Windows: How To Disable The Start-Up Programs

(217) Windows: How To Disable The Start-Up Programs

Obviously you already know, 'how to disable the start-up programs; but this article is meant for everybody and feel free to share with your non-techie friends! 

The more software that installed on your system, the longer it may seem to take to start-up Windows. Many programs add themselves in the program list then started itself, when you boot the computer.  

A smart way is to run few required programs, such as anti-virus and firewall software, with Windows, when your system is booting-up. But the other programs that were running at boot-up is just wasting of resources and extending the start-up time.   

Windows 8 or 8.1, just open Task Manager by right click the Task Bar (or press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Esc, a shortcut key) and click on More Details, switching to Start-Up tab then use Disable button.  

It's really a simple process and if these options are not showing-up then click More details, which will be in the same place of Fewer details.  

Windows 7, Vista, or XP A tool MSConfig, is installed with Windows 7, Vista and XP, which allows you to view the running programs at start-up and disable them as per your need. Aware that MSConfig can also be used to configure several other things; so, be careful when using it. To run MSConfig, open Start Menu then type msconfig.exe in the search box and Enter.

Now System Configuration's main Window will be opened. Click the Start-up tab, where you see all the start-up programs with a check box next to each one. To prevent a program from starting up, just tick the check box next to the desired program then click OK.

A dialog box displays and asking to restart your computer for the changes to took effect. Click Restart button to restart the computer.

If you are using XP, Start > Run, type msconfig.exe in edit box, then click OK.  

CCleaner: If you're using the free PC cleaning utility CCleaner, which has a tool to (view and) disable the start-up programs.

To view the list of start-up programs, just open CCleaner, then Tools > Start-up.

The Enabled column indicates whether each program is set to start with Windows. To disable a program that is enabled, select the program in the list and click Disable. You can also enable programs that have been disabled. And CCleaner doesn't prompt you to restart the computer for the changes you made; so you've to do by yourself.

And some applications need to be configured to stop launching themselves when the computer boots, or they will just add themselves into the list of start-up programs again. In this case, there is usually a setting in program’s options to prevent it from starting with Windows.

How to Type The Special Characters Faster on Any Computer, Smartphone, or Tablet

(216) How to Type The Special Characters Faster on Any Computer, Smartphone, or Tablet  

Most characters that you want to type doesn't appeared on your keyboard whether you're using a physical keyboard or a touch one. And perhaps you could always do a search online to find the symbol then copy, paste it into your application. This is inefficient way, but works quickly to insert when you need it occasionally. 

This article will explain 'how you can type them faster on your computer as well as mobile devices'.  

On Windows, using 'Alt key + number keystrokes' will allow you to insert special characters, but these require an attached numerical keypad on the right of your keyboard, and they wouldn't available on most of the laptops. So, they'll only work on desktops, where the keyboard should have the number pad at the right side along with enter key. 

To get special characters just press and hold Alt key then tap the appropriate numbers using number pad at the right side of your keyboard and release the Alt key. And ensure 'Num Lock' to be on (just tap 'Num Lock' key to turn it on).

For instance, you want to get the symbol £, for British Pound, just press and hold Alt key then tap the numbers 0163, which is numerical keystrokes for British Pound, and then release the Alt key. The symbol £ will be appeared. 

To know the keystrokes for each special character, just open Character Map and click over any character, where it reveals the keystroke, such as Alt+0174 for ®, at the bottom right corner of the Character Map Window. You may also use the Character Map Window, directly, to view the keystroke codes, by click on the characters, and copy then paste into your applications. The list of keystroke codes for the special characters is also available online. 

When using Android's keyboard, just long press the keys to access the related characters and symbols. For instance, long press the key, e, and view the accented e characters. The same process took effect, too, when long press other symbols, such as for currency, to access the additional related symbols. 

This is by default and Google Keyboard App works for Android. Android offers in supporting more keyboards and you may install them from Google Play where you need to type a variety of Unicode symbols. 

When using iPhone or iPad, you may get many additional characters by long press the appropriate key. To type the word touché, you should type touch, then long press the key e and choose the character é. The same process works for a variety of symbols, and for instance you may get the desired currency by long press the $ symbol on the keyboard then choose the desired one. 

