Check out some Security Related Apps , Browser Extensions, Tutorials We Covered :

• BitDefender TrafficLight Browser Addon - Firewall For Your Browser to protect against threats emanating from webpage accessed.
• How To Scan URL for Malware, Virus Online Using URLVoid – Test URL’s for browser based infections.
• Browser Guard 2011 – Protects against zero-day vulnerabilities and malicious JavaScript using advanced heuristics and emulation technologies
• How To Avoid Phishing, Malware, and Viruses Attacks By Examining Short URLs On Social Networking Sites
• 3 Ways Protect Your USB Pen Drive From Virus

The post How To Scan Files For Virus Infections With Multiple AntiVirus Engines appeared first on TECH YARD.

GMail has a feature of Undo Send Mail In the GMail labs which stops the messages from being sent for a few seconds after hitting the send button.Boomerang for GMail is Browser Plugin (Google Chrome and Firefox) which helps takes GMail even further allowing users to schedules when to send / receive emails.It works with Gmail accounts and Google Apps / Hosted Gmail email accounts.

The scheduling lets schedule emails composed and drafted to be sent automatically at a later time.Users need not be signed into their account for the emails to be sent.Here are the steps for scheduling a email using Boomerang Gmail Plugin.

1. Write a new message
2. Click Boomerang's "Send Later" button.
3. Choose what time you want the message to be sent.
4. Boomerang will automatically send the message at that time, using Gmail's servers.

Note : The scheduled drafts would remain in the drafts folder untill they are auto sent and the drafts scheduled should not be opened or edited, else the would not be sent as scheduled and has to be rescheduled.

How to receive mails later :

Sometimes important emails are sent before as a reminder and such important emails get lost in the heap of emails that you keep on receiving.Incase you want to receive the emails later “Receive Emails Later” lets you schedule to receive the same email on the date of your choice.Here are the steps to schedule to receive mails later :

1. Open a message and click Boomerang's "Receive Later" button.
2. Select a time when you want to respond to the message.
3. Boomerang immediately archives the message and applies the Boomerang label to it.
4. At the time you specified, Boomerang automatically moves the message back into your Inbox.
5. Boomerang marks the email unread and starred.

Boomerang for Outlook is also available but that is paid plugin.

The post How To Schedule When To Send / Receive Mails In GMail Using Boomerang GMail Plugin appeared first on TECH YARD.

Also Checkout : KeyBr – A Online Typing Tutor

The post Improve Productivity With Touch Typing – Learn Touch Typing Using Tipp10 Typing Tutor appeared first on TECH YARD.

Windows by default comes with a few file types associated to a few out the box applications which come with Windows OS like for ex. MS Paint, Image Viewer, Media Player but over time users would like to open the same file types using a different program based on requirements.Changing the default file associations for different file types is not so easy.

If you are using a Windows OS machine then there’s a easier way to set default programs to different file formats from a single program using Default Programs Editor.This programs allows editing or changing the :

• Context Menu Editor : Change the default programs and context menu entries
• Icon :                                   Change the icon of a program
• Description :                    Edit the description for the file type

How to change the Windows default Image Editor (MS Paint) to your favorite program

Change Default Folder Where Windows Installs Softwares

If you are looking for a easier solution to have a single application to open multiple file types then try

Free Opener – All In One File Opener Which Can Open Over 70+ File Types

Here’s how to change the default program to associate with the file type using the Default Program Editor :

• This is a portable app (no-install program) so just Download, Extract and run the program and you see the interface similar to the above image.
• Click the Context Menu and search the file extension for which you want to change the associated program. For e.x. mkv
• Select the file extension from the list and press “Next”
• Now the current associated default program is highlighted in bold, to associate a new program to the extension click “Add” which should open the option to add a new context menu entry.
• Enter the Command Name for ex. &Play With VLC, Browse and select the application exe file in the Program Path and finally browse and select the Program Icon and Click “Next”.
• Select the Command You created and click “ Set Selected Command as Default ” this should open the files file in mkv in the program you wanted using the command you just created.
• and finally click “ Save To Context Menu “

Create Context Menu Entries In Windows 7 Easily Using Your Menu Context Menu Editor

The program is available as a portable app which makes it even more easier to use it.One important feature missing is the option to export the settings which can be very helpful on formatting or applying the same file type associations on different machines.

