Dynamic changes for Orkut

Yes, Orkut is undergoing some major changes.

Not only in its layout, but in contents also. 

These features are currently available from 29-10-2009 to

selected users like Orkuteers/Orkut helpers,

but they can invite you to try this "new Orkut".

If you know any of such persons,

pester them to send you an invitation.:P

      I think the layout and design resembles facebook
a lot, but obviously better than it.

Some of the major changes are:


1.Now you can view the entire friends list and all of
your communities by scrolling down.
2.Change the header color to blue, green, red, magenta or black.
3.Recent visitors display pictures are shown.
4.Photo uploading is modified
In scrap book:
6.You can change the font attributes like bold, italic,
underline, font colour (gmail colours). 
Insert gmail smileys and videos.


But:


1.The add photo button in your friends scrap book is missing.
2.We cant read scraps page wise, instead
Orkut mobile feature "show more scraps" included,
this may consume more of your computer memory.
3."Preview scrap" after creating is gone.
4.Support for Indian languages is not available.


More features are under evaluation.;)

But luckily the option to switch to the old version is retained.



    Orkut - Home:

 























Orkut - Scrapbook

 

Hope those changes will be made available for all shortly... Lets wait for it...! ;)

Computer Security

This is the age of Internet.
If you are a home user using internet,
you should know some basic ideas about 
surviving in internet, though the task
is a bit challenging. Internet is
providing all those good information,
but is hiding threats, risks and dangers 
behind it in the form of viruses, trojans,
spywares, adwares etc.  Do you know just
a single visit to a web page is enough
to get your computer infected? You should 
be well armed to play safe in internet 
otherwise you will be perished. Home 
users still lack the most fundamental 
education regarding security. Here, 
I am trying to give you a brief description 
of basic security to be taken while surfing 
or browsing the net. 

Anti-virus programs
 Most essential part of a computer. Your 
duty does not end after installing an 
antivirus program, you should update it 
regularly. People with perverted minds 
are engaged in making newer viruses, 
Trojans, spy wares and ad-wares daily. 
You should update your virus program 
daily to help your anti-virus to detect 
those new threats.

There are many free anti-virus programs 
available in the net for download. 
Like Antivir, Avast, AVG, Clamwin etc, 
to name a few. But trust me, AVG is not 
a worthy anti virus, if you are having it, 
just uninstall it from your computer and 
install some other anti virus program 
now...!! it cannot detect newer threats 
whether you update it or not. The best 
free anti-virus is Antivir from Avira, its 
virus detection rate is high and its free 
of coast for personal use. Here is a 
review of comparison of various free 
antivirus programs by PC world.


[Never use more than one anti virus program in your computer at the same time. You should uninstall the current anti virus to install a new one.]

Anti-spyware

A computer should have two anti 
spyware softwares installed. 
Here also, free anti spyware utilities 
available for download. 
Spybot search&destroy, Malwarebytes, 
windows defender, Ad-aware free, 
Super anti spyware etc. Among these, 
Malwarebytes is the best. Its size is so
small, does not slows your pc down, 
safely removes virus, trojans or spywares. 
But there is no real time protection available
for free edition. 

Firewall  

Well, do you know anything about firewalls? 
Why do you need one? Simple, a hacker 
can intrude into your computer when 
you go online, Firewall blocks such 
attempts of a hacker, a hacker can 
even deposit a malicious program 
in your computer, that can steal and 
send your information like passwords, 
family photos or screen shots of your 
computer to him when you go online, 
firewall blocks such outward traffic too. 
eh? there is an inbuilt firewall in windows, 
but it is not capable of facing today's tough 
challenges. So its advisable to download 
and install a free firewall program like
zonealarm free firewall, PC tools free firewall,
or Ashampoo firewall. But after installing you 
should select what programs should access the
internet and what not. If you dont know 
what to do, consult a professional 
or Google the programs name. 


 Email viruses


Trust me, never download a .exe 
attachment to your computer, unless 
]you are a software expert. Gmail does
not allow users to send .exe attachments 
but yahoo allows it, so email viruses are 
mostly spread through yahoo mails. 
Scan with your updated antivirus programme
immediately before opening the 
attachment file after downloading.
These files include powerpoint shows, 
games, incomplete jpg images etc. 
But comparatively safe for .mp3, 
and video formats like .dat, .mpg etc. 
If you are not sure what the file is, 
just ignore it as it is.







  [to be continued... email viruses, yahoo mail, trojan, key loggers, security update of o.s, key scrambler, using of anti crack password, net cafe risk, what to do, if you feel that you are compromised, never click unwanted links that boast of online scan, norton safeweb, email attachments, suspected links,  ]




 

Encarta is going off

For years, this amazing encyclopedia 

from Microsoft was much helpful to
millions of computer users.
          I have been using it right from the 
beginning of my exposure with computers. 
Actually, it was one of the reasons 
why I loved computers this much.
All those pictures, music, videos, 
articles and information were much 
helpful and amazed me a lot.
But, Microsoft stopped the production of Encarta,
and it will soon (October 31st 2009) discontinue
the Encarta websites. 
A great loss to those who love Encarta...