Adobe Photoshop is one of the most advance tools in digital image editing and for developments as well such as icons and some other stuff.  Photoshop now is on CS5 which handles several new features and one is Content-Aware Fill where you can magically fill in spaces on digital images matching the tones, lightning and noise of the images making it as if it existed on the image.  You can find more of the new features on their site.

Photoshop has indeed grown to be a powerful tool but one thing I noticed without it is saving a .ico file out of the images that we developing.  This made me search for plugins and happy to say that I found one and I want to share it to everyone because it is GNU licensed and free to share and download.  All you need to do is download the file and extract the files inside the zipped file, then copy the ICOFormat.8bi file and paste it on the file formats folder found inside your photoshop folder(C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Plug-Ins\File Formats).  You can now then save .ico files with your photoshop.

I have successfully exported Thunderbird email files on ms outlook 2007 on a Windows XP platform which can also be done in windows vista and windows 7 platform.  There are several steps on how to do it.

1.  First, you need to download and install this software:  IMAPSize
2. Locate your Thunderbird emails, usually it is located in this directory C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Thunderbird  or  you can copy paste the directory and change the user to your account name.  When you are in the application data folder of Thunderbird navigate to the mail folder of the email account you want to convert.  Make sure you make full backup on the mail folder before doing the conversion.
3.  Open IMAPSize software and go to the tools menu and select mbox2eml.
4.  Select the files you want to convert, one example is the inbox.  The inbox file that contains all you emails is the one without the .msf extension.  And this also applies for drafts, sent items and templates. Attachment will be automatically converted and goes with the .eml file

5.  After conversion, open Outlook Express on Vista or Win7 platform you can user Windows Live Mail.  Setup your email account on Outlook express.
6.  Highlight all the emails that was converted by IMAPSize which is in .eml format.  This should should store all the emails in your outlook express account.

6.  For the last part of the process, you can import your outlook express account on MS Outlook 2007.  On the file menu select Import and Export and click next, Select Import form another program or file and click next.  Select Outlook Express 4.x, 5.x, 6.x or windows mail.  This will automatically detect you windows outlook express email accounts and download all the mails.

Filezilla is an FTP Client used for transferring files from one host to the other or is used to exchange and manipulate files over a TCP/IP based network.  It is a free software downloadable on their official website filezilla-project.org.  Filezilla is one secure FTP client and so far the best FTP Client I have used.  I already have tried several software before like SmartFTP.  SmartFTP is easy to use but it is not a free software, you need to buy it so you can use it.

Filezilla has a simple user interface and for the first time I used it,  it feels like I have been using the software for a while.

You can store and manage your Websites using Filezilla with their site manager.  When we have a lot of sites to manage and forget the password we tend to search our mails again and look for the password because as what they say that you can not view your password in filezilla.   We’ll you’re wrong, passwords in filezilla can be viewed. If you have saved the login information on the site manager the here are some simple steps on how to view them .  First open filezilla and on the file menu Click Export and you will be prompted with 3 options, you can click the 3 options if you needed them.  But for now you can check the option Export Site Manager Entries.  Go to the directory where you saved the file FileZilla.xml.  Open the file using notepad or wordpad and there you can view your saved passwords.

I hope I saved your day and always remember not to let anyone access your private files, Stay Secured!

Thunderbird, a free mail client software has a new version which is version 3.O that comes with a lot of new features and one of this is the clean interface. Since most of the viewers of this blog is requesting the newer version of an add-on that minimizes Thunderbird on the tray instead of closing it.

The add-on which I provided on older version is not working on Thunderbird v3.O but I have an alternative solution which is also an add-on I used today.  It has same effect and options.

Here is the link of the site where you can get the add-on.  Install the add-on and set the option that suites your desired actions. I hope this will solve the problem of most viewers in this site.

Partitioning your Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is also one of the most important thing to think of when we are having plans in reformatting a Hard Disk Drive.  Partitioning it to half ways is one of the best practices that technicians do, but for me I prefer splitting it in a way that I my system files is smaller compared to the second drive where I usually put all my files and no matter what happens to my operating system i always have my files on the 2nd drive.  No matter how many times you reformat the primary partition you have your files are always safe on the other drive.

What happens if we want to change the volume capacity of both primary and logical drives.  Before I was using partition majic and it bothers me using it because it has no integrate feature which Paragon has.  Managing your har disk drive is not that bad after all.

It allows you to increase the volume of one logical drive.  Its another one amazing software giving you a full control on your computer’s Hard Disk Drive.