Do share you thoughts on this app or if you use a different method for changing file type associations to programs .

Note : Backup your registry before making any changes.

The post Set Default Programs Association For File Types To Open With In Windows Using Default Programs Editor appeared first on TECH YARD.

Temporary files are the primary reason for a sluggish system, there are free tools available which can be used to keep a system clean by running them at regular intervals like weekly, fortnightly based on the usage pattern.Some of the free tools like CCleaner are sufficient for most users but there are also some aspects which CCleaner also misses out on like removing leftover files from Windows Update Installation , Language Files, Windows OS Sample Data like ( Sample Audio, Picture, Help etc., ) which can be consuming a good size of the disk space.

Another disk cleaner application is Wise Disk Cleaner which has a very intuitive interface with 3 tabs Common Cleaner, Advance Cleaner and Slimming System and can get rid of data which a few other disk cleaning applications miss out on.

The Common Cleaner – This tab helps search and get rid of junk files and internet files.There are 2 sections which search for junk files on the system and traces left in your system by internet based applications.This process can also be scheduled using the scheduler from within the app.

Advanced Cleaner – This helps scan for temporary files like ( .tmp,thumbs.db ) created by different applications which can be eating up valuable disk space.Users are well informed about the files which are listed in the search results, for ex. by selecting a file in the search results gives a brief description about the file.

Slimming System : This tab is the most interesting feature of this application, which scans for Windows OS based files which won’t be required for most users like Windows Update Installation files, Windows Help Files, Sample Files ( Audio, Video, Pictures etc., ), Obsolete Windows Files etc.This really helped me get rid of 2.6GB from my system which was really nice.

If you are concerned about anything going wrong on deleting these files, no worries Wise Disk Cleaner creates a “ Restore Point ” and if something does go wrong you can always restore it to the previous state using the “ System Restore”.

How To Create Restore Point In Single Mouse Click

How To Delete Old Restore Points In Windows OS

If you fear recovery of delete data, then there’s also secure deletion which can be enabled from the Settings > General Tab.

Securely Delete Files Using CCleaner

To make things even more easier, there is a way to create a simple 1-click desktop shortcut which can run the cleaner automatically running all the cleaners at once without the need to individually run the cleaners.

Wise Disk Cleaner can also be converted into a portable app once installed to be used on other machines, without the need of installing it again.To create the portable version of Wise Disk Cleaner, click on the icon beside the Minimize Button, and from the drop down select “ Create Portable Version ” which creates a zip file.Extract it and run the “ WiseDiskCleaner.exe ” from folder, USB Drive.

If a portable version is available directly from the developer, it would be more easier for users instead of having to install and create portable version for themselves.Program Uninstaller is missing from this application, which can be very useful.Until this is part of the program you can use few other 3rd party softwares like CCleaner along with Disk Wise Cleaner which is compatible with all Windows OS versions.

The post How To Recover Disk Space In Windows OS By Deleting Windows Updates, Update Temp Files, Language Packs etc appeared first on TECH YARD.

Video embeds are very commons thanks to the video sharing site like YouTube which allow embedding in webpages using the embed codes, but the embedded videos are not responsive in nature by default.By responsive I mean that the embedded videos do not adjust to the screen size automatically.These webpages are accessible across various devices and have different screen sizes so it so very important to make sure that your embedded videos does not disrupt the reading experience.

If you already have a lot of embedded videos on various posts, changing the embed sizes is not easy for each theme change or to suite the embed for each screen size.Here FitVids For WordPress which does the job very well and adjust the embedded video according the screen size of the visitor.FitVids is a jQuery Addon which can be used with any website, and more easily in wordpress using the FitVids WordPress Plugin.It currently supports Vimeo,YouTube, Blip.tv, Viddler, Kickstarter out of the box.

