Ever wanted to learn computer programming languages, but didn't know
where to start? Well, those days are over. Today learning programming
languages is not really a hard job. If you are a beginner and have
aptitude to learn computer programming then you can accomplish this goal within a few months. Here are the top 6 websites, which are useful for learning programming.
1. W3schools.com
If you are a beginner or intermediate programmer, then w3schools is an
excellent website for learning programming. W3schools offer tutorials
for a variety of web programming and scripting languages such as html,
html5, css, asp, Ajax, JavaScript, php, jQuery etc. So, if you are into web development then w3schools would be a great learning resource.
2. Codeavengers.com:
If you want learn coding for
making games, apps or websites using html/html5, css3, JavaScript
python, but want an entertaining teaching resource. Then
codeavengers.com is ideal choice for you. Codeavengers.com was designed
by keeping difficulty for beginners in mind. It provides a fun and interactive learning environment that is effective for all age groups. Even if you are an intermediate programmer, you might find some great learning stuff there.
3. Codecademy.com
Codeacademy is another great website, for learning languages like
JavaScript, HTML/CSS, PHP, Python, and Ruby. You can even learn how to
use some popular web APIs in your website or app. Codeacademy has a
great modern learning system, which is based on user interaction. It has
full-fledged programming courses for beginners. Again, this website is
great for beginners and intermediate learners. But advanced programmers
can also find some pretty useful stuff there.
4. tutorialspoint.com
Tutorialspoint has tutorials for a lot of web, high level and scripting
languages that are commonly used today. You can find tutorials for any
computer language that you have ever heard of (those that are currently
in used). Apart from that, it also features a variety of tutorials for
other fields such as DIP, OS, SEO, Telecom, DBMS, and frameworks etc.
Some commonly used languages that you can learn there are: Java, C++,
PHP, Python, Ruby, C#, Perl, VB.Net, ios.
5. msdn.microsoft.com
Although, beginner programmers might find MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) a tough learning resource, it is still the best resource
you can get, if you want to master Microsoft oriented languages such as
VB.Net, C# etc. MSDN has great tutorials for beginners, intermediate
and advance programmers.
But as I stated earlier, beginners might not be initially comfortable
with MDSN, as I has really a lot of resources that it would be a hard
time for beginners to find what they are looking for. But if you get
used to MSDN, then it is the ideal learning point for Microsoft oriented
languages. You can get a lot of sample
applications, tutorials and resources that are uploaded by Microsoft
and MSDN community. Since it’s a developer’s network, you can even find
development help from community members.
6. Lynda.com
You might already know about Lynda.com. Lynda offers easy to follow video tutorials. Lynda.com is an old and well established tutoring site, if you are looking for video
tutorials to learn computer languages, then Lynda is your ideal choice.
Apart from programming languages, Lynda also offers tutorials for a
variety of other fields such as 3D modeling, CAD, Photography etc. Lynda.com is an old and well established tutoring site.
So the next time someone asks you about your computer skills, you know
where to turn. I hope you will learn a lot from these websites. All the
best :)
A freelance programmer can enjoy a nice career. Not only that, he or she can avoid working at a large corporation
where they will have to deal with company politics and an eventual
ceiling. Of course, it is not all fun and games as a well-trained and
hardworking programmer
should follow some basic tips if he or she wants to enjoy success in
this arena. With that in mind, here are eight tips for freelance
programmers.
1. Constant communication:
When taking on a project, one should communicate with the business as often as possible. This means, when speaking to the client, one should mention any road blocks or any accomplishments. With an open door policy, the programmer will have an easier time keeping clients happy and informed.
2. Educating:
While most software developers possess a lot of skills and brains, it is wise to attend more computer classes. By continuing the education, a hardworking programmer can learn more
and avoid getting left behind by the competition. In fact, this is
extremely important as this field is ever-evolving and new coding ideas
and techniques come up all the time.
All-too-often, an independent contractor
or business owner will ask for a low wage. When doing this, one will
hurt their long-term chances for success. While it is not wise to ask
for top dollar, it is beneficial to demand a livable wage. Believe it or
not, when dealing with a confident programmer, a company is likely to
give in to the financial demands.
4. Home office:
Whether a person works from home or at the office all the time, they should still have a home office.
With this, a programmer can complete tasks without interruption from
spouses, children or animals. Without a doubt, this is extremely
important as a serious programmer will need to concentrate on the task
at hand.
5. Have website and online presence:
Now, more than ever, a company owner or contractor
should have a website and online presence. With this, a reliable
software developer can reach millions of potential clients. At the same
time, while making a website, one should keep it simple, straightforward
and easy to understand. With this, a programmer can showcase his or her
talent for the world to see.
