Registry Cleaner: Is Really Speed-Up The PC Or Fix Crashes?

Registry Cleaner: Is Really Speed-Up The PC Or Fix Crashes? 

The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database, which stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows OS. The kernel, device drivers, services, Security Accounts Manager, user interface and third party applications could able to make use of the registry. So, Windows Registry is a huge database for settings, which is not for Windows only and included the programs you installed. 
 
When installing a program, the program's settings will be saved on Windows Registry. If the program is registered as a default program for certain file types, then Windows will save a registry entry and remembers, it's a default program. For any reason, if you like to uninstall the program, then the program will be uninstalled but program's registry entries will be stayed on Windows Registry until you've to reinstall Windows or cleaned them using a registry cleaner / delete them manually. 

A registry cleaner will perform a scan on your system's registry entries, which appeared outdated and removed them. The registry cleaner companies make you to trust that their products would result a big performance and the system gets some incredible improvement on speed. In fact, registry cleaners would not speed up the PC, instead they may cause problems by removing registry entries. 

They often make false promises such as fixing registry errors and system crashes, system's registry has full of junks and even they repair blue-screens and so on. If your Windows PC crashes or blue screening then nothing to worry about registry and the registry, itself, is corrupted then it may corrected by using System Restore, at least.  

The registry is a massive database, where hundreds of thousands of entries gathered and individual entries are fairly tiny. The Windows registry has also become more robust nowadays, evolved from Windows 95 till Windows 7 and 8.  If the system is hideously slow or crashing frequently, then it may have other problems than a full registry and you've to refreshing the PC or reinstalling Windows.
Many registry cleaner distributors recommend to run their product once in a week; but an average registry cleaner may cause problems than it fixes, if run on a regular basis. 

So, forget the registry cleaners; make your life with basic care of your Windows computer and you don't have to worry about the registry.

Run Android And Make Your PC Dual OS

Run Android And Make Your PC Dual OS

Intel is now interesting to support Dual Operating System on PCs and other devices with Windows 8 and Android as well. You could able to run Android Apps and even Android OS on your current PC, which allows to use Android's ecosystem of touch based Apps for touch enabled Windows Laptops and Tablets. 

So, if you wish to run Android Apps on your Windows PC, you should have to install BlueStacks, a multi-OS with virtualization technology, where Apps developed for different OS and executable on the same computer. It doesn't replace your entire OS instead runs Android Apps within a window on Windows desktop. It supports multiple OS with user interface is fully configurable and the installation for Apps can be get from Google Play. Some similar applications like youwave, windroy are also work good but BlueStacks is better and stable for running Android Apps on Windows.

There will be a number of developers in Android community to experimenting Android OS. Few of them are: Android On Intel Architecture, Android-X86 and AndroidSDK.   

Android On Intel Architecture (or Android IA) is Intel's own distribution for Android to their new Intel based PCs with UEFI firmware. This project is not stable and presently supporting some selected devices such as ACER Iconia W700, Lenovo X220T and X230T and Samsung XE700T.  For further info check Quick Start and Devices pages.

                                                

Android-X86 is Google's Android Mobile OS to run on devices powered by AMD and Intel-X86 processors, which allowing to install Android on a laptop or tablet. 

Certain platforms, such as  ASUS Eee PCs/Laptops, Viewsonic Viewpad 10, Dell Inspiron Mini Duo, Samsung Q1U, Viliv S5 and Lenovo ThinkPad x61 Tablet, are officially tested at this time.

 

Bear in mind that this project is also not stable and needs extra caution when installing it on physical hardware.  

AndroidSDK is Google's official Android emulator, which designed for developers to build, test and debug their Android Apps. You can use it to run Android OS in a window on your existing system. It is useful to test Android's latest versions of Apps and it is rather slow and not a good choice for everyday use. 

 

To get Android Emulator, download Google’s Android SDK, open SDK Manager program, and select Tools > Manage AVDs. Click New button and create Android Virtual Device (AVD) with your desired configuration, then select it and click Start button to launch it. 

BlueStacks is the best choice to run Android apps on your Windows computer, and it is the easiest, slickest, most stable option.

