For car lovers Maruti Launches A-Star

Maruti Suzuki India today launched its compact B-segment car 'A-Star', which is priced between Rs 3.46 lakh to Rs 4.11 lakh ex-showroom in Delhi for different models.
The introductory offer will be available for a few weeks and the car is available for sale from today, said R C Bhargava Chairman of Maruti Suzuki.
In addition, the company plans to use the new model to re-launch itself in European markets, which it left two years ago.
Maruti’s A-Star is the first brand in the company’s stable to be fitted with the K-series engine that emits about 109 gms of Co2 per kilometer.
However, the company is hoping to sell about 4,000 A-Star's a month. It could also help Maruti to rev up its sagging sales numbers, which fell by 8 per cent in October this year.
Last year, Maruti Suzuki exported about 50,000 cars to about 40 countries. The company’s annual report of 2007-08 states that strategic models like A-Star would help the company export over 1 lakh units to Europe every year, and sell about 1 million cars in the domestic market by 2010.
The company also has a contract to manufacture around 50,000 units of the new model for Nissan, which will be branded with a different name in the overseas markets. For the domestic market, the company hopes to sell around 50,000 units of the A-Star.

VEHICLE SUMMARY
Name:A-Star
Model:Vxi
Car Body Type:Hatchback
Segment:A Segment
ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS
Displacement:998cc, 3 cyl, MPFi, KB-series
Engine Type:Petrol
Maximum Power:67 Bhp @ 6200 rpm
Maximum Torque:90 Nm @ 3500 rpm
DIMENSIONS
Length:3500 mm
Width:1600 mm
Height:1490 mm
OTHER SPECIFICATIONS
Seating Capacity:4
Tyre Size:155/80 R13
Suspension:MacPherson Strut & Coil Springs
Turning Circle:4.50 mtrs.
Boot Space:129.00 ltrs.
Steering:Power
Brakes:Front Ventilated, Rear Disk
Gears:5 Manual
Ground Clearance:170.00 mm
Fuel Tank:35.00

Maruti Suzuki A-Star is a A-Segment car as per the European car standards. The car is produced from the company's Manesar facility in Haryana.
Designed by Rajesh Kumar Gogu and Saurabh Singh of Maruti Suzuki India, A-Star, which is a five-door hatchback; has been engineered keeping in mind the trends and standards of the European market.
It has an all new KB-Series engine which is Euro 5-compliant with Co2 emissions lower than those of European competitors. It has a bold design language with strong lines and large wheelarches. Clever packaging means a five-door model is on the cards, suggesting interior space will be good.
A-Star is heavily toned down as compared to the Concept A-Star which made its debut in London & was also shown at Auto Expo, 2008 in New Delhi.
No doubt that the newcomer is criticised for its looks since it looks as if styling has been taken of the Kia Picanto/Morning, Hyundai i10 and Citroen C1.
An estimated figure of around one lakh units of Maruti A Star will cater to the European Markets under the Suzuki badge, the rest 50,000 units will be sold within India. The A-Star is regarded as one of the most desired projects of Maruti Suzuki India. The Suzuki team has pinned a lot of hope in it.
In fact, the concept of Maruti A-Star is a first for Maruti Suzuki India's research and development team. Maruti Suzuki has entered into an agreement with Nissan to sell A-Star under the formers brand name in the US market. Nakanishi, however, ruled out an estimated price cut for Maruti 800 and rejected reports of Maruti's venture into the Rs.100,000 segments.
Suzuki seeks to further strengthen the environmentally conscious advantages of its products and aim for further reduction of their impact on the global environment. One way to achieve this is fuel cell technology.
The latest two fuel-cell models will be exhibited in Paris: The SX4-FCV equipped with a GM-made high-performance fuel cell stack, a Suzuki-developed 70MPa hydrogen tank and a light, compact capacitor, and the “crosscage” that features a simple, compact, and lightweight air-cooled fuel-cell power system from British specialist company Intelligent Energy, plus a high-performance lithium-ion secondary battery.

