Bloggers' Corner

Indyan

Here Since 2003
How Effective is Your Antivirus Software?

I have covered various security products before. I even told you how to get them for free (Six Premium Antivirus Software for free and Six Premium Antivirus Software for Free - II). But in the past I mainly concentrated on the detection rates. Detecting a malware is important, but equally important is completely removing the malware (once detected). So how effective is your antivirus in cleaning up the mess once a malware is successful in attacking the system? Anti-Malware.com put all the popular antivirus softwares through the test and the results are shocking to say the least.
Anti-malware.com first infected the test bed with Adware. Win32.NewDotNet, Backdoor.Win32.Sinowal.ce, Email-Worm.Win32.Scano.bd, Rootkit.Win32.Agent.ea, Rootkit.Win32.Podnuha.a, Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Agent.vug, Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Mutant.e, Trojan-Proxy.Win32.Saturn.cu, Trojan-Proxy. Win32.Xorpix.dh, Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.bsa, Trojan.Win32.Agent.lkz, Trojan.Win32.Monderb.gen, Trojan.Win32.Pakes.cuh, Trojan.Win32.Small.yc and Virus.Win32.Rustock.a. Once the system was compromised antivirus softwares were installed and full system scan was run. After the antivirus software was done, a list of remaining traces was prepared. You can find the detailed methodology used here.
So, how did the antivirus softwares do? Terribly. Here are the results:
 

victor_rambo

हॉर्न ओके प्लीज़
Web designers: Are you looking for free, professional, AJAX loading icons that are customized to your needs?
*www.w3hobbyist.com/web-designing/free-ajax-loader-animated-icons-generator/
 

Pathik

Google Bot
CAT 2008 Analysis and Solutions

The CAT 2008 - the premier MBA entrance examination in India was held today. I will try to post a detailed analysis and the answers / solutions here.

The CAT 2008 Solutions are expected to be out by 5 PM.
Analysis:


The CAT this year has 90 questions in all.

25 Quant
25 DI
40 Verbal

The DI section was a bit complicated and very calculation intensive, while the Quant section was relatively easy. The Verbal section, as always was unpredictable and no one seems to know how they fared. As there were 40 questions in the VA section, it will play a major role in determining the chances of getting into the IIMs.

*www.pathikshah.com/blog/cat-2008-analysis-and-solutions/
 

Cool G5

Conversation Architect
MyPersonality - Gauge your personality

These days, the focus in ThinkDigit forum has been shifting from providing technical assistance to imparting socializing tips. The threads in chit-chat section are far more than the other sections combined. The forum geeks seem to be enjoying the off topic threads far more than the regular tech related ones.

A thread by a forum member on how to get develop a good rapport/contact with girls took a strange turn with people posting their personality results. The thread not only got immense response from the forum members, but it also threw light to the social side of the forum geeks. The thread had a post from a member who took an online personality test following which many members joined the site & took the test. Then the geeks went on posting their personality results just as you see in post your internet speed threads. I too thought of giving the personality test a spin & here is what I found out.

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debsuvra

is NOT a PC/Mac
Cleartype compatibility with Adobe Fonts in Windows Vista
... Font smoothing never was Microsoft’s forte, even the not-so-old Windows XP boasted of horrible font renderation, let alone other fancy stuffs. While on the other side, being hailed from Desktop Publishing front, Apple brought richer font smoothing experience in Mac line of operating systems. MS decided to change the course of game with its ‘Cleartype’ technology, first applied OS wide in Windows Vista....
...Now Cleartype is good at an initial look and performs fine with Microsoft approved Cleartype enabled fonts. But things are not the same always with other fonts and could become rather disappointing to work with in Windows Vista. For example, graphic designers swear by Adobe products like Photoshop, Illustrator etc and they come with a great number of fonts included in installer. Many of these fonts are used in Desktop Publishing industry and needs to be perfectly rendered. Surprisingly Cleartype is pawned here with just providing ‘standard’ font smoothing to them. Unavailability of Sub-Pixel Rendering kills the pleasant feeling of them and easily convert them into death screams for a graphic designer. Fonts like Myriad Pro, Lucida Family fonts appear horribly jittery in Wordpad and throughout various MS Office apps...
 

