JaypeeOnline » Tips and Tricks

HowTo: Create Your Own Minimalist Google Homepage

Jaypee Habaradas — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:56:33 +0000

Have you seen, heard or tried out Google’s minimalist homepage? Word about Google’s minimalist homepage prototype first came out around October last year. Screenshots were posted and shared across the Internet, including the line of code that was used to activate the homepage prototype. By copy and pasting that particular line of code, regular users were able to access this prototype homepage that featured only the Google logo, the search box and two buttons – Google Search and I’m Feeling Lucky. When I first found out about it, I followed the instructions, then copied and pasted the code but it didn’t work. Tried it several times without any success so I finally gave up on it.

If you haven’t seen how the Google minimalist homepage prototype looks like, here’s how it looks like:

Yesterday, I came across an article on Mashable that showed users how to create a minimalist Google homepage on their own webserver. Its very simple and easy to do. It only took me a few seconds to download, unzip and upload the files and get it working. All you need is a domain, a webhost and an FTP account. Download the source code created by Infinise.com and upload it to a directory on your webserver. Here’s how it looks like:

If you don’t have your own webserver or if want to try it out before setting it up on your own webserver, you can check it out on http://jaypeeonline.net/start/. Btw, if you click on the logo, it will let you choose which website to search from – Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and Twitter.

I really like the ultra-minimalist design of this Google homepage created by Infinise.com. I’ve set it up as my browser’s homepage/startup page so this is what I see/have now when I use Google Search. So what do you think of this ultra-minimalist Google homepage? Which one do you prefer, the minimalist homepage or the regular Google homepage?

via Mashable

Copyright © 2010 JaypeeOnline.net. This feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me so I can take legal action immediately.

HowTo: Create Wine Application Shortcuts on Ubuntu

Jaypee Habaradas — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:59:05 +0000

I use the Ubuntu partition on my laptop as my main/work desktop and I barely use Windows because I have all the programs and applications I need on Ubuntu even Windows programs like Adobe Photoshop. Running Photoshop on Ubuntu is made possible by Wine, a software that lets users install Windows software on other operating systems like Ubuntu, Mandriva, SUSE, FreeBSD, Solaris and OpenSolaris and run these applications like it was on Windows.

Once installed, Wine applications can be accessed via Applications > Wine > Programs. What I don’t like about this is, I don’t want to go through that process everytime I want to open a Wine application. I want to have a desktop shortcut that will give me a faster and easier way to access a Wine app. Installing Windows applications with Wine is fast and easy but creating shortcuts isn’t. Today, I’ll show you how to create Wine application shortcuts on Ubuntu.

For this tutorial, I’ll be creating a shortcut for Adobe Photoshop CS2.

1. Create a “Launcher”. Right-click on the desktop click on “Create Launcher“.

2. On the Command field, click “Browse“.

3. Follow this path – /.wine/drive_c/Program Files/ and look for the program’s executable file (.exe). Some programs will require you to go several folders deeper.

ex. /.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Photoshop.exe

If you can’t locate the .wine folder in your home directory, Press Ctrl + H to show hidden folders.

4. Select the .exe file and click on “Open“. The Command field should have something like this:

“/home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/yourprogram.exe”

ex. “/home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Photoshop.exe”

5. In order for it to work, you’ll have to add “wine” at the beginning of the line.

wine “/home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/yourprogram.exe”

ex. wine “/home/username/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CS2/Photoshop.exe”

6. Fill in the details for the rest of the fields like “Name” and “Comment“. Take note that the “Type” field should be “Application“.

7. Next thing to do is choose an icon for your shortcut. For this one, you’ll need to download an icon for your program shortcut. The ideal icon would be a .png icon with transparent background. You can find one by doing a Google search or try Deviantart. Save the icon in the “usr/share/pixmaps” folder.

Click on the small box on the left side.

Click Browse then go to “usr/share/pixmaps” folder and select the custom icon that you downloaded and saved earlier. Click on the icon and click OK.

8. After you’ve chosen the icon for your shortcut, click OK and that’s it. Now you have a desktop shortcut of your favorite Wine application.

Hope you like this tutorial on how to create Wine applications on Ubuntu. If you find it helpful and useful, please don’t forget to bookmark and share it. Thank you!