Easy Ways to Go Green with Your Computer

Shutdown Your Computer Without Losing the Perks of an Always-On PC

Obviously, computers require electricity to run, so shutting down, sleeping, or hibernating your computer when you're not using it conserves energy. Every modern operating system has its own settings for conserving power, so the first thing you should do—if you haven't already—is open the power settings of your computer and set them for optimal energy use. Set your computer to put your monitor to sleep, spin down your hard drives, and put your computer to sleep when you're not using it. Even better, since your computer uses less power when hibernating than when sleeping, set up your computer to hibernate rather than just go to sleep.
One of the biggest turn-offs (no pun intended) about shutting down or sleeping your computer is that you miss out on some of the finer things your computer provides even when you're away. For example, if you're downloading a large file, you may want the download to continue even when you're away. Likewise, we've covered tons of ways to remotely access your computer, all of which no longer work if your computer's turned off. Luckily you can continue using your computer during these times but still conserve power the rest of the time.
For example, Windows users should check out previously mentioned WinOFF, which shuts down, restarts, and hibernates your computer (among other things) after a certain amount of time, at a specific time, or when your CPU goes idle so that your computer automatically shuts off at times you don't need it.
If a download is what you're waiting for, many peer-to-peer clients, like the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent, can shutdown your computer when a download completes so you can get your file and save energy, too.
Between WinOFF and built-in shutdown features common to many apps, we've taken care of the the download problem—but what about when you want to access your computer remotely? If it's shut down, you can't very well get to it, can you? Actually, you can, assuming you set up Wake-on-LAN on your computer. Once Wake-on-LAN's enabled, you can turn your computer on over the internet from anywhere—so there's no reason not to shut down your computer when you leave the house.
Finally, if you're on a Mac laptop, check out previously mentioned SmartSleep to enhance your power-saving options.
Save Paper when Printing

When it comes to the environment, one of the first places most offices can improve is the giant pile of discarded paper by the network printer. Aside from obvious things you can do on your own—like printing duplex, printing to PDF, previewing before printing, and not printing hundreds of copies of an email forward to plaster around the office—there are a few other tools you can use to minimize wasting paper and ink when printing.
To save ink and paper when you're printing from your browser, use previously mentioned Firefox extension Aardvark to tweak the layout of a page and remove elements—like ads and images—that you don't need on the printed page.
When you're not printing from the browser, Windows users can save tons on ink and paper with previously mentioned GreenPrint, a freeware application that automatically identifies and removes unnecessary pages or space from your printouts before they head to the printer.
If you're regularly sending documents back and forth to other people or businesses, you can also save a few trees and save a little time in the process with a couple of office hacks. For example, rather than going through the age-old print, sign, and fax dance handed down through the generations by our forefathers, try creating a scanned signature and then sending scanned PDFs rather than faxes. It's quicker and it saves on resources and costs.
Turn Off Peripherals to Kill the Vampires

Now that you've put good energy practices into use on your PC, it's time to move onto the power-hungry peripherals you've got plugged into it. Whenever possible, you want to turn off any peripheral when you're not using it—like your printer or monitor. Likewise, you should be aware of any gear in your computing setup that draws standby power (a.k.a., vampire power) even when you've turned off the device in question. Vampires commonly stand out as large, unsightly AC adapters.
While you could diligently unplug your wall warts or keep them plugged into a power strip that you switch off when they're not in use, you can go even further and automate the process with gadgets like the Energy Saving Smart Strip (original post) and the Power Minder (original post), both of which monitor your PC's power state and automatically shut down other peripherals when you turn off your computer.
For more on saving energy at your computer, check out our top 10 computing energy savers.
Estimate Your Power Usage

