewed) Lenovo Tab M10 Tablet (Rs. 11,999) https://amzn.to/2TP3YRO 

Don't go for the much cheaper and not so well known brands - either you will suffer from battery problems or touch issues. I got one from iBall a few years back but the touch works very erratic and theservice center said they no longer had stock of the screen - so it's almost useless from a tablet perspective.

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Best books for Home Schooling Kids in India

 Below is a compilation of some of the best books to help Home School their children at home.

The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child's Education, A New Way to Homeschool by Ainsley Arment Hardcover ₹949.00 https://amzn.to/3cUzLaC

 The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life by Julie Bogart Paperback ₹950.00 https://amzn.to/3zHgJy3

Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant… by Peter Gray Paperback ₹874.00 https://amzn.to/3cWrxii 

Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Home Schooling Paperback by John Holt (Author), Pat Farenga (Author) ₹181 https://amzn.to/3vMUfJ6 

Sandra Dodd's Big Book of Unschooling by Sandra Dodd ₹449 https://amzn.to/2UesbRz 

Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus ₹1449 https://amzn.to/3cU10lB 

Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason by Alfie Kohn ₹449 https://amzn.to/3wGLt0n 

How To Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 by Joanna Faber and Julie King ₹229 https://amzn.to/3wUtqUJ

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The best 3 BP Monitors available today

With the current Covid situation & lockdowns. Also with online doctor consultation where the doc's usually want some basic info like temperature, weight, BP, etc. A home BP monitor is becoming a must.

Coming back to topic, I have been looking at BP monitors for a few weeks now and have been able to shortlist 3 of them based on functionality, reviews, etc. 

Choice 1: Beurer (BM35)  https://amzn.to/3qaL5oe

Price: Rs. 1,499 usually on Amazon Sale. 

+ Comes with 5yr warranty. 

+ Claims to be German made. - Stores only 2 profiles. 

- Has no electrical adaptor bundled. 

Choice 2: Dr Trust Atrial Fibrillation Model  https://amzn.to/3iVgiKO

Price: Rs. 2,299 on Flipkart and Amazon. 

+ Has a talking feature, though I feel that it is not very useful. 

+ Has a fuzzy Atrial Fibrillation detector (this is making me more lean towards it, though not sure how accurate it can be - experts please chime). 

+ Has an electrical adaptor bundled. 

- Says product of USA but no one in US have heard of this brand in my circle. 

- Not sure on profile storage and if it has the average BP between readings on display. 

Choice 3: Omron HEM 7156  https://amzn.to/2SKs4wN

Price: Rs. 2,999 on Flipkart and Amazon. 

+ Brand has been manufacturing medical devices for long. 

+ Claims to have Intelli Wrap for accurate readings. 

- Electrical Adaptor needs to be purchased separately (Abt Rs. 500 additional) 

 - Double the price to Choice 1 

Hope this helps to choose the right BP monitor based on your need.

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Why should NFC be switched off when not in use?

NFC or Near Field Communication that you find in almost all modern smartphones except Apple products is a set of standards for smartphones and also any other device to establish radio communication with each other by simply touching the area having the embedded NFC chip together or bringing them into close proximity, usually only a few centimeters  This is a pretty hassle free method to make two like devices communicate.

All you folks who are using Android phones or tablets have a very easy way to regulate NFC and also NFC feature can be turned off very easily. But if NFC happens to be a service you use on a routine basis then you would want to think twice before switching it off all together. Since you will end up turning it on and off all the time, although it’s a very simple process. 

For the folks who don’t actually use NFC often (like me) you can just keep it disabled for quite a few very good reasons - save a bit of battery life and also keep your Android phone or tablet free from any malicious attack in the form of NFC transfer. To have NFC disabled, click on the apps link and scroll to find the “Settings” link. Then, tap the “More” option beneath the “Wireless and Networks” section. Some of these steps may slightly vary based on the phone you use and also the version of Android operating system that your phone is running.