Here’s how to use the plugin in WordPress :

1. Download, Install and Activate the plugin, next
2. Go the FitVids For WordPress Settings page which can be found under Appearance > FitVids

• How To Enhance YouTube Player For Embed Video’s
• Test How Your WebSite Looks On Various Devices At Once Using ScreenFly

To identify the CSS selector for your WP Theme, open the single.php in your theme folder and check the CSS Selector inside which you have the the_content called.This becomes the selector which needs to be inserted in the box as the arrow points in the image above.

If the css selector is a Class then type .selector or if if it’s a id then #selector

Here’s the screeenshot embedding a wider video overlapping the Sidebar In WordPress :

Here’s the video auto resized using FitVids For WordPress :

Then What about handheld devices like Mobile Phones, SmartPhone, Tablets, etc, ??

Even that’s supported, just try resizing the browser to test the responsiveness or try  opening you webpage in a mobile or try resizing the browser window and the video adjust accordingly.

The best part of the plugin is that it works out of the box with all previous video embeds in old posts, which means no need to change anything in  the embed code in old posts.Incase you are having trouble after settings the css selector, try adding jQuery from Google CDN by checking the box “ Add jQuery 1.7.2 from Google CDN ”.

The post How To Make Embedded Video Responsive and Fit Browser Width In WordPress Using FitVids WordPress Plugin appeared first on TECH YARD.

Snippets can be very useful and if you work with similar code that you use across various projects then if you would very easy to use a snippets in your code editor.I use Notepad++ for my php, css, html coding while testing various wordpress themes, plugins and for making code changes.There’s something that most theme don’t come which is ad placement ready and each user has to hard code the ad code into the themes, and while testing this becomes a repetitive task of inserting the ad code and snippets into theme files.

Notepad++ supports plugins which means the programs features can be extended similar to a web browser addons for added functionality, QuickText is a Notepad++ plugin which helps organize code snippets into various programming languages and insert the snippets into the working file using simple tags.These tags can be user defined and these tags are replaced with the predefined code attached to the tag into the working file.

Steps to install QuickText Notepad++ Plugin :

1. Download and Extract / Install the application to a folder. ( I choose the 7z file which has the unicode version, downloaded and extracted it to a folder ).
2. Download and extract the QuickText Notepad++ Plugin.
3. Copy the QuickText.UNI.dll into Notepad++'s plugin directory
4. Copy the QuickText.ini file into Notepad++'s directory.The directory in which you find the notepad++ exe file.

That’s it your installation is complete.Now the tags are to be defined.

Steps to define tags in the QuickText Notepad++ Plugin :

1. Navigate to Options under Plugins > QuickText  > Options..

    

2. Next Define your tags using the following steps.
   • Select the Programming language or just select Normal Text, if
   • Define Tag Name
   • Enter your code in the Substitution Text Box and Click “ Add/Modify ” Button
   • You should now see the tag added under the list of Tags.

     

3. Now to use this tag in a php file, just enter the tag is_single and press “ TAB ” and the tag is replaced by the substitution text which the code.

   

Manage Code Snippets On Offline Easily Using Snippely Adobe Air Application

WordPress Snippet For Showing Category Listing In 2 Columns

Note : Just incase Tab is not working after you type your tag, Check if the shortcut is mapped correctly in the shortcut mapper which can accessed under Settings > Shortcut mapper ,then click on the Plugin Commands tab and scroll to near the bottom and look for ‘ Replace Tag ’, once you’ve found it define a new shortcut.

The best advantage of this plugin is that tags/snippets can be defined for different languages which makes it easier to work with different pieces of code and have the snippets easily accessible.

Are you using a more simpler or powerful snippet manager for NotePad++, do share with us with your thoughts and experiences.

Here are 2 sources where you can find many Snippets For WordPress – WPSNIPP  and WP-SNIPPETS

The post How To Use Snippets In Notepad++ Using QuickText Plugin appeared first on TECH YARD.

