CyberMonday Deals

Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010 – 3PC/1User - The very popular Microsoft Office is selling out for $94.99 at 37% discount for use on 3 Windows computers. Every computer needs Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint. Best time to buy the software pack.

Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student -Family Pack – Must grab the Microsoft Office for Mac selling out for $94.99 at 37% discount for use on 3 Mac computers. This is a good deal to get Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel for your Mac.

Norton 360 5.0 1-User/3PCs – get the powerful best selling all round security software by Norton in this great Cyber Monday deal for use on 3 computers for $29 only at 63% discount.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home, Version 11 – Grab the latest version of the popular speech to text software for $40 only at 60% discount! This speech recognition software lets you interact with your PC just by talking, and will change the way you use your computer.

Microsoft Streets & Trips 2011 – features updated street-level maps for U.S., Canada, and Mexico with millions of points of interest. View the quickest routes with one-click trip optimization with no Internet connection required! Now selling for $15 only.

Corel Photo and Video Pro X4 Ultimate Bundle - is a powerful photo editing and video-editing software, with 50+ adjustment filters and 112 special effects to create amazing visual effects. Selling for $67 with 55% off right now.

Mcafee Total Protection 2012 – 3 Users – Grab the latest version of the Mcafee security software, featuring file and folder encryption, online ID protection and backup with anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, and anti-spam tools. 3 User pack selling at 73% discount for $22 only.

Which CyberMonday Deal did you grab?

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But after using your computer for about a year or so, like me, you would also face some minor problems with your computer performance e.g. takes more time to boot up, hangs up very frequently, you see a large cluster of useless icons on your desktop, applications run slower, some even refuse to run. Innumerable problems are faced by all of us.

Now all of us won’t buy a new computer just for this reason, so what would you do? Format your hard disk? Probably, but who wants to lose precious data? There are many small things that PC users, don’t know about, or though being aware of them don’t prefer to use them as they require investment of time. And who has free time? Well then, what to do?

I am going to tell you, what I do to my own PC, to achieve the performance level I want from it. This doesn’t require much effort to follow these simple tips, nor do they require much time, but surely they increase our PC performance, your PC would surely run smoother and faster.

Make Computer Faster

1. First of all, don’t ever fill your desktop with shortcut icons or data folders or files. Keep your desktop as clean as possible. If possible, don’t place shortcut of applications on your desktop, just run them from the start menu. This would vastly speed up your startup process.
2. Keep your C: drive; or whichever partition your OS is installed to, as clean and defragmented as possible. I personally prefer not to install most of the programs on my C: drive. Because this is the drive where your important OS files are present, and whatever space is left on the drive is used as virtual memory, so less the garbage on your OS drive, faster your computer would run.
3. Use least visual enhancements on your desktop. That means, to reduce the use of desktop gadgets, which takes loads of memory usage. Also using a simple theme is best. Animated desktop themes, screensavers or wallpapers obviously take more memory usage from your hands. So keeping it simple makes the difference.
4. If you are regular internet user, then consider using the “Clear Cache” function of your browser, to clear temporary offline data saved by the browser – this clears up some considerate amount of temporary data. Also regularly clear browser history and cookies.
5. Update your antivirus regularly, preferably every two or three days. Worms and malwares are a very common reason due to which your computer runs slower than usual, that is because worms duplicate themselves and fill your disk with useless, corrupt data and also occupies a large amount of your available memory.
6. Make it a habit to clear %temp% and %tmp% folders of your PC every day. They contain temporary files which you can freely delete to gain some small but considerable amount of disk space.
7. Use Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup on a regular basis.
8. One piece of advice from me is not to use any disk cleaning utilities available on the net unless they are from trusted owners. Because, it is true that they help you gain some more disk space and gain some speed from your PC but most of their work can be done manually by users, so they just take some useless space on your disk.
9. After installing any program, they take up some space on your disk, also on your registry. I suggest not installing any program which you consider ‘use and throw’ because even after uninstalling them, some of their remains still linger on your PC, which also affects your PC performance.
10. Regularly delete all the contents of your ‘Recent’ folder. This folder contains shortcut to your recently used documents and programs. These shortcuts are just useless garbage which you should clear on daily basis.
11. To speed up the boot time, disable any useless startup programs from MSConfig utility.
12. Delete contents of your recycle bin to gain some more disk space.
13. TeraCopy is one of the best programs to speed up file copying. I personally prefer using this program.
14. Using external DNS servers such as OpenDNS, boosts your internet speed up to some extent.
15. Select “Adjust for best performance” setting on the Performance tab in System Properties.