Android: A Beginner Guide

Android: A Beginner Guide

Android is an operating system, based on Linux kernel, and designed for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed financially and later bought in 2005. Middle of  2012, Android became the most popular mobile OS, having the largest installed base, and is a market leader in most countries.

Android is easy to use than Windows desktops! And lots more in Android to learn; but this article hopefully get started without overwhelming you, much!! 

So, if you're using an Android phone or planning to buy, then you should have to know some important advantages and this article helps you to understand and adapt a life with an Android. 

Android is Google's operating system and at least one Google account is linked with this OS. So, when you turned on your Android device, the first time, you'll be asked to enter your Google account details or create a Google account, if you don't have one. This is technical option from Google account, which will be used to back-up your phone's settings, keep tracks the installed Apps with their links such as G mail, Calendar, Contacts, Google+ and etc., However, if you're not enter Google account credentials, while setting up, then you can add the account later from Android's settings page.

Android phones has more features in common like computers and they can be used for web browsing, e mail, playing games, streaming videos, editing photos, writing office documents and much more. 

By default the Apps for phone and messaging were appeared at bottom of the phone's dock area; so, you may use these Apps to place a call and send / receive text messages. 

When turn on your Android device, you'll see the lock screen, where you can configure a code, pattern or password; so, no one can use your phone. After unlock the phone, you'll see the home screen, where you can keep icons for your favorite Apps and add widgets. If you're using G mail, frequently, then you can add G mail widget on your home screen, which enables to view your inbox without opening any Apps. And if you use other Apps, frequently, then you can also place their icons on home screen. 

To open the App drawer, tap the small squared buttons at the bottom of the home screen. The App drawer has the list of all Apps, which has been installed on your Android phone, and they can be viewed by swipe over the screen. To place an App on your home screen, long-press the App and drag it wherever you like to place.  

Depending on the model of Android phone, you can control the phone by tapping the buttons at the bottom of the screen. There's a home button, which instantly takes back to the home screen and a back button will take you back anywhere. You may also have a multi-task button to switch between open windows or menu button to open an Apps menu. If the phone doesn't has the multi-task button, then you've to double-tap or long-press the home button to bring-up the App to switch. This option will vary from phone to phone. 

Configuring an Android phone is easy and the configuration settings can be accessed from Settings App. Open the App drawer and tap Settings icon. After tapping on Settings icon, you can see plenty of options, through which you can configure the phone. You can also see the Settings icon at the right side of notification drawer by pull-down the drawer. Notifications can be accessed by pulling-down notification drawer with your finger and tap a notification to interact with or swipe a notification to the left / right to get rid of it. 

Installing Apps is also easy by opening Play Store App, either tapping on Play Store shortcut or tapping the shopping bag icon at the top-right corner of your App drawer. You can easily search the required Apps and install them on your phone. Search option is also performed by tap the widget of Google search box, which located at the top of your home screen. You can also use voice commands to search and perform actions without typing. 

The screenshots, using on this post, are probably look different to the devices, which you held.

Hidden Tricks: Windows Management

Hidden Tricks: Windows Management 

Windows has some great features, but a bit hidden; so, you may not have noticed them. The features (or tricks) are to automatically arranging Windows as placing them side by side or tiling them on your screen.

Some of these features are more useful than others. Snap feature is crucial for multitasking with multiple desktop applications at a time and the Tile features are not used frequently; but, they're very useful to arrange several windows to visible on your screen at one time, if you've a broader screen. 

This article is dealing for Windows 7, but all these tricks also work on Windows 8, except the one that require Task Manager. However, many of these tricks will also took effect with earlier versions of Windows.
 
Windows Aero Snap is a set of interface elements and introduced in Windows Vista then revised in Windows 7 and Windows 8 for visual appearances. Windows Aero Snap is extremely useful and make a window to occupy half the screen and to arrange two windows side by side without manually resizing and moving them around.

To activate Windows Aero Snap feature, just hold Windows Key and press left or right arrow keys. The current window will be resized and placed at left or right side of the screen. Another way, for the same, is just click window's title bar and hold down the mouse button then drag the window's title bar to the left or right edge of the screen. You'll see a preview of window then move it to left or right of the screen by holding the mouse button.