To add a new keyboard for different languages, just go to Settings > General > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard. The iOS is offering support for third-party keyboards, where you may install keyboards for a variety of Unicode symbols. 

When using Mac OS X, which has it's own Character Viewer and easier to access. Click Edit menu, on any application that you're working, and choose Special Characters to view it. Locate the desired symbol, from the Window, and double-click on it to enter into the text field on your current application. 

If you're using special characters, frequently, then add them in Favorite List to access them easily, when you need. The list is well organized than Windows OS. 

You may also type a lot of accented letters, and other special characters using Option key. For instance, if you want to type the word touché, first you've to type touch, then press Option key along with e, together. Now tap the e key, which instructs your Mac to use an acute accent letter for e. 

And Washington State University did a good job to Mac users by providing a list of Option and Option+Shift shortcuts, where you may find then type special characters. 

There is no single standard method for typing the Unicode characters on Linux, which depends on the applications and the graphical tool-kit.

10 Things should be kept in mind while buying a Pocket Wi-Fi Router

10 Things should be kept in mind while buying a Pocket Wi-Fi Router

Internet, today, becomes a travel companion with every possible gadget is Wi-Fi enabled. However when you're traveling in a group and need connectivity on-the-go, it's best to use a Wi-Fi router and create a hotspot to connect multiple devices at one-go! 

 










A Pocket Wi-Fi Router is a portable - small sized device, with Wi-Fi Hotspot capability. You can connect this device to an Internet source and make it a Wi-Fi hotspot, which allows multiple devices to connect to the internet. Many of these devices are small sized and so easy to carry wherever you go!

In the market, different types of pocket Wi-Fi devices available with different capabilities. So, you may choose depending on your budget and, you can go for a minimum functionality device or really, a fancy device with lots of option. 

And before buying a Pocket Wi-Fi Router, 10 things should have to keep in mind: 

1. Data Plans: Several data plans are offered, by Internet Service Provider (ISP), under prepaid and postpaid.  So, check the data plans, which is suitable for you; because ISP offering the router at a very cheap price but the data plan will be expensive. 

2. Locked / Unlocked: It's one of the most important factor and have to know whether the device is locked to a specific ISP or not. A locked device can only be worked to a specific ISP and unable to use with any other ISP. If you're getting a device very cheap, then there will be very high possibilities that the router is locked to an ISP. The best choice, to investing your money, is an unlocked one, which allows to change your ISP whenever you need. 

3. How many devices able to connect at a time: Most routers has capacity to connect five devices at a time, which seem to be reasonable. But depending on your usage, for instance - a big family or a small office, you may choose the routers that allow higher number of connections. 

4. Compatibility of ISP: Keep in mind, every ISP doesn't have coverage signals in all areas, and every wireless router wouldn't be compatible with every ISP. So, check well before buying a portable wireless router whether it is compatible with your SIM, data-card and the ISP through where you're going to spent most of the time. 

5. Data Card supporting (3G/4G): To enjoying high speed Internet, ensure the pocket Wi-Fi router, which you're going to buy, supports 3G/4G Data Card.        

6. Wi-Fi Speed: Before buying a wireless router, you've to check its wireless speed standards, too. The standards are ranged as - 'b', 'g' and 'n'.
'n' is the next generation technology, which is newer and supports faster speed, with a maximum net data rate from 54 Mbit/s to 600 Mbit/s and operates on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. 
'g' gives, even, a better coverage and its wireless signal seems to be stronger around the house, which has a maximum data rate 54 Mbit/s or an average of 22 Mbit/s, with 2.4 GHz band.   
'b' has a maximum data rate 11 Mbit/s and, operating in 2.4 GHz band.

7. Router comes with Power Bank: The routers, nowadays, equipped with power bank, where you may getting an advantage of an inbuilt powerful battery, which not only gives continuous working time without the need of charge but allows to charging your smartphones on-the-go, too. 

8. Quick Start: It's also essential to know 'how quickly the router booting- up!'.  The booting time may vary from few seconds to few minutes. So, choose the routers that should get access to net in just 5 seconds without hassles of installation of drivers or software. 