These are some small tips which I prefer following and I know the results. If you are completely fed up with your PC performance, then you should try reformatting your hard disk partition. That would surely do it. But if you just want to continue with your PC for a long time, then from the very beginning, follow these steps regularly and you’ll see the impact of these minor steps in a major way.

Guest author Mahaveer is the admin of All That Your Computer Needs, which is a blog about computer software, hardware and other computing resources.  

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Remember that new users may find more complicated to operate, but a powerful gaming keyboard combined with a gaming mouse will guarantee unfair advantage over your gaming opponents surely. Here are the best Gaming keyboards in random order.

Best Gaming Keyboards

Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Gaming Keyboard -  includes a detachable key pad, in-game macro recording, a full media key set, automatic and manual mode/profile switching, two-color dimmable backlighting, and much more. Choose right side or left side configuration or switch between standard key pad and macro pad in gaming mode. At the touch of a button, it doubles as your high-performance keyboard for everyday computing. Manually toggle the keyboard from standard mode to either of two gaming modes. Use Cruise Control to continue an action without having to hold down the key or keys assigned to the action.

Logitech G19 Programmable Gaming Keyboard with Color Display – is the first Logitech keyboard to feature a color GamePanel LCD. The tiltable, 320-by-240-pixel display provides valuable in-game information for over sixty games. In addition to in-game information, the screen can show VoIP communication data, clock, CPU load, or other non-gaming specific items such as pictures or videos. User-selectable character backlighting color plus  12 fully programmable G-keys with 3 macros per key. A game/desktop mode switch lets you disable the Windows /Context Menu keys so you don’t get accidentally out of your game.

SteelSeries 7G Gaming Keyboard - It redefines “anti-ghosting” by supporting as many simultaneous key presses as there are keys on the keyboard. The use of PS/2 combined with a gold-plated USB connector and 18K gold-plated mechanical switches, means it improves your ability to obtain more Actions Per Minute than any other keyboard. It features gaming grade response times and more than 6 times the durability of a traditional keyboard. It claims to give you the fastest reaction time, highest reliability, and the ability to perform very complex keyboard combinations.

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard -  is the first mechanical gaming keyboard designed for a whole new feel and accelerated gameplay. A full mechanical key infrastructure delivers distinctive tactile feedback, superior gaming-grade response and unsurpassed actions per minute with an extended lifespan of over 50 million keystrokes. Its five additional macro keys with on-the-fly recording and optimized key matrix allow you to stay in complete control.

SteelSeries Merc Stealth Gaming Keyboard – features 34 dedicated gaming terrain keys, making it easier than ever to walk, run, jump, crouch, and move directionally in games. The gaming terrain keys, tilted at an 11 degree angle, are ergonomic and comfortable even during long gaming sessions. The keyboard features 3 different illumination colors (blue, red and purple), which can be set to 4 different illumination modes (subtle, ambient, intense and off). Rubberized movement keys offer superior response.Z Engine comes with over 125 pre-defined key mapping layouts that you can use to jump quickly into your favorite games.

Add to this our 5 best gaming mice for power gaming. What is  your favorite gaming keyboard? Let us know in comments.