Maximize, Minimize and Restore the windows: You can maximize a window by drag and drop on it's title bar. Just click the title bar then drag and drop it to the top edge of the screen. You'll see a preview of the window and release mouse button then the window will take up the entire screen. When you grab the title bar with mouse and drag it away from the top of the screen, the window will be restored to its previous size. 

This option could also be worked using keyboard. Just press Windows Key + Up Arrow to maximize a window or press Windows Key + Down Arrow to restore a maximized window. Press Windows Key + Down Arrow again, to minimize a window. 

Using Task Bar: When right click on Task Bar, you'll see four management options, which allowing you to arrange your windows in interesting modes.

  

- Cascade windows will arrange your open windows in Cascade mode, which allows to see all the title bars at once. (This option is not practical one).

- Show windows stacked allows you to arrange your windows stacked vertically on top of each other. (This is not ideal for wide screens, but could be useful in some situations).

- Show windows side by side will allow you to have windows automatically arrange your open windows side-by-side with each other. It’s like Aero Snap, but allows you to have three or more windows automatically arranged as side by side. Very useful for multitask purposes, when working on larger and broader monitors.  

- Show the desktop will take you to the main desktop window. 

You'll also be noticed an Undo option, when opened any of the first three options; and Undo option will just take you to the previous window. 

The same, integrated windows management, options are also accessed from Task Manager. Right click the task bar and choose Start Task Manager. The window of Windows Task Manager opens along with Applications tab. Now, click over on Windows and a drop down menu will be opened with few options like Tile Horizontally, Tile Vertically and etc., When you select anyone of these options then it will be arranged to open according to the number of applications, which were running at the time. 

It could also be performed using Key Board as, Ctrl+Shift+Escape, to open Windows Task Manager. 

These (Windows Task Manager) options seem to arrange windows in a different way than the task bar options. Tiling both ways as horizontally and vertically, which allows to appear many windows on your screen at a time.

Microsoft: Changed It's Sky Drive To One Drive

Microsoft: Changed It's Sky Drive To One Drive

 

Microsoft has changed it's Sky Drive name to One Drive from 19 Feb 2014, which has been announced on their official blog: Microsoft One Drive.
  They added new features in this process with an extra storage for free! 

If you already have an account, then everything will be switched, automatically, and all you've to do is head over to www.OneDrive.com and log in. 

If you're hearing the service, the first time, then One Drive gives you a best place for all of your needs, such as photos, videos, and documents, and it’s available across the platforms and devices you use every day like Windows, Windows Phone, Office, Xbox, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, Android tablet, Windows device, and Mac.
 

Below link provides a video overview of what OneDrive has to offer.

OneDrive: The One Place for Everything in your Life [YouTube]

What's HTTPS And Why Should It be Cared?

What's HTTPS And Why Should It be Cared? 

When connect to a website with HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), your browser usually looks up the IP address related to the website then connects to it's web server. Over this connection, the data will be transferred in clear text by the means of back and forth and an eavesdropper, such as Internet Service Provider, Hacker, or Intelligence Agencies may also watch the web pages while you're visiting. So, an eavesdropper is able to see any passwords, Credit Card details or other important data, if those were sent over HTTP. 

The problem here is HTTP doesn't support authentication to the correct website. For instance, you may thought that you've accessed your bank's website; but note that you might be on a compromised network, which redirect to an imposter website, then your passwords, Credit Card details would not be encrypted and secured. So, one can easily eavesdrop on them and steal your personal data. In short, HTTP has problems because they're never encrypted.

 

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) having a lock icon in the address bar, which is an encrypted website connection for secure communication over a computer network, especially with wide range of deployment on the Internet. 

Using HTTPS, and for instance, when attempting log into your bank's website, the web browser checks website's security certificate and verifies it was issued by a legitimate certified authority, which helps to ensure that you're actually connected your bank's real website. After logged in or you'd like to send some personal data such as Credit Card details or any payment info will be sent over an encrypted connection of HTTPS, which prevents the people from eavesdropping of your sensitive data. 