HowTo: Install Adobe AIR on Ubuntu

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:01:36 +0000

I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala a few days ago. I know its a bit late, but the reason why I didn’t do it earlier was because I didn’t want to mess up my customized Ubuntu “Mac” desktop. What made me decide to do a fresh install was because my old Ubuntu partition was only 5 GB and I was already running out of space. This time, I created a bigger partition – 40 GB. Anyways, the upgrade was quick and it went smoothly. Since it was a fresh install, I had to reconfigure everything and reinstall all the programs and applications that I need. One of it was Adobe AIR which I need to run my Twitter client of choice – TweetDeck.

Installing Adobe AIR on Ubuntu can be quite tricky if you’re not quite familiar with the commands and if you’re new to Linux/Ubuntu. So for the sake of those users, I’m sharing this short step-by-step tutorial on how to install Adobe AIR on Ubuntu.

Here’s how:
1. Download the Adobe AIR installer – http://get.adobe.com/air/.

2. File name should be AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

3. Make sure you save it in the Home folder. Click on Places > Home Folder

4. Open the Terminal. Click on Applications > Accessories > Terminal.

5. Run the following command on the Terminal:

chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

6. Next run this command on the Terminal:

sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

The Adobe AIR installer will open and you can proceed with installing it. That’s it, you’ve just installed Adobe AIR on Ubuntu. You can now start installing your favorite apps. Just download the .air file and double-click on it and Adobe AIR will automatically install it.

NOTE: To avoid getting errors or having problems with the installation, make sure you’re logged in as the root user when you do the installation and/or when you save the Adobe AIR installer in the Home Folder.

Hope this short tutorial helps you install Adobe AIR on Ubuntu. If you have any questions or need further help with the installation, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or send me a message via the contact page.

HowTo: Bypass Megavideo Time Limit

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:32:25 +0000

Are you annoyed and frustrated with Megavideo’s time limit? Don’t worry, I’ll show you how you can bypass that limit and let you enjoy watching your video or movie without any interruptions. Megavideo is one of the best and one of the most popular video sharing sites in the Internet. The problem about watching movies on Megavideo is that there is a 72-minute time limit and once you hit the limit, the video stops and you get this message:

Some movies are more than 72 minutes long, some are even 2-3 hours long so once you hit the time limit, you can’t continue watching the movie anymore. Sucks doesn’t it? Today, I’m gonna share with you a few methods on how to bypass the Megavideo time limit.

DISCLAIMER: These are workarounds suggested by other users. I do not endorse them and I haven’t tried all of the methods listed below. PERFORM THE METHODS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Method 1 – Work Offline

1. Open the video that you want to watch on Megavideo. Click the Play button and when it starts playing, click on the Pause button to let it buffer.
2. Wait until the video is done loading/buffering to 100%.
3. Click on Work Offline and watch the video.

Mozilla Firefox
- Click on File > Work Offline.

Internet Explorer 7 & 8
- Click on Tools > Work Offline.

[Remember to unclick the Work Offline button once you're done watching]

Method 2 – Block Cookies
1. Clear your web browser’s cache and delete cookies.
2. Block cookies.

Mozilla Firefox
- Click on Tools > Page Info.
- Click on the Permissions tab. Under Set Cookies, if Use Default is checked, uncheck it then select Block.

Internet Explorer 7 & 8
- Click on Tools > Internet Options.
- Click on the Privacy tab.
- Click on Sites.
- Under “Address of Website“, type “megavideo.com” (without the quotes), click Block.
- Repeat the previous step and this time type “www.megavideo.com“, click Block.

3. Disconnect your modem and wait for about 10 seconds before reconnecting it.
4. Continue watching the video.

Method 3 – Download
(You’ll need Mozilla Firefox for this one.)

1. Install the DownloadHelper addon and restart Firefox.
2. Go to Megavideo and open the video that you want to watch and click Play.
3. Once the video starts buffering, the DownloadHelper icon would start revolving. Click on the small arrow beside it then click on the .flv file and it will prompt you to save the file to your computer. You can rename the file if you want and choose where you want it to be saved.
4. Watch the video with VLC Media Player or Applian FLV player.

Method 4 – Illimitux addon
(You’ll need Mozilla Firefox for this one.)
1. Install the Illimitux addon and restart Firefox.
2. Go to Megavideo and open the video that you want to watch.
3. Click on the Illimitux icon (lower right corner of Firefox) and you will be directed to another page where you can watch the video without any time limits.

Caution: This add-on has not been reviewed by Mozilla. Be careful when installing third-party software that might harm your computer.