9. Mobile Apps should be managed: Mobile Apps are more convenient, which simplifying one's net-life, today. So, the same should be accessible over the data connection, where the routers allow the users to download Android Apps and to manage anytime, anywhere. So the users could able to view their data usage, battery life and etc., The App is available on Google's Play Store for free of charge.  

10. USB 2.0 Ports: Some routers are coming with USB 2.0 Ports, which can  be great to the users, because they're helpful to share files with the connected computers.

Everything You Need To Know About SD Card

Everything You Need To Know About SD Card

The Memory, SD (Secure Digital), Cards are used to store and share data in various electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, digital cameras and even music players. But they're manufactured in different speed classes, capacities and sizes; so, different devices are requiring different types of SD cards.

 
In this article we're going to explain the differences; so, you'll get an idea 'how to choose an SD card for your device'. 

Speed Class Rating: An SD card's speed is calculated by how quickly the information can be read from, or written to, the card. Earlier the speed was specified in 'times' rating then it was superseded by Speed Class Rating. The newer SD cards are improved the speed by increasing bus rate and offering different speeds. 

The standard speed classes are defined by SD Association, a developer and publisher for SD Card technology. The manufacturers use “speed classes” to measure the speed of an SD card.  

10, 6, 4, and 2 are the four different speed classes where class 10 is the fastest, and 2 is the slowest. Class 2, the slowest, is suitable for standard definition video recording, while classes 4 and 6 are suitable for high-definition video recording. Class 10, the fastest, is suitable for full HD video recording, and HD still consecutive recording.  

There are also two Ultra High Speed (UHS) classes, but they’re more expensive and they've designed for professional uses to the devices, which support UHS. 

Here's the associated logos, in order from slowest to fastest:

For typical usage, like smartphone, tablet or digital camera, a class 4 or class 6 SD card is better and class 10 cards are for ideal usage, when shooting high-resolution videos or RAW photos. Class 2 cards are a bit of slow sides on these days; so, it's better to avoid to buy, even they're cheap in price. 

An SD card's speed class can be identified from the card itself and they're indicated clearly on the cards as in below pictures, the left SD card is class 4 and, right is 6.

You may also get the speed class from online store during purchase or on the package when buying from any shop. 

If an SD card doesn't exist speed class symbol then assume, it's class is 0 (zero), which were designed and introduced before the speed class rating system. They were, of course, slower than a class 2 card.  

Physical size: As mentioned earlier, different devices need different types of SD cards. So, SD cards are manufactured in three different sizes. They are: Standard, Mini and Micro SD. 

Standard SD cards are the largest, measuring 32x24x2.1 mm and weighing less than two grams. Most of the digital cameras still using standard SD cards. They have the standard “cut corner”  design. 

Mini SD cards are smaller than Standard SD cards, measuring 21.5x20x1.4 mm and weighing about 0.8 grams. This is the least common size today and these cards were designed especially for mobile phones.

Micro SD cards are the smallest size, measuring 11x15x1 mm and weighing just 0.25 grams. These cards are used in cell phones and smartphones including tablets. 

Storage Capacity: The SD cards are manufactured in different storage capacities, like system's hard drives, and flash memory.

The below chart will give a brief report on Micro and Mini SD cards.

But the standard (SD) cards are 1 MB to 2 GB in capacity or perhaps 4 GB, but they're non-standard. 

The standard SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity), version 2.0, was announced in January 2006 with capacity 2 GB to 32 GB.

The standard Secure Digital eXtended Capacity (SDXC) was announced in January 2009 with version 3.01 and supports cards 32 GB to 2 TB in capacity. 

Ultra High Speed (UHS) bus, version 3.0, is introduced to both SDHC and SDXC cards, with interface speeds from 50 Mbyte/s to 104 Mbyte/s for 4-bit UHS-I bus and version 4.0, to the same, is also introduced in June 2011, allows speeds of 156 Mbyte/s to 312 Mbyte/s over 4-lane UHS-II bus, which requires an additional row of physical pins. 

Reformatting SD cards may change its cluster size, make writes less efficient and do slower or shorten it's lifespan. 

Fake SD cards are commonly found in the markets as they're mislabeled and counterfeited that reported a fake capacity and run slower than labeled.  