6. Outsource quality assurance:
It is not easy for a programmer to check out his or her programs and
code. To avoid turning in a bad product, a smart developer should hire a
contractor who can check out the code. By taking a few hours to go over
everything, a quality assurance analyst can find any issues and report
back to the programmer. This is a great idea as one mistake can result
in serious problems in the short and long run.
7. Speak up:
Often, a foolish client will want an unrealistic or impractical
solution. While the customer is always right, it is still beneficial if a
programmer voices his or her concerns. This should not cause a lot of
problems as most business owners will willingly give in as they will,
usually, trust the programmer. Either way, it is wise to remain
assertive when talking about the product.
8. Set schedule:
It is often tempting for a business owner to set a weird schedule or work nights and weekends.
While this is okay at first, a serious programmer who wants to succeed
should opt to work a typical 9-5 schedule. This allows other business
owners to stay in contact and communicate with the programmer. Since
most other entrepreneurs love to work 9 to 5, this is a great way to go
above and beyond and offer solid customer support.
It is not easy to work as an independent software programmer. With that
in mind, with a few basic tips, a developer can take his or her ideas to
the next level. Remember, when focused and ready, a programmer will
please his or her clients and make a nice living in the process.
Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are always in top headlines
worldwide, as they are plaguing websites in banks, and virtually of
almost every organization having a prominent online
presence. The main cause behind the proliferation of DDoS attacks is
that there is a very low-cost that the attacker has to incur to put such
attack in motion. Fortunately, today various prevention methods have
been developed to tackle such attacks. Before delving further into
understanding about the ways to prevent DDoS attack, let’s first
understand what exactly a DDoS attack is!
Understanding DDOS Attack
A DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack is an attempt made by
attackers to make computers’ resources inaccessible to its anticipated
user. In order to carry out a DDOS attack the attackers never uses their
own system; rather they create a network of zombie computers often
called as a “Botnet” – that is a hive of computers, to incapacitate a
website or a web server.
Let’s understand the basic idea! Now, the attacker notifies all the
computers present on the botnet to keep in touch with a particular site
or a web server, time and again. This increases traffic on the network
that causes in slowing down the speed of a site for the intended users.
Unfortunately, at times the traffic can be really high that could even
lead to shutting a site completely.
3 Basic Tips to Prevent a DDoS Attack
There are several ways to prevent the DDOS attack; however, here in this
guest post I’ll be covering three basic tips that will help you to
protect your website from the DDoS attack.
1.Buy More Bandwidth.
One of the easiest methods is to ensure that you have sufficient
bandwidth on your web. You’ll be able to tackle lots of low-scale DDOS
attacks simply by buying more bandwidth so as to service the requests. How does it help? Well, distributed denial of service is a nothing more than a game of capacity. Let’s suppose
you have 10,000 computer systems each distributing 1 Mbps directed
towards your way. This means you’re getting 10 GB of data that is
hitting your web server every second. Now, that’s causes a lot of traffic!
So to avoid such issue, you need to apply the same rule intended for
normal redundancy. According to this technique, if you wish to have more
web servers just multiply around diverse datacenters and next make use
of load balancing. By spreading your traffic to various servers will
help you balance the load and will most likely create large space
adequate to handle the incessant increase in traffic.
However, there’s a problem with this method
that is buying more bandwidth can be a costly affair. And as you’ll
know that the current DDoS attacks are getting large, and can be a lot
bigger exceeding your budget limit.
2.Opt for DDoS Mitigation Services.
A lot of network or Internet-service providers render DDoS mitigation
capabilities. Look for an internet service provider having the largest
DDoS protection and mitigation network, automated tools, and a pool of
talented anti-DDoS technicians with the wherewithal to take action in
real-time as per the varying DDoS attack characteristics. A viable
alternative is to utilize a DDoS prevention appliance, which is
specifically intended to discover and prevent distributed
denial-of-service attacks.
3.Restricted Connectivity.
In case you have computer systems that are connected to the web directly, a better idea is to properly install/configure your routers and firewall so as to limit the connectivity. For an instance, while receiving some data from a client machine you can only allow traffic to pass from the machine only on a few chosen ports (like HTTP, POP, SMTP etc.) via the firewall.
Wrapping Up!
Websites are largely getting attacked by hackers every second.
Denial-of-service attack is insanely getting huge and is creating a lot
of problems for business organizations having strong online vicinity. In
this guest post you’ll not only understand what a DDoS attack actually
means, but will also come to know about a few type of methods to prevent
DDoS attacks. Aforementioned are three tips that I’ll recommend you to
run through to at least understand where to get started towards building
a resilient web network with chances of surviving a DDoS attack.