It's one thing to know your computer sucks down a lot of energy every month, but actual power usage numbers drives the point home. Windows can install previously mentioned LocalCooling, an tool that both helps you tweak your Windows power saving settings and visualize the amount of power your computer consumes. Some users reported inaccurate measures with the app when we first posted about it, but the well-intentioned LocalCooling team continues in their efforts to improve the application and help you save energy and visualize the impact of your energy-saving.
If LocalCooling's not giving you accurate results or you want to get a more definitive look at your PC's power consumption, regardless of your operating system, this Coding Horror post demonstrates in detail how to determine and lower the cost of leaving your PC running

Life Magazine's Giant Photo Album Lives On Online (LIFE photo archive hosted by Google)

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has opened an online photo gallery that will feature millions of images from Life magazine's archives that have never been seen by the public before.
The new service, available at http://images.google.com/hosted/life, debuted Tuesday with about 2 million photos.
Eventually, Google plans to scan all 10 million photos from Life's library so they can be viewed on any computer with an Internet connection.
About 97 percent of Life's archives have not been publicly seen, according to Life.
Free Printing
The photos can be printed out for free as long as they aren't being used as part of an attempt to make money. Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Life's parent company, hopes to make money by selling high-resolution, framed prints.
The orders will be processed through Qoop.com.
Life's archives include photos from the Civil War as well as some of the most memorable moments from the 20th century, including the Zapruder film capturing John F. Kennedy's assassination.
Publishing Efforts
Google has been indexing a wide variety of information that previously wasn't available online as part of its efforts to lure even more traffic to its popular search engine. For the past four years, Google has been scanning millions of books stored in dozens of libraries around the world.
The Life partnership represents Google's biggest undertaking in professional photography. Google hopes to work out similar arrangements with the owners of other large photo archives, said R.J. Pittman, a director of product management

50 WAYS TO MAKE VISTA WORK FASTER

Whether it's having some extra power to keep your framerate down in Half Life 2, or simply getting Windows Vista to shut down that second faster, everybody wants a quicker computer.
Because of this, we've prepared fifty affordable idea's to achieve this. Here's the first batch.
1. Add More Memory
The simplest way to improve performance is to add more memory (RAM) to your system – 1GB (1024MB) is the minimum recommended amount, but add as much memory as you can afford or your system supports.
2. Use Your USB Flash Drive
If you’ve got a spare USB flash drive with at least 256MB free space, you can use it to help give your system a helping hand. Plug the drive into a spare USB2.0 slot and – when prompted – select “Speed up my system” when prompted.

3. Configure Readyboost
If the option doesn’t appear, or you want to override Windows Vista’s recommended settings, open My Computer, right-click your flash drive, choose Properties and switch to the ReadyBoost tab.
Manually tweak the ReadyBoost settings from this dialog

4. Pick a new USB Flash Drive
If you want to purchase a flash drive specifically for using as a ReadyBoost device (remember, it’s no substitute for real RAM), opt for a model with faster read/write times (such as the Gizmo Overdrive from Crucial) for the best results.

5. Overclock Your Graphics Card
You can tweak your graphics card to squeeze a few extra frames per second out of playing games. Use a tool like PowerStrip or ATITool to optimise your display, but note you’ll be stressing your graphics card and shortening its life by doing so – you may even damage it by attempting to overclock, so think carefully and remember it’s all at your own risk.

6. Upgrade your Drivers
Certain driver updates – particularly those for graphics cards and chipsets – can lead to better performance. Check your PC, motherboard or graphics card manufacturer to see if a newer driver exists.

7. Super-fast External Drives
Frustrated at how slow USB and Firewire external devices are compared to your internal drive? Fret no more: eSATA is a new standard that offers the performance of an internal drive in an external casing. You’ll need access to an eSATA port – some modern PCs have these built in, but in many cases you’ll need to purchase a plug-in card (PCI or PCI-Express) with your drive. Check out Lacie for drives and adapter cards.

