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Showing posts with label How to. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How to. Show all posts

7.09.2008

How to: Checking Hardware Configuration of a Computer

Whenever we buy a Laptop or a Desktop we will configure our DREAM machine with certain hardware specifications .. like x GHz processor, Graphic card with y memory and so on. But once we receive our shipment we don't know whether our DREAM machine is fitted with right configuration or not.

Since there is a chance of getting wrong hardware components during the time of assembly of our PC let us see one of the easy way to check the PC/Laptop hardware configuration without unscrewing it by using a PC audit software named Belarc Advisor.

Coolest thing about Belarc Advisor is it produces a detailed report of not only about the hardware configuration but also builds a detailed profile of the installed software, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks of your PC. The output is finally displayed in a webpage. And all these services are provided by Belarc Advisor in free for personal use.

So stop thinking about how to know the hardware configuration of your Laptop/Desktop and start using the Belarc Advisor.

Checkout the site: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html"

5.28.2008

Converting mobilephone into webcam

Camera in a mobilephone is getting better day by day and reached upto 5MP with good clarity and cool features. Until now we have used mobile camera for just taking pictures and recording video's. But now we can even use it as a webcam for chatting online on any popular messenger service available.

Let us check out some of the cool softwares that converts a camera phone into a webcam.

Mobiola
It converts your phone into a webcam via Bluetooth or through USB cable.It consists of two parts - a PC application with virtual camera driver and Symbian sis application for smartphone.Features:
  • Transforms your mobile phone into high-quality PC webcam.
  • Connects through USB or Bluetooth.
  • Screen Capture functionality.
  • Works with Skype, Yahoo, YouTube, MSN, AOL IM, ICQ and many others as standard USB webcam.
List of compatible devices (Check out the home site for updated list)
RIM Blackberry - Any Blackberry devices equipped with camera
Windows Mobile - Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices equipped with camera including Smartphones
Nokia 6600, 6620, 7610, 6630, 6670, 6260,6680, 6681, 6682, 3230, N70,N90, 3250, 5500, E50, E51, E65, E70, E90, N71, N73, N76, N80, N81, N82, N91,N92, N93, N93i, N95, N96
Sony-Ericsson P1i, P990, M600, W950, W960, P800, P900, P910, P990, G700, G900
Motorola Z8, Z10

If you don't have a webcam, or want a more versatile solution to your current cam, then Mobiola WebCam is an essential download.

Limitations:
30 day Trial Period Limited to 5 minutes connection.

Actual Link: http://www.warelex.com/

WWigo
This is an alternative for Mobiola since it is free to use. It has got all most all the features supported by Mobiola.

Actual Link: http://www.motvik.com/

2.10.2008

How to Enable USB device

Today a desktop computer equipped with a CD writer or a DVD burner is very rare in most of the companies. But a much larger security threat is posed by the open USB ports where mischievous office workers can just plugin the Flash Pen Drive, External Hard Disk or their iPod music player and transfer corporate data or even copy licensed software to their memory sticks in seconds. Sometimes even used for delivering trojans or spyware into the companies networks.

So called SMART ADMINISTRATORS disabled USB Drive access by changing the BIOS settings and then locking it up with a "PASSWORD". Even though they are a step ahead as we don't know the password for BIOS but it is not a fool proof way. As BIOS password can be broken in a simple way.

While some ADMINS simply remove the USB port option to the PC. While some for temporary restriction simply disable "Write Access" to USB port so that no one can copy data files from PC into a USB. Let us see how to disable WRITE PROTECTION option.

NOTE: It is the time to make hands dirty so backup the Registry.

Open the Windows Registry by giving "regedit" command in command prompt. If regedit is not disabled then you can see the registry editor. Now on the Left side of the editor open the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ Control\StorageDevicePolicies

If your sysadmin has enabled WRITE protection then you can see a DWORD called WriteProtect with its value as 1 in the Right side of the editor. Set the value of WriteProtect as 0 to disable the write protection.

Note: Remember that the above trick works only with Windows XP SP2.

If you like to go a step further and enable connecting USB storage devices to their computers, Open registry and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

Now in the Right pane of the registry editor you can see a DWORD called Start with its value as 4 (Hexadecimal). Change the value to 3 to enable the USB storage devices.

1.16.2008

Running Linux from a USB Drive

I successfully installed LINUX on my kingston Datatraveller 2GB USB and it worked quickly and flawlessly.

Things Needed to Begin
  1. USB Storage Device - (256mb or larger recommended using USB 2.0)

  2. PC that can boot from a USB Device (check your BIOS or your User Manual)

  3. Damn Small Linux (DSL) Distro

  4. Syslinux 3.11

  5. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
Formatting The USB Storage Device
  1. Insert your USB Storage Device into an empty USB slot on your PC

  2. Download and Install the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. Once the usb disk storage format tool is installed, run it

  3. Use the following settings in the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
    1. Device: The name and capacity of your storage device
    2. File system: FAT
    3. Volume label: Name it what you want (I chose LINUX)
    4. Confirm the Format by clicking Yes.
    5. Once the Format is complete it will give you a list of information about the file system, volume, etc. about your device. Click OK.
Extracting Necessary Files
  1. Download and Extract the Damn Small Linux distro (dsl-4.2.4-embedded.zip) to your USB device using Win-Zip or any extraction software.

  2. Download and Extract all the files from syslinux-3.11 to a folder named Syslinux on your primary hard drive (mine is C:)

  3. In Command Prompt type cd c:\syslinux\win32 (substitute c: for the drive letter of your hard drive) and Press Enter

  4. Type syslinux.exe -f F: (F: reprents the drive letter of my USB Device. Yours may be different. GET THIS RIGHT). Press Enter.

  5. Exit from Command Prompt

Booting to Linux

Keep your USB Device plugged in and Reboot your PC. Enter your BIOS setup (usually by pressing F2 or DEL) and set your Boot order to boot from the USB Device First. Exit your BIOS and Save the Changes. Since there are MANY different BIOS you must figure out on your own if your PC supports booting from USB.

Voilla it works fine for me

REFERENCES
1. http://www.althack.com/