"Unlimited Internet Usage" not actually "Unlimited"

Yup, just as the title describes; Unlimited doesn't actually mean unlimited! I'm in the UK and of course, we have many different internet companies such as "TalkTalk" and such. i'm currently with a company known as "British Telecoms" (BT for short, a.k.a Bloody t**ts)

Now then, you've probably heard all these internet companies giving away "unlimited usage of up to MB broadband". As I recall, these can sometimes include "Unlimited Phone Line Usage" and of course, the cheap television service. Usually, I would be one to jump at the chance of being promised "Unlimited Internet usage for £18" but of course; theirs always a catch!!!

I used to be with AOL at one point, after the Asian telephone person told me the same technological bo**ocks over and over again thinking i didn't know he was taking the mick and hadn't a clue what he was on about! (which, to be honest, he sounded as confused as a cat with a bird on the other side of a window)

Now then, im currently on BT's "Total Brodban Option 3" which gave me the promise of unlimited usage with up to 20mb speeds... big emphasis on the "UP TO" (lets face it, i only know one person who gets just over 19MB and they life in the middle of no-where...) Now then, i recieved the most ridiculous email ever:

Dear Customer,

We thought you'd like to know that your broadband usage in June is now above 80GB.

In accordance with our Fair Usage Policy, and to protect the online experience of all our customers, if your monthly broadband usage goes over 100GB, we'll restrict your broadband speed at peak times (typically this is between 5pm and 12am, but these times may change depending on the demands on the network) to 1Mbps for 30 days.

Please note: your service won't be affected in any other way - we'll restrict only your speed, not the amount you can upload and download.

We'll email you again to let you know if your usage exceeds 100GB. For more information, please see our Fair Usage Policy.

HOLD IT!! (Good ol' Phoenix Wright) I was promised that i would get unlimited broadband, surely that can't be right? well, looks like the fish is stuck in the net... I've been had!!

on BT's fancy lil web page, it doesn't mention anything about my downloading having a limit!!! oh but it does, i missed one tiny little problem... the little symbol next to each little detail. not many people want to read small print so they ignore those symbols (such as ^ and *) but, unfortunately you have to take note!!! so what did i do? i decided to flick through a few of the pages.. and when i found this "Bt Option 3" it didn't mention anything about a download cap! only that the offer was extended to date xx/yy... i even looked for this so called "fair usage policy" and in the end... my old friend Google had to lend a hand...

oh no what do we have here!!! monthly usage is still "Unlimited*" for my option... and the little * leads to a "subject to netwrok management"... no help at all! so is this email REALLY genuine? hmm well the email address states it is... but wait theres more!! if you scroll down to the "network management" section... it clearly states the following:

BT Total Broadband Option 3 and BT Infinity Option 2 allow unlimited downloads and uploads within the monthly rental price, so customers on these products will not be charged for over-use. However, this does not preclude BT from reducing your speed if you are a heavy user in order to protect the experience for the rest of our customers.

so now what? i wont get charged if i go over the "100gb" limit but i will get my speed capped for 30 days if i do... well kiddos, looks like the "Unlimited web usage and up to 20mb download speeds" is a arce... leave up some comments on what you think of this and ill gladly reply! why not leave a message about a bad experience with internet providers and ill post it up in my next article and what i think?

Changing the Location Of Special Folders

Changing the Location Of Special Folders

You can modify the registry to change the location of special folders like:
My Documents
Favorites
My Pictures
Personal
Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
Double click on any locations you want to change and alter the path
Logoff or restart for the changes to go into effect

Note: TweakUI from Microsoft will allow you to make these changes from a dialog box as well

Check Personal Firewall Status Tip:

Check Personal Firewall Status Tip:

How can you check the status of the connection and the firewall? Simply open Control Panel from the Start Menu, open Internet and Network Connections, then Network Connections. By default the view is of large icons.

Click the View Menu, and choose "details" in order to reveal several more columns of information about the connections that your computer has. Check the Status column to see if your connection is currently connected, and whether or not it is "firewalled." You can even drag the column headings around (I like to slide the Status column right next to the Name column. You can even remove entire columns by right-clicking the column heading and unchecking it.