8. Benchmark Your PC
Your Windows Experience Index base score tells you how capable your PC is of running Windows Vista, which gives you a good idea of what you need to upgrade next for better performance. Click Start > Control Panel and select System and Maintenance followed by Performance Information and Tools. Use the links on the left in conjunction with our tips to improve performance.

9. Speed Up Your Network
Wireless networks are still much slower than wired networks, so don’t make all of your PCs wireless unless you need to. Look for 802.11n equipment for the best possible range and performance – remember, the further away from the access point you are, the slower your connection, so if transferring large files from one PC to another, try to place them as close to it as possible or even plug them into the router for the fastest possible transfer speed.

10. Spread Your Paging file
If you’ve got a second internal hard drive or an eSATA-connected drive, you can instruct Windows Vista to use that for the paging file in addition to your own boot drive. Here's how:
a) Access Virtual Memory Settings
Open System Properties and click Advanced system settings. Click Settings under Performance, switch to the Advanced tab and click the Change button.
b) Set New Paging File
Untick “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”. Scroll through your list of drives and select the least-used partition on your second drive. Choose System managed size and click Set.
c) Reboot and Review
Click OK three times and reboot when prompted. Once complete, return to this screen and verify that both drive C and your new drive have system managed paging files in place.

11. Distribute Files Quickly
Want to quickly fling files into their correct folders? Download the free Magic Folder Gadget - this creates a virtual folder into which you drag files. You can dump them all in a single folder, or set it up to move them to a specific location based on their file type.
The Magic Folder Gadget turns your sidebar into a drop-off point for files

12. Customise Start Menu
Right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click Customize and you can set up the Start menu to your individual tastes, giving you quicker access to key parts of your system – our favourite tweak? Select “Display as a menu” under Control Panel.

13. Shortcut To Any Control Panel
If you frequently use a Control Panel applet, why not create a shortcut to it you can place anywhere on your system, including the Start menu?
a) Create Shortcut
Open the Control Panel and switch to Classic View. Right-click the Control Panel you want to shortcut to and choose Create Shortcut.
b) Place Shortcut
A new shortcut will appear on the desktop – you can drag it on to the Quick Launch Toolbar or place it on the Start menu as shown above for easy access.

14. Use the Windows Key
The [Windows] key is often overlooked as a keyboard shortcut, but you’re missing a trick by ignoring it. For example, to bring the Sidebar to the front, press [Windows] + [Space]. Laptop users can press [Windows] + [X] to access the Windows Mobility Center. And press [Windows] plus a number between one and zero to access any of the first ten shortcuts on the Quick Launch toolbar.

15. Program Your Keyboard
Many modern keyboards come with extra keys that you can configure to access programs and other key parts of your system quickly and easily. Open the Keyboard Control Panel and look for a tab that enables you to assign certain actions to different keys – if it’s missing, download drivers or software (such as Microsoft’s IntelliType) from the keyboard manufacturer’s web site.

16. Create Your Own Shortcuts
You can assign a shortcut key to any program shortcut, enabling you to open it quickly. Right-click the shortcut on your Taskbar, desktop or Start menu and choose Properties. Place the cursor in the Shortcut key box and press a letter. You’ll see [Ctrl] + [Alt] is assigned to it – click OK to finish.

17. Use The Start Menu's Run Dialog
Press [Windows] + [R] to access the Run dialog – from here you can type in web addresses, folder locations or the names of key programs and utilities (for example, devmgmt.msc for Device Manager) to access them more quickly than browsing the Start menu.

18. Use The Address Bar
The Run dialog works in exactly the same way as the Address bar, which you can place permanently on your Taskbar for even quicker access to sites, folders and programs – right-click the Taskbar and choose Toolbars > Address to use it.

19. Jump To A File
If you’ve opened a folder packed full of files, save time by typing the first few letters of the filename you’re after – you’ll jump straight to the file.