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Windows 8 Activation Key Serial Available for Free Download

Though we - the loyal customers need to wait a couple of months before we get the legal copies of Windows 8. The Windows 8 Activation crack is already available online for Free download. It has been barely a couple of weeks since Microsoft made available the RTM version of Windows 8 to the OEMs and lo we have the activation crack already available for Windows 8.

The Windows 8 Activation crack is available on a Chinese Forum(Link cannot be revealed due to piracy concerns). The Windows 8 Ultimate activation crack has been built on the OEM version of Lenovo's Windows 8 OEM DVD. The DVD ISO of Windows 8 along with the newly available crack is already leaked at the forum. Anyone who uses the leaked .ISO, along with the OEM-SLP product key of Windows 8, coupled along with the activation certificates can be obtained through the boot.wim - helps you run Windows 8Ultimate Final version.

The new activation crack uses a very simple technique of exploiting the "OEM Activation 4.3", which happens to be an updated volume license activation system by Microsoft that was earlier available from 2009 with Windows 7 and known infamously as "Activation 2.0". Looks like Microsoft hasn't learned from the mistakes coz, Activation 2.0 was previously the easy module break into Windows 7 way back in 2009 when Win 7 hit the stores.

The new crack which has been successfully been built on a Windows 8 volume license means that anyone who uses this cracked version can install Windows 8 on numerous machines without any limitations as such.

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How to Reset or Refresh Trial period of Windows 8 PC without the installation media

In Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced two very nice and useful features which will reset the trial period. Reset PC and Refresh PC are two new features that help you overcome all Windows 8 issues by refreshing settings or resetting all of it. These features allow you make your Windows 8 PC settings to their defaults, or reset Windows 8 to factory settings (as it was during the original settings) by deleting data and installed apps.

Here is a detailed step by step procedure of how you can reset / refresh your Windows 8 PC and also reset the Trial period.


Step 1: Simply launch Metro >> Control Panel or PC settings. You can easily do this by simultaneously pressing Windows + I keys followed by Enter key.

Step 2: In the left pane, click on General option to see Reset your PC and Refresh your PC options. Click on Get Started button under Reset your PC or Refresh your PC. With this option you will not be asked to insert the installation or recovery media message this time around.

Hope this step-by-step procedure to Reset Windows 8 PC helped you overcome the trial period.

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How to easily Uninstall Internet Explorer 9 when the uninstall program fails

Internet Explorer (IE) still continues to be one of the world's most used browser for several years now. Though in the recent times it has begun to get quite a lot of competition from Firefox and lately from Google Chrome.

With Windows 7 getting into the market and having a pretty strong presence users now have a very easy task of upgrading their browsers to Internet Explorer 9(IE 9) but just running the upgrade utility.

Microsoft says that users can very easily downgrade to their old browser version of IE anytime they want by simply uninstalling IE9 -  how this can be done is by navigating to Control Panel >> Programs and Features >> click on View installed updates option where you will see an entry for Internet Explorer 9. Right click and select the uninstall option. This should easily remove the IE 9 version from your PC and restore the earlier version of the Internet Explorer browser.

But many a times users get an error while trying to uninstall IE9 by following the simple method mentioned above or at times are not able to find the Internet Explorer 9 entry in the installed updates list. If that is the case, the you can easily follow the simple steps explained below to remove Internet Explorer 9 from your PC.

Step 1: Type CMD in Start menu search box and simultaneously press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys(This is used to launch the elevated prompt). Click Yes when you get the User Account Control (UAC) prompt. The other way of doing this is by going to Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> right-click on Command Prompt entry and then click Run as administrator - this will also open the elevated prompt.

Step 2: In the command prompt, copy and paste the below command and then press enter key to execute the command.
FORFILES /P %WINDIR%\servicing\Packages /M Microsoft-Windows-InternetExplorer-*9.*.mum /c "cmd /c echo Uninstalling package @fname && start /w pkgmgr /up:@fname /norestart"

Step 3: You are done almost!! Just reboot your computer to completely uninstall Internet Explorer 9 from your PC.

