Free Local Calls From Gmail in 2012

Google has announced it is extending its free Gmail calling deal for another year, allowing desktop users to make calls to any domestic number within the United States or Canada through the end of 2012.

The offer has been available since August 2010 when Google introduced the ability to call mobile or landline phone numbers right from within the Gmail's chat interface, powered by technology from their Gizmo5 acquisition in 2009.

Although at the time it was said the free local calls offer would stand for the rest of the year 2010, Google has kept it running ever since and plans to continue doing so for at least another 12 months. It may be that they're focused on growing the user base in order to become a serious contender against Skype, or perhaps the company is making enough revenues form international calls to subsidize the service.

Google Voice users can accept incoming calls through desktop Gmail at no charge. Those outside the U.S. still have to pay for all of their calls at what Google calls "insanely low rates," starting at $0.02 a minute.

How to Rectify Blog Layout Error

Temporarily use draft.blogger.com.   Here edit as you like as you were blogging before until your blog error is solved by google.

Happy Blogging!

3D Browsing by Cooliris

This is an add-on which can be downloaded at COOLIRIS.

Turn Firefox into your ultimate media browser.

Cooliris is a browser plug-in that revolutionizes how you find, view, and share photos and videos. Whether you're browsing the Web or your desktop, Cooliris presents media on an infinite "3D wall" that lets you enjoy content without clicking page to page.

Cooliris works with Firefox, as well as Safari (Mac), and Google Chrome (Windows).

Launch Cooliris anytime

Start your Cooliris experience by clicking the Cooliris mouseover icon, browser toolbar icon, or desktop icon (Firefox and IE only). 

Cooliris is a free downloadable plug-in that turns your favorite browser into a super media browser at the click of your mouse. Get a quick rundown on its key features below or watch the demo video.

OMNIMO UI Change Windows 7 Desktop Like Windows Phone

If you haven’t heard of Rainmeter, it’s a popular freeware that enables some of the rich customization on your Windows desktop.

This is the tool that can push the desktop customization to the maximum. If you are really interested, be sure to check out their documentation first, as they have a nice explanation on what the whole product is about, and beginner guide for you to get started.

Yes, you can use Rainmeter to create your very own customized Windows Desktop.

Some basic customizations you can do with Rainmeter are

• add different skins;
• perfectly styled widgets, e.g. CPU, RAM, Network monitor, one click music player, RSS feeds, etc. on your desktop.

Although, it may sounds very much the same as the default Windows gadgets and sidebar, there are a fundamental differences:

1. You can use Rainmeter on Windows XP, as well as on Vista and 7.
2. You can have a totally different look for the widgets on every theme.
3. You can create your own widgets/themes/skins. 

This is what the finished desktop looks like. Lets begin customizing your Windows 7 desktop and make it looks and feels like the Windows 7 Phone running on your desktop.

First, download and install the Rainmeter, be sure to download the right version if you are running on a 64-bit edition.

Next, download the additional Omnimo UI. This is the skin for Windows 7 Phone which you need to have to make it look like the picture above.

Run the Rainmeter first before doing anything, which creates the default directory for skins, themes, and backup. Do not run the Omnimo UI if you have never run Rainmeter before.

Now, exit the Rainmeter and launch the Omnimo UI Rainstaller.

Once you’ve done this, you should now see Rainmeter launch with the newly added Theme called Omnimo UI. And this is exactly what you see on the first screen shoot.

You can now customize, to show which widgets, feed URL, clocks, weather, etc. you would like to have on the desktop.

Finally, enjoy your Windows 7 Phone theme on your Windows 7 Desktop.

Customization Guide

How to create virtual desktops in windows 7

WindowsPager is not a new tool, but the latest update brings seamless integration to Windows 7. It is an opensource portable pager utility for Windows that creates four virtual desktops(also called virtual workspaces).

It integrates perfectly in the Windows 7 taskbar(also called superbar) with complete preview of apps running in virtual desktops. Clicking each icon will take you to it’s respective virtual desktop.

Apart from switching the desktops by clicking the icons in the taskbar, you can also switch by right-clicking any Windows title bar and selecting the virtual desktops.

You will be surprised to know that the preview of virtual desktops in the taskbar is live, which means that you will see which windows are open in each desktop and where they are positioned. To test this feature hold any window and move it around the desktop, watching the preview in the taskbar.

Download WindowsPager

It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. You will find executables for both 32-bit and 64-bit OS inside the zip archive. It is a portable tool which weights around 500Kb only and can run straight from the USB drive. Enjoy!

Cool Google+ Tricks

Google+ is the current hottest social networking website.People are navigating from facebook to test this new social networking website.So,many of us have our accounts on both Facebook as well as Google+.Now you can integrate Google+ and facebook and can see the news feed of both from a single window. 