20. Utilise The SendTo Folder
Type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo into the Start > Run box or Address bar to open your personal SendTo folder. Drag a program shortcut into here (hold down [Ctrl] as you drag to ensure it’s copied rather than moved) and you can open a file in that program simply by right-clicking it and choosing Send to > Program name - perfect if, for example, you have a number of different image-editing tools installed on your PC and you need to choose a different one to the default.

21. Prioritise Your Programs
It’s possible to give programs different levels of priority to the processor, which can help improve performance in processor-intensive programs like multimedia tools (including Windows Media Player) and games at the expense of other programs.
Run intensive programs with higher levels of priority for better performance
By default all programs run with a priority level of Normal, but it’s possible to raise this to AboveNormal or even High. To do so, right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager. Locate your program on the Applications tab, right-click it and choose Go to Process. Now right-click the selected process and choose Priority to give it a new level – don’t choose RealTime as this will give the program priority over Windows Vista itself, and may even bring your system grinding to a halt.

22. Always Run at Different Priority
You can tweak a program’s shortcut so that every time it’s launched it runs at a higher priority. Change high to abovenormal or whichever priority you wish to use.
a) Enter Shortcut Command
Right-click the shortcut and select Properties. Type the following into the beginning of the Target box, before the path and filename: cmd.exe /c start “” /high
b) Change Program Icon
Click Apply. The shortcut icon will change to a command prompt, so click Change Icon followed by Browse… Select the program file the shortcut opens and click Open. You’ll see the program icon appear – select this and click OK twice to finish.

23. Choose a Lower Priority
Don’t elevate too many programs to AboveNormal or High – instead, look at some background programs and consider lowering their priority level to BelowNormal or Low, so they don’t compete so fiercely for processor time, helping to boost performance elsewhere.

24. Quickly Gain Elevated Rights
Press the [Windows] key to launch the Start menu and type in the program you’re looking for – press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [Enter] followed by [Alt] + [C] and you’ll launch it with full administrator rights without having to click once.

25. Disable Security Prompts
The simplest way to disable UAC is using the free Tweak VI tool.
The free basic version of Tweak VI includes some nifty tweaks that can speed up your PC. First up, the program will disable User Accounts Control for you during installation if you wish, removing the confirmation dialogs that appear when you perform administrative-level tasks. Remember though that you’re compromising security for convenience, so disable it with care.

26. Optimise Superfetch
Windows Vista’s SuperFetch settings are designed to maximise performance, and Tweak VI has a section dedicated to occasionally flushing the logs to clear things out and optimise it. To access this, select System Information and Tweaks > Hard drive information… and switch to the ‘Prefetcher’ and ‘SuperFetch’ optimization tab.

27. Go Tweaking
Explore the other areas of Tweak VI and see what you can find – there’s a section on improving performance based on your processor, plus other tips and tweaks too. Make sure you take a System Restore point before tweaking though, in case you push your machine too far.

28. Defrag Your Hard Drive
Set a schedule for defragmenting your drive.
Defragmenting your hard drive basically rearranges the files on it so they’re loaded quicker, speeding up your PC as a result. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows Vista runs the Disk Defragmenter automatically on a weekly basis to stay on top of this. You can run the program manually or change the schedule to daily or monthly by typing defrag into the Start menu’s Search box.

29. Turn Off Automatic Defragmentation
Your PC slows down while the Defragmenter is running, so you might prefer to set it to run manually – turn off scheduling by unticking “Run on a Schedule (recommended)”. Alternatively, pick a time when you’re away from your PC – say your lunch hour – so it doesn’t interfere with your work.

30. Boost Your Hard Drive
Many PCs now ship with SATA hard drives, which are superior to the older IDE standard. If you’re running a laptop or a PC connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) you can speed things up by switching on its advanced features. To do this, click Start, type Device Manager and press [Enter]. Open the Disk Drives section, right-click your hard drive and choose Properties > Policies tab. Write caching should already be enabled, so tick “Enable advanced performance” and click OK.

