Vista Glazz: Maximized Transparency

One of the best features of Windows Vista is perhaps the Aero interface, the translucent Glass effects that are present on the windows. It’s best use is perhaps on the Windows Media Player 11, which has it’s controls “Glassed up”. But there’s a catch to it all: The effects disappear the moment the windows are maximized, the glass effects being replaced by solid black borders.

Given that most of the people who use Vista nowadays have a decent DirectX 9 or higher capable GPU, able to handle the Aero interface decently, Microsoft could’ve made the glass effect omnipresent in its OS, rather than limiting it just to it’s non-maximized windows. There are third party software’s like Windows Blinds that does a pretty good job of improving it, but degrades the performances of the PC.

But, like always, there’s an escape hatch: Vista Glazz. It patches the Windows files responsible for the effects to retain its effects even when maximized. You can even unpatch the files if you want the old windows back. It also allows you set up your own custom styles, like in Windows XP, with icons, cursors, wallpapers & themes.

You can get the latest Vista Glazz (version 1.1) here

A note of caution though, if you’re using Vista Service Pack 1, then make sure you get version 1.1, as version 1.0 doesn’t support Vista Service Pack 1.

The Requirements are:

Minimum system requirements

                   Windows Vista Premium/Business/Ultimate edition

                   Hardware support for Windows Aero

                   800 MHz processor

                   512 MB of system memory

                   2 MB of disk space  

Recommended system requirements

                   Windows Vista Premium/Business/Ultimate edition

                   Hardware support for Windows Aero

                   1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

                   1 GB of system memory

                   2 MB of disk space

Screenshots:

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars BattleCast Viewer

                   

Main EA Link                               Battle Cast Viewer Download                                                                                       

So, your one of those people who liked and probably played the previous Command & Conquer games but haven’t been able to play the latest Tiberium Wars, simply because your PC’s struggling to run that game? Or you might be looking for some solid tricks and strategies that’d help you own your friends or competition on the battle grounds of Tiberium Wars, directly from the pros, but don’t have enough time for yourselves to formulate your own strategy?

If the above two situations describes you, then you are in the right spot. ‘Cause the following tool would allow you to do just these and that too for FREE. The Command & Conquer Battle Cast Viewer allows the user to view live combat happening between pros around the world. It’s like a private Command & Conquer channel through which you can see the battles as well as the strategies employed by the Pros.
You don’t need to own the game, just download the Battle Cast Viewer from the link given below and you’re good to go. But if you already own the game, the Viewer is built into it, and you don’t need to download this.

Battle Cast Features:

      -> Spectator/Observer Mode

      -> Archive Matches

      -> Compete in Online Games

      -> Player Statistics

      -> Game Ladders

      -> BattleCast supports Clans

                                                                                                                                              Source

Jokes For All

NAPOLEAN: "In my Dictionary there is no word called 'IMPOSSIBLE'....
  
  Sardarji: "What's the use of saying it now, you should have checked it before buying THE DICTIONARY !!

This blog's a gem. I came across it on a Forum. If you love jokes (like the one above) or never miss an episode of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge or any Comedy shows for that matter, you'll be definitely be wanting to subscribe to it.

Here's the link: http://laughstoall.blogspot.com/

The blog's updated daily and so you'll have your daily dose of laughter, right at your PC. The jokes had me rolling, the top being the Napoleon’s and the Chinese-Sardar's.

It’s really great for you, if you had a bad day at work and would like to lighten up a beat.

After all, laughter is said to be a good medicine.

Handy HTML Guide

Here's for all those HTML programmers and budding web-designers out there. It's a compilation of HTML tags that one might need to look up. It's kind of a Cheat Sheet that you can print out and keep handy in the very unlikely scenario that you forget a syntax or command.

Here's the link: http://www.netlingo.com/tags.cfm

I for one need it very regularly. Since I'm one of those who are curious about HTML, but have not been trained to use it professionally and the only knowledge is from experimenting, this list is indispensible.

Control the PC with a Game Pad

How many times have you felt the need of a good software that could allow you to control your entire computer with just your gamepad? And if you own a wireless controller, then who'd want to be tethered to the computer with the mouse and keyboard, when you can easily control it from a distance?