As you probably know, there is a button on the right-click menu of Google
Chrome and IE 10+ called ''Inspect element''. This the developer tool.
And you can have a lot of fun with it. I'll give you two examples on how to use it in this tutorial.
1. Change the text of a webpage:
You can have fun on webpages just by changing the value of a <span> (a text label). For example, go on the 4shared.com site (a free file sharing site). Then create an account
if you don't have one (or just connect with Google, Facebook or
Twitter). When you are done, upload something that is heavy (more than
100 MB) by dragging and dropping it on the home page of 4shared. Then
you can see an uploading status window on the screen. So right-click on
the percentage and click on ''Inspect element''. Now you can see a
little window that appears on the bottom of the web browser. There are
to ways : either you got the number or you got the % symbol. If you got
the number, try to find the symbol below. Then double-click on it and
type what you want (Eg: '',000,000 dollars in my bank account'')
2. Get a Non-Crypted password in JS/PhP code:
Some sites are not very safe and just verify the password directly in the PhP/JS code. Then, even if it become rare, you can get the password. Just follow these steps :
Find the login form on the website you want to hack
Right-click on it and then click on ''Inspect element''
Search on the window that appeared ''<form'' and then ''action=''
After it, there is a URL, If it ends by ''.js'', just copy it and paste it in the URL bar of your browser
If it ends by ''.php'', type ''view-source:'' before pasting the URL
Then search something like ''password'' in the code.
WARNING: This method works better with JS than with PHP. Sometimes, there is no URL after ''action='' but just a JS function. Then you have to press Ctrl+U to see the source and search for ''password'' in the whole code.
You need a good microphone on your computer in order to make audio recordings, voice chat, or use speech recognition. However, not every computer comes with a built-in mic, and not every built-in mic works great.
You can purchase a cheap computer microphone on Amazon for as low as $4.98,
but why do that when you've got your Android phone or tablet right
beside you? That device is more than adequate to be your computer mic,
and you can connect it via Bluetooth, USB, or Wi-Fi.
Step 1: Install WO Mic
There are many options available in the Google Play Store, but WO Mic from Wireless Orange
provides the easiest setup and connection options. The app works on
both Windows and Mac computers, but Mac OS X users can only utilize the
Wi-Fi connection option.
Because connecting through Bluetooth
and USB are the easier options (just connect or plug in and you're
ready), we'll go through the Wi-Fi setup, since it's applicable to both
Windows and Mac.
If you have a Windows PC, download and install the following two files.
You may need to adjust your Mac's security preferences in order to open the package. Alternatively, you can simply control-click (or right-click) on the file, and select "Open."
Step 3: Connect the Mic
Open WO Mic on your
Android and enter the Settings, select Transport, then select "Wifi"
from the options (unless you're using Bluetooth or USB). Depending on
what you're using the mic for, select the proper Audio source.
Additional settings allow you to change the media and control port, but
you shouldn't need to adjust those.
Go back to the main page of the app and tap Start, then copy the IP address displayed above the microphone icon.
Open
the WO Mic Client on your computer, enter the IP address, and hit
Connect. To test it out, check the "Play in speaker" box and speak into
your Android. And that's all there is to it—you have a fully functional
microphone for your computer without paying an extra dime.
Before
forking over some money for a microphone, definitely try WO Mic. I
found that latency really wasn't an issue, so this is a great way to
narrate videos, record memos, or make calls. Let us know what you think
by dropping a comment below.
The command line isn't just for wise Linux beards.
It's actually an awesome tool with almost limitless functionality.
Here's a primer on how it works, and how you can do almost anything with
it.
Note: This article is meant for people who are either new to
the command line or only have a couple of command-line tricks up their
sleeve. If you're already conversant with most basic commands, you can
send this article to others that still aren't up to your skill level and
spread the good word about how great the command line really is.
What Is the Command Line?
The command-line interface, sometimes referred to as the CLI, is a
tool into which you can type text commands to perform specific tasks—in
contrast to the mouse's pointing and clicking on menus and buttons.
Since you can directly control the computer by typing, many tasks can be
performed more quickly, and some tasks can be automated with special
commands that loop through and perform the same action on many
files—saving you, potentially, loads of time in the process.
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The application or user interface that accepts your typed responses
and displays the data on the screen is called a shell, and there are
many different varieties that you can choose from, but the most common
these days is the Bash shell, which is the default on Linux and Mac
systems in the Terminal application.