Method 5 – Megastreaming.org
1. Go to Megavideo and copy the URL of the video that you want to watch. (example: http://www.megavideo.com/?v=Q7UK1BVI)
2. Open http://megastreaming.org/.
3. Paste the URL of the video you want to watch on the space provided and click Play.

Method 6 – Lyke.co.cc
1. Go to Megavideo and copy the URL of the video that you want to watch. (example: http://www.megavideo.com/?v=Q7UK1BVI)
2. Open http://lyke.co.cc/.
3. Paste the URL of the video you want to watch on the space below “Remove Time Limit” and click Watch.

Method 7 – No More 72 Mins
1. Go to Megavideo and copy the URL of the video that you want to watch. (example: http://www.megavideo.com/?v=Q7UK1BVI)
2. Open http://megavideonotimelimit.com/.
3. Paste the URL of the video you want to watch on the space provided and click Watch The Video.

Just choose any of the methods listed above which you think suits you best, follow the instructions and you’ll be able to enjoy watching videos and movies on Megavideo without any time limits or restrictions.

If you know of any other way or alternatives on how to bypass the Megavideo time limit, please share it with us so we can include it on this list.

HowTo: Rip DVDs with VLC Media Player

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:35:56 +0000

Have you tried or used VideoLAN’s VLC Media Player? It’s my favorite media player and the best one in my opinion. Its very versatile and can play almost any type of media file (audio & video) available. Aside from playing media files, do you know that VLC can also rip DVDs? If you don’t then you’re in luck because today I’m gonna show you how you can do it in a few simple steps.

DISCLAIMER: The DMCA prohibits the ripping of DVDs that have DRM or any form of DRM on it like CSS, so make sure you only rip DVDs that don’t have content protection. If you decide to proceed with ripping a DVD, you can use this process at your own risk.

NOTE: For this tutorial, I used VLC Media Player 1.0.3 Goldeneye

1. Open VLC Media Player and go to Media > Open Disc or you can do a Ctrl + D.

2. Make sure that DVD is selected and Disc Device is pointing to the DVD drive.
3. Click Play to check if its the DVD/video that you want to rip. If not, change Title value to 1 or the next number until you find the right video.

4. Now that you have the right video, go to Media > Convert/Save or do a Ctrl + R.

5. Click on the Disc tab and click on Convert/Save. Under Destination, select the folder or location where you want to save the file and type in the title of the file. Make sure you type in the correct file extension – “.ogg” or “.mp4″.
6. Under Settings > Profile, select Video – MPEG-4 + AAC (MP4) if you want to play it on your iPod/iPhone or Video – Theory + FLAC (OGG) if you want lossless audio.
7. You can edit the Profile settings by clicking on the button beside the profile options.

8. When you’re satisfied with the settings, start the ripping process by clicking on Start.

Just wait until VLC is done ripping the DVD and that’s it. You can now watch the finished file with VLC. If you selected the Video – MPEG-4 + AAC (MP4) setting then you can upload the video to your iPod/iPhone and watch it. Hope you’ll find this simple tutorial on how to rip DVDs with VLC useful.

Anyone else use VLC to rip DVDs or do you use regular DVD ripping software? Do you know of an alternative way of ripping DVDs without the use of software? Please share your thoughts.

HowTo: Fix Adobe Photoshop ALT key on Ubuntu

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:10:00 +0000

Are having a problem getting the ALT key to work after installing Adobe Photoshop on Ubuntu? Don’t worry, I’m gonna show you how you can fix it with a few simple steps.

I’ve been running a Windows Vista/Ubuntu dual boot system on my Toshiba Satellite A305-S6872 for almost a year now. The Windows partition is the one I use for regular web surfing, video chat (Skype) with my parents and in-laws, watching movies or playing pc games while the Ubuntu partition is my main desktop – the one I use for work/blogging.

I have everything I need (blogging tools) on Ubuntu, including one of the most important tool – Adobe Photoshop. I installed Adobe Photoshop CS using Wine and it worked flawlessly, until I found out that the ALT key wasn’t working. I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts on Photoshop and the ALT key together with the CTRL & SHIFT keys are very important when using keyboard shortcuts. I first noticed the problem when I tried using the Clone Stamp Tool (ALT key is used to select the area to clone from).

I never had this issue with Windows so it had to be with the settings on Ubuntu. I checked all the areas under Preferences and found the culprit.

