Make Your Own Portable Applications

Step #1
Install the application you want to make portable, properly.

Note:
Applies only for a program that does NOT create some kind of registry keys.

Step #2
Backup a copy of the installation folder somewhere else.

Step #3
Copy and paste the files compress.bat and upx.exe [hide_me][http://rapidshare.com/files/65273891/upx.zip][/hide_me] to the installation folder and delete file types such as *.hlp, *.tmp, readme.txt e.t.c.

Step #4
Double click at compress.bat and wait for a while.

Step #5
Now delete the files compress.bat and upx.exe from the installation folder.

Step #6
Select all folders and files within the installation folder and Right-Click > WinRar >
Add to Archive.

Step #7
At the 'general tab' you click 'Create SFX' and 'Solid archive'.

Step #8
Go to the tab 'Advanced' and choose 'SFX Options' create in current folder so that the new archive can be found in the original install folder that's still open.

Step #9
Now go from the 'General Tab' to the 'Text and Icon' tab.

Fill in the text as shown below, where 'PROGRAM NAME' is written you fill in the EXACT SAME name of the original exe.

Setup="PROGRAM NAME.exe"
TempMode
Silent=1
Overwrite=1

So this will be:

Setup="UltraISO.exe" (Or whatever...)
TempMode
Silent=1
Overwrite=1

Step #10
You can uninstall your program now and test the portable one!

Reinstalling Windows XP without product activation

A topic of frequent discussion and concern in many online forums is Microsoft?s Product Activation, which is not limited to Windows XP, it is now required for many Microsoft products(e.g. MS Office).

Note: This will not enable you to install your copy of Windows XP on a different computer and bypass activation.

Isn?t it ridiculous that we need to contact Microsoft for "permission" if we choose to reinstall a product that we already legally own and use, and have "stamped" so before? This method of copyright protection has not exactly been a favourite among customers. Well, no worries, there is a trick for getting around product activation for Windows XP when reinstalling.

If you have successfully activated the OS already, and if you are reinstalling it on the existing hardware, this trick should do just fine. Here it is:

1. Copy the file c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl to a floppy.
2. Reinstall Windows XP.
3. Boot to a DOS disk if you are using FAT, or to the Recovery Console if using NTFS.
4. Copy the file from the first step above back to c:\windows\system32.
5. That?s it - because all of your hardware is the same as before, your copy of WinXP is still valid according to the previous activation.

That?s it. That should do it!

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How to Block & Unblock usb Ports

In this post I will show how to disables/blocks the USB ports on the computer (PC). Once this is done it will immediately disable all the USB ports on the computer. As a result the you?ll will not be able to use your pen drive or any other USB peripheral on the computer.You can test this on your own computer without any worries since I have also given a trick to re-enable/unblock all the USB ports.


FIRST OF ALL

GO TO --> START --> RUN

NOW TYPE REGEDIT


NOW LOOK FOR THE KEY :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\USBSTOR



NOW FIND THE KEY THERE CALLED :-
"Start"
DOUBLE CLICK ON IT.
NOW CHANGE THE VALUE DATA 3 --> 4

WHERE ITS BASE IS HEXADECIMAL
HERE YOU GO

YOU HAVE DONE IT
NOW CLOSE THE REGISTRY AND YOU'LL SEE THE RESULT.
YOUR PC'S ALL USB PORTS ARE DISABLED


TO RE-ENABLE/UNBLOCK USB PORTS JUST CHANGE THE VALUE DATA AGAIN 4 --> 3
NOW YOUR PC'S ALL USB PORTS ARE RE-ENABLED.


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how to encrypt images?

How to encrypt pictures
Two Ways to encrypt images.
First:
Step 1: Open Xlinksoft Picture Encryption software
Step 2: Add files. Click here Picture Encryption Help - How to Add File for the

four ways of adding files.
Step 3: Click ?Encrypt?.
Step 4: Set or create new output path in the pop-up Encryption window. Click ?ok? after editing all the fields such as the

Password, Prompt Questions, Coverage Mode, After Finishing Conversion. Click ?cancel? to clear the operations.
Step5: The ?Encryption Process? window appears, and clicks ?ok? to finish encryption. View the result of operation from

?Encryption Press? window.




Second:
Step1: Put the Mouse on the pictures you want to encrypt, click right key. Please refer to the following picture.

Step 2: Click ?Encrypt Picture?, the ?Encryption? dialog will appear.
Step 3: Edit the Output Path, Password, Prompt Question, Coverage Mode, After Finishing Conversion. Click ?ok? to encrypt

pictures, click ?Cancel? if you want to clear your operation.
The remainder steps are the same as ?General way?, the details have been described.
Step 4: The ?Encryption Process? window appears, and clicks ?ok? to finish encryption.