31. Access Any CD or DVD Instantly
Fed up with swapping discs? CDs and DVDs can be stored as ISO image files – exact replicas of the disc – on your hard drive for super-fast access (they’re quicker to load from too). All you need to do is set up a virtual CD or DVD drive to access them – DAEMON Tools enables you to do this – download it from Daemon-tools - if you have privacy concerns, make sure you untick “DAEMON Tools Search Bar” during installation.
Virtual CD or DVD drives look and behave exactly like a DVD-ROM drive

32. Create your own ISO
It’s possible to convert a disc into a single ISO file that you store on your hard drive – download the free LCISO Creator tool from Lucersoft to do so (just select your disc from the drop-down menu and click Create ISO).

33. Monitor System Demands
Resource Monitor gives you a detailed overview of how your system is working
Right-click the Taskbar and choose Task Manager, then switch to the Performance tab to see what the current demands are on your processor and memory (click Resource Monitor for more details). Switch to the Processes tab and click the CPU tab to see what’s currently hogging system resources.

34. Remove Unwated Programs
The more software you have installed on your system, the slower it will run. Even applications that aren’t currently running take up disk space and clutter up the Registry. Open the Control Panel and select Uninstall a program under Programs. Select the program you want to remove and click Uninstall/Change. Follow the uninstaller.

35. Streamline Your Startup
Every program that starts with Windows Vista consumes resources and extends the boot time. Some programs – like your security tools – are essential, but others aren’t. Discover how to trim back what loads with a free program called AutoRuns, which you can download from Microsoft TechNet.
a) Extract Program Files
Once downloaded, double-click Autoruns.zip and choose Extract all files. Choose a folder and click Extract. Once complete, double-click autoruns.exe to launch the program.
b) Logon Tab
A whole series of tabs will appear, each display start-up programs according to their category. Switch to the Logon tab. Untick those you think it’s safe to disable – right-click an entry and choose Search Online to find out more about it first.
c) Delete Entries Permently
Once you’ve ascertained a disabled entry isn’t important, you can opt to remove it completely - to do so, right-click it and choose Delete. Click Yes when prompted.

36. Disable Network Printer Search
If you’re on a network, but not sharing any printers, speed things up a little by disabling the network printer search. Click Start, type network and sharing center and press [Enter]. Under Printer Sharing, click the down arrow and select Turn off printer sharing before clicking Apply.

37. Speed up Start Menu Searches
There are various ways to speed up the search box on the Start menu by scaling back what it looks for when you enter your search terms. Right-click the Start button and choose Properties, then click Customize. Scroll down and consider unticking Search communications (for email and instant messaging chats), plus favourites and history (Web searches). Select “Don’t search for files” under Search files to restrict the Search box to the Start menu only.
Speed up searches by excluding chats and email from them

38. Scale Back Indexed Searches
Windows Vista’s indexed search technology means super-fast searches, but does impact on day-to-day performance. Exclude unwanted items from your indexes to boost performance – click Start, type indexing options and press [Enter]. A list of current locations will be displayed – click Modify followed by Show all locations, and then untick those areas you don’t want to index.

39. Advanced Index Options
Remove file types that you’re unlikely to search for from the index
Back in Indexing Options, click the Advanced button. This launches a dialog that enables you to change more indexing configurations. On the File Types tab, you can opt to add or remove certain file extensions from indexing. Consider removing executables and files that you’re unlikely to search for.

40. Disable Search Indexing
The minor performance hit brought about by indexing your hard drive for fast searches is acceptable to most people, but if you’re on a low-spec system you can disable this for slower search results, but better overall performance. Click Start > Computer, right-click your drive and choose Properties, then untick “Index this drive for faster searching” on the General tab before clicking OK.

