Screenshots Archive is an innovative service website maintained by Jan Polzer. Essentially, it is a repository of screenshots of various softwares running on various operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Haiku and other OSes.

At the time of writing there are over 1500 screenshots of various screens in an entire range of applications, from utilities to productivity applications to blogging software. A distinguishing factor is the strict quality standards set on the website to maintain the quality of the screenshots offered. Anyone can upload screenshots of a particular software, as long as they are saved in the lossless PNG format, which is quickly becoming the standard for the web and print.

To assist users in locating a particular screenshot of an application, the images are presented in easy to navigate categories based on the operating systems on which the applications run. Once you click on any of these categories, you are presented with a list of application categories for which screenshots are available. Next to each category is a number representing the total number of screenshots in that category, along with the last update date.

Users are free to use any of these screenshots in their websites and applications, which makes Screenshots Archive a great resource for webmasters and application developers alike. Another interesting use of these screenshots is that they can serve the purpose of a quick evaluation as to the functionality and overall look and feel of an application before the user downloads or buys it. This in itself is a good reason to bookmark and return to this site often.

There is also an interesting category called Fun which lists various funny and amusing application screenshots. For example, there is one screenshot which shows an error message informing the user of a successful removal of an application. There is also a random image feature which is excellent for discovering long-forgotten applications.

So the next time you need application screenshots for your website application or video tutorial, just head over to Screenshots Archive.

Do you come across websites and forums which require you to register before you can view the content on them? Certain forums require you to register and login before you can view posts.

In their registration form, they usually require you to key in your email address to which a verification email is sent before you can login. This is a surefire method to increase the amount of junk email you receive in your inbox everyday. One solution is to use a throwaway email address (such as mailinator.com), but if you are in a hurry and need to access the site quickly (or to quickly download something) but do not have the time nor patience to register, all you have to do is visit www.bugmenot.com.

BugMeNot is essentially a database of pre-registered username and passwords for many websites on the Internet. Since it is driven by the users themselves, there is a very high chance that the login you require is already available on the website. Better still, there is a voting system which automatically promotes logins which work so that you spend less time trying out logins which have either expired or have been banned. Naturally, if a login works (or does not work) for you, its best to go back to BugMeNot and vote for that particular login. After all, the content on this website is by the users for the users.

BugMeNot has also released a throw-away email service which allows you to quickly check any email address @bugmenot.com. This is very similar to mailinator.com and other throw-away email addresses work, and makes it easy to obtain all of these features from one site.

So the next time you are faced with a registration page which is holding you back from the content you need to access, head over to www.bugmenot.com for the solution.

A friend and his wife came over last weekend seeking for advice on a new Flat Screen TV for their new home. There are many technical variables which need to be considered before deciding upon a flat screen tv, but perhaps the most hyped feature is screen resolution. This is commonly marketed as HD-Ready or Full-HD 1080p.

If you were to go to any electronics store in Kuala Lumpur, you would notice that most sales personnel would try to sell you the latest Full-HD screens, whether or not you really need it. The reason? Higher commissions. Full HD screens have driven the prices of lower resolution screens down, which is an excellent thing. Unfortunately, if you are not fully aware of the technical details, you may get influenced by the sales pitch and end up with something that does not mactch your needs.

When deciding on which resolution to go for, the first thing you will need to know is the type of content you are going to watch on it. Chances are, like most people with basic entertainment requirements, you will be primarily watching Astro and an occasional DVD movie. This is considered medium to low resolution content with a typical resolution of about 500 horizontal lines. If you were to watch this on a high-resolution flat-screen TV, the content is going to pixelate. What this means is that the picture is going to look very blocky (like the image of the eye below). This is similar to what would happen if you took a photo with your digital camera at a low-resolution (such as 2 megapixel) and printed it at a large size.

If on the other hand, you are an avid gamer, and have an Microsoft Xbox 360, or a Sony PlayStation 3, you should get a Full HD screen to enjoy the breathtaking detail which videogames today have to offer. Another thing which would justify a Full-HD screen is if you are going to watch high definition video, which comes in either Blue Ray or HD-DVD formats. A Sony PlayStation 3 also doubles up a Blue-Ray player, so you can watch high definition movies.

Personally, if all you are going to watch is Astro and DVD videos, I would recommend that you try and source an older Flat Screen TV with a low resolution of about 1024×768 pixels. You may be able to get this set at a bargain and it will produce a smoother image compared to the newer Flat Screen TVs if you are watching Astro and DVDs.

So the next time you are at the electronics store, with breath-taking images being displayed on the Flat Screen TVs, ask the sales assistant to show you what the screen looks like with Astro or a normal DVD. Do not be surprised to see a pixelated image. But hey, its better to see it at the shop than once you take it back home with you.