Cool G5

Conversation Architect
Minimize shutdown delay of Opera Mini in Symbian OS

The performance of java applications sometimes degrade when used in a Symbian environment. Same happens with the popular java application, Opera mini. You must have experienced that Opera Mini, takes a fair bit of time to close when you exit it. Even on phones with moderately good hardware, it takes around 10 seconds to exit Opera Mini.

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Indyan

Here Since 2003
BTRACS – Tracking Private Torrent Trackers

In just a few years Bittorent has cemented its position as the P2P leader, displacing traditional networks like Kaaza and Gnutella. These days if you know where to look almost everything under the sun can be found via torrents. Often, the best place to find stuff is restricted private torrent trackers. Due to their controlled environment private trackers often provide better quality and speed with very little fake stuff.
But getting into a private tracker can be a hassle. Most of them are invite only or open registrations only for a few days. This is where BTRACS or BitTorrent automatic tracker checking system comes in. BTRACS monitors private torrent trackers and displays list of trackers where signup is currently open. At the moment it is tracking 309 trackers out of which 95 are open for registration. The list on the front page is updated every 10 minutes.
 

Indyan

Here Since 2003
TuneUp Utilities 2009 - Only System Optimiser You’ll Ever Need

TuneUp Utilities is an award winning system optimization tool that has long been my favourite. The 2009 edition was released yesterday and boasts of several new features. Let’s take a look at the latest release and see if it’s worth the upgrade.
New in 2009 :
Retooled Interface: TuneUp Utilities 09 maintains the look and feel of TuneUp 08 with a few changes. The new addition is the Start Page. It basically acts as a dashboard. It gives you a quick summary of your computer’s current condition, and recommends actions to be taken. There are other several minor changes e.g. “Maintain Windows” Tab has been renamed to “Clean Windows” which makes more sense.

TuneUp Speed Optimizer: TuneUp System Optimizer has been retooled into TuneUp Speed Optimizer. Speed Optimizer asks you a few questions regarding your system usage and recommends tweaks best suited for your system. Speed Optimizer is a huge improvement over its predecessor. It’s much more comprehensive and more importantly suggests tips that I can use (I found myself agreeing with most of the recommendations).
 

Pathik

Google Bot
Online Virus Scanners

Suppose that you have downloaded a file but you suspect that it may be infected with a virus, but you don’t want to install an antivirus that could possibly bog down your system, as in most cases. What do you do? You use a Online Virus Scanner. There are many free services that allow you to scan your files online for viruses. The most popular of them are:
1. Virus Total

*www.virustotal.com

It is the best online virus scanner. You just need to upload your file and it will do the rest. It scans the file using 37 popular antivirus engines to minimize detection errors.

Use Mobile Phone As Webcam

This tutorial will show you How to use your mobile as a Webcam.

Many of us don’t have Webcams and might want to use your mobile as a Webcam to save on some cash and also to put your mobile camera to better use.

You will need to install your Bluetooth stack / drivers - Microsoft, Bluesoliel, Widcomm etc if you plan to use Bluetooth to connect your phone and PC. You will also need to install Nokia PC Suite in case you are using a Nokia phone.

There are two applications to use your mobile as a Webcam:
 
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debsuvra

is NOT a PC/Mac
Voodoo XNU kernel hits release candidate
After a gruesome wait for more than one month, I was really becoming much unrested about Voodoo’s future and even started some fights on ridiculous reasons in some Mac forums. Previously, I posted about my two long waited wishes those appeared to come true in this week and Voodoo was definitely one of them. Being a admirer of Mac OS X for many reasons, I really like it to run on PCs defying restrictions from Apple. OSX86 was started earlier and was catching up with real Mac slowly, finally defining something which can truly hold position for this noble project. Now we have something that can compete with original Apple Macs over their reliability and performance frontiers, Voodoo XNU kernel is here.
Read more @ *www.feelingentity.com/2008/11/28/voodoo-xnu-kernel-hits-release-candidate/
 

iMav

The Devil's Advocate
Control Startup Programs In Vista With Windows Defender

Windows Defender, has the ability to allow you to customize which programs to be allowed to run on Windows Startup and also provide in-depth information about the program. This is pretty much the services.msc with a better GUI. To access the functionality:

Continue reading...
 

