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Archive for September, 2009



Introduction to CHM Files

Wednesday 30 September 2009 @ 11:53 am

CHM file is a file with .chm extension.
CHM stands for Microsoft Compiled HTML Help. This kind of files are optimized for reading. This data format was developed by Microsoft and released in 1997. It was introduced by Microsoft for the first time with the release of Windows 98. Now, it is distributed and supported through Windows XP and Windows Vista.

There are many paid software which allow you to see CHM help files as HTML pages.
Chmlib.com authors developed the website which permits you to view help files in convenient way for free. They believe that the website they build are going to be useful for Linux, Mac and other non-Windows users which cannot view CHM files using their operating systems.

The website is continouly updated. Software developers can also send their help file to authors of the website to have it converted into HTML format and added to the website.
Chmlib.com file stores files in convenient format and allows you to read them even if you work under the non-windows operating systems.

In 2002, Microsoft announced some security risks related with the .CHM data format, as well as several security bulletins and patches. But reading the CHM file using chmlib.com in HTML format is completely safe.




Convert Document To PDF

Wednesday 23 September 2009 @ 10:39 am

Introduction

There are several ways to create a PDF from a Microsoft Word document. PDF, or Portable Document Format, is used worldwide as a standard in publishing documents on the Internet. This article will briefly look at the origins and use of PDF and detail a document conversion solution that anyone can use.

Background

PDF has become the de facto standard in sharing documents and publishing on the Internet. For a complete look at the origins of PDF, see history of PDF at http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/history/history01.htm

Documents are created using a variety of applications. Some of the most popular are Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Publisher, plus many other kinds of applications. Sharing and publishing those documents becomes difficult when not everyone uses the same software.

Anyone can download and install the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader and view PDFs. However, the Acrobat Reader cannot create a PDF. To create a PDF from your document you will need additional software or you can use an online conversion service.

Options

1. Buy full verion of Adobe Acrobat.
2. Buy software from another vendor that needs to be installed.
3. Use an online conversion service.

Buying a new version of Adobe Acrobat will cost over $200. If you have a licensed copy of Adobe Acrobat, you are set and ready to convert.

Purchasing another vendor’s software is a bit of a guessing game on what to buy and whom you are buying from. Most companies will offer you a free trial version. Install it and try it out before committing to buying the software. When using either Adobe Acrobat or another conversion software product can be a good option, if you can afford the initial cost. However, buying software means you’re ethically limited to using it on only one computer. You will also need to purchase upgrades as they become available.

Online conversion services are another option. With most, you simply upload your document to their site, it is converted and returned to you, either by email or a link back to the site. Some companies provide free conversions with limitations, which can include document file size, number of pages, or restricted ability to print or change your PDF. This option usually gives you a quick and easy way to find out if the service will meet your needs. The advantage to using an online service is that the cost is lower and the service is accessible from anywhere you have an Internet connection. You also avoid upgrade costs when newer software becomes necessary.

Solutions

A closer look at one PDF conversion option reveals just how easy the process really is. pdf4u is an online document conversion service that can be found on the web at http://www.pdf4u.com.

This particular service offers two ways to convert a Word document to PDF: submitting the document using their site or installing their printer and using it for your conversions. We’ll walk through both methods.

Converting Native Word Document

1. Go to http://www.pdf4u.com. Enter your email address. This automatically becomes your user name and will be the address used to return your PDF via attachment. If you have a Hotmail, Google, or Yahoo email account, you’ll be able to use this solution anywhere you can access the Internet.

2. Select the Word document to be converted to PDF by using the browse button.

3. If you have a subscription you can change any of the Document Settings. The only one that has any effect on the quality of the PDF is the PDF Quality option. The PDF Quality option defines the resolution of the PDF document. If you have a lot of graphics you might need the prepress option.

4. Click on the Convert button.

You should be taken to a new page on the browser that tells you if the document was submitted and accepted successfully. If successful it will display the Document Settings your new PDF will have when you receive it as an attachment via email.

pdf4u Printer

Installing the printer requires an extra step but once installed is easy to use and you won’t need to start a browser session to submit a document for conversion to PDF.