Many people use domain name forwarding or masking in order to present a professional image to their readers while being able to host their websites on shared or low-cost hosting. For example, if someone has a free website at www.geocities.com/samplewebsite, they may want to allow users to access it using a personalized domain name such as www.theirwebsite.com.

One option is to purchase a web hosting account from a hosting provider and associate that hosted account with the domain name of their choice. While this is a good option, it may not be the most cost-effective method, since some people may have many domain names, and would instead like to share one web hosting account across all those domains.

The solution to this is domain-name forwarding, which is essentially a simple frame page which hosts the original site within it. This service is usually provided free of charge by most domain name registrars with the purchase of a domain name. The end-user can then key in the more meaningful domain name, while the original domain name is loaded in the background.

However, if you were to host a site based on Wordpress / Joomla or a similar CMS based on the PHP/MySQL platform, you may encounter that you are unable to use the user login (and admin login) feature if you were to access your site from the forwarded domain name, but works fine if you were to login using the original domain name.

The reason for this is that Internet Explorer uses the address bar in the browser to set the cookie (and not the URL of the originating content), therefore causing the inability to login. I first faced this issue when I developed a site using Mambo a long time ago, and found a solution which worked. Since then, I have successfully implemented this in my other sites using Wordpress and Joomla.

If you are facing this same problem, I would like to share the solution with you, and this is what needs to be done. Open up wp-login.php (it should be in your Wordpress root folder), and just below line 9 (in Wordpress 2.x) – the line that says header(bla bla), put this line: header( “P3P: CP=CAO DSP COR CURa ADMa DEVa OUR IND PHY ONL UNI COM NAV INT DEM PRE”);

What this does is that it adds a P3P Compact Privacy Policy to your site. Just by doing this, you should be up and running already, and nothing else needs to be done. However, if you need to know more about P3P or what this is doing in detail, let me refer you to the Mambo support page where I discovered this solution : http://forum.mamboserver.com/showthread.php?t=13076

All the best and do let me know if you need help with this workaround.

In today’s post I would like to share my experience with the Linksys WRT54GX ver2 router. Granted it is based on 802.11G MIMO technology which has been superceded by Draft N technology, it does have some excellent points which make it a strong contender and the subject of this post.

I have experimented with a few Draft-N wireless routers from Level One and Belkin and have discovered they stop short of delivering the promised range on the box especially in multi-storey houses and buildings.

The Linksys WRT54GX on the other hand is able to broadcast a strong signal through several concrete walls despite being placed in less-than-perfect locations, such as below staircases and nooks and corners.

This router has given me excellent service all these years, with hardly any need for power-cycling or resetting, while being paired with a simple TMNet Billion modem. So recently when this router began giving me some trouble I immediately took a trip to Low Yat to purchase a new unit of this exact model, given its reliability in the past. My trip turned out to be a disappointment when I found out this model had been discontinued and replaced with N routers. Given my not-so-fantastic experience with Level One and Belkin N routers, I decided to give the Linksys N routers a skip and went home and decided to perform a thorough examination of the router to determine what was wrong.

Upon further checking, I discovered the router was working well when I connected to it through a wired connection, but the wireless portion was not working altogether. In fact, it was worse, the status screen on the web interface indicated there was no wireless module installed at all. The wireless light on the router failed to come on as well. I decided to upgrade the firmware to version 2.00.20 and it was still the same. Every setting seemed correct and I was beginning to wonder if the wireless module had malfunctioned.

That’s when I performed a search on Google for “WRT54GX wireless MAC missing”. It is amazing what the correct keywords can do for a query. It can really mean a world of difference between getting the results you need and sifting through pages after pages of irrelevant results.

Anyway, the search results lead me to this page on the Linksys forums which was a post by hameluck from the United States with the exact same problem I was facing!

The best part was that he had discovered a solution to the problem, and the reason why the wireless module was not working was that the wireless daughter card in the modem had become loose from its connector. Without wasting anytime, I unscrewed the device and sure enough I saw that the wireless card had become loose from its connector. I pushed it back in, powered the router back on and voila! the wireless module was functional again.

As mentioned above, the router is placed below a staircase and despite all the concrete, it is still able to send a strong signal across an entire double storey house, right up to the very corners of the house. Despite all the marketing hype, I have yet to see an 802.11n router perform as well as this router can.

Most offices today are WiFi enabled, given the ubiquity of broadband Internet and mobile computing. However, these WiFi networks are intended for internal use, since they typically would provide access to company network resources such as printers, servers, shared folders and the like.

So, when a visitor or a client drops by the office and would like to hook up to the WiFi to check his/her email, a potential security risk is created. The risk is not only limited to malicious users with the intention to abuse network resources, it could also cause viruses to creep into the company’s network over the wireless connection.

Now consider a scenario of someone who would like to share their broadband connection at home with the people living around the block, much like a neighborhood hotspot. Despite the noble intention, a huge security risk is created if they were to allow anyone to access their network.