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Remember, these are meant for dedicated gaming experience, and new users may find it difficult ot adjust at first, but then combine a powerful gaming keyboard with a powerful gaming mouse to gain unfair advantage over your gaming opponents. Check if it will work with your Mac. Here are the best Gaming mouse in random order.

Best Gaming Mouse

Razer Mamba 2012 Elite Ergonomic Wireless Gaming Mouse – The new Razer Mamba features an ultra-precise 6400dpi 4G Dual Sensor System, that makes use of both a laser and an optical sensor to enhance tracking precision by calibrating to different surfaces and allowing adjustment of liftoff tracking distance.

The Razer Mamba can not only match the speed of your swipes, but also allows configuration of cutoff distance to manage liftoff tracking, empowering you with more control than ever. It now features 15% improved battery life for more gaming enjoyment, a new multicolored LED for personalization, and is outfitted with an industry-leading gaming grade wireless technology.

Microsoft SideWinder X8 Mouse – Features Microsoft BlueTrack Technology – World’s most advanced tracking technology for gaming with image processing of 13,000 frames per second. You can play and charge upto 30 hours of active gaming on a single charge, or use the play-and charge cable for non-stop action. The 2.4 GHz Wireless allows for lag-free play.

DPI Switching allows you to instantly switch sensitivity between high, medium, and low with one click. 7 Programmable Buttons – Customize 5 programmable main buttons, plus left/right tilt, to your preference.

Logitech Wireless Gaming Mouse G700 – Features 13 programmable buttons to perform intricate macros with a single click. It has natural curves that fit your hand ergonomically and smooth-gliding feet give you comfort and control. Full-speed wireless (1,000 reports per second) combines gaming-grade responsiveness with wireless freedom.

A USB recharging/data cable makes sure you never run out of power in middle of a fast paced game. It has high-precision laser tracking and onboard memory for storing up to five game profiles

Razer Naga Epic Gaming Mouse- Features 17 MMO-optimized buttons to access more abilities and macros with 17 mouse buttons including the Razer Naga thumb grid. Fully remap and assign macros to all 17 buttons. In-game addons or integrated in-game support for the most popular MMO games.

True gaming-grade wireless connectivity allows greater variety of movement with better mouse control and accuracy. Switch between wireless mode to wired mode – with zero downtime as the mouse charges in wired mode. Three interchangeable side panels provide an optimized fit for different hand sizes and grip style. PC Compatible Only.

Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. 9 Gaming Mouse - The power and performance of the R.A.T. 7 combines with next-generation wireless technology for an unsurpassed gaming experience. Featuring a lightweight aluminium chassis, it works at 5600 DPI with 4 custom DPI settings, and zero latency 2.4Ghz wireless technology.

It comes with 2 custom built lithium-ion battery cells – one powers the R.A.T. while other charges in the dock for quick ‘hot swap’ when needed. Five 6-gram weights can be added or subtracted in an instant, giving you the perfect weight for a perfect feel. 6 Programmable Buttons, 3 Cyborg Modes. Interchangeable Pinkie Grips and Palm Rests. Works on Mac and PC.

What are your favorite gaming mouse? Power it up with these 5 best gaming keyboards. Let us know in comments.

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Windows 8 Copy Paste

Windows 8 will present all pending copy jobs in this single dialog, instead of multiple floating pop ups. Now you can also pause, resume, and stop each copy operation in progress and get contol over which copy jobs to complete first. Also note each copy job in progress shows the speed of data transfer, the transfer rate trend, and how much data in left to transfer in a neat chart for a great visual assessment.

Also when 2 files have a similar file name, now Windows 8 has a new approach to conflict resolution. All source files are on the left and target location files on right in one single dialog screen and you can choose which file to keep in one extended screen.

