Reducing Bandwidth usage by tracing Temporary Installation Folder

There are many applications like Browsers & Instant Messengers which we keep installing across multiple PC's. Companies like Yahoo, Microsoft & many others have adopted a strange strategy from past few years wherein they provide Installers which require Internet connection while the installation is in progress. Thats because the Installers that we download from their web sites are just shortcuts to the complete list of files actually required for the installation. The files are stored on their Servers, which get downloaded each & every time we initiate such an installation. We can call them ONLINE installers & not the OFFLINE installers which were quite prevalent few years back. Though there might not have been any version change when you moved from one PC to another, but since these are Online installers, the installation requires repeated download of files onto the Application specific Temporary Installation Folder during the installation. Excluding some cases, most of them get stored in deep nested folders inside your Hard Disk making it difficult to a regular user to track such folders. This results in unnecessary Bandwidth usage for repeated tasks, something which can be reduced using your Brains.

How do we do that? Its simple. Whenever an installer is executed just run your Anti-Virus application & track the files that are currently being scanned by your Anti-Virus application's Real-time Scanning module, & this is where the trick lies. A screen-shot from Avast Anti-Virus is shown below.

After observing the scanning for a couple of minutes you would soon be able to track the Temporary Installation Folder for that application. This requires you to be a little bit tech savvy. For example, while the Yahoo Messenger installer is executed, just goto Start -> Run -> %TEMP% . You would now be taken to the Temporary folder for your User Profile, where you would be able to find a folder which Yahoo Messenger has created & also downloaded an Offline Installer for Yahoo Messenger. Similarly while installation Internet Explorer 7.0 or Internet Explorer 8.0 - Beta you would find a folder named ie7 or ie8 created under your :\Windows folder. Just copy the ie7 or ie8 folder to a different location once the Installer status shows "Downloading Files" as completed. Now create a separate Offline installation folder for Internet Explorer where you store the ie7 / ie8 folder along with the Online Installer setup that you had downloaded from Microsoft's site. In future whenever you want to install Internet Explorer, just copy the ie7 / ie8 folder in :\Windows before executing the Online installer. You would soon realize that the Online installer completes the installation process faster, as a fresh download of installation files is not required.

Try this trick yourself & save on precious Bandwidth.

Clean your SIM for better Network

During monsoon season you would face lot of Mobile Network related problems. While most of the problems lie at our end, we still end up blaming our Network Operator. If you very often find the Network Bars in your Cell going totally down, frequently unable to make outgoing or recieve incoming calls, then check your SIM card for problems rather than calling the Mobile Customer Care Helpline.

Switch off your Cell Phone, remove the Batteries & then your SIM card & you would mostly find that the gold contacts on your SIM card would not appear to be shining but would give you a faded look. Just wipe it by applying mild pressure with a dry cloth, like kerchief, & then place it back on your Handset & turn it on.

You would find that most of your Network & Call related problems have vanished. The SIM card is the heart of all Operator specific programing & corrosive action due to the monsoon season causes all the problems. So try to keep your SIM clean, dry & shining during the monsoons.

Shame on Politicians

With dirty politics being played all across India, I sometimes feel very ashamed. First there was the "No Confidence Motion" drama played at Centre, then associated with it started "Cash for Votes" scam & now there is dirty politics being played at Singur & also there is "Cash for Votes" phone records controversy. Where do you think the country is heading towards with such dirty games being played all around.

Yesterday I was listening to the news bulletin on "Star Ananda" channel about the issue of Strikes being frequently called in the State of West Bengal. Inspite of the Chief Minister himself speaking against Strikes & Bandhs, factions within his own party is in favour of Strikes & Bandhs. Infact most of the political parties in the state are in favour of such unconstitutional activities. I would like to know how many positive outputs have come out of such strikes & bandhs. I guess... none. Then why hold the masses to ransom by such acts. It was told on TV that due to road blockade on Durgapur Expressway the traffic queue had reached till the State of Jharkhand, permishable items were literally perishing leading to a price rise. Do we want to be ruled by Politicians who do things to satisfy their selfish needs or do we need Politicians doing welfare for the society.