So the question now becomes how to go about sharing a single broadband connection wirelessly, while maintaining the security and integrity of the network? When I came across this need some time ago, I searched high and low on the Internet without much help.  After a bit of experimenting, I discovered the perfect solution to this problem, and is known as Double NAT.

The first thing that has to happen is that you will need two WiFi routers. The reason for this is that you want to ensure your internal network is secure and accessible only to people whom you specifically allow. The other WiFi router will serve as your Public Hotspot. You can even choose to leave this unencrypted if you want to allow anyone at all to use your wireless connection.

Next, you would set up each WiFi router with different SSIDs, so that they serve as distinct wireless networks. It is highly recommended to encrypt your primary (or internal WiFi) connection with WPA, you may even choose to hide the SSID if its purely for internal use and you do not intend to make your internal WiFi discoverable.

Also ensure that the two routers are on different channels so that their signals do not interfere with each other (especially if they are going to be placed within each other’s wireless range). Next, set the LAN IP addresses of both these routers to different subnets. For example, if your primary WiFi router’s IP address is in the range of 192.168.0.xxx, you could set up your secondary WiFi router in the range or 192.168.1.xxx. Finally, ensure that the DHCP server function on both routers is enabled.

Usually, in a typical PPPoE setup, the WiFi router is connected to the ADSL modem on the “WAN” or “Internet” port. The WiFi router is then configured to ‘dial’ the PPPoE connection using a username or password. In this scenario, we are going to extend this network setup by linking the “WAN” port of the second WiFi router to a vacant “LAN” port on the primary WiFi router.

The Internet connection of the second WiFi router should be configured not as PPPoE, but with DHCP, usually with a setting called “Obtain an IP address automatically from my ISP”, or “Dynamic IP address”. Using the IP address ranges in the example above, with this setup, the primary WiFi router will assign an IP address in the range of 192.168.0.xxx to the WAN port of the secondary router, while the secondary router will further assign IP address in the range of 192.168.1.xxx to its clients.

Therefore, you have effectively separated the two wireless networks on different subnets using different encryption keys, while sharing the same broadband connection.

While some people feel that this approach (known as Double NAT) is not good, I personally have set this up in two different locations with perfect results. The wireless clients on the secondary WiFi are able to run all Internet-enabled applications such as Skype, MSN Messenger and the like in addition to surfing the web and accessing emails without any problems or extra configuration.

Recently, TM Net has implemented a series of measures to mitigate the amount of spam on its networks, specifically its ADSL service, Streamyx. One of these measures is stricter filtering, and in some cases blocking of port 25 for all Streamyx accounts with dynamic IP addresses.

What this means is that if you have subscribed to a Personal Streamyx account, or a Business Broadband (SOHO Package), you may experience problems with sending out emails with the default settings of port 25, especially if you are sending out emails using your own domain name. If your customers frequently complain of not receiving your emails, this could be a tell tale sign. Users who are using their Streamyx email accounts may not be affected (example@streamyx.com) by this, since it involves emails on hosted domains (eg info@hosteddomain.com).

Personally, I experienced problems with sending out emails from my locally hosted and foreign hosted domains on port 25 and that is when I discovered this countermeasure by TM Net. In my case, my host Webserver has provided an alternative port, 587 for SMTP and this works much more reliably compared to port 25 (since TM Net is performing heavy filtering on this port). Therefore, it is advisable to contact your web host to find out if they have any alternative ports you can use for SMTP, especially if you experience slowness in sending emails.

If your web host does not have an alternative port, you can try TM Net’s suggested solution, which is to use smtp-proxy.tm.net.my as the SMTP server in place of your hosted domain name (eg mail.hosteddomain.com). For more information on how to set this up for your email clients, refer to this website : http://webmail.tm.net.my/info/proxy.html

If you have a fresh installation of Windows XP, you will realize that it won’t play DVD videos, or a host of other audio/video formats on the Internet, including MPEG4 videos encoded with codecs such as DivX, Xvid, H.264 and the like. Even if you do not need to be able to watch these newer MPEG4 video formats, you will at some time need to be able to at least watch a DVD Video.

However, if you were to pop in a DVD into your computer expecting Windows Media Player to play it, you will be in for a surprise, as it will not play your DVD Video if you have not installed a DVD decoder software. This is most likely to happen if you installed the DVD drive into your computer yourself, or if you have newly formatted your computer (since any DVD decoding software which may have originally come with your computer would have been erased).

