Web Talk

Gicks is a website that lets you create animated gifs starting from Flickr pictures, your own pictures or even YouTube videos! To start using it, you don’t even have to sign-up. Just specify where to upload your pictures, what sizes your gif will be (200 pixel with Gickr’s logo, 120, 100, or 50 pixels without Gickr’s logo) and its frame rate. That’s it! Reading from the website: “Gickr.com lets you instantly create Animated GIF online, free, right now! Just upload pictures or grab them from your Flickr. Create funny flashy slideshows with you and your friends, cartoons, previews, banners, etc. Post them anywhere you can post pictures: MySpace, Bebo, HI5 etc. No need for flash. Show them to people in our Gallery.”

Sometimes, in order to save time and pain-in-the-butt clicks, it is necessary to find some kind of shortcuts or trick to get something you really need on your desktop right away. I mean, why spend seconds, minutes and dozens of clicks when instead, with a simple step, you are able to display whatever you want on your computer? Here is a useful list of Vista shortcuts:

Ctrl+Shift+Esc -> Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del -> Tasks Screen)
Ctrl+Shift+Enter -> Run an executable with elevated privileges
Windows logo key+1-0 -> Launch the shortcuts on the Quick Launch toolbar
Windows logo key+T -> Cycle through programs on the taskbar
Windows logo key+Tab -> Cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Flip 3-D
Ctrl+Windows logo key+Tab -> Use the arrow keys to cycle through programs on the taskbar by using Flip 3-D
Windows logo key+Spacebar -> Bring all gadgets to the front and select Windows Sidebar
Windows logo key+G -> Cycle through Sidebar gadgets
Windows logo key+X -> Open Windows Mobility Center
Open a folder and press & release Alt -> Show Menu Bar (also works in Internet Explorer)

Source: neowin.net

Despite the fact Microsoft has not released Windows XP Sp3 yet, there are already a lot of leaked versions of it available in the Internet. This is due to Microsoft itself which has sent it to a lot of website and blogs, in order to test it. Some good-willed guys has decided to leak it to make us all extremely happy! So, the name of this Windows Xp Sp3 is WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe and will update Xp to version 5.1.2600.5512. It and can be downloaded by using some good bittorrent client such as Utorrent. Alternatively, if you don’t want to use bittorrent, you can download it through HTTP. Here are the links:

Download MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.XP.SERVICE.PACK.3.v5.1.2600.5512.

(ThePirateBay link) (BT Torrent Download)

Download WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe (HTTP Download)

File Characteristic of WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe

Size: 331,805,736 bytes (316 MB)
CRC32: C411A9DA
MD5: BB25707C919DD835A9D9706B5725AF58
SHA-1: C81472F7EEEA2ECA421E116CD4C03E2300EBFDE4

As usual, before installing any new XP service pack, you have to uninstall any previous pack that you may have already installed on your computer. Here is the procedure.

P.S.: Microsoft has just released the official Windows XP SP3. Dowload it now from the official Microsoft Server:

Windows XP SP3 English

windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86

Size: 316.5 MB (331 805 736 bytes)
MD5: bb25707c919dd835a9d9706b5725af58
SHA-1: c81472f7eeea2eca421e116cd4c03e2300ebfde4
Size: 331,805,736

P.S.II: Microsoft has just delayed it Windows XP SP3 (Its release date was set for the 29th of April). Continue reading »

It has been quite a long time since I last wrote about a new ultraportable being spotted in the wild. I was a little worried to tell you the truth. Anyway, thanks to 3K all of my worries have disappeared in while. As a matter of fact 3K has just unveiled its new ultraportable baby which, if you ask me, looks like Asus Eee a little too much! Anyway here are its specs:

• It weights just under 2 lb.
• 7-inch LCD TFT Display.
• Linux Operating System included.
• It also include an open source Office Suite with the following software: AbiWord - Opens Microsoft® Word Files, GNUMeric - Opens Microsoft® Excel Files, an E-mail Client, and a PDF Reader.
• “There is a bundle of consumer software included with applications such as games, schedulers, music players, movie players, planners and more.”
• 400Mhz CPU.
• 3 USB connection ports and 1 Ethernet 10/100 LAN port.
• Its price starts from $400.

Longitude 400 Mini Notebook Ultra Mobile PC will start being available in May. For more info click here.

Last year I wrote a post about a rumor saying Compusa going out of business. It turned out that it was true indeed. What I am about to write here is not a rumor at all. In fact Compusa is going to re-open 15 stores plus a new one in Florida! Here is the news taken directly from Compusa website: “CompUSA.com is proud to announce the Grand Re-Opening of 15 US stores and the Grand Opening of our new Palm Beach Gardens Store. We’ve got lower prices… New wider selection… And amazing new deals. Come check out the all new CompUSA near you.”

During installation of Windows Vista Sp1 the setup can give you back an error regardless to whether the upgrade is done via Windows Update or standalone setup installer. The error is something like this:

Error code: 0×80070002. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=101139 for details.

In the event viewer there could also be logs which look like this one:

Error: Source: Servicing EventID: 4385

Windows Servicing failed to complete the process of changing update 936330-2_neutral_GDR from package KB936330(Service Pack) into Staging(Staging) state.

This kind of error may come from some corrupted files or components in Windows Vista. One way to fix this error is to try to disable Windows Vista Features and perform another upgrade in order to fix the corrupted files. Here is the trick to follow. Continue reading »

While trying to activate your brand new Windows Vista through (WPA), the whole process could meet some issue due to third-party firewall that is set to use HTTPS authentication to enable access to the Internet. To fix this issue read this trick:

1. Click Start, type Internet Options in the Start Search text box, and then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click Trusted Sites.
4. Click Sites.
5. Under Add this Web site to the zone, type the IP address or the DNS name of the non-Microsoft firewall.
6. Click Add, and then click Close.
7. Restart Windows Internet Explorer. If you are prompted, accept the warning message about the firewall certificate.

Source: KB951011

According to Microsoft support website there are 8 causes because SP1 won’t be able to be downloaded into your computer. These causes are listed from the less difficult one to the most tricky one. The most common cause is due to the fact that your update list is quite old. So, the first thing to do is to refresh if by follwoing these very east steps:

1. Open Windows Update.
2. Click “Check for Updates” in the sidebar.
3. Give your computer a couple of minutes to get the new list of updates.

If you still don’t see the SP1 read the following articles from Microsoft support website and try to solve the issue by yourself. If you still don’t manage to get the solution, don’t forget that “Windows Update” is not the only way to get your SP1. As a matter of fact you can download it from other sources. Click here and start downloading it.