41. Optimise the Registry
Download and install Free Registry Defrag from registry-clean.net then launch the program. Click Analyze Registry and wait for the results to show up – unlike Registry cleaning utilities, no entries are removed from the Registry with the problems that often introduces; instead wasted space is reclaimed and the files defragmented to improve performance.
Don’t “clean” your Registry, defrag it instead

42. Scale Back Visual Effects
Remove some of Windows Vista’s visual effects for a speed boost. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Click Advanced System Settings and click Settings under Performance. On the Visual Effects tab select Adjust for best performance to disable everything, or click Custom to disable individual effects. Click OK twice to enable your changes.

43. Disable Transparent Effects
Disable transparency in Windows Aero for a more responsive experience
The glass effect used by Windows Aero consumes a large number of resources. You can switch it off without disabling Windows Aero by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Personalize. Select Window Colour and Appearance and untick Enable Transparency before clicking OK.

44. Disable System Restore
System Restore is handy for rolling your system back after encountering problems, but the cost is less disk space and processing power as Restore points are created and your drive is monitored. If you can live without this fail-safe mechanism, switch it off. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties. Choose System Protection, then untick the box next to your drive and click Turn off System Restore when prompted.

45. Disable User Account Control
User Account Control puts in a layer of security that stops you from making system changes without confirming them. More experienced users willing to take the security risk can disable this to speed things up when performing low-level tasks. Open Control Panel and choose User Accounts and Family Safety. Select User Accounts and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Untick Use User Account Control to protect your computer, click OK and reboot.
User Account Control can slow down and irritate experts, but it’s essential for less experienced users

46. Stop Autmatic Hibernation
Prevent your PC from going to sleep to free up more resources
The Automatic hibernation process runs constantly in the background using up resources. If you’re happy to hibernate manually, and you’re not using a laptop on battery power, switch it off: open Control Panel, select System and Maintenance and click “Change when the computer sleeps”. Set “Put the computer to sleep” to Never and click Save changes.

47. Disable Remote Differential Compression
Unless you move files around your network on a regular basis, this feature can be safely switched off. Open Control Panel and select Programs. Choose Turn Windows features on and off, untick Remote Differential Compression and click OK.

48. Check Event Viewer
Problems with your PC can sometimes be manifested in sluggish performance or long delays – here’s how to identify what they are, enabling you to examine ways of fixing them
a) Access System Logs
Click Start, right-click Computer and select Manage. When the Computer Management console appears select Event Viewer – after a short delay the following summary screen will appear.
b) View Errors and Warnings
Select Windows Logs. Double-click a log to view recorded events – select Action > Filter Current Log and tick Critical, Error and Warning so only those events are shown. Click OK.
c) Event Details
Right click an event and choose Event Properties. The resulting dialog presents details of the event, including a brief description of what happened – if further information is available, click it for a possible fix.

49. Lose the Sidebar
Each Sidebar gadget consumes system resources, so either trim back what you use to a minimum or go one step further and switch it off completely. Right-click the sidebar and choose Properties. Untick “Start the Sidebar when Windows starts” and click OK, then right-click again and this time choose Close Sidebar.

50. How Stable are your Tweaks
It’s a good idea to monitor your system to see what effect – positive or negative – your tweaks have on the stability of your system. The Reliability Monitor provides a graph over time so you can see how each action might have affected the running of your PC.

Barack Obama Win for Indians!