By default, Windows systems only include the anemic Command Prompt
application, which has nowhere near the power of Bash, so for the
purposes of this article we're going to suggest you use the open source Cygwin tool as your Windows command line, since it's quite a bit more powerful. You'll also at some point want to read parts one, two, and three of our series on using the Bash shell under Cygwin—the tips apply to Linux and OS X as well.
Basic Command Line Usage
To get started with the command line, you'll need to open up a
terminal window and get ready to start typing commands. Here's a list of
basic commands you can use, organized by the type of activity that you
might want to perform.
When you run your terminal application (Cygwin on Windows, Terminal
on Mac and Linux), your command prompt will start up pointing to a
specific folder on your hard drive. You can navigate between folders,
act on files inside those folders, or perform other actions. List Files
First, let's display a list of files inside the active folder. For this task, you'll need to use the ls
command. You can pass a number of parameters to the command to display
extra details or change the sorting. For instance, if I add -l to the end of my ls command, I'll see a detailed listing; -t will sort the results by file time; -S will sort by file size; and -r
will reverse the sorting. You could use a combination of these
together, like this command, which will show all files sorted by file
size with the largest files at the bottom:
ls -lSr
If you use the –a option, you can see hidden files, and you'll also
notice something else in the listing: there are two entries for "." and
".." at the beginning of the list. These represent the current
folder—the "." folder—and the parent folder—the ".." folder.
Change Directories
You can change between directories using the cd command,
and using what we just learned about the ".." folder, you can use the
following command to switch to the directory directly above the current
one:
cd ..
You can navigate to either full or relative paths. For example, the
command above navigates to a relative path—one above the current folder.
If you're in /path/to/ and you want to navigate to the folder stuff inside that folder, you can simply type:
cd stuff
You can also navigate to absolute paths. Again, if I were in /path/to/ and I want to navigate to /another/path/, I would simply type:
cd /another/path
To swap directories to the previous working directory, the '-'
(hyphen) shortcut is handy to have on hand. For example, if you were in
the /first/folder/path/ directory and then switched over to /etc/
to make a configuration change, you might not want to type in the full
path to switch back. You can quickly switch back to the previous working
directory with this command:
cd -
Creating or Removing Folders
To create a new folder, you can simply use the mkdir <foldername> command. You can then remove any folder with the rmdir <foldername>
command—as long as the folder is empty. If there are files in the
folder, you'll have to delete those files before you can remove the
folder. Creating and Removing Files
You can use the touch <filename> command to create a new, blank file, and then use the rm <filename> command to delete files:
rm filename
You can quickly remove all files in a directory by using the '*'
(asterisk) wildcard—another simple tool that will come in very handy
during your time in the command line. For example, if you're in a folder
and want to delete every file inside that folder, just type:
rm *
If you want to delete a list of files and folders, including all files from subdirectories,
without prompting you for every single entry, you can use the -r option
for recursive, and the -f option for force. This command will wipe out
every instance of a matching filename pattern (note the slightly
different use of the wildcard) from the current directory and below:
rm –rf filename.*
Edit Plain Text Files
The command that you use to edit text files will be different based on
the platform you're using and the application you prefer to use. If
you're using Ubuntu Linux, you can use the nano editor to quickly edit
files, which might be more suitable for beginners.
nano /path/to/file
Otherwise, the vim editor is available on just about any system and can be invoked with the vi <filename> syntax. Displaying Files
You can display the file contents directly on the screen with the cat command, but the results will probably go flying past you on most large files, so it's usually better to use the more or less commands. For instance:
more <filename>
This will display the contents of a file on the screen, and prompt you to scroll through the file a screen at a time. Command Redirection
Each command line application can accept standard input and writes to standard output, and you can use the > or |
operators to redirect output from one command into another, which lets
you chain commands together into much more powerful commands.
For instance, if you want to use ls –l to display a list of files but
it keeps scrolling off the screen, you can pipe the output from the ls
–l command into the input of the more command by using the | character:
ls –l | more
If you wanted to save the output of that list directly into a file instead of displaying on the console, you could use the > operator to redirect the output into a file instead:
ls -l > filename.list
You could then use the cat command to display the contents of that file, pipe that into the grep command (detailed further below), and then redirect that output into a separate file:
cat filename.list | grep keyword > filefound.list
Running a Script in the Current Folder
If you have an application or shell script in the current folder, you
can't simply type the name of the command and expect it to start. You'll
need to add a ./ to the beginning of the command in order to start it.
Why? Because in the Bash shell, the current directory, or "." folder, is
not included in the system path. So to launch scriptname.sh in the
current folder, you'll need to use:
./scriptname.sh
Using History
You can use the history command to show a list of all
the recently used commands, or the up/down arrows to loop through them.