The pictured, at left, Samsung Pro 64GB Micro SDXC (front and back) is original and the falsification is at right, which announced even 64GB, but exist only 8GB capacity with Class 4 speed can be usable. 

So, when buying an SD card, you should have to know the right speed class, size and capacity. It's better to check what the device supports and consider what speed and capacity you actually need.

Are The Smartphones Need Really Screen Protectors?

Are The Smartphones Need Really Screen Protectors? 

Screen protectors were once practically mandatory, but the advanced technology of glass and the special coatings on screen have made the protectors  unnecessary. Many people still buy screen protectors to protect those screens from scratches but they've become less necessary. 

Nowadays, the modern devices has more advanced screen protection built-in as most of the smartphones are coming with CorningGorillaGlass, a toughened, hard glass with high scratch resistance. CorningInc, an American company, has released new versions on Gorilla Glass over the years, but Gorilla Glass3 was introduced in 2013, which is up to 3 times more damage resistant than Gorilla Glass2 and better able to resist the deep scratches. This is the first glass, designed through an atomic-scale modeling and claimed to be 40% more scratch-resistant. 

The keys that you kept in your pocket shouldn’t be able to scratch a modern Gorilla Glass display. Gorilla Glass is harder than the metal such as keys, coins, and other common household metal items. And you’ll see plenty of YouTube Video's Using Knives On Gorilla Glass.

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While fixing a screen protector, you've to be positioned it correctly to fit and applied flat on the screen without any bubbles or cracks appearing under the protector. As the screen protectors seem softer and having adhesive qualities may change the experiences of your smartphone's touch screen. 

However, some materials such as sand, hard rocks can scratch Gorilla Glass, and dropping your smartphone on concreted floors will also cause damage. So, if you spend a lot of time at the beach, then your smartphone needs screen protector. And screen protectors also boast anti-fingerprint coatings, but some modern smartphones having oleophobic coatings, which repels the oil on your fingers and reducing unsightly fingerprints. 

So, screen protectors are not required, if you handle the smartphone in a good way and do not keep your keys or coins along with smartphone in one pocket because there's a chance those items could scratch some other parts of your phone.

How To Free-Up Space On Your Android Devices

How To Free-Up Space On Your Android Devices

Low priced Android phones and tablets doesn't come with more internal memory. If the device is running out-of-space for Apps or data then have to be freeing-up some space. This article explains how to freeing-up space on device storage and SD Card i.e., USB storage. The space on device storage is for Apps and the SD card storage is for other data.

By default, the Apps are installed on Android device's system storage. But they can be moved to SD card to free-up some spaces on device storage. Most Apps may work good when moved to SD card; but there are two options. 

1. You can move only the Apps to SD card, if the developer has include supportive for their Apps. 
2. When you connect the phone to a computer, along with SD card, then SD card storage will be disconnected and the Apps, which you installed on SD card, wouldn't be available because your phone's storage is mounted on computer. 

So, the Apps such as live wallpapers, widgets, and launchers must be installed on phone's internal storage, itself.

To Free-up Space: 
Setting > Applications.

Tap Applications to view the installed Apps. 

To know the Apps, how they're occupying space, tap Menu button then select Sort by size.

Now the phone reveals the largest Apps at the top of the list. 

Tap the desired App you want to move the SD card. 

From Apps detailed screen, tap the option “Move to SD card” (or “Move to USB storage”) to free up space of your system storage.

If you want to move multiple Apps, at a time, to SD card (or USB storage) then use the free App2SD or AppMgr.

To Clear App's cache or data: 
From the related App info screen, you can clear cache or data to freeing-up some space. 

Clearing cache means the temporary files that stored on your device will be cleared; but clearing data is different and more drastic that will set the application to its original state, which means erase all your custom settings of data.

If you want to clear caches for multiple Apps then use the App: AppCacheCleaner. 

To Uninstall Apps: 
It's obvious that uninstalling Apps is one of the best way to freeing-up space. The Apps that you're not using should be uninstalled, even the purchased App and it can be re-downloaded again, if you need.

To See Disk Usage: 
You can view the files that taking-up space on device storage. 

Using the App FreeDiskUsageApp, will give a graphical visualization to the files taking-up space. After installing, tap the folders then zoom-in and go deeper to see the contents.