Skip Surveys / Remove CPAlead Surveys

Heres the solution.


Once you are on such a site which is displaying the above picture and asking you to do some **** surveys , just copy paste the JS Script in you address bar and hit enter. DONE. Survey removed.



Heres the JS script –:

http://paste-it.net/public/x383072/

Copy it from there.
Enjoy

5 Chrome Extensions for more Safe and Secure Browsing

No doubt, Google Chrome is a best, fast and secure web browser! But it never hurts to bolster your defenses, and there are plenty of good chrome extensions for doing just that over in the official Google Chrome Extensions Gallery. Today we are compiling a list of five chrome extensions for more safe and secure browsing experience.

WOT chrome extension



The WOT chrome extension is a safe surfing tool for your browser. Traffic-light rating symbols show which websites you can trust for safe surfing, shopping and searching on the web.
WOT ratings are powered by a global community of millions of trustworthy users who have rated millions of websites based on their experiences.



The WOT extension provides reputation ratings to search results when you use Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Wikipedia and other popular sites, helping you protect your computer and personal information. Your online email account – Google Mail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail is also protected.

View Thru chrome extension

There are infinite links floating around you on internet, but they can also be a big threat to your safety. This chrome extension will expand short URLs and display the full URL as a tool tip over the short URL, which includes the title of the destination page and its unshortened URL.. Short URLs from *****, *****, ff.im, goo.gl, is.gd, nyti.ms, ow.ly, post.ly, su.pr and ******.com are supported.

McAfee SiteAdvisor chrome extension

If you don't recognize the WOT chrome extension and aren't sure about its ratings, you may well want to check out McAfee's Site Advisor extension. This extension will be based on McAfee SiteAdvisor and will warn / inform you about the ratings of the page you are visiting. unlike WOT, Site Advisor doesn't display ratings next to all the links on a page and it will only prevent access to untrusted sites
If you choose not to load the exploit url(Options page), it will be automatically re-directed to Siteadvisor, where you can see the full details about the website you are about to visit.

FlashBlock chrome extension



FlashBlock chrome extension automatically blocks flash content on webpages but if you need flash on some particular sites then you can also create a whitelist of allowed websites via a configuration panel. Each flash element is being replaced with a placeholder that allows you to load only selected elements on a given page.

FlashBlock chrome extension also helps with lowering memory usage, reducing cpu cycles, and can be used as an alternative to AdBlock. It works completely locally, and does not read,use,load or transmit any data, thus guarantees user privacy and safety.


KB SSL Enforcer chrome extension



Many popular Web sites offer secure SSL encrypted versions of their login pages, but they don't send users there by default. If you'd prefer to see the lock icon and https:// at the start of your Omnibar, before typing your details into any site, check out this extension. It has some great features such as: Automatically detects if a site supports SSL (TLS) and redirects you to it, Flexible options for overriding the auto-detection, Caches which sites support SSL (respects incognito mode).

Comparing Registries

Comparing Registries

While working with changes to your system, you might want to see what is changing in your Registry.Since you can export it to a text file, the steps are fairly easy

Start Regedit
With the very top level select – My Computer, on the Toolbar select Registry / Export Registry File

I usually save it to the root of the C: drive with the name before (you don’t need to add an extension)
Make the change to your system
Go back to Regedit
Press F5 to update it
Export the Registry like step 2
Name the file after and have it go in the same directory
Open up a DOS window
Go to the directory where the two exported files are
Enter FC before.reg after.reg > diff.txt
Then you can edit diff.txt with your favorite text editor.

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS

To convert a FAT partition to NTFS, perform the following steps.

Click Start, click Programs, and then click Command Prompt. In Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type cmd and then click OK.

At the command prompt, type CONVERT [driveletter]: /FS:NTFS. Convert.exe will attempt to convert the partition to NTFS.