• By writing text between * it gets bold.If you write *word* it will become word
• By writing text between _ it gets underlined.If you write _word_ it will become word
• By writing text between - it gets strikethrough.If you write –word- it will become word
• Google+ supports Drag and Drop,so you can share things like links,photos,videos by directly dropping them into Share box
• To mention someone in your comments use + or @ before writing their name.
• Google+ doesn’t have private messages but you can share a post with only specific friends and don’t forget to disable Reshare
• To get permalink of any post click on the timestamp of that post.
• Public and Private posts are differenced by colors; Green = Public, Blue = Limited to circles

1. Space=Scroll Down
2. Shift+Space=Scroll up
3. J=Single Post Down Scroll
4. K=Single Post Up Scroll
5. Q=Jump to Chat
6. Return=Start Comment

Integrate Facebook With Google+

Google+ is the current hottest social networking website.People are navigating from facebook to test this new social networking website.So,many of us have our accounts on both Facebook as well as Google+.Now you can integrate Google+ and facebook and can see the news feed of both from a single window. 

There is a plugin wisely named Google+Facebook which will add an extra tab in your google+ account using which you can access your Facebook news feed.You can also like ,comment or add status updates to facebook from your Google+ account.Google+Facebook extension is available for Google Chrome,Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.

Download Google+Facebook

The only drawback of this plugin is that it doesn’t automatically updates Facebook Feed.You have to refresh your page to check new updates.

Download Avira Premium Security 10 with Serial License Key Free

Avira is one of the leading Antivirus Company.Avira Premium Security 10 provides a complete protection from viruses,spywares,intrusions and other online threats.It also has a backup system to protect your important data.The license key of Avira Premium Security is of $31.59 for 1 year.Now you can get it free for six months by using a special promotional offer.

• Rely on the internet for everything
• Regularly shop and buy from online retailers, or bid on auction sites
• Ever access your bank or financial accounts online
• Chat, communicate and social network constantly
• Share your computer with your partner or other family members
• Worry about keeping your precious family memories safe – all those photos and movies stored on your PC
• Are concerned about what your children might see and do online

How To Download Avira Premium Security 10 with Six Months Serial License Key?

• Download Avira Premium Security 10 ( Click on Try Button)
• Open Avira Premium Security 10 Promotional Page
• Fill in all the details in the form with valid email address

• Click on Request License Now button
• Now Click on License Overview button and on the next page click on the yellow keys to download you Serial key (HBEDV.KEY) for Avira Premium Security 10

Now install this key and your Avira Premium Security 10 will get activated for Six months.

How to Convert Videos Using VLC Player

VLC player is an open source video player that supports most of the video codecs.Most of the people using VLC are unaware that it can also be used to convert files into various video (mp4, webm, ts and ogg ) and audio (mp3,ogg,mp4,aac,cd) formats. VLC  player is available  for  Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.If you haven’t downloaded it yet you can download it from here.

• Open your VLC  player
• Click on Media and select Convert / Save (Ctrl+R ) option.
• In new popup window under the Files tab click on Add button to select files that have to be converted.

• You can also add subtitles which will be hardcoded to the converted file.To add subtitles check the Use a subtitle option.
• Click on the browse button to give the path of the subtitles file and select the alignment and font size options.
• Now Click on Convert/Save button this will open another window.
• Select the Destination File and Profile( Conversion Format ).

• Click on the start button to begin conversion.

This trick will come real handy if you don’t have any Video Converter installed in your system.

How to Copy Text From Any Image

Do you need certain information in the form of text from scanned copies of documents.Either you can write the whole text by typing or you can use an OCR software.OCR (optical Character recognition) is method to extract text from images.It can recognise handwritten,printed or typewritten text and can reproduce them into editable word or txt format.

These OCR software also preserve the formmating of the orignal scanned document into converted document.They are not 100% accurate and the converted document still requires some editing.But it is better to use an OCR software and do some editing rather to type the whole Doument.

Earlier I have reviewed top Free OCR softwares .If you have microsoft office installed in your computer then you won’t need any other third-party software as you can use Microsoft Office OneNote to copy text from image.

Trick to Copy Text From Any Image:-

• For this you have to install MS-Office on your system.
• Now open Microsoft Office OneNote (Start–>All Programs–>Microsoft Office–>Microsoft Office OneNote).
• Drag and Drop the image in the MS-OneNote window from which you want copy the text.
• Now Right-Click on the image and select Copy Text From Picture option.

• Open Notepad or MS-Office (where you want save the text) and paste the content there.

Now you have the whole text in your notepad or Ms-Office.You can edit or format it and save only the required excerpt.

How to Make WinRAR Password Protected ZIP Files

Winrar is a popular archive management software that can be used to open or create archive (rar,zip etc) files.There are lot of freeware softwares like Axcrypt,Disguise Folders that can encrypt your files and password protect them.If you have winrar installed in your pc then you can use its inbuilt password protection feature.

• Right click on the folder/file which has to be  Password Protected and select ADD to Archive option.

• From the pop up window select the Advanced Tab.
• Now click on the Set Password.

• Enter and Verify your Password (Use both Alphabets and Numeric words to make a strong Password).