I don't think that the agitation being held had Singur is being done for farmers, it is only a Political game to put pressure on the ruling party. Comeon Politicians, please spare the common man & allow India & also States like West Bengal to grow fullest upto the mark they are actually capable of.

Choosing betweek Nokia E71 & E66

I just saw a review of Nokia E71 & E66 phones at GSM Arena & was quite amazed to find that Nokia has started offering phones in the prices range of INR. 22,000 with all the features which I generally look out for - GPRS, 3G, FM Radio, Bluetooth with A2DP, Infrared, Wi-Fi & GPS. A few months back when I bought my Nokia 6110 Navigator in Feb 2008 for INR 15,000 I missed 2 key features - Wi-Fi & Infrared. But since I was keenly looking for a GPS enabled phone I had to compromise on this model's offerings.

If you had to choose between the two phones there was hardly any major feature to differentiate them. But I thought it would be nice if I could mention key features with which each score over the other.

Nokia E71 - Larger Display (320 x 240), QWERTY Keyboard, Total Business Phone.

Nokia E66 - Slider Phone, Accelerometer present, VOIP ready.

If I were to choose between the two, I would always go for Nokia E66 since I concentrate more on technical features rather than business features. So I would rather choose Accelerometer & VOIP instead of QWERTY keypad & larger screen. I also prefer a Phone which looks a little smaller. Tech freaks will also look out for Nokia E66 due to its Accelerometer feature. With this feature the Phone is able to sense its orientation with respect to the ground, due to which it an auto-change screen resolutions if told to do so. There are various other interesting applications available on the net which uses the Accelerometer feature. Why don't you explore yourselves? Do let me know if I have missed out something.

For detailed comparison of both the Phones click here.

Safeguarding your GMail Account

After recent terror attacks in Ahmedabad keeping your E-mail accounts safe has become of utmost importance. Recently Google has introduced a nice feature in GMail through which you can track your recently used sessions of GMail. You would find this feature in the lower portion of the window when you logon to GMail. The screenshot is given below.

The feature displays the IP Addresses of all parallel sessions from where you are currently connected. More details can be obtained by clicking on the Details hyperlink. On clicking this link a new window pops up which gives you detailed information of all the current & past sessions along with all the IP addresses. The screenshot is given below.

If you think that any of these current sessions is not genuine, possibly due to saved passwords in some PC, you have the option to sign out such sessions by clicking on Sign out all other sessions, as shown above. In my case I am accessing GMail from my Notebook as well as my Cell Phone & hence you would find multiple signed in sessions.

So now if you have kept your GMail signed in some remote PC & want to logoff the same, sit back & relax & do the same with this useful feature from Google.

Is "Offline" mode in Nokia Phones really "Flight" mode?

This post is directed towards all frequent domestic fliers in India using latest Nokia Phones enabled with "Offline" mode. I had to write this post after my recent flight experience on IndiGo Airlines Flight # 6E321 from Mumbai to Kolkata at 9:20 am on 15th August 2008.


After standard security procedures the flight took off on time & when we were allowed to turn on electronic devices like Music Players, I turned on my Nokia 6110 Navigator in "Offline" mode & started listening to Music. I was totally not aware of the fact that I was violating any domestic flight security regulation. After an hour or so one of the flight attendant interrupted me & asked me if I was listening to music from an iPod or any Phone. When I said that it was a Phone in "Offline" mode she asked me whether it was a Nokia Phone. I immediately said yes & then started the big long discussion.

She said that I had to turn off the Phone, on which I asked her the reason. I even said that I knew that she was only doing her duties. She then said that even if you visit the Nokia web site they would not acknowledge that Nokia Phones are completely radiation free which interferes with the Flight's Navigation System even in the "Offline" mode. I then told her that when FM radio is turned on in "Offline" mode, the Phone pops up an error saying that FM functionality would be unavailable since all radio transceivers are turned off. She replied saying that since the Mobile Base Stations located on the Earth are quite powerful, the Nokia Phones keep emitting leakage GSM radiations. I temporarily accepted her theory & then presented to her my theory. I told her that her concern was that since I had a Phone connection with a specific operator there was some leakage radiation & if I would remove the SIM from my Phone the Phone would become a passive device wrt GSM frequencies. Thats because SIM is the heart of all operator specific programming. She became clueless with this justification & said that only the Captain would be able to answer my query & said that these regulations have been imposed by the government. I faced a similar incidence while traveling back by SpiceJet's Flight # SG-203 from Kolkata to Mumbai at 8:10 am on 18th August 2008.