NOTE:=
Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion from FAT to NTFS is minimal, it is best to perform a full backup of the data on the drive that it is to be converted prior to executing the convert command

13 Reasons Why Guys Should Not Go Near Babies

Reasons Why Guys Should Not Go Near Babies

Untrained guys that's it. In the following pictures are reasons why "untrained" guys should not go near babies. Ever.

It's a comparison of do and don't when "handling" babies.

Reason 1
Guys are very particular/perfectionist



A drop on the skin is not enough.
Have to use tongue to test whether the milk is hot or not ok.

Reason 2
Guys are very thoughtful



Put in the cradle is not suitable, later catch cold how?
Have to put in the drawer mah. Better

Reason 3
Guys are very playful



Hold so near where got fun.
Have to throw as high as possible = FUN

Reason 4
Guys are very cheerful



Must make baby smile.
If baby won't smile, have to "force" baby to smile

Reason 5
Guys are very strong



Normal lift like that like a sissy.
No, just lift by the head. Strong.
Hugaa hugaa

Reason 6
Guys are very creative



Letting baby pet puppy carefully no use.
Have to do stuff like put inside the aquarium for baby to "bond" with Nemo.

Reason 7
Guys are very practical



Chew on the soft rubber no use.
Have to give something like a shoe with rubber soles. Longer lasting

Reason 8
Guys are very health-conscious



Pumping iron is the way to go.
The macho way to go

Reason 9
Guys are very effective and efficient



Drying using the drying machine faster, efficient and effective mah.

Reason 10
Guys are very considerate



The normal containment is not good.
Have to have a containment that has water and food mah.
Like a pet's cage.

Reason 11
Guys are very straight to the point



Why the hassle?
Just use finger to clear the nose.
Much faster and adds a personal touch.

Reason 12
Guys are very safety oriented



No need for baby seat.
Just use the seatbelt and you are good to go

Reason 13
Guys are genius and magical

Why?

Just because of the fact that
guys can



provide milk.

Genius no?
Magical no?
(alright, that is sooooo wrong)

Creating iso images in linux

Creating iso images in linux

In windows XP, you would most probably use DVD/CD burning software such as Nero or DeepBurner to make iso images, and software like alcohol 120% or daemon tools to mount the images.

In linux, you can use the commandline to both make and mount iso images.

Firstly, the program ‘dd’ which comes standard on any linux distro can be used to make an iso image.

the program syntax is relatively simple, here is an example that would make an iso image of my cdrom0 drive and save it in my home folder as backup_image.iso:

dd if=/dev/cdrom0 of=~/backup.iso

now to explain the command,

the first bit “dd” is the program name (note: dd stands for dataset definition, not data dump as it is mistakenly known as).

the next part of the command “if=/dev/cdrom0? specifies the input for the program, in this case it is the device cdrom0 (my first CD/DVD drive)

the last bit of the command “of=~backup.iso” specifies the output path and name for the program, in this case the output is a file named backup.iso that is stored in my home directory. the tilde (~) specifies the home directory.

so there you go, a relatively simple method of creating an iso file in linux. You can even put this in a bash script and have the iso file tarballed and gziped and sent off to your file server for archiving, but thats for another article to cover.

the command dd has many more options than what I have shown such as the ability to select block size and write at a certian number of bytes at a time, all these options grant dd great flexibility. Infact, you could use dd to backup entire harddrives and make 1:1 copies of their filesystems. Even damaged drives can be recovered somewhat using dd as it is low-level and works with the raw data on the drive.

Now that you know how to make iso images using dd, you will want to know how to mount them. In linux this is easily achieved using the ‘mount’ command. The first thing you will want to do however, is to create a mount point for your iso image, so as root go ahead and create a directory named iso in /mnt. try using this command if your distro supports sudo -

sudo mkdir /mnt/iso

this creates a directory named iso in your /mnt directory , we will use this directory as a mount point for out iso image.

now mount the image -

sudo mount -o loop ~backup.iso /mnt/iso

this command mounts the backup.iso file found in your home directory to the mount point /mnt/iso the -o loop part of the command allows the iso file to be treated as a block device.

now that you have mounted the iso, go to your /mnt/iso directory and you should see that the iso contents are readable and usable. :D

to unmount the iso image, type in this command :

umount ~backup.iso

Customize Explorer Toolbar

Customize Explorer Toolbar Tip:

In Windows Explorer, you can customize the toolbar to make Explorer even more handy. The Toolbar is the bar of icons directly underneath the menu bar. It contains icons for going back, up one level, displaying folders or search, etc.