Well, if you search around then you'll surely come across Total Game Control, that does all the above mentioned task. But there is a catch: It's a Shareware. So, unless you are a pirate or a hacker or a person who can afford it, you might think you have no alternative (personally I would not go for the illegal methods). But you'd be wrong!

There is indeed an alternative out there. It's X-Padder. It performs all the functions and is totally free for use. It can support upto 16 separate controllers and give advanced tuning options as well as supports Force Feedback, if your Game Pad has it. If you have a Game Pad, then this little utility would help you immensely.

Main Features: 
- Full keyboard and mouse emulation. 
- Supports up to 16 controllers at the same time for multiplayer gaming. 
- Rumble (force feedback) and advanced fine-tuning options. 
- Constantly updated database (over 120 controllers, adapters and drivers). 
- Multiple profile management. 

Xpadder is freeware but the author does accept donations:

The interface is really clean. I got my gamepad up and running the mouse and keyboard emulation within 10 minutes. For starting, just click the small GamePad button on the top left corner and then configure the things and you're set. You can even attach a picture of the GamePad, or if you're a great artist then you can draw it yourself. It's really easy, but if you have any problem just go through the help file.

Source

Image source: Softpaedia

Download

Fastest Shutdown in the world

Do you have prying eyes trying to get a sneak peak into everything that you have? Do sometime need to get that machine to shutdown in the blink of an eye?

Then your in the right place. But be warned, this method forces Windows to instantly power off, without executing the routine scripts that it does in the case of a normal shutdown. 

Bring up the Task Manager of windows by the key combination CTRL+ALT+DEL. Then keeping the CTRL key pressed click on Shut Down > Turn Off.

There you have it. The PC will instantly turn off.

P.S.: Because it forces to instantly poweroff, don't use it often.

XP/Vista Task Manager Trick

This had me bowled over for quite few moments. I thought it was virus attack. It was discovered by me accidentally. This trick makes the window controls disappear. It's really very easy, no programming knowledge needed, just the mouse.

Bring up the task manger by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL simultaneously. (In Vista, select Start Task Manager from the list. It's the last option). Then Double click on the area just around the buttons, but not on the button or the title bar, the grey area. And voila you have a task manager without any titlebar or windows controls. You can freak out a friend by closing the Task Manager in that state by pressing ALT+F4. The next time someone brings up the Task Manager it'll remain like that, devoid of the titlebar and the controls.

To get it back, just Double click the grey area again, and everything will be back to normal :)

Here are the pics:

Introduction: The First Ever Post

I have been thinking of starting a webpage, a web presence, through which I can reach out to all the beautiful people out there. I have been looking for a medium, a portal, through which I could share all of my knowledge, my findings and my thoughts, in an easy to retrieve format. So, after testing the waters of the Internet through a forum of my favourite Mag for a year, I thought it might be high time that I got a personal page. And what other way would be better than my very own Blog. So, one fine morning (night actually), I decided to start one, and here I am writing out this Intro.

But enough of the inception talk! The primary objective of this blog is to share my thoughts, views and findings with the world. It doesn't have any specific genre, so don't try to categorize it. It's a blog, just like the Title, about my world. A world that includes everything that's dear to me: Computers, Games, Movies, Music, Books, Programming, Pets... and the list goes on and on and on. It'll, thus, have small life updates of mine, tips and tricks, useful softwares that I've found useful, reviews of the things that interests me etc. But they won't follow any order. I'll post them as they come to me or as I feel right. But I am open to requests and suggestions.

Lastly, as a Disclaimer:

The tips and tricks featured here are the result of my experimenting on my config. I'll try my best to only post those specific tricks and tips that is working perfectly on my system, and if the steps are followed thoroughly, I'm sure that there won't be any problem. But in the rare case it does, because these are after all machine and are proned to fail sometime, I cannot be held responsible for any type of damage. Use the tips on your sole discretion.

So without further ado, I'd like to break the champagne bottle and set this ship (Blog) sailing into the Wide Wondrous World.

P.S.: To all the Tech specialists and Pro Bloggers and all those great learned friends out there, if you find any mistakes, or any violations of the rules, please inform me about my mistake and the correction immediately and I'll rectify it immediately. I'm not a master and I'll make mistake, but I intend to learn from them.