The Ctrl+R shortcut key will start a search mode where you can type the
first few characters of a command to search through your recent history. Looping Over a Set of Files
If you want to loop through a set of filenames and perform an action on each one, you can use the for
command to loop through a set of files. For instance, to loop through
all the .txt files in the current directory and display them on the
console, you could use:
for f in *.txt;do echo $f;done
Find Files
You can use the very powerful find command
to search for files on your system. For instance, if you wanted to find
all files with .txt in the name that were modified in the last 5 days,
you would use this command:
find . –name "*.txt" –mtime 5
Find a Text String in Files
The grep command can be used to quickly find text within
files, even searching through subdirectories. For instance, if you
wanted to search through all files in the current directory and below it
for "text string", you could use this command:
grep –ir "text string" *
Batch Rename Files
You can use the rename command to quickly rename files using a regular
expression pattern. For instance, if you wanted to rename all files
containing foo to contain bar instead, you could use a command like this
one:
Ctrl + U: Clears the line from the cursor point back to the beginning.
Ctrl + A: Moves the cursor to the beginning of the line.
Ctrl + E: Moves the cursor to the end of the line.
Ctrl + R: Allows you to search through the previous commands.
Customizing Your Command Shell
There's no need to do your work in a boring terminal when you can do
all sorts of tricks to customize it, like changing the colors, fonts,
and adding aliases to complicated commands to save yourself time.
You'll want to start off by reading our guide to customizing the command prompt, which will show you how to change the colors and add them to your profile so they show up when you launch a new shell. Using Aliases
Aliases save you loads of time by shortening long, complicated commands
down into really simple ones, or by setting the default parameters to a
command so you don't have to type them every time. For instance, if you
wanted to set up an alias for installing packages on your Ubuntu setup
that's quicker and simpler than sudo apt-get install packagename, you could use something like this:
alias agi='sudo apt-get install'
This alias would make it so you could simply type agi packagename
at the shell to install any package in fewer keystrokes. You can also
use aliases to set the default arguments for a command, so if you always
wanted ls to actually do ls –l, you could use this alias:
alias ls='ls –l'
There are any number of useful aliases that you can use to
personalize your setup, but if you're having trouble coming up with good
ideas, check out the list of the ten most useful aliases.
Control Your System from the Shell
The terminal has a rich set of tools for manipulating processes and checking on system stats. You can use the ps command to see a list of system processes like this:
ps aux
You can then use the kill <pid> command to get rid of any processes that you want to kill. You can also use top to easily kill processes from a more graphical list of running processes by simply using the K key.
The truth is that using the command line is not as exciting or easy
as it seems like in Hollywood movies. However, learning how to use the
command line might prove to be extremely helpful. Power users adore
using the command line, because they can perform complicated tasks by
simply pressing a few keystrokes.
There are a wide variety of shortcuts, but it takes too much time to
present them all here. However, if you want to learn more about using
the command line like a pro, check the following link: Become a Command Line Ninja With These Time Saving Shortcuts
2. Find Additional Uses for Programs you Already Have
Computer nerds will always think out of the box, especially when it
comes to finding new uses for the tools and programs they already use.
Most programs can be used for more purposes, in addition to their
original one. For instance, the file-syncing program, Dropbox, can be
used to monitor your home computer, download torrents or even print
files from afar. You can also use Gmail to find out if someone has
stolen your phone.
3. Understand When Too Much is Too Much
When your computer starts to work a little too slow, you need to find
out the real cause behind this problem. Usually, one app will slow your
system down, so you need to find it and close it as fast as possible.
The following tools should help you find the real cause and terminate it: Rainmeter (for Windows) and MenuMeter (for Mac).
4. Know the OS’s Hidden Features
Every operating system (OS) has its own tricks and features hidden
under the hood. System tweakers such as OnyX for Mac and Ultimate
Windown Tweaker are simply great for finding secret features. If you are
a Windows user, you can learn how to hide secret data inside a file,
cascade specific windows or undo an accidental file move.
As a Mac user, discover how to create search tokens when searching
for specific files, manage the privacy settings of an app or
automatically restart your computer when it freezes.
5. Learn How to Crack Passwords
By learning how to break into a computer you will certainly increase
your self-esteem. Everyone knows how to create secure passwords, but
only a legit computer hacker knows to get the data they want. This is
also a good exercise, because you will learn how to protect from cyber
criminals in the future.
Some of the worlds most famous hackers have been hired for government
operations and international projects to defend against other cyber
attackers. We don’t condone hacking, it does help though to be one step
ahead of a cyber bully heading your way though.
