Download You Tube Vids

How to Download YouTube Videos: Easy Way

YouTube is undoubtedly the most preferred website to share and watch favorite videos. Most users prefer to watch the videos online, while a few others like me, would like to download them so that they can be saved and retained. Well, if you are one among those few who would like to download the videos from YouTube, then here is a way to do that.

In fact, there are many ways to download videos from YouTube, but here in this post, I would like to share with you one of the easiest way to do that. This can be done as follows:

1.    Download and install the latest version of Internet Download Manager.

Internet Download Manager is a great add-on for your web browser which increases the download speed by 5 times. It also helps you to pause/resume and schedule your downloads. It has got a great interface and is user friendly. It works with most of the browsers including IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera.

2.    After you complete the installation, just open your browser and start searching for your favorite video on YouTube. You will see the download button on top of the video using which you can download it instantly.

1.    Click on the “Download this Video” button to save the video onto your computer. The downloaded video will be in the flash video format (.flv).

2.    You can use VLC Player to play the downloaded video or use SUPER to convert it to your desired format.

By using this trick, you can download almost all the buffering content on the Internet including videos from MySpace and Google. I hope you like this small post. Don’t forget to pass your comments. Enjoy 

Block Unwanted Emails

How to Block Unwanted Emails

Do you want to block emails from your ex wife/husband? Do you want to block those annoying offers and newsletters that reach your inbox? Well, here is a way to block all those unwanted and annoying emails that you do not want to see or read!

In this post, I will show you a trick using which you can block individual email address or the whole domain from which you do not want the emails to come from. Here are the step-by-step instructions to do this:

For Gmail:

Here is how you can block emails for Gmail:

1.    Log in to your account.

2.    At the top-right corner, click on Settings.

3.    Under Settings, click on Filters.

4.    You’ll now see an option “Create a new filter“, click on it.

5.    Now in the From field, enter the email address from which you do not want to receive the emails.

For ex. you may enter john@gmail .com in the “From:” field to block all incoming emails from this address. However, if you want to block the whole domain, then use the following syntax: *@xyz.com. Now, all the incoming emails from the domain “xyz.com” will be blocked.

6.    Click on Next Step, select the action you’d like to take on the blocked emails. You may select the optionDelete it so that the blocked email is moved to trash. In case if you would like to unblock those emails, all you need to do is just delete the filter that you’ve created.

For Yahoo:

Here is how you can block unwanted emails for Yahoo:

1.    Log in to your account.

2.    At the top-right corner, click on Options.

3.    A drop down menu appears, now click on More options.

4.    In the left panel select the option Filters and click on create or edit filters.

5.    Now click on Add.

6.    In the next screen, give a name to your filter and in the From header field enter the email address that you want to block.

Fox ex. john@gmail.com or if you want to block an entire domain then just enter @xyz.com. Don’t enter*@xyz.com. Select the option Move the message to: Trash and click on Save Changes.

For Hotmail:

Here is how to do the same for Hotmail:

1.    Log in to your account.

2.    At the top-right corner, click on Options.

3.    A drop down menu appears, now click on More options.

4.    Click on Safe and blocked senders link under Junk e-mail.

5.    Now click on Blocked senders.

6.    Type in the email address that you want to block under blocked e-mail address or domain field.

For ex. Enter john@yahoo.com to block the individual email address or just enter xyz.com to block the entire domain.

That’s it. You no longer receive those annoying emails in your inbox. Keep your inbox clean and tidy. I hope this post helps. Pass your comments!

Recover Deleted Files

How to Recover Deleted Files from Windows and Mac

Have you accidentally deleted your files from the hard disk? Do you desperately want to recover them back? Well, you need not panic! It is possible to recover the deleted files or data back from the hard disk  (even after you have Shift+Deleted)  provided you act as soon as you realize that the files are deleted and use the best deleted files recovery software.

In this post you will find a detailed information on how to recover the deleted files back from your Windows PC or Mac.

How Does the File Recovery Process Works?