Hope this helped - if it did let me know!!

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New Features in C# 4.0

Visual Studio 2010 is out and we have a new version of C# that also accompanies it. That's C# 4.0 - I have been working on C# from the good old 1.0 or 1.1 version upwards. So whats the new 4.0 version of C# got in store for you. Here's a wrap up of the new features available as part of C# 4.0 release.

keyword Dynamic

There's a new kid in the block, with the introduction of a very a key feature of this release called the dynamic keyword. The keyword dynamic bridges the gap that existed between a dynamically and statically - typed languages. Well, C# can now also be considered a dynamically typed language too. You can easily create dynamic objects on the fly and even have their types determined only at run time. You will simply need to add a new namespace called System.Dynamic, and lo you can create expandable objects and even advanced class wrappers. You can also facilitate interoperability between different languages, including the dynamic ones.

To better understand the use of dynamic keyword, here's an example:

dynamic BankAccount = new ExpandoObject();

BankAccount.Number = "174258733-451269";

BankAccount.HolderName = "Jason S";

BankAccount.Branch = "Bangalore";

Though there are many pros and cons for the use of dynamic keyword and the system performance overheads, it makes like that much more simpler for the developer in the end.

Optional (or Default) Method Parameters

If I rightly remember, VB.net is preferred to C# when porting old projects in ancient langues of VB 5 / 6 or when working on creating COM wrappers since VB.net allows you the use of Optional or Default parameters in methods. C# 4.0 has finally got this feature to make it that much more robust in this area.

You can now easily specify a default value for a parameter within the method declaration in C# 4.0. Also, the consumer of the method can either pass a value or can easily skip the parameter. When the parameter is skipped, the default value declared in the method is passed.

Here's a simple example to explain it:

Method declaration:

public static void GetMoney(int amount = 0) { }

Bot the below Method calls for the above declaration are valid in C# 4.0:

GetMoney(); // 0 is used as amount in the method.

GetMoney(1000);

Named Arguments

Well, here's another relief to the developer. Did you know that in C# 4.0 the order of parameters in a method declaration and also the order of arguments you pass to the method when calling don’t need to match anymore!!. You can now easily provide arguments to a method in any order that you are comfortable with by specifying parameter names with-in the method call. This feature also tremendously improves the readability of one's code.

Here's a simple example of using Named Arguments in C# 4.0

var sample = new List();

sample.InsertRange(collection: new List(), index: 0);

sample.InsertRange(index: 0, collection: new List()); // both ways it'll work now

Covariance and Contravariance

Does the heading sound confusing? Well, the use of variance on generic type parameters in interfaces and delegates is yet another new feature available in C# 4.0. Though, strictly speaking it doesn’t add that much of a new functionality. But it rather makes things work in the first place as you expected them to work. Here is a major advantage that is hidden in the power of C# 4.0 in simple line below. Note: The below code wouldn't have compiled up until C# 4.0 was released:

IEnumerable

Now you have the ability to implicitly convert references for objects instantiated with different type arguments. This makes it that much more simpler and easier to reuse code.

Improved COM Interop Support

As I started this article with the dynamic keyword, then we had the optional parameters and named arguments, did you know that all of this actually enables a significant improvement in working with COM interop. Though all these features have arrived pretty late for the COM Interop world - but it's like late than never is better.

Take a look at my ugly code below:

var excelApp = new Excel.Application();

// . . .

excelApp.get_Range("A1", "B4").AutoFormat(

Excel.XlRangeAutoFormat.xlRangeAutoFormatTable3,

Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing,

Type.Missing, Type.Missing, Type.Missing);

I can now simply write it in a few lines as below:

excelApp.Range["A1", "B3"].AutoFormat(

Excel.XlRangeAutoFormat.xlRangeAutoFormatClassic2);

Ain't it pretty neat?

So, there you go - that was a wrap up of the new features that are available in C# 4.0. Hope it helped!!