6. Use the Scheduling Tasks
Sometimes it is better to stop performing all that system maintenance
all by yourself. The built in task scheduler allows you to run any task
you need, whether it is defragmentation, picture upload, reminders or
even alarms.
7. Use the Keyboard More
A true computer geek knows all the basic keyboard shortcuts, such as
“ctrl-C or ctrl-V”. Learn the most common shortcuts for Word, Gmail,
Photoshop and other programs you use on a regular basis. After only a
few months, you will be able to blow through text boxes and menus at
unbelievable speeds with precision.
8. Discover New Operating Systems
If you really want to impress your friends, you should try to learn more about Windows, Mac and Linux.
Each OS has its own pros and cons that can be noticed with ease, so
learning more about each system should not be such a daunting task. The
cool thing is that there is a lot of software out there nowadays where
it allows you to install another operating system on your computer so
you can switch between each Operating System when you please.
9. Protect Your Data
Hide your precious info into a text file and hide it in a secret location on your computer.
Don’t forget to “Empty” your Recycle Bin or Trash on your computer
once you have sent unwanted files or data there, that way it makes sure
that nothing can be retrieved by any surprise guests you may have access
your computer.
10. Tweak Your Hardware
With a bit of professional tweaking, you can now push your computer
past its original limits. Installing Mac on non-Macs and over clocking
your processors are not so hard to accomplish.
There are instructions out there to find out the details of your
computers hardware, google search how to find your computer models
information, note down the RAM and go down the road to your local
computer hard ware store and buy bigger RAM sticks eg… 8GB, 16GB, 32GB
etc… (Just make sure that each stick is the same make and model if you
can for the best performance.
Jump on YouTube and learn how to Install RAM in your particular type
of computer, this will increase your computers memory allowing your
computer to run more efficiently.
Even though Microsoft may have ruffled some feathers with its latest
redesign of the Windows 10 start menu, luckily the engineers behind it
were smart enough to make it highly malleable and customizable at the
same time, just in case users wanted to add some flair of their own.
There
are millions of free and open source projects available, many of them
better than any commercially available product. Below is a short listing
of what we think is the best out there, broken down into ten
categories.
Antivirus and malware protection
Most PC users realize that they need protection
on their computer or may have an installed antivirus program from their
computer manufacturer. What most don't realize is that there are free
programs that are just as good and in some cases better than the
commercial products. Below are our recommendations.
There are dozens of free and commercially
available backup programs for computers. Unfortunately, many of those
backups are stored locally, meaning if your house were to catch fire,
get robbed, or if you lost your backup discs all your data would be
lost. This is why when dealing with important data we suggest users use
online backup services.
Although Microsoft Internet Explorer comes
pre-installed on Windows computers. There are several excellent free
alternatives that everyone should try. These free alternatives can often
be faster, have more options, and in many cases be more secure than
Internet Explorer.
When downloading files on the Internet you'll
eventually encounter a .zip, .rar, or other compressed file. Dealing
with these files can be easy with our below free file compression
utility.
Creating an audio or data CD/DVD, ripping the
data from an audio CD, or creating a CD from a .ISO file can also be
done freely using our below free recommendation.
E-mail is yet another service that can be done
freely. Most users today use online e-mail solutions like the one listed
below. However, for those still using an e-mail client such as
Microsoft Outlook we strongly suggest one or both of the below
suggestions.
Users who maintain their own web page or need to
upload or download files to or from a server have to use an FTP utility
or an SSH client. There are many commercial programs capable of doing
this but our below free recommendations beats them all.
Image editor, paint program, and picture organizer
There are many great free solutions for editing,
creating, and organizing your images on your computer. Many of the
programs capable of doing these tasks can be several hundred dollars,
but all of the below programs are completely free.
There are dozens of different multimedia programs
with different capabilities and limitations. Below are our top free
multimedia programs for watching video files and recording audio.
An Office suite such as Microsoft Office is often
one of the most expensive programs that a user can install on their
computer. Why install these expensive programs when there are free
solutions that are just as good.
YouTube does not allow you to automatically repeat your
favorite YouTube video, but there are plenty of third-party services
that allows you to repeat any video. Follow the steps below to repeat
any of your favorite YouTube videos.
Browse to your favorite video and edit the URL in the address bar. Below is an example of the video
URL we are editing, this URL could be changed to your favorite video or music video.
1.Erase everything in front of youtube, so in our example we are erasing "www."
2.After youtube type repeat to make the above example URL the URL shown below and then press enter.
youtuberepeat.com/watch/?v=dD40VXFkusw
3. After pressing
enter, you are forwarded to the link below, which will repeat your video
until you close the page. This page also has a repeat counter to let
you know how many times the video has been repeated.