When you delete a file from your computer, (or even from the recycle bin) the file is not actually deleted. Unlike what most people think, whenever a file or data is deleted from your computer, it is not permanently vanished or dropped out from your hard disk. Even though the files appear to have been deleted, they can still be recovered successfully.

Let’s take up a small example of a book containing 50 pages. Suppose when you delete the page 25, assume that only the entry in the index which points to the page 25 is deleted and not actually the page 25 itself. Likewise, when you delete a file from your hard disk, only the pointer which points to this file is removed and not actually the file itself. This file still exists intact and is 100% possible to recover it back in the original condition. In this condition, the file becomes invisible and hence appears to have been deleted.

Recovering the deleted files 100% back in the original condition is very much dependent on the efficiency of the Data Recovery software you use. So, it is necessary to make a right choice when it comes to the selection of file recovery software.

Today, there exists hundreds of data recovery tools and software programs on the market which boast to recover 100% of all the deleted files back in the original condition. But in reality, most of these programs are neither effective nor capable of recovering your files back. So, when it comes to Data Recovery, I recommend the following program as the best:

1.    Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery (for Windows)

2.    Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery (for Mac)

Stellar Phoenix is one of the best company specializing in deleted files recovery services and solutions since 1993. Stellar’s Data Recovery Solutions encompasses a wide range of software for almost any data loss situation ranging from accidental formats to virus attacks to software malfunctions. Hence, Stellar provides the best tools to recover deleted files with over 1,000,000 satisfied customers across 137 countries.

What are the Chances of Recovering my Files Back?

Since the operating system doesn’t immediately re-use the space from the deleted files, it is most certainly possible to recover the deleted files back in 100% original condition. It may take up a very long time for those files to be completely deleted since the modern hard disks have ample capacity. Hence the chances are too less that the space from the deleted files are re-used immediately.

So, it is really worth to try out the file recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery for Windows or Stellar Data Recover for Mac. Some files are reported to have been recovered even after years of it’s deletion. However, for the best results, it is recommended that you use the file recovery software as immediately as possible.

Recovering the Deleted Files

In order to recover the deleted files, all you need to do is perform a scan (search) for the deleted files using a File Recovery Software. Please be informed that there is no manual way to recover the deleted files. The Phoenix Data Recovery software performs a thorough scanning of the hard disk sector by sector and will locate the existence of deleted files to restore them back in the original condition. It is the only software that supports 185 popular file types including Windows NT Registry, JPEG, MP4, GIF, BMP and MS Word files. The software offers rich graphical support and incorporates advanced scanning methods to completely scan and recover deleted files from your hard drive. With this recovery software, it is possible to

·         Recover FAT16, FAT32, VFAT, NTFS, and NTFS5 file system partitions

·         Recover deleted emails

·         Recover deleted documents

·         Recover deleted photos

·         Recover deleted music

·         Formatted Hard-Drive recovery

·         Recover files from USB Drives, CDs, DVDs and memory cards

·         Recover almost all the camera format files

Visit the following links for more information on Stellar Data Recovery:

1.     Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery (for Windows)

2.     Stellar Phoenix Mac Data Recovery (for Mac)

Completely Erase HDD

How to Completely Erase a Hard Disk Drive

A new year has begun and perhaps you have decided to perform a system upgrade or get rid of your old computer system and purchase a new one. But, before you sell or donate your old computer, it is very much necessary to completely erase your hard disk drive. Yes, every one of us are aware of this fact and so, we delete the contents of the hard disk either by using the DELETE key on our keyboard or            by Formatting the hard disk.

Deleting and Formatting – Just Not Secure Enough

But the fact is, the data will still be on the hard disk even after deleting it or formatting the hard disk. Using the delete key on your keyboard will only remove the shortcuts to the files making them invisible to users. Deleted files still reside on the hard drive and a quick Google search will show many options for system recovery software will allow anyone to reinstate that data.

