TechGig : Tech News - Read News

TechGig : Tech News - Read News

Competitive Examinations In India

Competitive Examinations In India

25 Cool Windows 7 Keyboard Tricks That Will Impress Your Friends

POSTED IN COMPUTERS & INTERNET

Anyone working professionally with a computer has their hands on the keyboard most of the time. Reaching for the mouse can be an annoying disturbance and personally I often turn over my mouse in such situations. An easy solution is to simply keep the hands on the keyboard and complete as many tasks as possible with keyboard shortcuts only.

Apart from making you work more efficiently and faster, you can also impress your friends or colleagues by being able to work without a mouse. This article describes some cool Windows 7 keyboard tricks to get you started. In the end you might never want to take your hands off the keyboard again.

For your convenience, more keyboard shortcut resources are attached at the bottom.

Note that some of these shortcuts will only work if Windows Aero is enabled. If Aero effects are disabled on your computer, it might not be powerful enough to support resource intensive graphical features.

Aero Shortcuts

• [Windows] + [Spacebar] (Aero Peek)
Make all open windows transparent to view gadgets and icons on desktop.

• [Windows] + [D] (Aero Peek)
Show or hide the desktop.
• [Windows] + [Home] (Aero Shake)
Minimize all but selected window. Reverse by clicking the key combination again.
• [Windows] + left arrow OR [Windows] + right arrow (Aero Snap)
Dock selected window to the left or right half of your screen.
• [Windows] + up arrow OR [Windows] + down arrow (Aero Snap)
Maximized and restores the selected window.
• [Windows] + [SHIFT] + up arrow OR [Windows] + [SHIFT] + down arrow (Aero Snap)
Maximizes and restores selected window in vertical dimension only.
• [Windows] + [Tab] (Aero Flip)
Launch 3D representation of open windows and click [Tab] key again to flip through them.

Windows & Taskbar

• [Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Tag] + left/right/up/down arrow
Flip window.
• [Alt] + [Tab]
Cycle through open windows.

• [Windows] + [T] OR [Windows] + [SHIFT] + [T]
Move focus to front or back of taskbar. Press [T] again while holding the [Windows] key to cycle through items in the taskbar from left to right or, with [SHIFT] button held too, from right to left.
• [Windows] + [B]
Puts focus on the ‘show hidden icons’ button on the system tray.
• [Windows] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [9]
Launch first through ninth icon on taskbar, including items pinned to taskbar.
• [Windows] + [SHIFT] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [SHIFT] + [9]
Starts new instance of respective taskbar icon.
• [Windows] + [Ctrl] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [Ctrl] + [9]
Cycles through multiple instances of the respective icon.
• [Windows] + [Alt] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [Alt] + [9]
Opens jump list for respective icon.

Multiple Monitors

• [Windows] + [SHIFT] + right arrow OR [Windows] + [SHIFT] + left arrow
Move selected window from one monitor to another. They will remain in the same relative location.
• [Windows] + [P]
Select presentation display mode.

Magnifier

• [Windows] + [+] OR [Windows] + [-]
Activates Windows Magnifier to zoom in or out of screen.
• [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [D]
Switch to docked mode.
• [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [L]
Switch to lense mode.

• [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [F]
Switch from docked or lens mode back to full screen mode.
• [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [I]
Invert colors.
• [Windows] + [Esc]
Exist magnifier views.

Other

• [Windows] + [G]
Cycle through desktop gadgets.
• [Windows] + [X]
Launches Windows Mobility Center. Especially useful if you’re working on a laptop.

Toll Free Numbers Across India

Toll Free Numbers in India

26 MAY 2011

This can really be a nice collection.