1. Go to the web site and click on the Printer Download menu item. that is displayed on the left menu. Download the pdf4u printer and install using the default options.

Open up your Word document to be converted and select the pdf4u printer as your printer.

2. Review your document and print using the pdf4u printer.

3. Once printing is completed a Document Submission Software screen will appear. On this screen enter the email address to send the converted PDF. Make any changes to the document name as desired and click the Next button.

4. The next screen is for setting the Document Settings and display resolution. Set the Document Settings to be placed on the PDF and the PDF display resolution. For best display results select the pre-press option for the PDF Display Resolution field. Click the Next button and your document will begin transferring to the pdf4u web site.

5. When the document has completed uploading you will get a File Transfer Completed screen to indicate the status of your file transfer operation. If you do not have a subscription to pdf4u the settings on the Document Settings screen will be ignored and the maximum file size (as of this writing) that can be uploaded is 50K.

6. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each document to be converted to PDF.

Whichever option you choose, document conversion to PDF should be relatively painless. And since it appears as though PDF is here to stay, everyone should make certain they have this capability at their fingertips.




A Perfectly Complete Uninstall

Wednesday 16 September 2009 @ 4:18 am

Uninstalling a Windows program leaves multiple traces like abandoned registry keys, setting files and shared subroutine libraries that are no longer used by any program. When you are seeking for a perfect solution to your problem, you are typically downloading and trying out lots of different applications distributed on the trial base. After you finish your explore, you’ll determine on just one application, and will want to get rid of the previous application you’ve tested. But do you realize how many garbage they leave behind even after being ‘completely’ uninstalled?

If you install a large suite made by a big-name company, you’re having the best quality software that certainly experiences how to behave and how to clean up by itself, right? Wrong! Many of them leave behind multiple traces that are probably getting your computer behave odd, or even lead to troubles that are impossible to predict and difficult to resolve.

Need an examples? How about a firewall that forgets to move out a system-level driver that filters IP packets? After uninstalling the product, the driver just sits there, performing nothing except slowing down the performance of your PC. Try another one of those firewalls and stack an extra system-level driver on top, and you’ll get connectivity problems that are very difficult to resolve if you’re not an experienced network administrator.

Did you use any tools to create backups of your CDs and DVDs? There’s a lot of tools on the market that shamelessly leave behind the drivers they use to access the discs directly. Each of these drivers slows down access to optical discs and makes reads and writes less stable.

Simple utilities produced by small companies and independent software sellers are very prospective to leave traces behind in many places on your computer. Simply because they are free trial and time limited, they try to hide info about their installation date and usage in obscure places, making it on purpose difficult to trace and clean up. There’s nothing wrong with protecting intellectual property, but what happens if you try out a lot of applications, and decide on a single application to do the job? Do you actually have to bring all the garbage in “the house” in order to buy just one tool?

If you start thinking that the only way to keep on your computer clean is by not installing anything on it, think twice! There’s a great solution to these kind of problems made by some trusty vendors. One of them, which i have personally tried, is Registry Mechanic.
Developed by PCTools, this a strong tools to optimize windows registry.
You can try out by downloading the trial version from the official web site, only there are limited features with the trial version.




Downloading Free Screensavers

Wednesday 9 September 2009 @ 4:00 am

There are tons of Screensavers that can be download for free on the Internet, and nearly all of these can be installed easily. These are usually categorized and related to themes. Nature lovers can pick picturesque locations. Fish lovers can pick out from other kinds of aquariums with multi-colored fish that are lapping through colored water. Those who actually like adventure sports or aircraft can select from a wide array of animated images and clips of death-defying stunts. Screensavers can as well be slide displays from different photographs of movie celebrities, sportspersons and politicians.