Here’s how you can make the ALT key to work with Adobe Photoshop on Ubuntu:
NOTE: I’m running Adobe Photoshop CS on Ubuntu 8.10

1. Click on System > Preferences > Windows.

2. Look for the Movement Key section.

3. Make sure that the ALT key option is not selected. If the ALT key is selected, choose a different option – CTRL or Super (or “Windows logo”) and click Close.

4. To be sure that the changes you made are recognized, reboot/restart your computer. That’s it, next time you use Photoshop on Ubuntu, the ALT key should be working. I’ve only tried this with Adobe Photoshop CS but it should also work for other versions of Photoshop.

Wasn’t that easy? Btw, if you’re running Photoshop on KDE the settings are different but the procedure is similar. Here’s how:

Open KDE Control Center > Look&Feel > Windows Behavior > Second Rollout and then change the settings, making sure that the ALT key is not used for moving or resizing windows. For those running KDE version 3.4, this setting is under Desktop > Actions Tab > Modifier Key.

Hope this short and simple tutorial helped you with your ALT key problems with Adobe Photoshop on Ubuntu.

HowTo: Disable Windows XP Startup Sound

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:08:23 +0000

As the in-house desktop support among my family and friends, I get a lot of questions regarding computer and technical stuff. Most of these questions fall under basic computer configuration, setup and/or tweaks. One of the questions I often get is “how to disable or turn off the startup sound on Windows XP”. I’m sure anyone who’ve used or tried Windows XP know how annoying the startup sound is, especially if the speakers are on full volume. It could also be both distracting and embarrassing in a classroom or meeting.

Today, I’m gonna show you how the Windows XP startup sound can be turned off or disabled. This procedure/short tutorial could also be used to disable/enable other Windows XP system sounds like the logon or logoff sounds.

1. Click on START > Control Panel.

2. Click on Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices

3. Click on Sounds and Audio Devices

4. Click on the Sounds tab

5. Look below for Program Events. Scroll down and look for Start Windows.

6. First, highlight Start Windows. Second, go below to Sounds and select (None).

7. Click Apply and then OK.

Now, you can go ahead and restart your computer for the changes to take effect. This time, when the computer boots up you won’t hear the annoying startup sound.

I hope that this short and simple tutorial on how to disable the Windows XP startup sound can be useful or come in handy one of these days. If you have any questions regarding this post, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below. You might also want to check out my other Tips & Tricks posts for other useful and related tutorials.

HowTo: Use Evernote on Symbian Devices

Jaypee Habaradas — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:20:03 +0000

When I got my Nokia E52 a couple weeks ago, the first few things I did with it was to configure the settings and customize it to my preference (theme, ringtones, etc), transfer contact numbers & details and of course, install applications/programs.

One of my favorite and one of the most useful/handy tools for any blogger/writer is Evernote, an online service/application that lets users store, collect and organize notes and information and retrieve it from any computer or device. Evernote is available as a web clipper for most web browsers, a Mac OS X/Windows desktop client and an app for iPod Touch/iPhone, Palm Pre, Windows Mobile, Android and BlackBerry devices. I was disappointed when I found out that Evernote was not available for Symbian devices*.

I tried searching the web for an alternative but couldn’t find any app that I could install on my Nokia E52 that could replace Evernote. As I continued my search, I was glad to find out that even if there was no native Evernote app for Symbian devices, there was a workaround using Twitter. Below is a YouTube video that shows you how you can use Evernote on any Symbian-powered device with the help of Twitter. Btw, you’ll need Gravity, Dabr, Twibble or any Twitter client installed on your Symbian device.

If the video was too fast or didn’t work for you, here’s a step-by-step process on how to do it.

Step 1. Follow @myEN

Step 2: You will receive a direct message from myEN containing a link. Click the link.

Step 3: Sign into Evernote and link your Evernote and Twitter accounts. If you don’t have an Evernote account, sign up. It’s free.

That’s it. You’re now set and good to go. It only takes 3 easy steps and a few minutes to do it. Now, everytime you want to add a new note on Evernote via your Symbian device, all you have to do is add “@myEN” to any public tweet or you can also send a DM (direct message) to @myEN and that new note will be saved on your Evernote account. The only downside to this is that you’re limited to 140 characters. But then again, its better than nothing at all.

I hope this post will be useful/helpful to those of you who would like to use Evernote on their Symbian devices. If you know of any alternative app/program for Evernote or know of a better workaround to use Evernote on Symbian devices, please do share it with us.