• Now a new compressed file will be generated at the same location of your original file

Now whenever somebody will try to open or extract the files in archive it will ask for the password.

How to Temporarily Lock your PC when Someone Enters Wrong Password

When you are away from your desk somebody (colleagues,friends) may try to login into your computer by guessing your password.We will use windows security settings to temporarily lock your computer if wrong password entered more than couple of times.This will make it harder to guess your password as after 3 wrong passwords your system will get locked for 30 minutes.

• In the Start up search box type Local Security Policy and press enter.

• From the left window pane expand Account Policies and select Account Lockout Policy option in it.
• Now in the right window pane look for the Account lockout threshold option and double click on it.

• A new window will be open and give the value after how many invalid password attempts you want to lock your computer.

• Click on Apply button and a window will be open telling you Account will lock down for 30 minutes. You can also change the time settings by clicking on the Reset account lockout counter according to your need.
• Now click OK.

That’s it. Now your computer will be temporally locked for some time that you had set in the settings when someone will enter wong password.

How to Download eBooks From Google Store

Downloading a book for free from internet is little bit a tedious task. Whenever you try download a book it asks you to purchase that book from like Amazon.com. Amazon has a biggest book store where you can find any book that exists in the world but to have that book you have to purchase that you cannot download the book for free from there. But Google Book Store gives you a option to read the book online so you don’t have to purchase that book. But to read a book you have to be online all the time which can be very difficult for you. So here are the simple steps that you have to follow to download a book from Google Book Store. This trick only works in Mozilla Firefox.

• First of all install Greasemonkey  Add-On to your Firefox browser.
• Click on Add to Firefox and then on install Now button.

• Now Restart your Firefox and you will see a monkey icon adjacent to your Address bar.
• After installing this you have to install a user script Google Book Downloader.
• For this click on the install button and again on install button.

• Now you will see a message displaying Google Book Downloader installed successfully at the right bottom of your screen.

• Now go to the Google book store and find your book there.
• Here you will see a button saying Download this Book in the left panel.

• That’s it. Now you will be able read your desired book offline.

Note:- If you are not able to download book on clicking Download this Book button then install FlashGot Add-on in your browser. After installing the addon right click on the Download this Book button and select FlashGot Link option and then click start download button.

Trick to Lock Folder Without any Software

• Open Notepad [Start-->Run-->Notepad].
• In your Notepad just Copy/Paste the below code.

cls
:End
@ECHO OFF
title Folder Locker
if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Locker goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure u want to Lock the folder(Y/N)
set/p "cho=>"
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto END
if %cho%==N goto END
echo Invalid choice.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Locker "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
echo Folder locked
goto End
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to Unlock folder
set/p "pass=>"
if NOT %pass%==tipstricks goto FAIL
attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Locker
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
goto End
:FAIL
echo Invalid password
goto end
:MDLOCKER
md Locker
echo Locker created successfully
goto End

• In the above batch code the password has been set as tipstricks.You can change it by editing the following line

if NOT %pass%==tipstricks goto FAIL

• Now save this notepad file as yourfoldername.bat ,here .bat is extension of your file. For now I am creating pctipstricks.bat file.

• Now a .bat (system) file will be created.

• Double Click on this .bat file and you will see a Locker Folder at the same location where your .bat file is saved.

• Double click on that Locker folder and store your personal data in it.
• After storing all your data in that folder again double click on .bat file and press Y there to Lock the folder and press Enter.

• Now your Locker will hide and only .bat file will be there.
• Double Click on this .bat file and give your password (here tipstricks) and hit Enter.

That’s it. Now every time you want to open your secret folder you have to enter the password. You can update this folder any time and infinite number of times.

How to Download Torrent Files with IDM

• Open  www.torrentz.eu .Search and Download the torrent file (.torrent) of your desired file from there.

• Once you have downloaded that torrent file then go to the website www.torcache.net
• Now upload that torrent file that you have just downloaded and click on the cache button.

• This will generate a new torrent link of your file just copy that link.

• Now go to the www.torrific.com and get register there if you don’t have account  otherwise login into your account.
• In the text field paste that new torrent file that you have get in the 4^th step and click on get button.

• You will see all the torrent files that are present in that torrent . Click on initiate bittorrent transmission button.

• Now all the files that are present in that torrent file will be available to download just click on any of the file that you want to download and IDM window will popup.

• Now Start Downloading your file.

You should use this method only if you are getting very poor speed with your torrent client because if you download it with IDM the link will not be resumable and you have to finish it without breaking your internet connection.

How to Update Facebook Status from Firefox

FireStatus is a status update utility for multiple social networks, including FaceBook.

How to Get Facebook on Your Desktop

Seesmic Desktop, Facebooker, Xobni, Facebook Sidebar Gadget, Scrapboy and Facebook AIR application are desktop applications that allows you interact with your stream just as you would on Facebook, but without the browser.

How to Get Facebook Updates on Email

NutshellMail consolidates your Facebook accounts through the inbox you use the most.