Cool G5

Conversation Architect
Need for Security​

The security was beefed up in the city after the recent Wednesday terror attacks. Police squads were seen patrolling all over important junctions, high profile malls, railway stations and almost every place. In midst of this tense situation in the city, I was required to visit Nokia care to collect my phone, which was left with them for repairs.

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gary4gar

GaurishSharma.com
[NPTEL]High-Quality Free Video Tutorials by Profs of IITs
Gaurishsharma.com said:
NPTEL is an acronym for National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning which is an initiative by all seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for creating course contents in engineering and science.

Basically, Senior Profs of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have recorded video of their lectures and they have been hosted at Youtube.these are high quality lectures by experienced & well trained. The course contents focus mainly on engineering and science.

The various Courses there are

[NPTEL]High-Quality Free Video Tutorials by Profs of IITs
nptel's channel on Youtube

Already nptel is a popular channel with over 50lakh views.
But sadly not many Indians are taking advantages of it:|
So please dig this:*digg.com/tech_news/NPTEL_High_Quality_Free_Video_Tutorials_by_Profs_of_IITs
 

Pathik

Google Bot
Send Free SMS - India

*www.pathikshah.com/blog/send-free-sms-india/

A list of the best free SMS sites.
 

victor_rambo

हॉर्न ओके प्लीज़
Have you fell for a web hosting plan that advertises GB's of diskspace and TB's of monthly data-transfer? Then read this and see how you can save a considerable part of your money!. Link below:

*www.w3hobbyist.com/web-hosting/web...-disk-space-and-tbs-of-monthly-data-transfer/
 

Cool G5

Conversation Architect
EnvyNG - Install Graphic Drivers in Ubuntu/Debian in a jiffy

Hunting for hardware drivers is a cumbersome task. You first have to note down the exact model no of the hardware, next you have to navigate through the manufacturer’s website which is riddled with a complex layout and finally you get to download the driver. To add to your worry, if you download the incorrect drivers for your hardware it will create more problems than good, not to forget you will end up wasting precious bandwidth and time. Now you would plead if there is any software, which could download the required updated drivers for your hardware and install them automatically while you relax a cup of coffee. Fret not; your wish will be met by simple software named EnvyNG.


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debsuvra

is NOT a PC/Mac
Beginning with Vodafone
Ditching the old, shitty cellphone network provider is rather easy, choosing an efficient new one is not. A devoted customer of BSNL aka Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited should probably switch, if not ditch all the providers at once. Many people alleged that each and every one playing in the battlefield of Indian Telecom is dirty and crappy, and should be banned out of the country eventually. But one has to see the perils of life without a cellphone connection, so I had to stick with one, something better in some way.
I had a so called Lifetime prepaid connection from BSNL Mobile, so I did not have the guts to just throw it away. Instead I started some market research within the friend circle only, after a google search on the same went in vein. They did not seem to understand the switch and wanted me to continue as I was doing. Now surely I do not pretend to be a mobile junkie like my friend Gaurav, but putting my money for best available results is a topmost priority for me. Since I am buying those recharge vouchers now & then, I have my full rights to get the best out of them. Airtel or Vodafone was almost automatic choices for me and almost everyone in my vicinity recommended either one of them. Now that was a tough decision, choosing between two of them.​
Continue Reading...
 

iMav

The Devil's Advocate
First Look - Seadragon On iPhone

Finally Microsoft comes onto the iPhone. My initial thought was that Windows Live would be the first with a Google like Live Suite for the iPhone, but Live Labs is just kicking ass! Seadragon is the first iPhone app available on the App Store from Microsoft and it is beautiful. And iterates 1 thing for sure, Microsoft is better at coding applications for alternate platforms as compared to Apple within the given parameters.

What is Seadragon?
 
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