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FaceBook Login

As you all know by now - Facebook happens to be the single most popular Social Networking website on the Internet. Facebook currently has approximately has more than 400 million active users currently worldwide, which makes it the most sought after web property second to Google.

When you are speaking about 400 million users on facebook, the Facebook login problems are also very similar to the login problems that you will face on any other website online. What I am trying to emphazize here is not the common forgotten username / password kind of problem but at most sophisticated problems related to phishing Facebook accounts which many other large websites online too have to worry about - did I forget google's set of misseries in the early days?

We currently have two different versions of the Facebook Login page online - the standard login page to your facebook account that loads up on your web browser, the other version is called Facebook Lite which is mainly a mobile version of Facebook with faster loading times and also less data on the page. Both these pages have an option called the forgot password which links to a page that helps you change the Facebook password in case you have forgotten the original facebook password.

I would recommend users who often forget their Facebook password to use an online Password Manager that helps you to easily fill your password when online. An online password manager will remember the username and password for your Facebook account, and it will also automatically fill the details into the login form at the Facebook homepage - some even have the functionality to do a Facebook login automatically too (How lazy can it get folks!!).

Well, Facebook users often experience other login problems that may not be really related to the Facebook login page o- at such times it is recommended to clear the web browser cache - which will help you fetch a new copy of the website form the webserver again. I can also think of another way to overcome the Facebook login issue by using a different web browser from the one in which you are having problems to see if the login problem still exists. If it still exists you can very well be sure that web browser is not the real problem here nor is it to do anything with the browser settings that may be the culprit for the Facebook login problems the user is facing.

Do read the tips on Facebook Login.

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A few FaceBook Login Tips

Here are a few tips for Facebook Login problems that have become very common nowadays. if you follow these tips, you can be sure to reduce the number of issues you face with your Facebook login.

• You should NEVER and EVER click on links from other webpages to visit the Facebook login page. Many a times clicking a Short Url may land you on the Facebook login page - simply close the page and open a new browser session and type the url manually yourself.
• You must always remember to enter the url directly into your web browser's navigation bar to goto the Facebook login page.
• Take a few second to reconfirm the url displayed on the navigation bar and also do a check on the website before you start entering your log in information.
• It is a good practice to use a password manager to enter the login details and process your login. That way no key-press for key loggers to know.
• Always ensure that you have a very secure password with consists of atleast eight characters/digits. This should include atleast one number, atleast one CAPITAL letter and atleast one special character.
• Never give your username and password to anyone - let them be your best friend or family member. You'll never know how knowingly or unknowingly that information can land in the wrong hands.
• Always make it a habit to change your online password the very minute you suspect the account has been compromised - No second thoughts.

Well, that's all the gyan I could think off - if you have any other tips, do post it in the comments below - deeply appreciated.

Also you can find more Facebook login information and some very good security tips at the Facebook Official Login Helper site.

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Complete list of Best and Free Anti-Virus for your Windows 7 :: Updated on May 2010

Though you may have one of the best operating system's in your computer - a.k.a. Windows 7, you will still need a good anti-virus program to protect your PC from Viruses, Trojans, Root-Kits, etc. There are several paid Anti-Virus solutions from Norton (Symantec), Mc-Afee, etc but when you have a personal PC or laptop and can't really afford spending any more on softwares - well, look at the Free Anti-Virus solutions.

Free Anti-Virus softwares are actually second to none in terms of protection but they lack functionality and a few bells and whistles found exclusively on paid Anti-Virus softwares.

I have put together a list of the Best Free Anti-Virus Solutions that are available currently.

• Avira
• Panda
• AVG Free
• DriveSentry Desktop
• Spyware-doctor

As for the paid Anti-Virus, the Best detections rates are found in these:

• Symantec Norton
• Avira AntiVir
• Panda
• Avast
• Sophos

Go ahead and protect your data - choose a Anti-Virus solution wisely and don't forget to update it often!!