If you are a web developer and having problems on Installing PHP Curl on Apache with PHP installed on Windows Operating System, below is my version of tonyspecer’s “cURL with PHP and Apache on Windows“.  The steps are simple and direct to the point.

I have windows apache version 2.2.14 and PHP Version 5.2.10 installed on my Laptop using the installers provided on the respective sites.

1.  Install APACHE and PHP (I installed my APACHE on C:\apache and PHP on C:\php directories )
2.  Edit the php.ini file found in the PHP directory.

• Near line  546 set the extension directory extension_dir = “C:\php\ext”.  In my case I have my extensions files inside the ext folder. You can use any folder name as long as you set it in the php.ini file.
• Near line 472 set register_globals = On
• Near line 630 set session.save_path=”C:\WINDOWS\Temp” or you can set any directory

3.  On the PHP folder (in my case C:\php\) copy the php5ts.dll file to the bin folder of your Apache (C:\apache\bin\)
4.  On the PHP folder (C:\php\) copy libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll to ” C:\WINDOWS\system32″  folder
5.  Download CURL for Windows found at http://curl.haxx.se/download.html and put it on the PHP folder (C:\php\curl)
6.  Download OpenSSL for Windows found at http://www.shininglightpro.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html, for me I downloaded 7MB OpenSSL v0.9.8k Installer

• To some Windows Visual c++ Redistributable is recommended before OpenSSL is installed.  The windows Visual c++ Redistributable can be downloaded at Microsoft website in the link:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=9b2da534-3e03-4391-8a4d-074b9f2bc1bf&displayLang=en

7.  Check to see if you have the following file: c:\windows\system32\msvcr70.dll. If not, search for it in Google and download it to system32.  If you can’t find it in that directory click this link to download the file from www.dllfiles.com.  Extract the zipped file and put it in the “c:\windows\system32\”  folder.
8.  Uncomment the curl line in your php.ini file to enable curl:  extension=php_curl.dll but in my case I just added the line because it is not found in my php.ini file

9.  Edit the Apache httpd.conf file to enable php:

• For newer version of Apache add at the bottom
  • LoadModule php5_module “C:/php/php5apache2_2.dll”
• Then below add Line: AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

10.  Restart Apache and your curl should be working now.

Sending E-Mail with PHP can be simple, or it can be very complex depending on what you want to do.  PHPmailer is a free PHP software used for sending emails or should I say used for “spamming”.  Though the software has been provided for free, many developers has gone beyond its real purpose.  With a block of IP Address , a web server with PHP installed in it is a perfect set-up for spamming. I have been using this free PHP software  also and it has saved me a lot of work and headaches.

What is in PHPmailer that makes it a good tool for sending emails? Does it only support a private host or is it capable of using gmail or any other public webmail services?

PHPMailer is an OOP PHP script designed for sending emails.  Some of the “G” features of phpmailer are:

• Redundant SMTP servers.
• Supports  8bit, base64, binary, and quoted-printable encoding.
• Supports text and HTML type of email.
• Can send emails with multiple TOs, CCs, BCCs and REPLY-TOs.
• Capable of Word wrap.
• Tested on multiple SMTP servers: Gmail, Sendmail, qmail, Postfix, Imail, Exchange, Mercury, Courier.
• Works on any win32 or “nix” platforms.
• Capable of handling and embedded image.
• Capable of handling multiple attachments.
• SMTP authentication.

This are only few of the capabilities of a PHPMailer.  Above all the email handlers I used PHPmailer is number one on my list because of the ease of use.  It requires less skills with amazing performance, it is a fully featured email transfer class for PHP.  Its indeed a thumbs up for the developers!

Of all the Computer Parts the Processor is the most expensive and the most important part.  It Plays a great role in processing all your needs.  Like in a human body it serves as the brain, everything that a computer does is being processed by the Processor or also known as the CPU or the Central Processing Unit. Monitoring it is important to keep it healthy and always working.  I’m quite sure that we don’t want to buy another processor to get things up again unless you are upgrading.

Not taking care of your CPU is very risky and gives you a lot more trouble.  Too much heat can shorten your CPU’s lifespan, at times your computer suddenly freezes without any reason, it suddenly restarts or the CPU can burn because of too much heat exhaustion .  This are few of the effects of not taking good care of your CPU.

Monitoring CPU’s Temperature is also one of the important task that user/owner must do.  But how do we monitor the CPU’s temperature?  Do we need to restart and go to the BIOS and check? Or are there any CPU Meter available online which can be directly downloaded for free? How do I know my CPU is in too much heat?