Formatting the hard drive is a bit more secure way to erase the hard disk. Formatting a disk will not erase the actual data on the disk but only the address tables pointing to the data are dropped. It makes it much more difficult to recover the files. However, a computer specialist would be able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk before the reformat. For those who accidentally reformat a hard disk, being able to recover most or all the data that was on the disk is a good thing. However, if you’re preparing a system for retirement to charity or any other organization, this obviously makes you more vulnerable to data theft.

Erasing the Hard Disk through DISK WIPING:

So it is necessary for us to use a 100 percent secure way to erase the data from the hard disk drive. This way of securely erasing the data is called Disk Wiping. Disk wiping is a secure method of ensuring that data, including company and individually licensed software on your computer and storage devices is irrecoverably deleted before recycling or donating the equipment. Because previously stored data can be brought back with the right software and applications, the disk wiping process will actually overwrite your entire hard drive with data, several times. Once you format you’ll find it all but impossible to retrieve the data which was on the drive before the overwrite. The more times the disk is overwritten and formatted the more secure the disk wipe is.

There are a variety of disk wiping products available that you can purchase, or freely downloaded online to perform more secure disk wipes. One of my favorite disk wiping software is:

WipeDrive/ WipeDrive Professional

You have to use this tool by burning the iso image file onto a CD or by using a floppy disk. After burning this tool you have to boot your PC and follow the screen instructions to completely wipe out the data from your hard disk drive.

Change Logon Screen

How to Change the Logon Screen Background in Windows 7

How would you like to change the logon screen background in Windows 7 so as to give your Windows a customized look and feel? With a small tweak it is possible to customize the Windows 7 logon screen and set your own picture/wallpaper as the background.

Changing logon screen background in Windows 7 is as simple as changing your desktop wallpaper. Well, here is a step-by-step instruction to customize the logon screen background:

1.    The image you need to set as the background should be a .jpg file and its size should not exceed 245KB.

2.    The image resolution can be anything of your choice. However I prefer 1440 x 900 or 1024 x 768. You can use any of the photo editing software such as Photoshop to compress and set the resolution for your image. Once you’re done, save this image as backgroundDefault.jpg.

3.    You will need to copy this image to the following location:

C:\Windows\system32\oobe\info\backgrounds

You will need to create that path if it does not already exist on your computer.

4.    Now, open the Registry Editor (Start -> Run -> Type regedit) and navigate to the following key:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\
LogonUI\Background

If the key Background does not exist, then right-click on LogonUI, select New -> Key, and then name it as Background.

Now locate OEMBackground (listed on the right side). If it does not exist, right-click Background and selectNew -> DWORD and name it OEMBackground.

5.    Double-click on OEMBackground and set the Value Data to 1.

6.    Now log-off to see the new logon screen background. If you would like to revert back to the default background, just set the Value Data back to 0.

Using a Tool to Change the Logon Screen Background:

The above steps will give you a detailed instruction on how to change the logon screen background manually. However, there is a nice tool to completely automate the above steps so that you can do everything with just a few mouse clicks!

The tool is called Windows 7 Logon Background Changer from Julien-Manici.com. This small tool is very easy to use and contains a set of preloaded images to choose from or you can set your own desired image as the logon screen background.

I hope you love this post! Pass your comments. Cheers ...

HOSTS File To Block Website

Use HOSTS File to Block or Redirect Unwanted Websites

The hosts file is one of the interesting and useful feature of both Windows and Linux operating systems that provides many handy options in addressing network nodes. For instance, you can use the hosts file to block annoying ads, pop-ups, banners, porn sites, or even redirect one website to another.

In this post I will show you how to play around with the hosts file to accomplish some of the above mentioned jobs.

What is a hosts File?

The hosts file is just like any other computer file that is used by the operating system to map host names and domain names on to their corresponding IP addresses.