Windows 8 USB 3.0 Support

Microsoft foresees that by 2015, all new PCs will offer USB 3.0 ports. USB 3.0 will be 10 times faster than USB 2.0 with improved power management that results in longer battery life. Transferring your heavy HD movies will be much faster and will save much time. See how Windows 8 plans to incorporate USB 3.0

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Apple Mac Mini already comes powered with a 500GB (5400-rpm) hard drive, which is configurable to 750GB (7200-rpm) hard drive (2.5GHz model also configurable to 256GB solid-state drive or 256GB solid-state drive and 750GB (7200-rpm) hard drive, only at the Apple Online Store). The iFixit team performed a tear down of the Mac Mini and found enough space to install a second hard drive.

Extra Hard Drive in Mac Mini

Subsequently the ifixit guys launched a Mac Mini Dual Hard Drive Kit for users who want to add a second hard drive to Mac Mini.  Here is the stepwise tutorial on how to install the extra hard drives to your Mac mini. Here is more help on  adding 2nd Hard Drive to Non-Server Minis.

Note: Remember this is not endorsed by Apple and may void your product warranty. So try it at your own risk if you know your way around exploring Mac mini.

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Right now you can download rupee font and use the symbol in your office documents easily. Webmasters can easily use rupee symbol online and add the rupee symbol to articles easily (like in this article). But what about having a direct keyboard key.

Type Rs. Indian Rupee Symbol

The Unicode Technical Committee has approved a code position for the Indian Rupee Symbol Rs., which means it will be available in modern keyboards soon and can be easily used across mobile phones and various web services. But till that happens, the amazing people at Foradian have a nice tutorial guiding you how to map the rupee symbol to a key in your keyboard.

• Download the Rupee Keyboard file (.zip) and extract the files
• Double click Rupee Installer.exe file and follow the instructions – now 4 new fonts will install to your computer with support for new rupee symbol in Unicode recommended code position
• Double click Keyboard Install.exe file - a new keyboard layout is installed in your computer. Right click on the task bar and select language bar from the toolbars menu > click on small keyboard icon and enable the Rupee Foradian Keyboard Layout
• Now you can use the grave accent key on the keyboard to type the rupee symbol by selecting the Rupee Foradian Standard fonts

Install Rupee Keyboard

Here is a step by step video about how they install the rupee keyboard.

If you set Rupee Foradian Standard as the default font in your browser, you can easily use the Rs. rupee symbol in any applications like gmail, twitter or facebook.

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Common Specifications & Retail Price of Chromebooks:

Google Chromebooks are specifically built and optimized for better web experience. Let’s get a quick overview of the Chromebook below:

Now let’s check out the 10 reasons why you should own a Google Chromebook:

