Caps, Scroll and Num lock status notifier for windows !

Have you ever needed to know whether or not your caps lock, scroll lock or num lock keys are enabled but cannot tell due to having no LED's on your keyboard?

Then you certainly need to check out and possibly install Keyboard Indicator. I have also used Keyboard LED but found that I didn't like that you weren't alerted when your caps / num / scroll lock were turned off so found this one instead which I think is the better option.

This is the best freeware (open source) version I could find. Why? Simply because you have so much customisation; i.e. you can tell it when to appear, what for and for how long to show on your desktop! Let alone set "opacity" (how transparent it is on your desktop).

This is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7 and modern versions of windows.

To install:

1. Find the latest version (scroll to the bottom of the page link above)
   
   
2. Download the zip file to your [drive letter] \ Program Files (Program Files x86 if on 64 bit Windows)
   
   
3. Unzip the application using 7zip (or other zip application)
   
   
4. This creates a folder called '[drive letter] \ Program Files \ KeyboardIndicator_1.5.0.0' (the version number maybe different to this one as the application may have been updated since this post)
   
   
5. Go into this folder and run the application by clicking on 'KeyboardIndicator.exe'. Set all appropriate settings which should be self explanatory.
   
   I recommend setting the colours as follows: On the 'General' tab set the 'Back' colour as a dark blue and 'Fore' colour as yellow. I set the opacity to 60% as well. On the view tab the interval setting I set as 1500 (1.5 seconds before it disappears). I highly recommend ticking the box 'start with windows' on the general tab.
    
6. OPTIONAL: I also recommend placing a desktop shorcut if you wish to have easy access to the program (right click on this file, select 'Send to ... > Desktop (create shortcut).

Done. Enjoy with hearts content.

Recommended Addons for Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird !

Last Update on 13th Oct 2013

Why use Mozilla Open Source?

Mozilla is open source software which is highly recommended by many IT professionals. It is simplistic to use and considered to be better than most pay ware products. Their software is extremely customisable and if like me, you can even use themes to make it look like internet explorer so it won't take you long to adapt.

Mozilla FireFox (Open Source Web Browser) + Recommended Addons

Firstly you will need to download the FireFox browser.

Then I would recommend downloading and installing the following addons:
* Clicking on a link will allow you to learn more about the addon

1. Adobe Flash Player
2. Windows Media Plugin
3. PDF Download Addon
4. Dictionary
5. X-Notifier for gmail, yahoo, hotmail, aol and more webmails
6. Download Manager Tweak
7. Prevent Tab Overflow
8. InstantFox Quick Search
9. Copy Plain Text 2

The above links are those that I highly recommend you install (I use these).
The below links are those that I have seen which you may want yourself:

1. Autofill - auto fill form fields in
2. Popup ALT Text display - hover over images to see the alt text displayed
3. FoxTab - FoxTab brings innovative 3D functionality to your Firefox browser
4. Private Tab - browse a web site or page without it being saved to your history
5. Tab Badge - alerts you of (for example) new messages on Facebook etc
6. Firesizer - great for web site designers
7. Panic Button - quickly hide all browser windows with a click of a button
8. Extended Status bar - a status bar with speed, percentage, time and loaded size (similar to Opera's one)
9. Download Status bar - View and manage downloads from a tidy statusbar - without the download window getting in the way of your web browsing

Extensions library contains many more addons which you can research yourself.

Themes (feel free to browse as there are a lot).

Mozilla Thunderbird (Open Source Email Client) + Recommended Addons

Firstly you will need to download the Thunderbird Email Client.
Then I would recommend downloading and installing the following addons:
* Clicking on a link will allow you to learn more about the addon

1. StartupMaster - Excellent for Password Protecting
   
2. Dictionary
   
3. Minimise to Tray - Revived
   
4. Duplicate Contact Manager
   
5. Update Checker
   
6. Copy Plain Text 2
   
7. Contacts Sidebar
   
8. Smilie Inserter Plus
   
   * Download and install the Skype Emotions. Once installed, simply link to the directory you installed them to.
   
   
9. How to backup your emails (requires Mozbackup as explained in the article).

Just one thing, to make sure your outgoing mail is wrapped, make sure you set the following below. This basically stops the annoyance of recipients having to scroll left and right to read messages that you have sent them.

1. Go to Tools > Options > Composition
2. On the general tab set the default Wrap plain text messages at 72 characters
3. Under HTML set the Font to one you prefer
4. Then click on the button 'Send Options' (towards the bottom right)
5. Select from the drop down menu "Send the message in HTML anyway"

Get your recipients to set their clients to do the same so you both don't have to scroll left and right:

• Outlook Express 5 / 6 (comes with Windows, on Vista / Windows 7 / 8 it is called Windows Mail)
• Outlook (MS Office - All Versions)

Cannot view old help files (.chm) on Windows 7 [solution]

Have you ever tried to view a .chm (old windows help file) to be told you cannot view it?

If so, Microsoft have developed updates for Windows 7 to solve this so that you can view these files. Follow the instructions found here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607

Adding your email address to your web site the safe way i.e. without getting SPAM !

Adding email to your web site can be a great way for your users to get in touch with you with issues they have which you can help them with. The problem is, as soon as you do that, it is likely your email address will attract a lot of spam bots obtaining your address to advertise things you really don't want to hear about.

So how do you get around this problem?

I recently discovered TinyMailto.com !

This is fantastic I will probably use it on my web sites in the future.

What does it do?

"TinyMailto.com lets you convert your e-mail address into a URL that is protected from spammers by a captcha test.

You can use a tinymailto URL to put it in public places like web pages, forum/e-mail signatures, etc. If someone wants to get your e-mail address, the person must pass a Captcha test in order to view and use your e-mail address.
This way, you can protect your e-mail address from spammers and web robots (web-bots).

A Captcha test is an image that can be interpreted only by a human being.

TinyMailto.com will work for you if you already put your e-mail address on the web sites."

Learn more by visiting the web site at http://tinymailto.com/

How to ping a specific port / How to test a connection between two computers on a WAN

With Windows XP it was possible to use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, specifically Test DirectPlay to test a connection between two computers. It was mainly used as a gaming tool to establish which computer was blocking a connection.

However the best way to test specific ports is to use the telnet feature as you cannot "ping" a specific port. What telnet does is open a TCP connection on the port that you specify (if you don't specify one it defaults to 25). To do this is simple.

Firstly though if you are on Windows Vista / Windows 7 you need to enable the telnet feature (Windows XP users can skip this step). To do this; Click on Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Turn Windows features on or off. Scroll down to Telnet Client and tick the box. It will take several minutes to install.

Now open command prompt  (Win XP click on Run in start menu and type in "cmd" and press enter / Win Vista and; 7 users simply type "cmd" into your start menu's search box and press enter). Now use the telnet command in the same way as the ping command.

For example computer 1 has an IP of 127.5.45.55, and computer 2 (ip of 225.36.52.2) is trying to connect to port 6667 in order to play Generals but they cannot connect. Computer 1 would type into command prompt "telnet 225.36.52.2 6667". Computer 2 would type in "telnet 127.5.45.55 6667". As you can see it is extremely similar to the ping command. The results will be relayed back to the user.