To answer the questions, yes there are free CPU meters online and one of the best in which I’m using is the CPUID its a x86 technical resources.  It can be downloaded for free and its very easy to use.  No need to install, just click on the item and will give you an exact result of your CPU’s core temperatures.  This CPU meter is the simplest yet free to download CPU temperature meter.

CPUID is portable and can be used in almost all types of CPU whether you are using AMD or INTEL Processors, its not a problem at all.

How to know whether the temperature you are having is not high enough to ruin everything?  You can look at your CPU’s manual and try to check how much is the normal working temperature or visit their website and check .  After,  compare the CPU meter’s result and your manual’s maximum temperature if its a lot higher then you need to shut it off or you need to ventilate you computer well to keep the temperature low.  Though to some CPU it has an auto shutdown feature when it reaches the maximum temperature.  Checking it once in a while will keep you CPU healthy and working.

If you have problems with those old files and feeling like they are way to big add-ons for your disk then we can have a disk cleanup compress old files software to save resources on your disk.  IZArc is the best freeware archive utility supporting many archive formats like: 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO.  

This is the best free archive software utility that supports different type of compression file formats with an easy navigation User Interface.    Aside from its support on different file compression formats it allows you to directly create and extract archives on the directory or anywhere in you local drive.  It also comes with a powerful repair function on damaged archives and allows you to convert the compression format.  IZarc allows you to view and write comments and many more.

Sending larger files to your  colleagues and friends who may not have archiving tool you can easily create self-extracting archive that can be extracted by simple double click.

Here are more details why IZarc is the most complete archive utility available today. IZarc can be configured to run your preferred Anti-Virus scanner when you open any archives, it supports 256-bit AES encryption to secure your data, IZarc can be integrated in Windows so you can perform all archiving operations by using right-click menus in Windows Explorer.  IZArc is 100% virus free and it doesn’t contain any spyware or adware.

Important Note: This is for experimental purposes only, buying the software is always the best option.

Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) is not a new stuff. Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) validation, the component that determines if the software is legitimate) had been mandatory for Office users who want to access Office Update or download add-ons such as free Office 2007 templates for a while, making available Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) crack, although the requirement had since been stopped, allowing everybody, legit or counterfeit, to download updates and freebies.

Office Genuine Advantage Notifications is another component of Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) that displays and shows persistent and nagging notification messages on the screens of PC which is checked to be running illegal copies of Office. Anyway, Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Notifications will always come together with the validation component to determine the genuineness of the Office installed. It marks the first time Microsoft attempts to validate Office installation actively, similar to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) for Windows operating system.

Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Notifications had first been published as KB949810 update to Office users in Italy, Spain, Turkey and Chile in a small pilot program, which did not bring too much complaints due to small user base, except when WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) accidentally published it as critical updates for roughly 24 hours. Microsoft has slowly expanding Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) availability to more countries.  According to Microsoft last August 26, 2009 Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) is now expanded to 13 more countries which includes United States of America (US), United Kingdom (UK), Peru, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Australia, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, India, and Taiwan, making it a total of 41 countries that subject to Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) validation.

KB949810 Office Genuine Advantage Notifications will be published through Windows Update and Microsoft Update, as “High Priority” update for Windows XP systems and “Important” update for Windows Vista and Windows 7 systems. The download of Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Notifications is voluntary. Users can opt and choose to NOT install it. But once installed, Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Notifications cannot be installed, and there is no option to temporarily or permanently stop notification messages from displaying.

KB949810 requires end-users to accept an EULA (End User License Agreement) before installation begins, even if the systems have Automatic Updates set to download and install all updates automatically.  To prevent and stop Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) Validation and Notifications components to be installed, just deny the EULA.

According KB949810, once a computer has been determined to be running a copy of Office that has failed the Office Genuine Advantage validation process, a message will be displayed during Office program start up:

“This copy of Microsoft Office is not genuine.

Please excuse this interruption. This copy of Microsoft Office did not pass validation. Click Learn More for details and for help identifying the best way to get genuine Microsoft Office.

And, a toolbar will be added to non-genuine Office XP and Office 2003 programs or a ribbon element is added to non-genuine Office 2007 programs to display “This copy of Office is not genuine. Click here to learn more”.

Office Genuine Advantage Notifications (KB949810) will be published all systems with Microsoft Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007 or upcoming Office 2010 suites or applications program.

To remove the added menu and notification download the file and follow the instructions provided in the text file with the package.

WGA Remover.rar