Monthly Archive for July, 2005

Microsoft Genuine Advantage Cracked!

Published on July 29, 2005 in Computer News. 0 Comments

Microsoft started forcing all users to verify their Windows product was genuine this week after making the step an optional step for updates for several months. Within 24 hours, the code had been broken allowing users to bypass the verification.

The following was from the BoingBoing.net post where I first read about it:

Before pressing ‘Custom’ or ‘Express’ buttons paste this text to the address bar and press enter:
javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck=’all’)

It turns off the trigger for the key check.

System Administrator Appreciation Day

Published on July 29, 2005 in General. 0 Comments

Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day. It’d be a good day to thank your admins for keeping the network up and alive, and maybe buy them a drink! Although, everyday is a good day for either of those scenarios.

India’s tech boom sparks recruitment rush

Published on July 27, 2005 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From Yahoo! News (AP):

On a hot summer weekend in India’s technology capital, 28,000 young graduates converge on a suburban indoor stadium and create a stampede for jobs in the exploding software and business service industries.

A large board advertising Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. falls to the floor with a thud, jostled by a crowd of graduates clutching their resumes in search of a big break with the Nasdaq-listed company.

Cognizant was among 24 companies taking part in a job fair organized by The Hindu newspaper last month. About 100 of its executives sifted through resumes, interviewing candidates for quick selection and offering jobs to 150 people.

“It is like speed dating,” said Gautam Sinha, managing director of recruitment firm TVA Infotech.

Dynamic shift in way consumers access Web news

Published on July 27, 2005 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From USA Today:

J.D. Lasica used to visit 20 to 30 Web sites for his daily fix of news. Now, he’s down to three — yet he consumes more news online than ever. Lasica is among a growing breed of information consumers who use the latest Internet technologies to completely bypass the home pages of news sites and jump directly to articles that interest them.

He can scan some 200 Web journals and traditional news sites — all without actually going out and visiting them.

Downloading ‘myths’ challenged

Published on July 27, 2005 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From BBC News:

People who illegally share music files online are also big spenders on legal music downloads, research suggests.

Digital music research firm The Leading Question found that they spent four and a half times more on paid-for music downloads than average fans.

Rather than taking legal action against downloaders, the music industry needs to entice them to use legal alternatives, the report said.

Softland’s Backup4all

Published on July 27, 2005 in Software Tips. 0 Comments

I got an email some time ago from Softland, a software development company. They make a product called Backup4all.

Backup just got easier!
Backup4all is an award-winning backup software for Windows. It was designed to protect your valuable data from partial or total loss by automating tasks, password protecting and compressing it to save storage space. The application is feature rich and offers an intuitive interface making all features easily accessible for both beginners and professionals.

I don’t plan on reviewing it, but I thought I’d pass the information along.

How can I retrieve my Windows 2000/XP/2003 or Office 2000/XP CD Key?

Published on July 27, 2005 in Software Tips. 2 Comments

Sometimes you might need to retrieve the CD Key used to install Windows in order to find out if it’s legally purchased, or just for safe keeping. I usually find myself in that position whenever I’m at a client’s location, trying to see if the copy of Windows 2000 he’s using is indeed legally registered.

Luckily for us, some programs exist that can help you do just that – retrieve license information from the registry, and allow you to copy it for safekeeping or for documentation purposes.

Read more at http://www.petri.co.il/quickly_retrieve_windows_cd_key.htm

Getting files to other people when email just isn’t an option

Published on July 27, 2005 in Internet Tips. 4 Comments

Subscriber AGD sent me this:

http://mytemp.philsworld.de/ is a pretty useful site for getting files to other people when email just isn’t an option. It’s free and requires no registration. The use that comes to mind is when you want to send one or more people from a chatroom a file but do not wish to share your email or web address. The test file I sent over a month ago is still there (http://mytemp.philsworld.de/9229/text.txt, just contains “test”).

I haven’t tried it myself, but if you have a need for something like this, then check it out.

Microsoft may have to alter Vista

Published on July 27, 2005 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From VNUnet.com:

Microsoft may be in trouble for naming its forthcoming operating system Vista after it transpired that the name has been registered by an American company for nearly six years.

Vista, which operates a small business internet interchange, is actually based in Microsoft’s home town of Redmond. It was started in May 2000 by John Wall, the founder of Wall Data and an erstwhile investor in SCO.

Legal music downloads triple worldwide

Published on July 27, 2005 in Computer News. 0 Comments

From CNet News:

Legal digital song downloads around the world have tripled in the past year, while the growth of music piracy on peer-to-peer networks appears to have slowed, according to record labels.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said Thursday that 180 million songs had been sold worldwide through services such as Apple Computer’s iTunes in the first half of 2005, up from about 57 million in the same period last year.