Monday, October 29, 2007

Convert web widgets into gadgets for Windows Sidebar



With Amnesty Generator you can convert millions of web widgets, games and videos – designed to live on home pages, blogs or MySpace – into gadgets for your Sidebar.
You can create your own gadgets from webgadgets without writing a single piece of code using this.


Download


HomePage

Source : here

How to find the UUID of device?

You can use the following command to find the UUID of devices in Linux
ls -l /dev/disk/by-uuid/

This works with Ubuntu. Not sure about other distros.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Install Fedora Core 5/Suse 10 without burning CDs

Burning 4-5 CDs to install any modern distro like Fedora Core 5 or Suse 10 is a big pain in the neck. This tutorial will teach you how to install FC5 or Suse or any other distro without burning a single CD!!! This method, however, will only work if you already have Windows installed on your system and want to dual boot with Linux.

1. The first thing you will have to do is copy all the ISO files to your hard disk. Make sure that you copy all the files to the root of the partition and the partition must be formatted in FAT32. If you do not copy the ISO to the root of the partition (i.e. keep inside a folder) the setup will not able to detect the files.

2. Now use winrar to open the first ISO file (disc1). Go inside the folder "isolinux" and copy the files initrd.img and vmlinuz to your c:\boot. You will need to enable viewing of hidden and system files in order to locate c:\boot.

3. Now download the file called grub4dos from here. Extract the folder "boot" and the file "grldr" from the downloaded zip file. Inside the folder "boot" is another folder called "grub"; copy this folder to c:\boot. Copy the file "grldr" to c:\

4. Then open c:\boot\grub\menu.lst and add these following lines.

Code:
title Fedora Core 5 Install
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/vmlinuz
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd.img

5. Now you have to add grub to your c:\boot.ini file. Open boot.ini and add this line in the end:

Code:
C:\grldr=”Start GRUB”

6. You are now ready to install FC5. Restart your PC and from the boot screen select "Start GRUB". This will load GRUB.

7. From the grub screen select "Fedora Core 5 Install". The setup will now start and you can now select the hard drive partition where you copied the ISO files.

Now sit back and let it install. No more burning and wasting discs and even no more changing CDs during install. After the installation is over you can delete the folder c:\boot\grub as well as c:\grldr and also the reference to this file from your boot.ini file, as these are no longer needed.

I just installed FC5 by this method so I can guarantee you that it will work. Enjoy!!!

UPDATE:

For Suse its a bit different. Instead of initrd.img and vmlinuz, you have to copy initrd and linux. So the changes to c:\boot\grub\menu.lst will be this

Code:
title Suse Install
kernel (hd0,0)/boot/linux
initrd (hd0,0)/boot/initrd

Also you have to type the full name of the first ISO when it asks for the path. So write it down before you begin installation.
__________________
http://instantfundas.blogspot.com

source: here

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

How To Edit Right-click Menu in Windows?


A lot of programs you install will add themselves to the right-click menu of your files and/or folders. And most times, you have no choice in the matter and, as a result, your right-click menu can get very long with added items you don't even use. The last person I was helping with this had a right context menu so long that the Rename option was no longer visible!
Fortunately, you can easily remove those unwanted menu items, if you know the registry values to edit. And it's not at all difficult once you know the keys responsible for the additions.

For Files, the secret lies in the "context menu handlers" under the shellex subkey for "All Files" which, in the registry, is nothing but an asterisk - like a dos wildcard, which means the values entered apply to all files. It is at the very top of the Root key, right here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlers

Click the the + sign next to the ContextMenuHandlers key, to expand it.
Now you will see some of the programs that have added items to your right-click menu. Simply delete the program keys you don't want.
Yup! It's that simple. If deleting makes you uneasy, just export the key before deleting it. Or, instead of deleting the values, disable them. Simply double click the default value for the program on the right hand pane and rename the clsid value by placing a period or dash in front of it.
ie; - {b5eedee0-c06e-11cf-8c56-444553540000}
Then exit the registry, refresh, and right click a file to see if the item was removed from the menu.
Some programs - like WinZip or WinRar - will add several items to your right click menu but all of them will be removed by deleting or disabling their one context menu handler.

Note that the above key only applies to the right click menu of files.
To remove entries from the right click context menu of folders, you need to navigate to the Folder and Drive keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDriveshellexContextMenuHandlers

All you have to do is follow the same procedure as for Files - either disable or delete items you wish to remove.
Adding Items
Adding Items to the right click menu of Files and Folders is also fairly simple using the Registry. It just involves the creation of a few new keys for each item you wish to add. You edit the same keys used for removing items. Let's use Notepad as an example of an item you'd like to add to the right click menu of all your files or folders.

For folders, go to this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT Folder
Click the + sign next to Folder and expand it so that the Shell key is visible. Right click the Shell key and choose New>Key and name the key Notepad or whatever else you'd prefer (whatever the key is named is what will appear in the right-click menu). Now right click the new key you made and create another key named Command. Then, in the right hand pane, double click "Default" and enter Notepad.exe as the value.
Exit the registry, refresh, and right click any folder. Notepad should now be on the context menu.

For files, go here again:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*
Expand the * key and see if a Shell key exists. If it does exist, follow the same procedure as for folders. If it does not exist, you'll have to create a new Shell first. Just right click the * key and choose New>Key and name it Shell. Then right click the Shell key and continue on the same way you did for adding items to the right click menu of folders.
Once done, Notepad should appear as an option in the right click menu of all your files.

source: here

View all video files as thumbnails in Windows XP

Registry Tweak(A simple tweak)

While in thumbnails view in explorer of Win XP, we can see video's starting frame but only for some of the predefined video file's extensions like mpg, mpeg, avi but not for extensions like rmvb(Real media files) and 3gp & 3g2(Mobile video files)
Here we will just copy the settings of one extension to another through registry editor and we will be able to view their first frame in thumbnail just like as we are able with pre-defined files.
Note: Registry should be handled with care, I would recommend taking a backup before you do any changes in the registry. I don't take responsibility of any damage or loss incurred by users while implementing this tweak.
Steps For Doing It:
1> Open Registry Editor (By typing regedit at the Run prompt)
2> Select HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and find .avi (any of the mpg,mpeg will do)
3> Export its registry settings (will be saved as *.reg)
4> Right click on *.reg file and select Edit
5> Now if you want *.divx files to be treated in the same way as *.avi files then just replace avi by divx in the file. Save it and execute it.
6> Repeat Step5 for various files of whom you want to change the behaviour.

Note:This doesnt work for *.vob files.

source: here