Use the below Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts to make the most of your Windows 7 experience.
Windows key and the arrow keys
Pressing the Windows key and Left or Right arrow keys
will dock the window your viewing to the left or right-hand side of the
screen. Pressing the Windows key and the Up arrow will maximize a
window and pressing the Windows key and the Down arrow will resize and
then minimize the window.
Use Shift: To stretch a window
vertically, press the Windows key + Shift + the Up arrow. If you have
multiple monitors use the Windows key + Shift + the Left or Right arrow
keys to move the window to another monitor.
Windows key and plus and minus keys
If you ever need to zoom in or out of what is being displayed on your screen press the Windows key and the + (plus) or - (minus) keys. Pressing the plus zooms in and once zoomed in the minus will zoom out.
Clear all background programs
If you are not viewing a window in full screen and
have other windows open in the background clear all background open
windows by pressing the Windows key + the Home key.
Full listing of computer shortcuts
Use the Windows 7 search
Find and run anything in Windows by using the Windows 7 search box. Click the Start orb
or press then Windows key and type the name of the program you want to
run or file you want to edit. Windows 7 does a good job at finding an
exact match and press enter to execute that program or open that file.
If more than one match is found, use the up and down arrow keys to
select the file you want to open and then press Enter.
Running as administrator:
Some programs may require administrator mode to function properly. If
you'd like, you can run any program as administrator from the search
box. To do this, type the name of the program you want to run into the
search box, but do not press enter. Instead, press Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
This shortcut runs the program as administrator. If you want to click and run a program as administrator hold down the Ctrl+Shift and then click the icon.
Take full advantage of the Taskbar
Pin programs to the Taskbar
All programs can be pinned to the Taskbar and allow easy access to your favorite programs without having to use the Start Menu. To Pin a program to the Taskbar right-click on the program or shortcut to the program and in the menu choose the Pin to Taskbar option. Alternatively you can also drag the icon to the Taskbar.
If you want to remove a pinned program, right-click on the Taskbar icon and click Unpin this program from the Taskbar. Alternatively you can also drag the icon off of the task bar and then click Unpin this program from the Taskbar.
Move the icons and pinned programs
Any pinned or opened program on the Taskbar can be
moved and arranged. Left-click on any icon on the Taskbar and drag it
to the location you want it to remain.
Windows key and a number
Pressing the Windows key and a number on the top
row of your keyboard open the window corresponding to the open program
on your Taskbar. For example, in the picture below of the Windows 7
Taskbar, Firefox i the first icon, Control panel is the second icon, and
Adobe Photoshop is the third icon. If the Windows key + 3 was pressed,
Adobe Photoshop would become the active window. To make it even easier
arrange your icons (as mentioned above) from left to right by most
frequently opened.
Pin your favorite folder
If you frequently access the same folder (e.g. your favorites, my documents, Dropbox, etc.) pin the folder to the Windows Explorer
icon on the Taskbar. To do this drag your favorite folder to the
Taskbar until you see Pin to Windows Explorer. Once pinned, right-click
the Explorer icon to access that folder under the Pinned section.
Open a second instance
If you want to open a second instance or window of a program that is already open, press and hold the Shift key and then click the program icon on the Taskbar.
Get to the Desktop
Click the Desktop button on the far right edge of the Taskbar to get to the Desktop.
Customize the Notification area
Windows Vista and Windows 7 allow the Windows Notification area
(aka Systray) to be modified. By default, many of the icons shown in
the past are now hidden and give Windows a much cleaner look. Customize
this area to make icons show or not show by clicking on the up arrow
next to the icons and selecting Customize, as shown in the picture. Once in Customize you can choose what programs show, don't show, or only show notifications.
Improve the quality of your text
Use the Windows ClearType
Text Tuner to improve the overall quality of all text you read on your
screen. To start the ClearType Text Tuner click the Start Orb and type cttune.exe and press Enter.
Enable and disable Windows 7 features
Turn on and off Windows features by clicking Start, typing features and press enter. In the Programs and Features window on the left-hand column click Turn Windows features on or off and in the Windows Features box check or uncheck the features you want enabled or disabled.
Use the Reliability and Performance Monitor
View the reliability history of your computer by using the Reliability Monitor. Click the Start orb and type reliability
and press enter for View Reliability History. In the Reliability
Monitor, you'll be able to view the overall reliability of your computer
and be able to identify any past problems your computer has had.
If you want to view the performance of your computer in real time use the Performance Monitor.
Click the Start orb and type performance and press enter for the
Performance Monitor. In the Performance Monitor, you can view your
computers performance in real time or view a log of your systems
performance.