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How to disable Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications - using the Free RemoveWGA

>For those of you who are wondering how to disable or simply remove the Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications - You have help at hand in the form of a cool tool called RemoveWGA. Though you must already be aware that removing the WGA from your Windows copy amounts to piracy by Microsoft's term.

But at times you may have a genuine reason as to why you want to turn off the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification, in such cases Microsoft doesnot help you with any tool right away. This is where RemoveWGA comes into picture. This is a very simple and easy to use tool that allows you to remove the WGA protection in your copy of Windows.

I would like to once again stress that removing WGA from your Windows XP or Windows Vista or Windows 7 amounts to you having a pirated copy of Windows. So thread in caution when you try this out. Your on your own and i don't assume any responsibility.

Now after all that long disclaimers - where do you get a Free download of RemoveWGA you may ask? Well, head over to the software database at Softpedia and you can find it easily.

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How to buy gold bullion and also steps to safeguard its value?

One of the easiest and time-tested methods to buy gold bullion is to buy it directly from a reputable local gold bullion dealer who's been in business for a pretty long time. Why I prefer to get it from a dealer the good old way is coz you can see and feel the gold bullion - also you can actually feel the weight of the coins before you buy.

It's most likely the best approach to buy coins that are actually issued by a Bank or a Government agency than to buy the usual 1 oz or 10 oz bullion in the open market.

Usually you will find in most cases that the bullion that you plan to purchase is assayed or usually tested (acid) to check that it is real. But if you buy gold bullion encapsulated by a the very reputed issuing company it usually comes in a tamper proof case so there's really no question of purity or safety. Well, if you happen to invest in gold, you must clearly understand that it is a very long-term proposition since once you have it, it doesn't do much. Much in the sense, gold bullion doesn't pay interest or dividends but I would think that it is nice to take out and look at from time to time and feel it in hand often.

Also, be prepared that in short term you may infact likely lose money due to the market but eventually inflation increases it's value over a long period. The recommended allocation that most wealth manager's suggest is not more than 5% of your total portfolio's value should be in precious metals. Also, here's a very important tip when at the dealer's outlet, make sure that you are not charged more than around 10% over the current spot value of the metal. Remember to check online to see the daily spot value's and keep yourself updated of the up's and downs.

Finally, remember to keep the gold bullion, encased in it's original protective plastic Air-Tight packet since condition (in the distant future) may be important when selling. Hope you found this stuff interesting and useful.

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How to find large e-mails/attachments in GMail and delete them easily?

Many a times, you are struck with a scenario that only a last few % of free space is avilable in Gmail. Though GMail has been growing everyday (or every 2 seconds) in increasing your online storage space - but yet for a person like me who has been using GMail for more than 5 years now as a primary e-mail account, it does become full at many a times.

Today my Gmail account read as "You are currently using 6538 MB (88%) of your 7429 MB.". Now that was a bit worrying for me and decided to bring it down atleast by 5% and here's what I did for it.

Head over to the search bar on top of your Gmail account and type as "has:attachment (*.mov || *.mp3 || *.wm || *.avi || *.wmv )" and the results you get could be the large file attachments that are sitting in your GMail account and making it bulky. Evaluate if you need it else you can select them and delete.

To find large zipped attachments use this search option.

has:attachment (*.zip || *.rar || *.7z )

To find large pdf / doc / xls / ppt / docx / pptx / xlsx attachments use this search option.

has:attachment (*.pdf || *.doc || *.docx || *.xls || *.xlsx || *.ppt || *.pptx )

Usually ppt / pptx are large culprits too.

P.S: After you delete the mail and attachment, it still remains in your GMail Trash folder. So go over to that folder and hit "Empty Trash". Now you can finally see some very good increase in the storage area of your Gmail account.

As for me, it went upto "You are currently using 6138 MB (82%) of your 7429 MB." which was a pretty good increase for me.