Now from the contents, you can delete the files / folders by tapping Menu button and choose Delete to erase the selected item.

To Uploading Photos: 
Snapped photos are saved either on device storage or SD card; so, they're occupying more space and they have to be removed to somewhere like GalleryApp. There were plenty of free Gallery Apps available on Google Play and you may choose one of them then launch it on your device. 

Once you've installed, open camera's folder then tap Menu button and select one or more photos you wish to upload. Tap the Share button and choose, for example, Picasa, an image organizer and image viewer for digital photos, including photo-sharing website, to upload and share the photos. They’ll be stored on Google server and can be retrieved on your device whenever you want to view them. It's a good way to back up your photos. 

Further, if Google+ App has already been installed on your device then the photos on your device will automatically uploaded on your Google+; so, you can delete the entire photos from the phone and free-up the space. 

You may also move your photos from Android devices to the PC, connecting a USB cable or using the App AirDroid to transfer files over Wi-Fi.

Stop Printing And Enjoy Digital Era

Stop Printing And Enjoy Digital Era 

Printing, once, was necessary, when computers and printers were heavy, and kept on your desk-tops. Nowadays, printing is going costly because they often requiring expensive ink cartridges and papers.

All kind of printed papers cluttered top of your desk and they must be properly organized, unless you’ll never be able to find what you’re looking for.

But in this digital era, we just walk around with computers in our pockets, like a piece of paper, and cloud services help us to do back-ups and syncs all our documents across all our devices. So, the saved documents can be searched, easily, by the words they contain and no worries for a complicated filing system. 

Some peoples may have stopped printing, long ago, but there are many peoples, who still print e mails, web pages regularly. 

Through this article, we'll guide you some tips of way to away from the printer and the way will be saving and organizing information, which makes sense! 

Creating a Digital File Cabinet: is a good way that allows you to have one consistent location, where you've save everything. There are some sort of cloud services like  Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive and MicrosoftOneDrive that syncs across all your devices and you can access them on smartphones, tablets as well as your PC. And if you really prefer local storage, then save your files to a folder on your PC and be sure to sync it up with the cloud service(s) that you're using. 

Print to PDF: If you'd like to print anything such as a receipt, e mail, webpage or any document  then it can be printed to a PDF file. Unfortunately, Windows doesn’t included a built-in PDF printer; so, installing a PDF printer on Windows system will allow to print PDF files from any form of application. After installation, a new virtual PDF printer will be added on the list of installed printers. When printing any document over the PDF printer, a new PDF file will be created on your system, instead of printing, as a physical document. Then the document can be stored in something like Dropbox or Evernote.  

You may choose a variety of free PDF printers available online and CutePDF Writer is a free version for PDF converter, which virtually enables Windows applications to convert professional quality PDF documents.

During installation be sure to uncheck AskToolbar, which is noted as malware toolbar, and couldn't be removed from most common browsers once installed. 

Emails, web pages and even maps can also be printed to PDF in the same way and they're able to save, instead of printing, in a separate folder on your system / cloud services, then can be accessed later. 

It's also possible to bookmark the web pages to view later and the bookmarks can be synced across all your devices, too.  

If you'd like to read the web pages later, use a service like Pocket or Instapaper to create a list of stuff you like to read. These services take the web pages, convert them to a readable, text-only article, and even store them in offline mode on mobile devices so you can read them later without having to print. 

So, the digital work place, where you've stored a number of documents, offers plenty of advantages such as:

• No need to buy expensive ink, printers, and papers; you’ll save money.
• The files can be backed-up, if they stored over cloud services. They can be accessed anywhere using smartphone or tablet, if you're away from PC.
• You can search and find the electronic documents, which you need, over cloud services that has full text search features.  
• No worries for storing, organizing and making space to the printed documents. The digital workspace will be de-cluttering your documents.

The printed old documents, which were in your possession, has also be converted into digital versions; but it seems lot of work.

However, if they're important and necessary then you may scan and save them in PDF file format using a scanner.

The sensitive documents can also be stored online but you should use encryption and create an encrypted container then store them on your cloud services. People will need a password to access these sensitive documents.