Attention: The ?password question? appears to remind you the password in the decryption dialog if you have set Password

Question in ?Encryption? dialog.
If you have set ?Open the output folder after finishing operation? in setting dialog, the output folder window will appear.

Preview the encrypted pictures in this window. So you can see if you have finished encryption task successfully.
The encrypted pictures will not be encrypted once again. So if you add the encrypted files and click ?Encrypt?, do not

worry, the password will not be changed. Click here Picture Encryption Help - Encrypt Window Introduction for the details of Encryption dialog introduction.

__________________
Picture Encryption

Make write protection Your Flash-Drive

Make write protection Your Flash-Drive


FIRST OF ALL

GO TO --> START --> RUN

NOW TYPE REGEDIT


NOW NAVIGATE THE KEY :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\

Look at the sub-keys and see if a key named StorageDevicePolicies is listed. If it is skip this paragraph and read the next. If it is not create the key by right-clicking Control and selecting New > Key

See if there is an entry named WriteProtect. It can be easily created if it is not present by right-clicking in the right window and selecting New > DWord from the menu. The following values are allowed for this entry:

• 0 - This will allow write processes on USB Flash Drives
• 1 - This will block write processes on USB Flash Drives.

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Google Maps' appearance takes new direction

Google is notoriously slow and calculating about changing it the user interface of its services.

In fact, Google hasn't made any major changes to the look and feel of Google Maps since its launch in 2005.

On Friday, the company launched several refinements to Maps--the biggest changes to its look since launch. While you might not notice these changes immediately--unless you are a hardcore Google Maps user--they are designed to enhance the readability of the maps.

Notice how roads and names are called out more effectively in the new version.

(Credit: Google)

As seen above, the thick street outlines that can make maps harder to read have been eliminated.

Google describes the update here:

(L)ocal and arterial roads have been narrowed at medium zooms to improve legibility, and the overall colors have been optimized to be easier on the eye and conflict less with other things (such as traffic, transit lines and search results) that we overlay onto the map. Hybrid roads have gained a crisp outline to make them easier to follow, and the overall look is now closer to an augmented satellite view instead of a simple overlay.

Google Maps' comparison of London in the old and new views.

(Credit: Google)

DoubleTwist: First impressions

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of fanfare about an application called DoubleTwist that is at its core a free music jukebox that offers content syncing to a variety of portable devices, including the BlackBerry, the PSP, and the iPod, as well as pretty much anything that can mount in Universal Mass Storage mode. One of the main draws of the program is that it can take your iTunes library and sync it to a variety of non-iPod players, an important feature for anyone who has ditched the ubiquitous device in favor of a music phone or other MP3 player. And soon, the Windows version of the jukebox will offer built-in support for Amazon MP3 store purchases as well (note: the Mac version already supports Amazon MP3 purchases), a move in line with the company's goal to offer consumers choice when it comes to digital music management.

The DoubleTwist video view.

Certainly, DoubleTwist is a useful solution for a lot of people, especially since it incorporates automatic video transcoding for a lot of the supported devices, which is the feature that drew me to the software. However, the program is not without its pitfalls, and some of them are sure to cause no small amount of frustration. For example, the video transcoding--done during the syncing process--takes forever. Conversion speed was roughly two times normal speed, so a 90-minute movie took 50 minutes or so to encode and transfer. Still, considering DoubleTwist offers this feature for free and integrates it so simply, I'm willing to forgive the sluggishness.

Much more annoying is how slow the video library loads in thumbnail mode, and while it is loading, you can't actually browse the selections. Rather, the cursor will automatically jump back to the very top of the window. I ran into the same issue with photos. Luckily, switching to list mode fixes the problem, so you can actually get something productive done while the library continues to load (obviously, the larger the library, the more annoying the issue). I also ran into trouble during syncing, as DoubleTwist would not initially recognize my iPod Touch or a handful of UMS devices I connected (the Mintpad and the Philips GoGear, to name two), although a software update helped with the iPod issue. My final complaint is that the software doesn't give you any custom options during install and tends to take over your digital media experience once installed, automatically booting up whenever you connect any external device.

Gripes aside, DoubleTwist delivers as advertised. It offers a seamless connection with iTunes and lets users easily transfer that content to non-iPod devices. It also successfully converts video to a variety of formats suitable for whatever device is connected, and the process is invisible to the user, which makes the process extremely straightforward--a lovely thing, considering the pain that is digital video formatting. Plus, it offers integrated buttons for automatically publishing photos and videos to Flickr and YouTube. Going forward, it'd be great to see a spruced-up interface, because as it stands, DoubleTwist isn't particularly inspiring in look-and-feel. But it gets the job done and it does it for free, so it's definitely worth checking out.