HTTPS is not perfect, too; but definitely more secure than HTTP, and sometimes certificate authorities issue bad certificates, so the web page breaks down.

HTTPS is also provide additional privacy to the user, while working on some search engines. Google's search engine, now, supports the privacy, which prevents the people to see what's you're searching on Google. And, before it was easy to anyone, on the same Wi-Fi network, would able to see your searches.

If a user, for instance, searches something on amazon that encrypted over HTTPS, then the other people wouldn't able to see what's the user is searching or which article he's viewing on amazon. Instead, they may only see that he's connected to amazon.

So, HTTPS websites can be identified through the address bar, where you can see a lock icon and, starts with https://. 

Keep in mind that HTTPS, an encrypted and secured connection, is most important whenever logging into something like banks or sending credit card details for an online purchase and other sensitive data. Ensure that you're over an HTTPS site, then enter your password or other personal info.
 
When using an unfamiliar network, HTTPS is also provide some identity verification to the websites, which helps to ensure that you're connected to the right website. And note that if the indicators of HTTPS, i.e., lock icon and https://, doesn't appeared on the login page then you may be connected to an imposter website over a compromised network.  

Clever phishers and scammers may realize the peoples, who look for HTTPS indicators on address bar, and disguise them by changing website's favicon to a lock icon that appears in the address bar as to make visual trick. 

However, HTTPS is not guarantee a site is legitimate and just confirms you're using an encrypted, secured connection, which gives some peace of mind that you're connected to a right site.

USB2.0 vs. USB3.0

USB2.0 vs. USB3.0

USB, an integrated Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, is a data storage device that includes flash memory. They are typically removable, rewritable and physically smaller than an optical disc with less than 30 grams in weight. They are often used for the same purposes as floppy disks or CDs were used, i.e., for storage, back-up and transfer of computer files.

Most of the USB flash drives have USB2.0 connectivity with a hi-speed specification of 480 Megabit per second (Mbit/s) i.e., 60 Megabytes per second (MB/s). And USB3.0 offers an improved data transfer rates up to 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s), which theoretically more than ten times faster than USB2.0. All USB3.0 devices are backward compatible with USB2.0 ports. Computers with USB3.0 ports are becoming common, very popular and newer laptops / desktops have at least one USB3.0 port and generally they're colored blue inside.

In above picture, the port at left is USB2.0 and right side port, colored blue, is USB3.0. USB3.0 port expansion cards are available to upgrade older systems, and many newer motherboards has two or more USB3.0 jacks. 

We should have to know 'how USB3.0 flash drives actually perform in real world!' Are they, really, faster than USB2.0 drives? Bear in mind that these performances are depend on the specific drive. 

Go  tom's 2013 hardware charts for USB3.0 and check out their test of charts, which revealed  speed of scores (in MB/s) for 2013. 

For USB3.0 drives they tested from 11.4 MB/s to 286.2 MB/s.
For USB2.0, showing at the bottom of the chart, between 7.9 MB/s to 9.5 MB/s. 
So, there was a huge speed variation between the both. The worst USB3.0 drive is faster than USB2.0, with only by a tiny bit. The best USB3.0 drive is 28 times faster. The prices also seem cheapest to the slowest drives, while the faster ones are expensive. 

The fastest drives seem to achieve its speed by using 4 channels flash memory instead of single one. So, USB3.0 allows faster transfer speed, but not every drive will take the same advantage with other factors such as flash memory speed, inside the drive, is critical.  

Never believe the speed rates quoted by the manufacturers, as they're often provide exaggerate numbers to mislead. Fake USB flash drives are sometimes sold, claiming to have higher capacities than they actually have. These are typically low capacity USB drives that are modified as to emulate larger capacity (e.g., a 2 GB drive being marketed as an 8 GB drive). When plugged into a computer, they report themselves as being the larger capacity as they were sold, but when data is written on them, either the write fails; the drive freezes up, or it overwrites existing data. 

Many types of USB devices wouldn't perform a fast process even it's USB3.0. It's clever not to pay extra amount to the devices, in which you may plug USB2.0 devices into USB3.0 ports, too.