*Symbian devices are those that run on Symbian OS (operating system), mostly which are Nokia mobile devices.

Black Friday Deals

Jaypee Habaradas — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:50:46 +0000

A couple more days before Black Friday, the most awaited day of the year for most if not all shoppers here in the United States. Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November) which is also the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. For those who are not familiar with what Black Friday is, its the one day of the year where retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Sears, Target, Macy’s, etc. offer doorbuster deals (very low-priced items designed to draw people into a sale). Because of the limited number and insanely low prices of these products, shoppers camp out a day or two outside these stores just so they can be the first persons to enter once the store opens their doors. Some large retailers even open their stores as early as midnight to accommodate these shoppers, while some open up at 5 AM.

Personally, I haven’t gone shopping on a Black Friday mainly because I don’t want to camp out in front of the store a day or several hours before the store opens up. There’s also the danger of getting hurt in a stampede as there’s been several cases before where people died because of a stampede happening in front of the store entrance during Black Friday.

This year though, I’m tempted to go and join in the fray after I saw a very good deal on external hard drives on two stores – Walmart and Target. I’ve been planning on getting a bigger external hard drive because the one I have now (320GB) is almost full.

Walmart: Western Digital 1TB 3.5″ External Hard Drive – $78.00

Target: Western Digital Elements 1TB Desktop Hard Drive – $59.98

While browsing the different Black Friday ads online, I found some good deals and decided to share it with you.

Kmart:
TomTom ONE 130 GPS – $79.99
Sony W180 Digital Camera – $99.99
Rock Band 2 Special Edition (XBox 360) – $99.99
Nintendo DSi Bundle w/5 Pre-Installed Games – $169.99
Sony Bravia L Series 32″ Class 720p LCD HDTV (Model KDL32L504) – $379.99

OfficeDepot:
D-Link Basic N Wireless Adapter – $19.99
D-Link Basic N Wireless Router – $19.99
Linksys Wireless-N Rangeplus Adapter – $39.99
Linksys Wireless-N Rangeplus Router Or Adapter – $39.99
Kingston 1GB PC 5300 DDR2 Memory Upgrade – $17.99
TomTom ONE 130 GPS Navigation System – $77.99
TomTom XL 330 GPS Navigation System – $97.99
Garmin Nuvi 1200 GPS Navigation System – $119.99
Garmin Nuvi 1300 GPS Navigation System – $149.99
TomTom GO 630 GPS Navigation System – $169.99
Canon PowerShot SD780 IS 12.1-Megapixel Digital Camera – $179.99
Acer Netbook 10.1″ Computer w/Intel 1.6GHz Atom Processor N270 – $199.99

RadioShack:
Sandisk 4GB USB Flash Drive – $9.99
Netgear WNR1000 Wireless-N 150 Router – $34.99
TomTom XL 330S GPS w/Free Dash Mount – $99.99
8GB iPod Touch w/ $20 Gift certificate – $199.99
Xbox 360 Elite System w/$60 Cash Back & 2 Games (Lego Batman and Pure) – $299.99
Samsung 32″ LCD HDTV – $399.99

Sears:
Sandisk 8GB SDHC Card – $14.99
TomTom One 130 GPS – $79.99
TomTom XL325S – $99.99
Samsung Blu-ray Disc Player BD-P1600-A – $149.99
Sony Blu-ray Disc Player BDPS360 – $149.99
Canon Powershot SD780 IS 12.1MP Digital Camera – $179.99
Samsung 40-inch Class 1080p LCD HDTV – $599.99

OfficeMax:
Logitech 2.0 Stereo Speaker System – $12.99
SanDisk 8GB Cruzer USB Flash Drive – $14.99
SanDisk 16GB Cruzer USB Flash Drive – $29.99
D-Link Basic N Wireless Router – $19.99
TomTom XL 330 GPS Navigation System – $97.99
Seagate 1.5TB Expansion External Hard Drive – $99.99
Acer Netbook 10.1″ Computer w/Intel 1.6GHz Atom Processor N270 – $199.99

Target:
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare PS3 Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare XBOX 360 Video Game With $10 Gift Card – $59.99
Western Digital Elements 1TB Desktop Hard Drive – $59.98
Western Digital Elements 500GB Portable Hard Drive – $59.98
TomTom XL340S GPS With Case – $97.00
Garmin Nuvi 1350T GPS System – $179.00
Apple 8GB iPod Nano With Free $15 Gift Card – $145.00
Apple 32GB iPod Touch With Free $30 Gift Card – $295.00
Westinghouse 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV – $246
Xbox 360 120GB Elite Game System Bundle With $50 Gift Card – $299.99