1. Perfect for People Who Can’t Live without Internet - Chromebook is specifically designed to cater for people who want to get connected online instantly at anytime and anywhere. If you are a frequent do-er of web browsing, email checking, handling banking transactions, online gaming or even Facebooking or Twittering; no doubt you will find Chromebook a must have!
2. Immediate Access to Internet and Always Get Connected – Chromebook is designed to enhance user’s online experience. Imagine how convenient it is that it can boot in 8 seconds during startup (something a normal desktop cannot do) and immediate access to the Internet faster and safer with the built-in Wi-Fi or 3G connection. That means once the Chromebook boots up, you’re online !
3. Access to work files anywhere and more secure - By entering username and password for Google account (for example: Gmail), you can access Chromebook anywhere via built-in Wi-Fi and mobile broadband networks (3G). Chromebook is a browser-based OS where Chrome browser is the core component and no other programs or applications installed on its hard disk. Therefore, even if your Chromebook was stolen or lost, all your data, apps, settings and documents would still be secured in the cloud. Just regain access to your work files instantly with any other Chromebook.
4. Share-friendly with friends and family - No worries about your private data be accessed by other people because it’s safely stored in the cloud and no data will be stored in the hard disk. Therefore, you can allow your friends or family members to login to their own Chromebook apps or use Guest mode to browse privately. Sharing is caring!
5. Access millions of web apps from Chrome Web Store - Since Chromebooks are optimized for web, you can easily add web applications from Chrome Web Store to enhance your working productivity. All these web apps can be installed instantly and updated automatically by themselves.
6. Longer battery life - One of the key features of Chromebook is its all-day battery life. Why need to bring a power cord everywhere as Chromebook offers you a long 8.5 hours superb battery life compared to normal netbook which normally provides 3-4 hours of battery life.
7. Always stay up-to-date - Most PC and laptop users have been annoyed by Windows updates and security patches. Most of the updates require you to restart the computer for the changes to take effect and it’s a waste of time if the updates are happening too often. Chromebook users do not have to worry about the updates due to its auto-updating feature that ensures you with latest version of OS. No annoying updates heading your way!
8. Bigger storage for your documents - How exciting that you will have enough space to store all your documents, music, videos or pictures and can be accessed anywhere and anytime with a Chromebook! Yes, all the files are stored in the cloud now. For example, you can upload all favourite songs and enjoy streaming via Google Music (currently only available in the United States), store any word-processing documents and edit them in Google Docs. Youtube is the perfect place for you to upload video files where you can choose to share or block them to be accessed by other people. In the future, YouTube will be offering on-demand movie services that let you enjoy movies with just a click away. All these are possible with Chromebook!
9. Lower Cost & easy management - Chromebook can save you PC maintenance costs because it has minimal data stored in so you won’t be needing any extra purchase of Antivirus and backup software. In addition, you have no worries about hardware upgrades because all of your work can be done by Chrome browser and web apps. Therefore, admin can easily configure Chromebooks and manage all user accounts centrally through the web.
10. Chromebook is a Google product - Google is constantly updating its Operating system and web applications from time to time. You can be sure that big brand like Google will always provide a secure and better improvement to Chrome OS users.

Chromebook provides a simple solution to Internet users who heavily rely on speed, security and simplicity. The long lasting battery life and instant-get-on feature will ensure you a satisfying and enjoyable online experience like never before. So, are you ready to own a Chromebook?

Guest author Lee is the owner of Money4Invest, a website about tech news and internet tips.

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Apple iOS 5

The iOS 5 release includes over 200 new features for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. New features include Notification Center (easily view and manage notifications), iMessage (new messaging service) and Newsstand (a new way to purchase and organize your newspaper and magazine subscriptions). Now iOS 5 users can activate and their iOS device right out of the box with no computer required.

Mac OS X Lion

The Mac OS X Lion again claims to be the world’s most advanced desktop operating system. It features new Multi-Touch gestures; Full screen apps; Mission Control (view everything running on Mac); Mac App Store (now right into the OS); and Launchpad (a new home for all apps).

Apple iCloud

iCloud is a new free cloud service that works seamlessly with iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC and automatically wirelessly stores and syncs your content in iCloud and with all your devices.

Catch all the action live at the Apple WWDC conference, where Steve Jobs introduces you to iOS 5, OSX Lion and iCloud. Sit back and be there.

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Typically the phishing scam targets Mac users by redirecting to fake websites, which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus and offers Mac Defender (or MacProtector, MacSecurity) “anti-virus” software to remove the virus. Apple will release a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants… but right now you need to protect and clean your Mac.

Remove MacDefender, MacProtector, MacSecurity

Apple gives detailed steps for removal. If such a malware security software attempts to install or is auto-installed -

• Quit Safari or any other browser > or Force Quit.
• Cancel the installation process
• Never enter your administrator password
• Delete the installer (Downloads folder > Drag installer to Trash > Empty Trash)

To remove the malware

• Go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor > All Processes > Quit Process – MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector (this step will also help you find if your Mac is already infected)
• Applications > Drag installer to Trash
• Open System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items > Remove app

Mac computers were very popular due to the fact that common Windows viruses did not affect Macs. But of late more malware are being created targeting Mac computers, so no wonder so many antivirus software are being developed for the Mac OS X.

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