Yet, several precautions need to be taken before downloading Screensavers. The most fundamental one is that Screensavers must be downloaded from trusted web sites. It’s also always a good idea to scan Screensavers for computer viruses and some other potentially dangerous elements, like spyware and adware. If an anti-virus is already installed on the computer, a right click enables a menu which provides for a ‘scan with…’ option. The option can be chosen and left-clicked to check the picked out download before double-clicking it and performing installation.

Sometimes Screensavers are extremely graphic-intensive. This means that they contain so many computer graphics that are huge files. Tremendous files need lots of space on the computer when they run, and affect the computer performance. Your computer might operate so much harder and so much faster than regular, this can cause the computer freezes. Then the computer needs to be reboot and all the unsaved data on the computer such as open files that were being worked on before the Screensaver was activated will be lost.

Numerous Screensavers also make the hard drive of the computer collapse, causing unretrievable data. So, it is essential for users to download Screensavers that are compatible with the configuration of their computers. This means that the speed of the CPU in the computer, and the available space on it, should be sufficient for the Screensaver to be downloaded, installed and operated.

Many users like to create their own Screensavers, frequently with the visuals and audio of their choice. Several software applications facilitate this. Out of these, several can be freely downloaded from the Internet. Nevertheless, these should be downloaded just from trusted websites, and should be supported by the configuration of the user’s computer. Once downloaded, these should also need to be scan for viruses and other common infections. When installed, these programs enable the user to combine pictures, video clips and audio clips to create a personalized Screensaver, sometimes even for circulation amongst best friends and family.




Great Firefox Extensions for Web Professionals

Wednesday 2 September 2009 @ 3:30 am

Personally, I am not an SEO professiional, simply because until today I am still learning.
But what I have learn from many professional website developers and SEO professionals is when you are developing or creating a website, you need two things.
First, is personal skill. This is what don’t get instantly. I believe you will agree with me that to become a master on a specific subject it takes time, process and great effort.
Second, is the right tools, this is what you can get instantly.

If you are using Mozilla Firefox as your web browser, there are many free extensions that you can use.
Below are some useful Firefox extensions for developing professional website :

HTML Validator (http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/)
Validates website pages to the W3C HTML standards with a simple green signs in the corner of the page if the page validates, a red check if it doesn’t validates and a yellow exclamation if there are warnings. It also includes an enhanced view of source code that allows you to determine where the faults are within the computer code.

FireFTP (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/684/)
Outstanding, safe, cross-platform FTP client that provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers. This gets rid of a piece of application for those of you who utilize a separate program for FTP.

Professor X (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2823/)
Grants you view header data without having to see source code. The page “scrolls” down and Professor X presents you the contents of the page’s head element, including Meta, Script and Style content.

NikkelWHOIS (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2646/)
Watch the WHOIS info for any page by clicking the button on the top-right of the browser.

IE Tab (http://ietab.mozdev.org)
Tired of swapping between Internet Explorer and Firefox when testing out a web page you’re developing ? Utilizing IE Tab you can watch Internet Explorer in a Firefox Tab.

FireBug (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1843/)
An advanced debugger console that grants you monitor on your JavaScript, CSS, HTML and Ajax.

Codetech (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1002/)
Web page editor that has the taste of Dreamweaver.
An spectacular extension for anyone making web design that doesn’t want to spend out a few hundred dollars for Dreamweaver.

Server Switcher (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2409/)
Easily change between websites on your development and live servers by clicking the switch server icon.

SEO for Firefox (http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html)
Pulling useful market research data right into Google’s and Yahoo!’s search results, including Google PR, Age, Backlinks, Alexa rank, WHOIS, and many more. It also adds a few helpful links on the top of the search pages, including Google Trends, Google Traffic Estimator, and the Overture View Bid tool.

Yet Another Window Resizer (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2498/)
Allows you to resize browser windowpane to default screen resolutions.

Screen grab (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1146/)
Gets a screenshot of the web pages and delivers it as an picture data file. This saves up time compared to the method I used, take a screenshot and open Adobe Photoshop to crop the picture.

Server Spy (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2036/)
Shows what type of HTTP server (Apache, IIS, etc.) runs on the visited site on the lower-right side of the web browser.