It is much more than celebration time in India. Barack Obama’s victory in the US presidential election has brought palpable relief among general public as well as political parties of all hues (Surprise…Surprise!!!…Including the Left parties).
However, a few policy experts have some reservations about Obama.
IANS writes: “Obama, 47, who has promised to renew American diplomacy to meet the challenges of the 21st century by rebuilding alliances and expressed a willingness ‘to meet with all nations, friend and foe, to advance American interests’, has said that India will be ‘top priority’ in his presidency.
“Obama is an ardent admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of Satyagraha - resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience.
” ‘In my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he embodied the kind of transformational change that can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things,’ he wrote in an article.
” ‘That is why his (Gandhi’s) portrait hangs in my Senate office; to remind me that real results will not just come from Washington, they will come from the people’.
“Obama believes that ‘India is a natural strategic partner for America in the 21st century and that the US should be working with India on a range of critical issues from preventing terrorism to promoting peace and stability in Asia’.
“A former aide told IANS that Obama has a soft corner for the Indian-American community and learnt tales of the Indian epic Mahabharata from his mother who has visited South Asia. He is also believed to like Indian food.” More here…
India’s leading TV channel, NDTV, says: “Not all are so enthusiastic about the Obama presidency in India though. The diplomatic establishment and strategic circles are treading cautiously, especially after Obama’s recent remarks on Kashmir, which they see as a throwback to American postures 10 years ago.
In an interview last week, Obama had said: “We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation with those militants.”
” ‘It is ill-advised and outdated and reflects his advisers have not kept up with the times,’ said Arundhati Ghose, a former Indian diplomat who represented India in the UN, while advising a wait and watch policy towards the Obama administration.
“K Subrahmanyam, a defence analyst, counseled that India should not overreact. ‘Obama is a flexible intellectual. Let’s wait and watch’.”

Another issue that is causing concern in India is Obama's incentives to American companies who don't outsource jobs. "This is certainly going to affect us if Obama's policies turn protectionist. Given the financial meltdown, there is a greater likelihood of protectionism," Ghosh said. Mansingh also sees a potential pitfall in Obama's strong views on non-proliferation and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. "India will be under enormous pressure to sign the CTBT," pointed out Mansingh. Ghose, however, thinks India need not worry much on this count as the nuclear deal has been sealed and New Delhi will not mind coming on board after the US and China does so.

Recession fears stress IT pros

IT professionals taking on more work in light of the current economic climate identified rising workloads as the greatest source of workplace stress, according to research from Robert Half Technology.
The IT staffing and consulting firm has released results of a poll of 1,400 CIOs that asked what stresses IT professionals most. More than one-third (36 per cent) reported increasing workloads as the primary source of workplace worry.
The pace of new technology followed, with 22 per cent, and office politics taxed some 18 per cent of respondents. The survey revealed that other stressors for IT professionals include work/life balance issues (11 per cent) and commuting (7 per cent).
"Too much work may sound like a relatively good problem to have in today's uncertain economic climate," says Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology.
"But overstressed IT workers are unlikely to perform their best. The pressure of mounting workloads, combined with ever-evolving technologies and office politics, can quickly erode morale and adversely affect productivity."
The survey results should not be shocking, considering the pace at which IT budgets are being cut and hiring plans frozen in response to recent economic turmoil.
In June, for instance, the Society for Information Management polled more than 300 IT executives about their plans for IT spending in 2009, and in early October released results that showed 44 per cent planned for bigger budgets and 43 per cent intended to increase staffing. Three-quarters of those polled also expected to see IT staff salaries increase in 2009.
Yet a more recent tally from the CIO Executive Board revealed strikingly different spending plans. The late September survey of some 50 CIOs by the association for IT executives showed that more than half of those polled have put nonessential projects on hold and about one-fourth have decided to freeze IT hiring. And 61 per cent of those surveyed admitted they were re-evaluating their 2009 budgets.
"For the average company, the trend is a lot of caution going forward. There is too much uncertainty around the bailout and the national election for IT leaders to be confident in new investments," says John Estes, a vice president with IT staffing and consulting firm Robert Half Technology.
This caution will translate into more work for existing network executives-without any wiggle room in their budget or access to more personnel. The idea of donning multiple hats isn't a new one for many IT shops, but today's economy is changing what used to be a quick fix into standard operating procedure.
John Turner, director of network and systems at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., said during an interview earlier this month that his IT budget has been directly impacted by the current economic crisis.
"Our operating expenditure budgets have been frozen and cut, and we currently have a hiring freeze in effect," he reported. "There is an obvious direct financial impact to our institution when there is this amount of uncertainty in the market."