Being a sincere, obedient citizen I immediately switched off the Phone in both the occasions & waited for an opportunity to express my grievance.

I feel my Blog would be a nice platform to share my concerns with like minded people who would read this post of mine. In the mean time I would also take up this matter with concerned authorities. I hope a technical person reading this post would be able to clear my doubts on the "Offline" mode on Nokia Phones, which is also known as the "Flight" mode.

Auto-Labeling Mail Forwards in GMail

This is in continuation to my earlier post on Labeling E-mails in GMail. Nowadays we receive large number of mails from friends & relatives which are only to be read during our leisure time. It would be wise by auto-labeling such discussions. GMail provides an easy option of creating filters from Settings -> Filters -> Create a new filter. Since most of the leisure time (Time Pass) mails are Forwards they generally contain "FW:" or "Fwd:" in the subject line, using which they can be filtered easily.

Once the mails are applied a Label & filtered a unique colour can also be assigned to such mails to easily identify them.

So go ahead & tag your leisure time mails.

Ringtone for Independence Day

We are soon approaching 15th August, our Independence Day in India. Time to think back of all the great contributions & sacrifices from several 1000s of people due to which we breathe in a free independent India. To express your gratitude towards all the freedom fighters kindly Download the "Mera Rang De" Polyphonic MIDI ringtone & set it as your default ringtone atleast for a couple of days.

Portable FM Radio as a Cordless Headphone

Many of us have been using Cordless Headphones, mostly to watch late night movies or during times when you find that the ambiance is noisy & you want to hear dialogues clearly. The Cordless Headphones come in a Transmitter / Receiver pair. The Transmitter is the Base Unit which connects to your TV through the EP Stereo port & the Receiver is the Headphone itself. Since the Headphone is quite bulky it sometimes becomes difficult to wear them & lie on your Sofa sets while listening. This is when your Portable FM Radio can come in handy. Your Portable FM Radio can come in various forms a Portable Music Player, MP3 Player or your favourite Cell Phone. Most of you might not have realised that your Cordless Transmitting Base Unit is nothing more than an FM Transmitter. In my case it transmits at 90.20 MHz & has a small screw using which you can change the Transmitting frequency marginally so that you don't have interference from other sources.

So I guess you got the trick. Open your Cordless Headphone manual & check the frequency at which the Transmitting Base Unit transmits. Now tune your Portable FM Radio to the same frequency & then enjoy your late night movies from the comform of your cosy Sofa set.

Commenting your Blogger Widgets

Sometimes it so happens that instead of using multiple HTML/JavaSricpt page elements in your Blogger Layout you use a single HTML/JavaSricpt page element & paste all the widget code snippets in that. It especially happens with Bloggers who are good with HTML. Since a single HTML/JavaScript page element contain multiple code snippets it is also not possible to use the "Title". What most people miss out is using proper comments in these page elements resulting in severe debugging problems when some widget is malfunctioning.

I suggest to name all the widgets used in the HTML/JavaScript page element at the top of the HTML/JavaScript page element by using comments in the format -

The screen-shot below would be of some help to you -



So don't forget to comment required code snippets.

Resolving a frequent Firefox Crash

I updated my Firefox to Firefox 3.0 a few days back. Everything seemed to work fine initially but after I installed a few add-ons it kept repeatedly crashing. Firefox just refused to load & crashed every time I tried launching it from a desktop. I also mailed the crash report to Mozilla but my problem remained unsolved even after uninstalling & re-installing the same.

Today I tried a tweak & things started working fine after that. I always suspected on one particular add-on which was creating this problem. I thus renamed the folder named extensions located in the Mozilla Firefox install location & started Firefox & it smoothly loaded. Firefox has now created another blank folder named extensions. I then uninstalled the add-on which I suspected was buggy.