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Hard Rock Cafe Opens in Hyderabad

Hard Rock Cafe is all set to open India's fifth Hard Rock Cafe at Hyderabad, which perfectly augements the flagship Mumbai cafe(September 2006) and also locations in Bengaluru(December 2007), Pune(January 2009) and New Delhi(June 2009). The new Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad is as expected going to be situated near luxury hotels and shopping areas that offer a convenient destination for both local fans and also international travelers.

The new Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad will be located at GVK 1, Road No. 1 which anchors the GVK Mall development at the heart of city. The 8,000-square foot cafe features a 200-seat restaurant, live concert venue and Rock Shop complete with Hard Rock's limited-edition merchandise. The new cafe and retail outlet will offer guests great American fare in a rock 'n' roll atmosphere.

Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad like the other destinations will be adorned with pieces from Hard Rock's world-famous memorabilia collection which includes items representing both contemporary stars as well as rock legends, such as Elvis Presley, Elton John, Kylie Minogue and many more. Key memorabilia items on display at Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad will include a pair of Alain Mikli glasses with gold-colored plastic frames worn by Elton John, a black satin top hat worn by The Beatles' George Harrison during the recording of "Crackerbox Palace," and a leather suede tunic jacket worn by The Who's Roger Daltry in the 70's. Now that's something to watch out for!!

Also, for the first time, Hard Rock Cafe Hyderabad will offer limited-edition and city-specific merchandise. The Rock Shop will have limited line of authentic rock-inspired Hard Rock Cafe items, including famous Classic and City t-shirts, as well as highly collectible accessories and pins. In addition, the Hyderabad cafe will offer Hard Rock's charity-driven Signature Series T-shirt line, featuring artists such as U2's Bono, Shakira, and Green Day.

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How to easily convert .ppsx file to .pptx or .ppt?

Well, a .ppsx file is a Power Point Show file created in Microsoft Office 2007 or later. Today at office I received one such file and double clicking it launches the Powerpoint Viewer and Not on PowerPoint. This maybe needed if you want to edit a few slides or copy some information from the slides.

I searched online for quite sometime with no luck. For the earlier .pps files, they can be easily converted to .ppt file by merely renaming the file extension to .ppt from .pps. But this technique doesnot work with the new versions - so a mere renaming of a .ppsx file to .pptx throws up an error when you try to open the file.

Then an idea struck me and it worked beautifully.

• Open Microsoft PowerPoint.
• Click on the Ribbon and Open.
• Now select and open the .ppsx file.

Viola - you have now opened the .ppsx file in edit mode and can now save it in either .pptx or .ppt formats too within Microsoft PowerPoint.

Related Articles :

• How to open .xlsx files easily without using Microsoft Office 2007

• How to open .docx files easily without Office 2007

• How to Save and Restore Settings in Office easily?

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VMLite the best alternative for running Windows XP in your Windows 7

Well, when Windows 7 was released there was one very nice feature which was much talked about by the geeks and that was the Windows XP Mode. Well, Windows XP Mode is part of a seperate installation by which you can run Windows XP on your Windows 7.

But the catch was that in order to use Windows XP mode Microsoft made it mandatory that you must be running Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate - also your PC must have virtualization support by the hardware.

These mandatory requirements was a downer and many users weren't able to truly enjoy Windows XP Mode. But here some very good news - enter the VMLite which is a very nice alterative to Microsoft's Windows XP Mode.



VMLite XP Mode does offer very similar features like the Microsoft XP Mode but lo it doesn't need you to have Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate - so even Windows 7 Starter edition will work fine and also it doesn't require hardware virtualization.

VMLite allows you to easily run Windows XP from your desktop running on a different host operating system - not just Windows 7. You can download VMLite here.

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SMS based location search in Bangalore - Get directions for free

A new SMS based location search service is available in Bangalore now. It's on 9008890088. This new service allows you to find services, directions to places of interest and also provides directions to people from point A to point B in Bangalore.

The cool things about this services is that it is completely based out of the SMS network and so it works absolutely fine for people with or without Smart phones. Till date we have had location based search confined to only smart phones having mapping facility like GPS but this new service brings in a lot of hope to look out for in Bangalore.