Airlines:

Indian Airlines - 1800 180 1407
Jet Airways - 1800 22 5522

SpiceJet - 1800 180 3333
Air India -- 1800 22 7722
KingFisher - 1800 180 0101
-----------------------------------------
Banks:

ABN AMRO - 1800 11 2224
Canara Bank - 1800 44 6000
Citibank - 1800 44 2265
Corporatin Bank - 1800 443 555
Development Credit Bank - 1800 22 5769
HDFC Bank - 1800 227 227
ICICI Bank - 1800 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI - 1800 22 4848
IDBI Bank - 1800 11 6999
Indian Bank - 1800 425 1400
ING Vysya - 1800 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1800 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank - 1800 11 2300
Punjab National Bank - 1800 122 222
State Bank of India - 1800 44 1955
Syndicate Bank - 1800 44 6655
-----------------------------------------
Automobiles:

Mahindra Scorpio - 1800 22 6006
Maruti - 1800 111 515
Tata Motors - 1800 22 5552
Windshield Experts - 1800 11 3636
-----------------------------------------
Computers/IT:

Adrenalin - 1800 444 445
AMD - 1800 425 6664
Apple Computers - 1800 444 683
Canon - 1800 333 366
Cisco Systems - 1800 221 777
Compaq - HP - 1800 444 999
Data One Broadband - 1800 424 1800
Dell - 1800 444 026
Epson - 1800 44 0011
eSys - 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy - 1800 444 888
HCL - 1800 180 8080
IBM - 1800 443 333
Lexmark - 1800 22 4477
Marshal's Point - 1800 33 4488
Microsoft - 1800 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334
Seagate - 1800 180 1104
Symantec - 1800 44 5533
TVS Electronics - 1800 444 566
WeP Peripherals - 1800 44 6446
Wipro - 1800 333 312
xerox - 1800 180 1225
Zenith - 1800 222 004
-----------------------------------------
Indian Railway General Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Central Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Reservation 131
Indian Railway Railway Reservation Enquiry 1345,1335,1330
Indian Railway Centralised Railway Enquiry 1330/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9
-----------------------------------------
Couriers/Packers & Movers:

ABT Courier - 1800 44 8585
AFL Wizz - 1800 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1800 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd - 1800 21 4560
DHL - 1800 111 345
FedEx - 1800 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers - 1800 11 3456
UPS - 1800 22 7171
-----------------------------------------
Home Appliances:

Aiwa/Sony - 1800 11 1188
Anchor Switches - 1800 22 7979
Blue Star - 1800 22 2200
Bose Audio - 1800 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1800 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners - 1800 444 222
DishTV - 1800 12 3474
Faber Chimneys - 1800 21 4595
Godrej - 1800 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps - 1800 33 4555
LG - 1901 180 9999
Philips - 1800 22 4422
Samsung - 1800 113 444
Sanyo - 1800 11 0101
Voltas - 1800 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1800 44 5432
-----------------------------------------
Investments/ Finance:

CAMS - 1800 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund - 1800 22 2300
Easy IPO's - 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments - 1800 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund - 1800 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley - 1800 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund - 1800 222 626
LIC Housing Finance - 1800 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund - 1800 22 3040
Sharekhan - 1800 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund - 1800 22 0101
-----------------------------------------
Travel:

Club Mahindra Holidays - 1800 33 4539
Cox & Kings - 1800 22 1235
God TV Tours - 1800 442 777
Kerala Tourism - 1800 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1800 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - 1800 22 9900
Sita Tours - 1800 111 911
SOTC Tours - 1800 22 3344
-----------------------------------------
Healthcare:

Best on Health - 1800 11 8899
Dr Batras - 1800 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline - 1800 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson - 1800 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic - 1800 22 5292
LifeCell - 1800 44 5323
Manmar Technologies - 1800 33 4420
Pfizer - 1800 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek - 1800 11 45 46
Rudraksha - 1800 21 4708
Varilux Lenses - 1800 44 8383
VLCC - 1800 33 1262
-----------------------------------------
Insurance:

AMP Sanmar - 1800 44 2200
Aviva - 1800 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz - 1800 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance - 1800 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life - 1800 227 227
LIC - 1800 33 4433
Max New York Life - 1800 33 5577
Royal Sundaram - 1800 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance - 1800 22 9090
-----------------------------------------
Hotel Reservations:

GRT Grand - 1800 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group - 1800 111 000
Marriott - 1800 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza - 1800 111 222
Taj Holidays - 1800 111 825
-----------------------------------------
Teleshopping:

Asian Sky Shop - 1800 22 1800
Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1800 11 5225
Tele Brands - 1800 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping - 1800 447 777
WWS Teleshopping - 1800 220 777
-----------------------------------------
Others:

Domino's Pizza - 1800 111 123
-----------------------------------------
Cell Phones:

BenQ - 1800 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones - 1800 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist - 1800 11 1211
Nokia - 3030 3838
Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111

Articles Adda - Toll Free Numbers in India

Articles Adda - Toll Free Numbers in India

QiblaLocator

QiblaLocator

infotec-forums: Marketing Information - Market your Business on Facebook

infotec-forums: Marketing Information - Market your Business on Facebook

Gmail Chat & AIM Are Now Interoperable

Mashable | 12 hrs ago

Like ThisAdd Comment

AOL and Google have taken their instant messaging partnership to a whole new level with complete interoperability between AIM, Gmail and Google Talk.

Gmail users have been able to access their AIM account through Google Talk since 2007, but AIM accounts couldn’t message Google Talk accounts and vice versa. The juggling of two different IM accounts has limited the usefulness of AIM within Gmail. Google announced in blog post though that the two companies have made some interoperability changes to their chat clients.

The first big change is that AIM users can now send messages to their Google contacts and vice versa. This works no matter what client a person is using, so they can IM a friend that uses AIM via Google Talk, Gmail, iGoogle, Orkut or any other Gtalk client. Gmail users will now see a prompt asking them to add their AIM buddies directly to Gtalk. Users will have to add @aol.com to the end of the AIM contact they are trying to add to make it work (e.g. screenname@aol.com).

Because users can add AIM contacts directly through Gmail, Google has removed the ability to sign in via AIM. This would normally be a problem for Google users that have hundreds of AIM contacts in their Gmail chat client, but AOL has created a tool to help them quickly add their AIM buddies to Gmail.

The changes may not affect users immediately, but they are big changes. AOL and Google have tens of millions of instant messenging users each. Combining their user bases makes both chat platforms far more useful, which could help them fend off their competition. They need to worry about Facebook, whose FbChat service has grown in popularity, and Skype, which has more than 500 million users and is now owned by Microsoft.

Fresher trouble for IT companies

Times of India | 12 hrs ago

Like This2Add Comment(8)

Top outsourcing customers, including Amex spinoff Ameriprise and Capital One, are raising concerns over the increasing number of new engineering graduates employed by Indian and foreign tech firms in IT projects.

People familiar with the discussions said customers, especially in the banking and financial services sector, are worried that a high proportion of freshers may affect quality in what they call critical back-office functions.

Already, customers such as Capital One—theVirginia bank that outsources to some of the top tech firms based in India and overseas—are demanding more scrutiny on the ratio of freshers working on critical projects. A person familiar with TCS' engagement with Ameriprise said the outsourcing firm had to pay a penalty of around $2 million towards errors in updating a brokerage system at the financial firm last year.

'TCS did not use 'liability insurance' to pay up this fine to avoid getting this documented and instead had to reduce cost of different contracts,' the person added. For the over $100-billion US IT outsourcing market, these concerns are an early warning signal as rivals TCS, Infosys, IBM, HP and others push to maintain profitability by increasing the proportion of fresh graduates at lower salaries in locations such as India.

Customers such as Amex, Citibank and JPMorgan are demanding more with less, or the same IT budget, forcing firms to seek ways of sustaining their profit margins through the use of freshers at lower salaries. Ameriprise spokespersons Benjamin Pratt and Stacy Housman did not responded to an email query sent by ET last week.

The Pyramid model
A questionnaire sent on May 12 to the TCS office was not answered till Wednesday. When contacted initially on May 12, the TCS spokes-man had said he would get back on the query in a day, but did not re-spond later. A US-based analyst who consults customers on working with vendors such as TCS says, 'We are aware of certain big players having to pay fines based on poor quality, and these are actual costs. It's (the labour-based model) going to catch up with them.' Ameriprise and Amex together are one of the top customers for outsourcing and offshoring globally.