Re-enable underlined keyboard shortcuts
By
default, Windows 7 has the underlines for keyboard shortcuts like those
shown in the picture. To re-enable these underlines in all Windows
programs follow the steps below.
Open the Control Panel
In the Control Panel click Ease of Access
In Ease of Access click Change how your keyboard works
Finally, check the Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys and then click Ok.
Rename multiple files at once
To change the name of multiple files at once highlight all the files you want to rename in Windows Explorer and press the F2 key.
Type in the new name you want to use for all files and press enter.
Once done all files will be renamed to the name entered followed by a
unique number.
Install Windows Essentials
Install missing Windows software by installing the
free Windows Essentials software package. Windows Essentials includes:
Windows Live Family Safety, Windows Live Mail, SkyDrive for Windows,
Windows Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Live Writer, and
other programs.
Using keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase your
productivity, reduce repetitive strain, and help keep you focused. For
example, to copy text, you can highlight text and press the Ctrl + C
shortcut. The shortcut is faster than moving your hands from the
keyboard, highlighting with the mouse, choosing copy from the file menu,
and then returning to the keyboard.
Below are the top 10 keyboard shortcuts we recommend everyone memorize and use.
Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert and Ctrl + X
Both Ctrl + C and Ctrl + Insert will copy the highlighted text or selected item. If you want to cut instead of copy press Ctrl + X.
Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert
Both the Ctrl + V and Shift + Insert will paste the text or object that's in the clipboard.
Use the above text input fields to highlight the
"Cut or copy this text" text and press either Ctrl + C to copy or Ctrl +
X to Cut the text. Once Cut Move to the next field and press Ctrl + V
or Shift + Insert to paste the text.
Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y
Pressing Ctrl + Z will Undo
any change. For example, if you cut text, pressing this will undo it.
These shortcuts can also be pressed multiple times to undo or redo
multiple changes. Pressing Ctrl + Y would redo the undo.
Use the above text input field to highlight some
or all of the text and then press Ctrl + X to cut the text. Once the
text has disappeared press the Ctrl + Z to undo the cut.
Tip: If you did the
first example as well (cut and paste text) if you continue to press Ctrl
+ Z it is also going to undo that change.
Ctrl + F
Pressing Ctrl + F opens the Find in any program. Ctrl + F includes your Internet browser
to find text on the current page. Press Ctrl + F now to open the Find
in your browser and search for "shortcut" to find each time shortcut is
mentioned on this page.
Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab
Pressing Alt + Tab switches between open
programs moving forward. For example, if you have your browser window
open and other programs running in the background press and hold Alt and
then press tab to cycle through each open program.
Tip: Press Ctrl + Tab to switch between tabs in a program. For example, if you have multiple tabs open in your browser now press Ctrl + Tab to switch between open tabs.
Tip: Adding the Shift key
to Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab moves backward. For example, if you are
pressing Alt + Tab and pass the program you want to use, press Alt + Shift + Tab to move back to that program.
Tip: Windows Vista and 7 users can also press the Windows Key + Tab to switch through open programs in a full screenshot of the window.
Ctrl + Back space and Ctrl + Left or Right arrow
Pressing Ctrl + Backspace will delete a full word at a time instead of a single character.
Holding down the Ctrl key while pressing the left or right arrow
will move the cursor one word at a time instead of one character at a
time. If you want to highlight one word at a time, hold down Ctrl + Shift and then press the left or right arrow key to move one word at a time in that direction while highlighting each word.
Ctrl + S
While working on a document or other file in almost every program, pressing Ctrl + S
saves that file. Use this shortcut key frequently if you're working on
anything important in case an error happens, you lose power, or other
problem that causes you to lose any work since the last save.
Ctrl + Home or Ctrl + End
Ctrl + Home will move the cursor to the beginning of the document, and Ctrl + End will move the cursor to the end of a document. These shortcuts work with most documents, as well as web pages.
Ctrl + P
Open a print preview of the current page or document being viewed. For example, press Ctrl + P now to view a print preview of this page.
Page Up, Space bar, and Page Down
Pressing either the page up or page down key will move that page one page at a time in that direction. When browsing the Internet, pressing the space bar also moves the page down one page at a time.
Tip: If you are using the space bar to go down one page at a time, press the Shift key and space bar to go up one page at a time.
As you probably know, there is a 
There
are millions of free and open source projects available, many of them
better than any commercially available product. Below is a short listing
of what we think is the best out there, broken down into ten
categories.
Customize the Notification area
By
default, Windows 7 has the underlines for keyboard shortcuts like those
shown in the picture. To re-enable these underlines in all Windows
programs follow the steps below.