Thought for the Day: Even so Some days it may seem that your actions are not very effective. Even so, the best thing you can do is to keep doing all you can. There will be times when you give all you have, and end up with nothing to show for it. Keep giving though, for the rewards are surely there, even if they are too profound for you to see just yet. The disappointments may sometimes be so painful that you feel like giving up. Remember though, it is your caring that makes the disappointment possible, and that very same caring will pull you up and push you forward. Though you may be reluctant to admit it, you can make any situation into a valuable, successful experience. The circumstances of this moment may not feel particularly desirable. Even so, there is a beautiful treasure that's yours to give, and yours to live in this very place, on this very day. Thanks & Regards, Siva..

 

Freewares / Free Softwares 25 Nov 2010

Partition Assistant

Partition Assistant Home Edition, a partition manager software, with a wizard, can help you, step by step, to expand the size of your selected partition. It lets you manage partition, redistribute disk space easily. Its features include: Extend NTFS system partition without restarting computer; Resize and Move partition to optimize disk space management; Extend Partition Merge two or more partitions into a larger one; Split one partition into two or more; Create, Delete and Format partition; Convert file system from FAT to NTFS; Wipe permanently sensitive data to anti-recovery; Wipe hard drive, Wipe Partition; Re-partition by drag & drop mouse on a disk panel; Supports resizing NTFS and FAT32 file system.

The 2.69 MB Free Partition Manager, Partition Assistant 2.6 Home Edition, v2.6 (18 Nov 2010), for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 (Only 32 bit), a convenient and magical utility, can be downloaded at http://www.extend-partition.com/download/PAssist_Home.exe

Minus

Minus , launched very recently, appears be the easiest Photo-Sharing service offered on the web. Minus helps to create and share galleries online - "Drag your pictures pictures (docs, music, videos and other files are on the anvil) onto our homepage, and we'll do the rest" say the developers of Minus. All images are hosted indefinitely unless deleted by the uploader or if it goes against the terms of service. Registration is free but not essential. However, creating an account and signing in can help you to track your galleries from anywhere on the go. The maximum file size is currently 7 MB per image, and there can be a maximum of 50 photos per gallery only, and the file formats supported include JPEG, GIF, PNG, APNG, and BMP. Two unique URLs are provided, one for viewing, the other for editing, renaming existing pics, uploading new images, etc.

You can check out Minus at www.min.us

ERUNTgui

ERUNT Gui can help backup and restore the Windows registry. It is actually a front-end for the well-known registry backup and restoration app 'ERUNT' - takes out the command line out of registry backups and replaces it with an easy to use interface, just a simple button. Backing up your registry is needed safeguard against unforeseen events that could mess it up. ERUNTgui makes registry backup (and restoration) a one-click affair. It can also be used to setup automatic registry backups on each Windows restart, and also set the number of days going back that you would like to preserve backups for. Included in this package is a program for optimizing the registry as well.

The 1.82 MB ERUNTgui for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista/7 can be downloaded at http://www.webng.com/krtech/programs/ERUNTgui.zip

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Could you suggest where I can download a guide to understand the
web/Internet terminology?

To help the understand the technical terms and functions of the browsers and Web, Google has just released a guide, a well illustrated and interactive e-book, which can be browsed at http://www.20thingsilearned.com

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A QUOTE TO MULL ABOUT

Action expresses priorities.

- Mahatma Gandhi

 

Thought for the Day: Laugh at every excuse The easiest thing in the world is to come up with an excuse for not taking action. No matter what the situation, there's always an excuse that sounds perfectly reasonable and that can provide you with permission to do nothing. Connect with a dream that is bigger than any excuse could possibly be. Grab hold of a dream that's so compelling it makes you laugh at every possible excuse. If your goal is to do what you don't really want to do anyway, even the weakest excuse can stop you cold. If, however, your goal is tied to an authentic, personally meaningful dream, that's a completely different situation. And that makes perfect sense. Because if it doesn't really matter to you anyway, there's not much point in spending your precious time on it. Choose instead to live the beautiful, meaningful dreams that you truly desire to live. And no setback, no challenge, no excuse will have the power to even slow you down. Regards, SiVa…

 

                    

 

 

Thought for the Day: The limitless power of being Give in to the beauty and completeness that is now. Let go of your complaints about what should or should not be, and embrace the fullness of what is. Now, you are whole. Now, you are present and aware and entirely alive. Accept what is, without condition or judgment. Feel the limitless power of being. In the perspective of now, excuses have no meaning. Worries make no sense and have no power, so they fall effortlessly away. Feel the connection to all that is now. See that now there is nothing you need. Let now be now and let yourself peacefully know it. Live the ever-unfolding miracle of what is, now. Regards, Siva…