You can right-click an open area of this Toolbar and choose Customize to change the order of these icons, and even to add new icons to it. For instance, I like to add the Map Drive and Disconnect buttons. In Windows XP, you may have to unlock the Taskbar before you can make changes in Windows Explorer.

Lock the Taskba - If you find that your Windows XP Taskbar keeps being changed, or moved to one side or the top of your screen, and you didn't mean to have it do that, this tip is for you. Once you have your Task Bar arranged the way you like it, in the right location on the screen, and with all the right toolbars and icons, you can lock it, so that it won't get changed accidentally.

To lock the Taskbar, simply right click it and choose Properties. In the window that appears, check the box (click) next to "Lock the Taskbar." Now you won't accidentally bump the mouse and have your Task bar end up on another side of the screen.

Deleting System Softwares

Deleting System Softwares

XP hides some system software you might want to remove,

such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything.

Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word ‘hide’ and remove it.

You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.

Creating a desktop shortcut for locking your comp!

Creating a desktop shortcut for locking your comp!

If you use your computer in an area where others may have access to it, and there are things on your system you would rather have kept confidential, locking your desktop when you leave the computer is an essential task. Here’s a recipe for a desktop shortcut that will lock your computer in two easy clicks:

Right click on an empty area of the desktop and choose ‘new’ then ’shortcut.’ The create shortcut wizard will open; in the first text box, type ‘%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation’ and then give your shortcut an appropriate name on the next page, and hit ‘finish.’

You will notice that the shortcut you created has a blank icon. To select a more appropriate one, right click on the shortcut and hit ‘properties.’ In the ’shortcut’ tab, click the ‘change icon’ button.

In the ‘look for icons in this file’ box, type ‘%SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll’ then click ‘ok’ to see a range of icons for your new shortcut. Choose an appropriate icon. Your desktop locking shortcut is now ready for use. Test it out.

Disable CD Autorun

Disable CD Autorun

( WinXP PRO Only)

1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.

3) Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.

Tags: Useful Articles

DISABLE UNNECESSARY SERVICES

DISABLE UNNECESSARY SERVICES

Because Windows XP has to be all things to all people it has many services running that take up system resources that you will never need. Below is a list of services that can be disabled on most machines:------------

Alerter
Clipbook
Computer Browser
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Fast User Switching
Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
Human Interface Access Devices
Indexing Service
IPSEC Services
Messenger
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
Remote Procedure Call Locator
Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
Remote Registry Service
Secondary Logon
Routing & Remote Access (disabled for extra security)
Server
SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug n' Pray will disable this)
Telnet
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Upload Manager
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
Windows Time
Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)
Workstation
To disable these services:

Go to Start and then Run and type "services.msc"
Doubleclick on the service you want to change
Change the startup type to 'Disable"

Disabling the F3 Search Key

Disabling the F3 Search Key

If you want to disable the ability to use the F3 key from either the Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer

Start Regedit
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions

Create a Dword value called NoFindFiles
Give it a value of 1

Use A Different Proxy With Firefox

Step 1. Find a list of free proxys. You can Google it or use this list here.

Step 2. Now choose an IP and PORT from the list. In this tutorial I have chosen IP: 200.3.170.189 and port: 8080. You can choose whatever you like.

Step 3. Open Firefox and in the menu choose Tools and then Options

This will open the Firefox options window. Click the Advance options.

Step 4. Click on Network tab and the click Settings button under Connection.

Step 5. In Connection Settings window, click Manual proxy configuration. Now enter the IP address in HTTP Proxy and Port address in Port. ( In this example HTTP Proxy address is 200.3.170.189 and Port is 8080).
Also check the box 'Use this proxy server for all protocols'.

Now just hit ok :D and your IP is set to desired Proxy.