Best Buy:
Sandisk 8GB MicroSDHC Memory Card – $19.99
Logitech V450 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse – $24.99
Insignia Blu-ray Disc Player (Model # NS-BRDVD3) – $99.99
Garmin Nuvi 205W GPS Navigation System – $99.99
Western Digital 1.5TB My Book Home Edition External Hard Drive – $119.99
Garmin Nuvi 255WT GPS Navigation System – $129.99
Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 160GB Hard Drive – $179.99
Compaq Netbook w/Intel Atom Processor, 1GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive – $229.99
HP 15.6″ Notebook Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive – $197
Dynext 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV – $299.99
Canon EOS Rebel Tli D-SLR Camera w/18-55mm IS Lens – $699.99

Walmart:
Sandisk Cruzer 4GB USB Flash Drive – $8.00
HP Deskjet F2430 All-In-One Printer – $25.00
Belkin N 150 Router – $29.00
Western Digital My Passport Essential 320GB Hard Drive – $49.00
TomTom GPS system – $59
Magnavox Blu-Ray disc player – $78
Apple 8GB iPod Touch w/$50 iTunes GC – $195.00
eMachines 15.6″ laptop Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive – $198
HP 15.6″ Notebook w/Intel Processor, 3GB Memory, 250GB Hard Drive (Model # G60-519WM) – $298.00
Sony Bravia 32″ KDL32L504 LCD 720P HDTV – $378.00
Sony Bravia 40″ KDL40S504 LCD 1080P HDTV – $598.00
Acer 17.3″ Laptop Windows 7 Premium, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive (Online Only) – $498.00

There are tons of deals for different types of products in different stores. Just do a Google search of “black friday deals” and you’ll get several websites that provide detailed information on different Black Friday Deals for each retailer/store.

Each store has their own rules and regulations especially for doorbusters and also different store hours so make sure you check them out first before you decide to go out and go shopping on Black Friday. One tip I can give you, is to check out the store a day or two before the sale so you know where the items you want are located. Btw, if you do decide to go shopping on Black Friday keep safe and have fun!

Anyone going shopping on Black Friday this year? If so, which store are you going to and what are you planning to buy? If you could go and purchase any of the items listed above, which one would you buy? Do you have any interesting Black Friday shopping experience? Please share your thoughts.

[image source: Gizmodo]

HowTo: Fix Vicrypt Error

Jaypee Habaradas — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:04:27 +0000

Symantec, the largest maker of security software is reporting about a new type of trojan horse named Trojan.Ramvicrype. This trojan uses the RC4 algorithm to encrypt files on infected computers and renders them unusable. The Trojan.Ramvicrype, like most other trojans are usually transmitted from porn and warez sites. A sure sign that your computer is infected by this trojan is the presence of files that have .vicrypt extensions.

Once your computer is infected, Trojan.Ramvicrype will search for files under My Documents, Desktop and Application DataIdentities and renames them with a .vicrypt extension. It also looks for links in the Recent folder and renames all the files in the folders that are pointed to by those links and encrypts each file’s head section. If you try to run any of those files, you’ll get a Vicrypt Error message. A worst case scenario would be a file from the Windows system folder has been recently opened, leading to the Trojan.Ramvicrype encrypting all files in the Windows System folder and critically damaging those files.

Here’s a screenshot of a computer infected by the Trojan.Ramvicrype displaying a “Vicrypt error! Please Restart Windows” message.

Previously, victims of this trojan who were looking for a fix were directed to a site that offered a paid software called AntiVicrypt. Because of this, Symantec and other security companies believe that the Trojan.Ramvicrype is some sort of ransomware and that the company offering AntiVicrypt was also responsible for spreading the trojan. Later, AntiVicrypt was offered as shareware and the trial version was limited to repairing 7 files. As of this time, AntiVicrypt is now offered FREE. I don’t know about you but based on the initial outcome/results, I won’t be trusting this company or any of its products.

To address this issue and help users, Symantec Security Response has developed a free tool to decrypt the encrypted files. The link below not only contains the link to download the free tool but it also includes step-by-step guide on how to use the Trojan.Ramvicrype Removal Tool.

Download Symantec’s Trojan.Ramvicrype Removal Tool.

[image source: Symantec]