 

Freewares / Free Softwares 18 Nov 2010

RockMelt

RockMelt is expected to be the next big Social Media focused web browser. Backed by none other than Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape, RockMelt, acclaimed as The Facebook of Web Browsers, tries to integrate Facebook, Twitter, and complicated social sharing. Its features two search boxes: a regular Chrome-style Omnibox and a special Rockmelt search field. The developers aver that Rockmelt's search feature would get Web results faster, and the search would be as "simple as leafing through a magazine." The left sidebar of easy Facebook access, includies a row of "top friends" with whom you can share content from the main browser by drag or drop. The right side bar is a customizable list of favorite sites and services, with yellow indicators to inform you about new content from a blog or the people you follow on Twitter. Rockmelt also has its own URL shortener, http://me.lt

RockMelt is still in limited beta, you can sign up for the wait list by signing in with your Facebook ID at http://www.rockmelt.com/

The developers assure that all of the personal data on RockMelt servers are kept private by encrypting it.

Ghostery

As a wag put it when we surf we are like the the emperor wthout clothes! Yes, our online habits tand totally exposed thanks to tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons that are included on web pages to keep a tab on our online behavior. Help is on hand say the developers of Ghostery. They say it tracks the trackers to give us a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in what we do online. Ghostery can help learn about 200 online companies to make informed decisions about how to control our online exposure to them. Ghostery lets us learn more about each company it identifies - how they describe themselves, a link to their privacy policies, and a sampling of pages. Also, Ghostery allows zero-tolerance blocking of anything ad related, complete (visible) open communication with ad companies, or countless measures in between - determined by us, the informed web user.

Ghostery can be downloaded at http://www.ghostery.com/download

FAQ at http://www.ghostery.com/faq

IDriveSync

IDriveSync from IDrive can help backup data online, share it with friends or colleagues, access and sync across multiple PCs or Mac. IDriveSync opens up a `Sync' area where you can add your files one-time or choose to add and update your files on subsequent changes from anywhere on your PC / Mac. IDriveSync can be installed on multiple PCs / Macs using the same authentication, and when a change made to the synced data anywhere on any of those multiple computers, the data in all the computers, in due course, get updated. You can also access search and share synced files available in your IDriveSync account directly via the web as well. The free account offers a basic 2 GB Free Storage, supports sync up-to 5 computers and sharing of files of all sizes and types up-to 50 accounts. Files and folders are transferred using 128-bit SSL technology using 448-blowfish encryption on storage.

IDriveSync for Windows at http://www.idrivesync.com/downloads/IDriveSyncSetup.exe  and for Mac at http://www.idrivesync.com/downloads/IDriveSync.dmg

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Please suggest a utiity which can prevent Windows from logging off when one is away for a shortwhile.

You could try the handy utiity Insomania at http://snipurl.com/insomania  No need to change power options

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QUOTE TO MULL ABOUT

Life leaps like a geyser for those willing to drill through the rock of inertia.

-- Alexis Carrel

Freeware / Free softwares 04 Nov 2010

Facebook Group

If you have been wary of joining FaceBook because of privacy issues, or as a member do not want to share a post with everyone in your friends' list, now, you can start an exclusive FaceBook group. This new feature of Facebook lets you organize your friends, family or colleagues into mini Facebook communities. Within these communities, you can share posts, links, create events, contact each other and many other things without making your content public. The other useful features include: Group chat – This is like a chatroom where everyone in the group can 'see' and chat with each other; Group email – a single mail would suffice to inform all the members in the group about an event or any other issue, just like a mailing list; Share photos /videos/links/docs: quite useful, especially, in project collaboration; Choice of three settings: Open – Members and content are public; Closed – Your group, and its members, visible to the public, but the content within the group kept private; and Secret – The group, including its members and all the postings, remain invisible to others.

To create a Facebook Group head over to http://www.facebook.com/groups/

DisposableWebPage

You can now create a disposable web page with as a few key strokes and start right away at filling up the page with the content you want to. Disposable web page offers you the convenience and freedom of getting information out there on the internet with as little hassle as can be. A disposable webpage acts like a canvas on which friends get together to count down to an event. Just issue the editor key for editing privileges on the disposable webpage for friends to brainstorm ideas with you on the page. You could create DisposableWebPage to brainstorm weekend plans, birthday, study, travel, and any other common interest or issue. Features of each disposable webpage: disposed within 90 days or less after its creation; count down clock shows the time of disposal; history of revisions from the first edit to the current edition; bookmarking facility for readers to follow the page; rich text editor for editing purposes; includes uploading of up to 5 photos; and sticky notes and sticky notes player.