I don't know whether this is the right approach to tackle the problem but thought of sharing this info with rest of you. If things seem to work properly for others too, then probably I have walked in the right direction.

For your GOOD HEALTH dial a Policy

If you are a Citibank Credit Card holder in India & looking out for a good, cheap Mediclaim Policy then you are reading the right article right now. Citibank is the authorised agent for "The New India Assurance Compay Ltd." & brings to you a very affordable Health Insurance Policy named GOOD HEALTH. You can have more details about the Policy by visitng New India Asurrance's website at www.nia25.com . The site provides all details about the different Plans available & also hosts all required forms. Since Citibank are the authorised agents, registration for the Policy would happen only through Citibank & not directly through New India Assurance. You can also avail of Personal Accident cover if required. If you a Maruti Autocard Holder then there is a variant of the Good Helath Policy named MARUTI GOOD HEALTH Policy. Unfortunately you wont find any online details of this Policy, but after discussions with the Call Centre executive I have learnt that the premiums are quite similar to Good Health Policy & are infact priced lower. Once registered the premium is directly debited from your Citibank account.

There are two ways to apply for any of these Policies - Citibank Portal or by calling up Citibank's Good Health Call Centre at 1800 425 3364 (Toll Free). Unfortunately this Call Centre is not very well manged & you might get connected once after trying hard for 10 odd mins. The Toll Free number doesn't have any kind of welcome message & I also feel that it has multiple lines enabled which causes the phone to keep ringing without it being attended. All in all try your luck to get through this number, cause the benefits of this Policy are many. One prime benefit is the coverage of Pre-Existing Diseases (PED) which is already mentioned in the New India Assurance portal.

The Mediclaim Policies for people aged 55+ years are very expensive if taken from private Health Insurance companies. Since New India Assurance is a government company the Policies are very reasonably priced. I hope this post would be of some help for people looking out for affordable Mediclaim Policies especially for people aged 55+. Leave your comments if you have any further doubts in mind.

Promoting your Portal / Blog through a Customized Toolbar

You have seen Google Toolbar, Yahoo Toolbar & various others. How about having your own Customized Toolbar which would double up as an advertising channel for your Portal/Blog. I am talking about Conduit Connect. I stumbled upon this site through a Google Ad & finally ended up registering there.

This site is really very cool. It provides you with an option to create your own Customized Toolbar with whatever options you have & then promote the same by inserting a small piece of code on your Portal's / Blog's source code. The site also has a monetizing option through which you could also make some money.Whenever a visitor visits your site a small pop-up bar will drop down prompting you to install the Toolbar. Isn't this a very lovely way to promote one's own Portal / Blog.

Why don't you try it out yourself.

Vodafone India Itemised Billing Hack

It was HUTCH & now it is VODAFONE IN, but loopholes have still not been plugged it. Did you know that you can have FREE Itemised Billing for any Postpaid Talkplan in Vodafone if you access your account through My Vodafone.

If you receive your Bills via mail then you wont receive any kind of Itemised Billing. If you login to My Vodafone & view Bills online then the Itemised Billing pages show partial numbers, viz. 9198214***** or 9122259**** . The Hack for Itemised Billing lies in downloading the Bill from the link provided on the My Vodafone account rather than viewing it online. Once you download the Bill in PDF format & open it, you would find that the Itemised Billing pages display complete Phone Numbers.

Isn't this easy ? Try it out yourself & enjoy FREE Itemised Billing from Vodafone !!!

Things to remember before migrating to a new Blog Template

Just like I did a couple of days back, even you might be interested in changing your Blogs design very soon. Its very important to keep a couple of things in mind before you take this important step -

1. Remember to take a backup of your Old Template. The backup is nothing but an XML file.
   
2. Remember to take a separate backup of all customized code snippets that you might have installed in your Old Template. Also do take a note of the different sections in which each code was inserted.
   
3. Some of the common customizations which many people do are for Feedburner Statistics, Google Analytics, Embedded Google Adsense.
4. It would also be wise to take a screenshot of your Old Blogs layout so that you can position your page elements in the same order as the old one.

I guess these should be the key things to remember when you migrate to a new template. Did I miss out something ? Do let me know through your comments.