If you were to perform a search on Google to solve this issue, you may come across several different websites which will point you in different directions for a solution. Most of them lead to commercial software which then allow your computer to play the DVD content. One example is this excerpt from a blog post entitled DVD Playback in Windows XP, hosted on Microsoft’s servers:

If you are unable to find an installed DVD decoder, you can purchase one from the same vendors from which PC manufacturers license theirs. Ravisent, InterVideo, and CyberLink all have DVD Decoder Packs available for purchase and download over the Internet. Windows Media Technologies also lists third-party software vendors who have DVD Decoder Packs available. The cost from each vendor runs about $14.95, unless you want to pay a little more and get a combo-pack which also includes MP3 encoding. I tried products from the three vendors mentioned above, and they all worked great. Their decoder packs installed quickly and easily, and as soon as installation was complete, Windows Media Player immediately started to play the movie after I inserted a DVD.

While some of the software mentioned above are good, the good news is that there is no real need to fork out your hard earned money just to be able to playback your multimedia content. Windows Media Player is an excellent video player and you do not really need to pay for another video player on your computer. All you really need is a proper set of codecs which will help Windows Media Player (or any other video player on your computer for that mattter) understand the format in which your multimedia content was created in.

Personally, I would recommend the XP Codec Pack, or the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack depending on your needs. Essentially, both of these are a set of codecs which have been carefully put together to enable the playback of most audio/video formats. If alll you want to watch is DVD Video or AVIs encoded with DivX or Xvid, then XP Codec Pack would suffice. If you want to be sure of being able to watch practically any audio/video content available today, regardless of what codec it was encoded with, you will want to go for the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack.

Both of these codec packs also include Windows Player Classic, which allows you to access the various functions included with the codecs, allowing finer control over how the audio and video content is decoded, thereby tremendously improving your viewing experience. So if you find that you are unable to play a certain format of video or audio on your computer, be it DVD content, or a movie you downloaded from the Internet, be sure to install one of the codec packs mentioned above, and you should be well on your way to enjoying your multimedia content.

Worth1000.com is undoubtedly one of the best image editing contest websites on the Internet today. It attracts a large pool of extremely talented image editing professionals, a majority of whom use Adobe Photoshop to create their masterpieces. This is the reason why such contests are often known as Photoshop contests.

At any given time, there are several contests running in parallel, and anyone with the right skill and passion is able to participate and showcase their talents. The contests themsevles are based on very creative themes which makes it interesting for both contestants and viewers, besides making the entries easier to judge since they are evaluated on common criteria, as illustrated in the Photoshopped image of the Petronas Twin Towers on the left.

To maintain the quality of the website, entries of substandard quality are removed by the moderators, as are clichéd entries containing over-used content.

Registered users of Worth1000.com can vote for entries on a scale of 1-10. To prevent abuse and to reward members who take time to vote fairly, a weighted average system called Karma is used. According to the Karma voting system, the more frequently and fairly a member rates entries in contests, the more their vote counts. For example, if a member has a Karma score of 100, and rates an image 8, it is counted as if 100 members rated the image an 8/10. A new user starts with a Karma score of 1, and can go all the way up to a score of 175. Jurors have a Karma score of 500, which is how they can have a significant impact on the outcome of each contest.

To be fair to beginners, certain contests are run separately for Beginners and Advanced members. This helps level the playing field as well as encourage new talent on the website itself. Some of the popular contests are also run several times, especially if they attract very creative and well-received entries. For example the UFO Sightings contest was run for the 10th time on the 21st of January 2008.

Some of the more seasoned pros on Worth1000.com often engage in Head to Head contests which involve a closed group of members ranging from 2 to 8 participating in a particular contest. The stakes of winning a Head to Head contest can range from public acknowledgement in the Worth1000.com forums, or changing the signature of the loser to something embarassing for a specified period of time.

To witness the very best in image editing skills and ability, head over to www.worth1000.com.

Someone requested me to recommend a laptop for casual computing (surfing, word processing, etc), and I immediately fired up the browser and navigated to Dell, my favorite laptop manufacturer. When I checked out the laptop deals on offer in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration, I was amazed!

One offer I found irresistable was the Dell Vostro 1400 Notebook, configured with the following specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5270 (1.4GHz, 2MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB)
• Windows XP Home Edition
• 14.1″ Widescreen WXGA Display (1280×800)
• 2GB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
• 80GB SATA HDD
• 8X DVD+/-RW Combo Drive (Dual Layer)
• Intel Graphics Accelerator X3100
• Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
• 1 Year NBD Warranty
• 6-cell 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery
• Dell Lightweight Nylon Case
• Microsoft Works 8.5

Belive it or not, a brand new Dell Vostro 1400 with the above specifications can be yours for only RM 2317.00. As with any Dell system, you are free to tweak the specifications to your preference and the new price will be calculated automatically on-the-fly. But hurry! This unbelievable offer is only available until 01/02/2008.

To check out this and other Dell laptop offers, visit : http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/notebooks_better?c=my&cs=mybsd1&l=en&s=bsd&~ck=ticker&~lt=popup