The number of disposableWebPages on date is around 18,000, so far. Go ahead and create yours at DisposableWebpage.com  

DataSafe Backup™

DataSafe Backup provides all the functions that are needed to help keep your data well protected and safe at all times. DataSafe Backup lets you structure the backups into multiple jobs so that each type of data is backed up at the right time intervals and with the right settings. The built in scheduler can ensure that the jobs are executed with accuracy, and at the intervals specified. To save on space the backups can be compressed and the files can be encrypted as well using a strong 256-bit AES encryption method. All the files in a backup can be restored quickly to their original location or to an alternate destination. The other features are: Intuitive and easy to use interface, Full, incremental, differential, and mirror backup types, include and exclude filters, built-in scheduler enables unattended backups, Backups can be targeted to hard disk, network share, CD, and FTP. Limitations: Cannot backup to DVD.

DataSafe Backup™ for Windows XP, for Windows 2003, Windows Vista (x32 and x64) can be downloaded at at http://www.sofgem.com/products/datasafe.html

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I notice that the Mozilla Firfox browser has become, of late, slow.
Is there a way to speed up?

You could try the 459 KB SpeedyFox v1.5, a free tool designed specially to resolve theproblem of slow speed of FireFox at http://www.crystalidea.com/download/speedyfox.exe

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QUOTE TO MULL ABOUT

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

-Robert Frost

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Thought for the Day: Let today be that day This is a day filled with possibilities. This is a day when you can get results. Though conditions may not be perfect, still they are sufficient for you to move forward. Though circumstances may not be ideal, within those circumstances you can most certainly make progress. What is it that you would like to achieve? What is it that you wish to change, improve upon, create, express or experience? If you ever want it to happen, now is when you must do something about it. If it is your desire to see it come about, it is your responsibility to make the necessary effort. Nothing ever gets accomplished someday by somebody. If it is to happen, it must be done on a specific day by a specific person. Let today be that day. And let yourself be that person. Thanks & Regards, SiVa…

 

Exciting trek to Kumara Parvata

Last week my friend have visited Kumara parvata. It was superb.

Please read through the story about his experiences.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumara_Parvata

 Exciting trek to Kumara Parvata

Location:
Located in the border of Kodagu and Dakshin Kannada district, Kumara Parvata peak stands tall at around about 5900ft tall, and is the second tallest peak in Karnataka. (The tallest peak is Mulyangiri). This peak is one of the most beautiful peaks in the whole of Western Ghats. And the trek to this place is usually two days with different start and end points. The peak stands almost in the middle of this trek. You can either start from "Bidalli" from "Somvarpet" (Coorg) side (in Kodagu district) or from "Subramanya" (South Kanara – in Dakshin Kannada district) side.

The trek is a total of 27 kms (approx). From Somvarpet side to the peak is approximately 13 kms and the trek from the peak to Kukke Subramanya is around 14 kms. The entire trek route is surrounded by green hills, and you can rarely take your eyes of the greenery and the thick forest trees. It is not a popular tourist spot and hence it is still in its pure form, without any pollution or artificial flavor added to it. This is also one of the challenging treks in Karnataka (both in terms of distance and some steepness). Many people prefer to start the trek from the Kukke Subramanya side and I am not sure if that makes it easy. But we guys started from Somvarpet side.

How to Reach:
There are KSRTC buses from Bangalore to Kukke Subramanya and Somvarpet. The closest railway station is Hassan. Somvarpet is around 5 hours by road from Bangalore and is close to Kushal Nagar (in Coorg). If you reach Somvarpet, you need to take a local transport (hire a jeep?) and reach Bidalli and start the trek from there. Somvarpet to Bidalli takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

We started the trekking from Kukke Subramanya to Bhattara-Mane, from Bhattara-Mane to Mantapa and Mantapa  to Bhattara-Mane. Took rest at Bhattara-Mane to night. The next morning we started from Bhattara-Mane to Kukke Subramanya.