Bandwidth caps are very common these days with ISP (Internet Serive Provider), if you are not aware of it is can be a reason to worry when you see the next month bill your ISP sends you.I’ve heard of many cases where the consumer is unaware of the bandwidth caps and the extra charges to be levied after the free usage.ISP in many cases don’t provide users with free desktop network bandwidth monitoring tool which can help keep track of the users bandwidth consumption pattern, in a few cases ISP's provide just a online report for the consumer to login and check which acts in the favour of the ISP as most users don’t follow this step.

If you are on such plans where there is a monthly data usage limit, then you can use 3rd party bandwidth monitoring apps which can help check the usage with a simple click of the mouse button.Networx is a free network bandwidth monitoring tool which helps keep track of your bandwidth usage.It very simple to setup if there is no step also ( there’s a portable version of Networx ).It supports almost all the networks regular home users would use like DialUp, Lan, WAN, WiFi etc.

it takes just a few steps to configure networx to start keep a watch on your data usage, here’s how you can setup Networx to start monitoring your bandwidth usage :

1. Download Install/Extract the ZIP File.
2. Run the application, and on the first run the configuration wizard starts to setup the configuration.
   • Select the language in Step 1.
   • Select the Network Connection you use to connect to the internet.
     
     
     
   • Click Finish, and the NetWorx Tray icon should be available from where the application can be further configured.
3. Right Click the tray icon and select “ Quota ” which is used to set the bandwidth quota your ISP is providing you according to the plan you have chosen.In the My Quota window Click “Setup” under Quota Summary, which should help further customize how the bandwidth usage is tracked.
   
   
   
   
4. The usage statistics also provide a more detailed information about the bandwidth usage on the basis of user, hourly,day, week, month etc.,

• Track your data usage on mobile device on 3G, Wifi etc.,
• How To Track Bandwidth Usage On Android Phone

If you are using a network of computers then you would want the app to track bandwidth usage of the router than of the individual computer, to setup NetWorx for a network.Right Click the NetWorx tray icon and select “ Settings ”. In the monitored interfaces sections click, Monitor my router rather than this computer.

Note : Router monitoring requires a SNMP supported router.

Local traffic in the LAN can be ignored for which click the link just below the monitor the router link.This feature requires a 3rd part tool (WinPCap) which NetWorx can download and setups automatically.

The application can be password protect, so that no one resets the data, or change the quota limits or just exit the application leaving the traffic unregistered.To set the password click the “Password” and enter your desired password.The application can b further customized from the extra tabs available in Settings like the Graph, Graph Colors, Notifications etc.,

Networx is available as a installer or a portable app ( which I like ) as it is easier to backup data and move across systems without loosing data.

The post How To Check Bandwidth Usage and Speed Using Free Network Bandwidth Monitoring Tool Networx appeared first on TECH YARD.

Everyone wants to keep their data safe and the best way for home users where different users use a single machine for various purposes.You might want to protect your data against accidental deletion or preventing other from viewing the contents of the files.There are many applications which help password protect files and folders which we have also reviewed here on TechYard.net but most applications are limited to just files and folders which might be sufficient in most cases, but sometimes you need something more protecting files on external USB drives to also be protected.

Wise Folder Hider is a free file/folder hiding tool which also supports protecting files and folders on Drive Partitions and USB drives also.The application has a 2 level password protection where the first password is for accessing the application interface and the next is the individual password set for the hidden file/folder.This makes is difficult for anyone trying the get access to hidden data.After installation and the first time the application is started the application password is requested, once set only then is the application screen is visible.

Once this is set, the next step is the application interface using which files and folders can be hidden.To hide files and folders just drag and drop the files/folders into the screen which looks similar to the image below or using the menu based on what you want to hide select the option appropriately.

[How To] – Hide and Password Protect Active Application Windows

[How To ] Disable Specific Key Combinations In Windows Like Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ctrl+Esc, Windows Keys etc.,

How To Securely Store Private Files and Folders By Creating Password Protected Secret Drive In Windows

Once a file/folder is dropped into the application window, a password can also be set for the file/folder.To set a password for the file/folder select Set Password under the Operations Menu, which should have an option called  “ Set Password ”. To unhide any file/folder just select unhide under the “Operation Menu”.To unhide any file/folder select “unHide” from the Operation Menu and if the file is Locked, the password would be asked to unhide the file.