In other words, when you type “google.com” on your browser’s address bar, your computer will look for the hosts file to see if it contains the corresponding IP address for the domain name you typed (google.com). In case if no entry is present in the hosts file, the request is then passed on to the DNS (Domain Name System) server to obtain the IP address.

hosts File vs. DNS

When it comes to resolving the host names, the hosts file is given the first priority over the Domain Name System. In most cases, the hosts file remains unconfigured on the operating system and hence the DNS is used by the computer to resolve the domain names to their corresponding IP addresses.

However, if the hosts file is found to contain a valid entry for a given host name or domain name, then this is picked up and used by the operating system.

Where is the hosts File Located?

Windows: In case of the Windows operating system, the hosts file is located at:

%systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

NOTE: In most cases this should be: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Unix/Linux: In case of Linux it is located at:

/etc/hosts

How to Block a Website?

To block a specific website, all you have to do is just add a new entry for that site in the hosts file. I would prefer to backup the original file and create a new one instead of modifying it. So, if something goes wrong, you can just delete it and restore the original one! Well, here is a step-by-step procedure on how to create a new hosts file on Windows:

1.    Go to “My Computer” and you should see the “Menu bar” on top. In case of Vista and Win 7, just click “Alt” to unhide the “Menu bar”.

2.    Now in the menu bar, click on “Tools -> Folder Options”. In the “View” tab uncheck the option that says: “Hide extensions for known file types” and click on “OK”.

1.    Open a new text pad (New Text Document.txt) and rename it to: hosts. You will get a pop-up message with a warning. Just click on “Yes”.

Please note that the renamed file hosts should not have any extension such as hosts.txt.

2.    Open the hosts file using the notepad. Now let us assume that you want to block the sites Facebook andYoutube on your computer. For this all you have to do is add the following lines to your hosts file:

127.0.0.1       facebook.com
127.0.0.1       www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1       youtube.com
127.0.0.1       www.youtube.com

Each entry should be placed on an individual line. The IP address and the hostname should be separated by a space or a tab. In this way, you can block any given website by just pointing it to the IP address 127.0.0.1.

3.    Navigate to %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc. Here you should see the original hosts file, rename it tohosts_bak. Just copy and paste the new hosts file that you have created. That’s it. You’ve now successfully blocked those websites from loading on your computer.

If you are using Vista/Win 7 you may have to take ownership of the original hosts file before renaming it.

How to Redirect a Website?

Suppose you want to redirect Friendster.com to Google.com, all you have to do is just add the following lines to your hosts file:

74.125.236.72       friendster.com
74.125.236.72       www.friendster.com

Here 74.125.236.72 is the IP address of Google.com. To find out the IP address of any given website, just go to command prompt and ping it. For example: ping google.com. You should get a ping response that displays the IP address as shown below:

From now on, whenever you type “friendster.com” on your browser, you will be redirected to “google.com”.

How does a hosts File work?

Whenever you block a website using the hosts file, you point it to the IP address 127.0.0.1 which in fact is the IP address of your own computer. In other words, the IP 127.0.0.1 points to your own computer and doesn’t exist outside.

So, whenever you type the URL of a website for which an entry is present in the hosts file, your computer will load the IP as 127.0.0.1 instead of the actual one and tries to establish a connection with this IP address (127.0.0.1) but fails. As a result the website doesn’t load at all.

The redirection of the website works by pointing the domain name of one website to the IP address of another website (as configured by the hosts file) instead of it’s original IP address. So, whenever you type friendster.com, it is pointed to Google.com’s IP address and thus, the Google page loads up instead of the actual page from friendster.com.

How to Block the Annoying Ads?

I have found a great solution to keep all the annoying ads, banners, pop-ups and other parasites at bay by using a pre-configured hosts called MVPS hosts file. This hosts file contains a long list of entries to block all those annoying ads and pop-ups that usually load while you are surfing the Internet. You can also receive regular updates on this to stay up-to-date. You can download MVPS hosts file from the link below:

Download MVPS hosts

If you are playing around with the hosts file and something goes wrong, just delete the hosts file itself and rename the original file from hosts_bak to hosts. This should bring back everything to normal.

Waiting for your comments.