Morning breakfast and start of trek:
By around 5.30 AM, we reached Kukke Subramanya. We got in to a hotel nearby and everyone was set for the trip by 7.00AM. There were lots to carry in terms of tent, sleeping bags, enough amount of food to last the full trek (which included oranges, apples, biscuits, dates etc.), water, etc. We shared the load. First we visited the famous Kukke Subramanya temple. After a quick breakfast, we started the trek at 8.30 AM. We made sure that we had our water bottles.

Entering the forests: Sunny, tasking and the Leeches:
The first 1 hour was trek through a road. It was more like a jeep trail and the heavy bags on our back made the steep trail look even steeper. It wasn’t long before we started having views of the amazing and never-ending landscapes. The initial part of this stretch witnessed quite a few local people in their fields. The sun was starting to pinch and we were just hoping the trek wouldn’t be so scorching once inside the forest areas and amidst trees.

People were getting exhausted pretty fast, though surrounded by trees, as the climb was steep and it was a bit humid too. The trail had a good number of leeches. For many, this was the first experience with leeches. Instead of walking, people were more concerned about a leech on one of their shoes and while they try to remove it, another couple more would stick to the other shoe. Though people were scared as to what the leeches would do, we carried spray to get rid of leeches. With some initial jumping and shouting, people learnt how to get rid of the leeches or how not-to-be-bothered about leeches.

A quick break on the Bhimas rock:
Around 10:30 AM, we took a break for around 15 minutes. Oranges and Apples helped re-energize. The place we took break was called Bhimas Rock, had a good number of leeches, and people were trying to remove their shoes and socks to make sure there aren’t leeches inside the shoes. We continued the trek and this time people started going at their own pace.

 
We got the first glimpse of the entire stretch of greenery and untouched forest cover around noon. There was a heavy rain while trekking in the middle. We are all trekking in the rain and good experience and sensed the good feel of trekking than that was at the start. A quick break and we were on the way and it was around 12:30, the trail came to an end and we reached bhattara-mane.

Reaching bhattara-mane:
The next place we wanted to break was bhattara-mane. People spent the next one hour going all around the place to enjoy the natural beauty around, a few had a chat with the two other groups from Bangalore who had camped there in the night. We had lunch around 1PM and took rest for while and started to Mantapa. On the way there is a forest department office where we need to register and pay the trekking fee Rs 115 per head and started to mantapa.

The last frontier:
After two hours of trek on the green and grassy hills which gave a very good view of the hills around from bhattara-mane, we saw this place, which I assume is Mantapa (where most trekkers camp). We took a break and had some apples and Oranges. We had a small photo shoot session. The other hills around with some dense forests and black clouds added to the scenic landscape. 

The Mantapa:

This was the last point we reached in our trekking event. From mantapa there is a Mountain Peak which is 3kms and from there is a route to Somavarpet. As there is no time and its rainy too so we have decided not to go further from this point and enjoy the nature for a while here. After an hour we started to bhattara-mane.

Lightning strikes:
The lightning and thunder scared the hell out of almost everyone. The visibility was no more than a couple of meters. Atlast We reached to Bhattara-mane. We had tea and were chatting about the experiences we had from the morning. 

Preparation for the night:
Around 7 PM, There was a heavy rain and we were sitting idle and discussing about how the people will reach to this place who left after us to mantapa. Our plan for the camp fire went in vain. The day we had rested at bhattara-mane was a festival day - Dasara, All the relatives of the Bhatt’s family gathered at Bhattara-mane place from Kukke and nearby towns. They were performing puja and we were watching their traditions and celebration of Dasara. At around 10PM they served us delicious Dinner with prasadam. We have went with our tents and others stuffs to stay in the forest but because of heavy rain the tents were not used and we went to bed at 11PM in Bhattara-mane home carridor.

Starting to Kukke from Bhattara-mane:

The next morning we woke up at around 6.30 AM and were setting all the stuffs to head back to Kukke.  We have taken a photo with the Bhatt’s family. We started at 8.00Am in the morning and reached Kukke at around 10.30 AM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought for the Day: Live in gratitude Fear of loss is what creates loss. Love of possibilities is what drives the fulfillment of those possibilities. Instead of living in fear, live in gratitude. Fill your heart with love and thankfulness for all that you now have, so that there is no space left for fear. Fill your mind with thoughts of the very best of what is possible for your world. Fill your spirit with a bright, sparkling vision of how good you know life can be. Sure, the superficial things will come and go, so don't let those things define you. Instead, treasure the values that transcend every moment and every circumstance. The genuine person inside is much more powerful than your ego that always feels so threatened. Live in gratitude and let the real, authentic, courageous person you are, always come shining through. Thanks & Regards, SiVa…