Hide USB lets hide the USB Drive in total, to hide just insert the USB Drive and then click the “ Hide USB Drive ” button and click OK to hide the contents of the USB Drive completely.To hide just a file or folder in a USB Drive, drag and drop that specific file and protect ( Lock ) the same with a password as mentioned above.

Files / Folders can also be hidden from the context menu when the application is not running.The files and folders are locked/hidden weather or not Wise Folder Hider is running in the background, to unlock a file just start the Wise Folder Hider and unlock the file to view its contents.The application is very easy to use and does the job well, if you are looking for a easy way to protect your files/folders on a local partition or USB Drive the this is application which you can give a shot.The app is completely compatible with Windows OS.

The post How To Password Protect and also Hide Files, Folders and USB Drives appeared first on TECH YARD.

High PageSpeed is what every blogger is trying to achieve, but the problem is not every one is able achieve it because of various factors which can be easily found if you did a PageSpeed Test Online using the Google PageSpeed Test, one factor which is part of the list is small images in pages which can results smaller page size which can be a deciding factor in the page load speed.Google PageSpeed Documentation also mentions a few apps which can be used to compress images which can help in reducing the page load speeds.The best image file formats to use in blog posts are PNG and JPEG/JPG, GIF if the image file size is too small.

What are the Tools ??

For JPEG, jpegtran or jpegoptim (available on Linux only).

For PNG, OptiPNG or PNGOUT.

These lossless imagecompression tools are available as command based tools, which might not be the most user friendly so here are some GUI’s for these command based tools

For JPEG you can try The JPEG Reducer which acts as a frontend of the command line utility jpegtran.It supports batch processing, a preview of the optimization process (called 'Forecast').Just drag and drop multiple files into the GUI and it does a quick analysis of the images and shows by how much would the compressed image be reduced.It can also detect binary duplicates.

Once the analysis is complete, the listed files are categorized into

• File which result in smaller sizes
• Files which would result in the same size as original
• File which which would result in larger size

Only the files which result in smaller size are processed and the the rest are unaltered.

It also has a very interesting feature of Stats, which shows 20 top most files which compressed the best.The jpegtran is under constant development and the newer versions of jpegtran can be easily integrated by updating it to the latest jpegtran version from the options. The latest versions can be downloaded from here.The only issue with this app is that it does not give the user the option to specify an output folder, but just overwrites the original files.Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS can try JPEG Reducer in using Wine for running Windows Applications in OS’s other than Windows OS.

Also Checkout :

• Caesium Image Compressor
• Reduce PNG Image Online Upto 40% Using PunyPNG

PNG Image Formats :

PNGGauntlet is the best program for reducing the size of PNG Images, it combines 3 programs PNGOUT, OptiPNG, and DeflOpt to create the smallest PNGs without loosing out on image quality but only on file sizes.It can also convert JPG, GIF, TIFF, and BMP files to PNG.All 3 programs can be further configured from PNGGauntlet Options which can be accessed from the Tools Menu –> Options of PNGGauntlet.The interface is very simple, just like JPEGTrans drag and drop the files and press “Optimize” that’s it.The output folder can be the same as input or a separate folder.

PNGGauntlet is available for Windows Only, Linux users can try – Trimage Lossless Image Compressor, which is a lossless image compress for PNG and JPG File Formats and Mac OS users can try – ImageOptim – which also supports PNG, JPEG and GIF animations.Both these tools also make use of JPEGTrans,JPEGOptim and OptiPNG or PNGOUT

TIP : What about already uploaded images on the webservers, Just download the images  and onto your desktop and use the appropriate tool to compress the images and re-upload them back to your server.Its important to note that you make a copy of the files before you replace the files on the server.

If you run a very image intensive website say a wallpaper, photography then you should also give JPEGMini, online image compressor which boasts of reducing the image size by 5 times keeping the quality.The home page shows examples of how good the compression is.

The post How To – Reduce Image File Sizes Without Loosing Quality The Right Way Using Lossless Image Compression appeared first on TECH YARD.