Web Talk

While trying to install recommended updates in Windows Vista you might get the following error message: “Some updates were not installed - error(s) code 800B0100″. This error is very frustrating because it appears regardless whatever you do and how many times you try to download and install updates, forcing you to stop the service once for all. The trick in this case is quite simple because the error seems to depend on the Windows Firewall itself. It is just sufficient to disable it not to get it anymore and download all the updates you want. Here is how to disable Windows Firewall:

1. Click Start.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Click Security.
4. Click Turn Windows Firewall on and off.
5. Select Off (not recommended), click Apply and then OK.
6. Now you can  download and install the Windows updates again.

The most famous service provided by Google is without any doubt its free Gmail e-mail account, having the following domain extension: yourusername@gmail.com. What instead you don’t know is that you have the chance to sign-up for free to another Google e-mail account having a more complete and recognizable Google domain extension and pointing to the same Gmail mailbox. The Google e-mail account I am talking is: yourusername@googlemail.com. So, for example if you have a Gmail with the following e-mail address: myname@gmail.com, all e-mails sent to myname@googlemail.com will also be delivered to the same inbox belonging to the other address, and vice versa (basically you will have two Gmails with different extensions pointing to the same account). But, why does Google have  got two different e-mails? GoogleMail is a simple workaround adopted by the big G in order to make its service available  in United Kingdom (UK) and Germany where there is a trademark fight on rights to own the name of Gmail. People liking this Google service might be interesting in having a more complete and  recognizable Google e-email  by having the word “Google” in the e-mail address itself. If you want to sign-up for a Google account and a Google Mail account, just follow this link here.

As you know one of the most famous Firefox’s features ever, is the ability to show different websites in the same window. All these websites are neatly arranged into nice tabs right under the address bar. It is sufficient to click on one of them to open the relative website which was already loaded by Firefox. Of course the more tabs the less space the window has to show them all, forcing the browser to use a scroll button. Here is a nice trick to modify the width of Firefox tabs to show more of them and delay the appearence of the scroll  arrow.

1. Type about:config in the address bar.
2. Click the I’ll be careful, I promise! button.
3. In the filter bar type: browser.tabs.tabMinWidth and double-click on it.
4. The default value should be set at 100 pixels.
5. Change the figure to a lower one number to show more tabs.
6. Click OK.
7. Restart Firefox.

Are you tired of your Gmail, Adsense, Adword, Groups, Orkut, Talk, YouTube, Web History, iGoogle, Checkout, Analytics and other Google services? Do you wish to close and delete them permanently to not remember any of their usernames and passwords? Here is a simple trick to follow:

1. Sign-in to Google Account at https://www.google.com/accounts
2. On the upper right part of the screen, next to My Products, click on Edit
3. You should now see two different sections: Delete a Service, Close an Account. Each section contains the services and accounts you have registered in.
4. Click on the service or the account you wish to delete or close.
5. The following message should appear on the screen (this is not the exact message you will get. As a matter of fact, the message will be slightly different dependently on what service or account you want to delete): “If you delete Gmail from your Google Account, then you will no longer be able to send, receive, or access email from your account using Gmail. Within two business days of your request, your mailbox (yourusername@gmail.com) will be closed and all its contents will be permanently deleted. You are trying to remove Gmail from your Google account”. If instead you choose to delete a Google account the message is: “You are trying to delete your Google Account which provides access to the Google services listed below. Please check each box to confirm your understanding that you will no longer be able to use any of these services and all information associated with these services and your account will be lost.”.
   
6. Right under the above message you should see a check box with the following message: “If you delete Gmail from your Google Account, then you will no longer be able to send, receive, or access email from your account using Gmail. Within two business days of your request, your mailbox (yourusername@gmail.com) will be closed and all its contents will be permanently deleted. You are trying to remove Gmail from your Google account” If instead you choose to delete a Google account the message is: “You are trying to delete your Google Account which provides access to the Google services listed below. Please check each box to confirm your understanding that you will no longer be able to use any of these services and all information associated with these services and your account will be lost.”
7. Tick the check box. After that you will have to fill in a small form requiring you to type your Gmail e-mail address and your password (or just your password if you chose to delete an account).
   
8. Click on “Delete Google Account” or “Remove Gmail” button and you are done.
   

Windows Update is a Windows Vista feature which works in the background downloading the most important hotfixes from Microsoft in order to fix bugs and add services to your operating system. Nothing to say, Windows Update is a very useful application, but what about its annoying dialog pop up which reminds you that Windows can’t update important updates and service while the system is using them? Sometimes I think it has especially designed to bother people while they are working, since it appears when the only thing you need is working without anything or anyone harassing you. Anyway all this is going to change. Here is a little hack to stop it once for all.

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search bar type regedit and press Enter.
3. Look for the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Policies\ Microsoft\ Windows\ WindowsUpdate\AU
4. Right click in the right pane and create a new 32-bit DWORD called NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
5. Give NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers the following value : 1 to prevent the system from automatic rebooting while users are logged on.
6. Turn your computer off and back on to apply the change.

One of the nastiest surprise in Windows Vista after installing SP1 is the removal of some of the easy ways to get to the Search function. Of course you can still access to it by pressing the F3 key while you have a folder open. Anyway if you are looking for a simpler and faster way to reach the Search window, here is a simple hack which will add the “Search…” item back to the context menu.

1. Click Start.
2. Type regedit in the Search Bar and press Enter.
3. Browse to the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ Directory\ shell\ find
4. Locate the LegacyDisable subkey. Rename it to LegacyDisabl.bak
5. That’s it. The hack is over. From now on whenever you will right-click on any folder you will see  the Search… option again.

There are a lot of annoying features in Windows Vista, some of them have to do with all the candy-eye features which slow your computer down, other ones have to do with the security notification and its icon, one of it has to do with the nagging notification balloons which pop-up every now and then reminding and warning you to do things you have decided not to perform long ago. To stop this steady trickle of balloons which make you feel as if you are in a circus, here is a simple hack to apply.

1. Click Start.
2. In the Search bar type: regedit and press Enter.
3. Look for this registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced
4. Right click on the right pane and create a new 32-bit DWORD named EnableBalloonTips
5. Give EnableBalloonTips the value: 0
6. Turn your computer off and on to apply the change.

Of course it was going to happen, but I didn’t expect it was going to hit us all so quickly. As a matter of fact, after the Dev Team managed to crack the iPhone (they even released a nice tool to hack Apple’s phone), it looks like a Brazilian team has just successfully managed to hack (read unlock) the new iPhone 3G. The system these guys use consists of a thin, really thin card that piggybacks on your SIM while in the phone. No extra software difficult to get or special knowledge is required. The trick used by the team dwells in the software contained in the small card which tricks the iPhone into believing that a test SIM has been inserted. At this point the iPhone allows any kinds of services, and functionality is handed back to your SIM. Here is a quick video which explains how the DesbloqueioBr’s hack works.

Source: Engadget.com