The 9008890088 SMS service is available free of charge - the only charge you will incur is the standard SMS rate for local messages as per your mobile plan. This service requires NO registration or NO subscription.

I used this service over the weekend and was very much impressed with it - I found the service to be pretty reliable and also involves very little waiting time - maybe because very few people have started to use this service. But even on a weekend and the fast response it was really good. The reply back time varied for me from around 5 seconds to a max of about 1 minute but again it looks like the reply time varied due to the mobile operator’s message traffic congestion and also the availability of signals since I was constantly on the move.

Here's how you can make use of this very simple and effective service. All you need to do is simply send SMS to 9008890088.

Here's how you can use the service - simply SMS any of these messages below to 9008890088:

• Example 1: FROM Silk Board TO Lalbagh Road
• Example 2: Pizza NEAR Forum Mall
• Example 3: HDFC ATM NEAR M G Road

You will get an instant reply SMS with the exact location and also you will get the shortest directions to reach the place from a prominent landmark. Another added benefit is that you also get to know the total distance in Kilometers and also an approximate Auto fare to the destination which really helps when you need to bargain for a fixed fee from places like MG Road or Forum.

Hope you too find the service very useful - save it to your mobile now!! Never know when you need this service which is just an SMS away!!

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Simple tips to get the most out of your Online Meetings

Online meetings are inarguably the most price-less tool for saving people's time and money in a very aggressive and competitive business environments that we see today. But did you know that most online meetings tend to have a sour experience in the host as well as the presenter's minds mainly due to poor training or unpreparedness of both - either the presenter or the host.

So here are some very simple and most effective methods to achieve the most of Online Meetings:

1. Always make sure that the Online Meeting is short and to the point - crisp. Always make sure that No online meeting ever exceeds more than an hour or in some cases even thirty minutes.

2. Always make sure that you have already prepared a slip containing the list of all probable questions that you will ask those attending the online meeting. Always remember that asking questions helps you retain everyone’s attention.

3. Before you start off - remember to inform the other participants to keep their questions to the end of the online meetings. There should be a very high probability that you will answer most of the questions that the audience thought off during your regular presentation.

4. Mail out the attendees well in advance to install and test the online web meeting software ahead of the schedule. Also, they can check the audio setup and the microphone setup too.

5. It is important in a web meeting that you have a very optimized copy of the PowerPoint slides such that the .ppt / .pptx file is less than 2 MB in size. This greatly helps the attendees not to experience a time lag as you flip through the slides.

Hope these tips helped you. Do share your tips/experiences on online Meetings too.

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How to easily download Entire / Complete Photo Albums from FaceBook

A few days back, we had been on a trip down country side with my friends. We were about 10 of us and carried 6-7 cameras. As one can expect - after returning from the trip we had 6 different sets of photos - some snaps were good in some camera's, so I had to download each of the albums to store it on my Hard Disk for personal memoirs. But how do I do it?

Well - I started hunting for an app that could help me download entire albums off FaceBook easily. Then I found a very cool free Firefox plug-in called as FreePAD - short for Facebook Photo Album Downloader!! It allows you to easily download entire albums of photos of friends off the internet easily.

P.S: This will work only in Firefox - so you need Firefox to be installed first.

• Download the FacePAD Firefox extension directly from here. You may get a message block from Firefox - right click and allow that.
  
• Once you have installed - You will need to re-start Firefox to begin using the new extension.
  
• You will now see FacePAD added to your list of Plugins in Firefox.
  
• Head over to your friend's profile page and click on Photos. There you will find all the albums of your friends. Simply right click on the photo album and you will now get a new option "Download Album with FacePAD". Go ahead and download the album.
  
• Currently you get a weird message to indicate that the album download has begun.
  
• You will now find all the photos of the FaceBook album neatly downloaded to your Hard Disk with absolutely no effort.
  

Now that's a really cool app to have. Makes tasks that much more simpler and fun.

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