TCS, Infosys and Cognizant derive nearly $100 million every year from these two customers. For long, outsourcing firms have been perfecting a model wherein they hire thousands of freshers every year, accounting for nearly 95% of overall recruitment. These fresh hires, after up to six months of training, are pushed into the system to ensure that offshoring remains cost effective despite a 10-15 % wage inflation every year. Growing concerns at large outsourcing customers about the profile of workers assigned to their projects is an early warning for all tech firms following the so-called 'pyramid model', which is based on a high proportion of fresh engineering graduates recruited from campuses and managed by a few middle to senior-level managers at the top.

At least three top executives at five of the biggest tech firms said while most customers are only interested in the output and not necessarily the profile of the staff, some have started becoming more watchful. 'You can't single out only the Indian companies,' said the CEO of one of the top Indian tech firms. 'I don't think it's such a big problem, we have been increasing the training period before they are put on live projects, and while these complaints are rare, many multinationals are now increasing the proportion of freshers in India.' 

Windows7 saving shortcuts

15 time-saving Windows shortcuts  

POSTED IN COMPUTERS & INTERNET

Time is often of the essence when dealing with PCs, especially when a lot of IT-based work seems to involve watching progress indicators crawl across the screen.

It's vital to recoup what snippets of time you can,

and so a set of useful Windows shortcuts that help you perform common tasks is very welcome.For those tasks you carry out particularly often, consider setting a hotkey so you can launch them directly from the keyboard.

Here are 15 time-saving Windows shortcuts you should try.

1. Safely remove hardware:

A great place to start saving a few seconds is the 'Safely remove hardware' dialog, which helps you disconnect USB devices without data loss. The default method to launch this is via a small icon in the system tray, which can be fiddly and awkward to use, especially if you're in a hurry.

Here's how to make a standard shortcut that does the same job. Right-click anywhere on the desktop and choose 'New | Shortcut'. In the 'Location' box, type the following: RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll.

Provide a suitable name for the shortcut and then complete the wizard. Double-click the newly created shortcut, then select the specific device that you want to remove.

2. Install USB Ejector:

If you want a bit more control, or you'd like to produce a shortcut that ejects a specific device, you can do so with the help of some additional software.

USB Ejector is free to use, and is available from. Download and install it.

When the software is launched, you can select the device to eject. By calling it from the command line, you can specify the drive letter you want to eject and then convert the command into a shortcut. Connect your USB drive to see what letter Windows assigns to it.

Now create a new shortcut with the following in the 'Location' box: C:\path-to\USB_Disk_Eject.exe / REMOVELETTER X, where 'path-to' is the full location of the program and 'X' is the letter of the USB drive. Complete the shortcut and you'll be able to use it to eject your drive.

3. Launch a screensaver:

If you want to launch a screensaver to obscure your screen, or just for fun, you can do so from the command line. If you convert this command to a shortcut, you can start a screensaver with a double-click.

To find the commands for the available screensavers, browse to the System32 folder, which is usually located at 'C:\Windows\ System32'. Run a search for '*. scr' and make a note of the screensaver file names.

Now return to the desktop and create a new shortcut with the full path to the screensaver of your choice, followed by the '/s' switch. For example, to launch the Mystify screensaver, enter: C:\Windows\System32\Mystify.scr /s.

4. Enable and disable transparency at will:

Some operations work best when Aero transparency is turned off, but doing so manually takes time. You can make shortcuts to disable and re-enable transparency quickly.

To disable it, enter the following into the 'Location' field: rundll32.exe dwmApi #104. To enable it again, create a shortcut with the following in 'Location': rundll32.exe dwmApi #102.

5. Mute hotkey:

Many laptops include a mute key that lets you switch off Windows sounds easily when you're working in a public place. However, if your laptop is missing such a luxury, you can always make your own.

Start by downloading and installing the free utility NirCmd.

Right-click on the desktop and choose 'New | Shortcut'. In the location bar enter "C:\path-to\nircmd.exe" mutesysvolume 2, where 'path-to' is the full location of the 'nircmd.exe' program.

Complete the shortcut and launch it to check that it mutes the sound. Launch it again to restore sound.

Now right-click the shortcut and choose 'Properties'. On the 'Shortcut' tab, set the hotkey you want to use to launch it. You can now mute Windows at will.

6. Copy file list to clipboard:

If you need to produce a list of file names, typing them all out individually or even copying and pasting each name can be a tedious process. With a simple registry hack, you can produce a right-click menu item that copies all the file names in a folder automatically.

To try this, choose 'Start' and enter regedit in the search bar. Press [Enter]. Browse to this key: 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Folder\shell'.

Create a new key called 'copylist', and a subkey below this called 'command'. In the 'copylist' key, right-click the default value and choose 'Modify'. Enter Copy list to clipboard. Now right-click the default value in command and choose 'Modify'. Enter the following for the value: cmd /c dir "%1" /b /a:-d /o:n | clip.

Close regedit – you can now right-click any folder to see the new menu option.

7. Clear the clipboard:

If you've recently placed a lot of data on the clipboard and no longer need it, or want it cleared for security reasons, this handy shortcut can help. It uses the 'clip.exe' utility, which is present in both Windows 7 and Vista.

To begin, right-click on the desktop and create a new shortcut. Type the following into 'Location': cmd /c "echo off | clip". Call the shortcut 'Clear clipboard'.

Right-click the new shortcut and choose 'Properties'. On the 'Shortcut' tab, set 'Run' to 'Minimised'. To help you remember what this particular shortcut does, you can give it a custom icon. Click 'Change icon' and browse to '%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll'.

There are lots of different system icons available here, so select one that looks like a clipboard.

8. Copy text file contents:

You can also make a registry edit to add a right-click menu option that copies the full contents of a text file to the clipboard without you having to open it.

Click 'Start', enter regedit into the search bar and press enter. Browse to this key: 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\txtfile\shell'. Create a new key here called 'copytoclip' and set its default value to Copy file contents.

Now you need to create a subkey within this key, called 'command'. Modify this subkey's default value to this: cmd /c clip < "%1_. Close regedit and right-click a text file to test the new menu item and copy the text to the clipboard automatically.

9. Create a new folder quickly:

Press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [N] in any Windows Explorer window using Windows 7 to create a new folder. To do the same thing in earlier versions of Windows, download and install bxNewFolder.

When you install the program, right-click and run the installer as administrator. This makes the [F12] key create a new folder.

10. Hibernate:

If you leave your PC for more than a minute or so, you can save power by putting it into hibernation. Creating a shortcut that does this job means you can do this more easily, and even assign a hotkey to it.

Right-click the desktop and choose New, Shortcut. Enter the following as the location: C:\ Windows\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll, SetSuspendState 0,1,0.

Call the shortcut 'Hibernate'. Right-click the new shortcut and choose 'Properties'. On the 'Shortcut' tab, you can then assign a hotkey and browse for a suitable icon.

11. Eject CD/DVD:

If you install the freeware NirCmd utility, you can create a shortcut that opens your CD/DVD drive tray. Set the following as the location of the shortcut: "C:\ path-to\nircmd.exe" cdrom open D:.

Replace 'path-to' with the location of the 'nircmd.exe' file. To make a shortcut to close the CD tray, use the same location but change 'open' to 'close'.

12. Switch power plans quickly:

You can create a shortcut to switch to any Windows power plan if you find its GUID. The shortcut location is: powercfg -setactive <GUID>. Replace '<GUID>' with the string of characters that Windows applies to that scheme.

You can find this out by opening a command prompt and entering powercfg -list. Right-click the background of the command window and choose 'Mark'. Select the GUID that you want to use and copy it to the clipboard.

13. Shutdown shortcut:

Instead of going to the 'Start' menu to shut down your PC, why not create a shortcut that does the job in one operation? Set this as the location: Shutdown.exe -s -t 00.

14. Restart shortcut:

You can do exactly the same thing to produce a shortcut that restarts your PC. Just change the shortcut location to: Shutdown.exe -r -t 00.

15. Lock workstation:

Finally, if you want to lock your PC, there's a 'lock workstation' shortcut. Enter the following as the location to create it: Rundll32.exe User32. dll,LockWorkStation.