Using OpenOffice Writer as my Blogging Application

I don't know how many people are actually aware that you can actually use Microsoft Word as a blogging client, but apparently, you can also use OpenOffice as a weblog client when you use a little extension called Sun Weblog Publisher.

All you need to do is download the extension from Sun's website at : http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/extensions.jsp#weblog

Then, once its on your hard drive, open it, agree to the liscence (after reading it of course) and install it. Then when you open OpenOffice Writer the next time, you'll see two new buttons as shown below:

Pretty cool huh? All this, for the price of 0 dollars – FREE!.

Read More

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year!

Alright folks,

I would like to wish you all:

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year! Please accept the greetings that apply to you ;) Also, I would like to mention here that as for my new years resolution - I don't have any!!! ;)

Cheers, take care and have fun!

Forever thine,

Rishi

Read More

List of Websites for FREE math help, practice and tutorials!

Here’s a list of websites that are great for that additional math help anyone might need. I found then especially helpful last year when I was studying for my Math finals. Although these resources can’t really replace the experience you’ll gain by doing out the questions yourself, they will help you understand the concepts a little better.

Also, I must point out that the following resources will not replace friends and teachers that might be able to help you out. So use them only if it is truly necessary or just to review things you already know.

Yahoo Education Math - A great resource that covers all kinds of math topics from Grade 7 - Grade to Calculus. If you want to brush up on some math then this is the place you have to visit!

Purple Math - A website that’s great for help with topics that might be a little bit on the advanced side like Calculus and Functions. But nevertheless, they have lots of examples, illustrations and graphs that will help you better grasp the concepts. It even has a forums section where you can ask questions and get answers.

WebMath - A website that can not only teach you how to solve problems, but also help you solve them. Plus, it caters to many levels of math such as General Math, k-8 math, trigonometry and even calculus. A great resource.

Algebra Help - A site that has a huge list of algebra lessons, tips, help and much more. If you need some algebra help then this is the website you should visit.

MathForums - A great place to get help and even to solve their ‘problems of the week’ where they post a question every week or so, and you can try to come up with an answer for it.

Bonus: King’s list of On-line Math Activities - This website provides a great list of games that you can play to improve your mathematics skills. Although I must point out that it is all pretty basic math, but nevertheless you’ll definitely improve your skills or perhaps even gain a liking for math after playing these games.

Are there any other great math resources that you know of that might be beneficial to a student or an adult alike?

Read More

Download the Photoshop CS4 alternatives for free!

Photoshop is expensive. With a copy of Photoshop running at $500+ (it's a bit cheaper if you buy the designer pack though...)... most people, especially students who want to learn Photoshop, feel like the only alternative to get it is to pirate it. But, the truth is, that doesn't always have to be the case. Just like a free alternative to Microsoft Word, there are several free alternatives to photoshop as well!

Most of these alternatives, look like photoshop, feel like photoshop and have tools that are similar to those found in photoshop. The only major difference is that these programs are free (or technically, donation ware)! So now, you don't have to illegally pirate photoshop... you can just use an alternative and reap the benefits of good karma. Here we go...

Free alternatives to Photoshop

GIMP (for Windows, Mac and Linux!)

The GIMP (which stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program) is probably the best known alternative for adobe photoshop. The GIMP runs on any platform and has almost the same features found in photoshop and then some! It has several filters that you can use to create things like image editing, banners, logos, greeting cards and whatever else you can do with photoshop with much less effort! Plus, it also supports .PSD file formats, so you can also edit Photoshop files through GIMP if you have any (which provides a great incentive to switch to GIMP).

To add to that, there are also several websites where you can learn how to use the GIMP to create magnificent art work that parallels that of artwork created in Photoshop. I must say here that, if you are very used to Photoshop, it will be definitely a little hard to switch at first, but soon you'll feel right at home with GIMP!

Bonus: You can also get a sort of modified version of GIMP called the GIMPshop, which like photoshop features a window like environment where you can edit things more easily. It also has tool names similar to that of photoshop to make it easier for a photoshop user. However, I personally find that just the usual GIMP is often good enough for me.

Paint.NET - Windows Only

Paint.NET is like Microsoft Paint's older brother and Photoshop's best friend. It has features that are comparable to Photoshop, but at the same time a smaller learning curve, because it looks like Paint! But don't be fooled by the interface, because inside, it's still a monster application that is capable of doing a lot more than just image adjustments and editing.

Not as Powerful free alternatives to Photoshop

Okay, yes, I know, there are only 2 alternatives to photoshop that I consider to be as good as photoshop... but the truth is - most people will never use all the features in Photoshop! I myself use only a few select features in Photoshop. So, naturally some simpler alternatives that are not as powerful might prove to be more useful to do something that you specifically want to do. Here's a little list (although I'm sure there are lots more out there):

Pixia (Windows) - Originally designed for Anima, it's a fairly useful tool for making prototypes of websites, logos and so on, but lacks the ability of being able to fix already existing pictures like Photoshop.

Krita (Linux) - Useful for basic editing without too much trouble. It's also good if you want to do something fast in Linux, as the GIMP might take a little more time to do it. Similarly, there is another tool called Xara Xtreme (or Xara Xtreme for Windows), that does the same things as Krita.

Seashore (Mac) - It has a toolbox that represents that of photoshop, and also several features that look like Photoshop. But it lacks features like filters and advanced abilities found in GIMP (although it is based on the GIMP).

PhotoFilTRE (Windows Only) - Good for basic adjustments to pictures and a few 'filters' here and there. Also useful for screenshots and so on, and adding basic text.

Read More

Download Free Adobe Illustrator CS3 and CS4 Alternatives

Luckily, you don't have to spend a cent to use products that are just like Adobe Illustrator. In fact, there are several free alternatives that you can download free of cost (provided you have an Internet connection of course) and create art that is just as good if not better than the art you can create in Illustrator. Plus, there are several websites out there that have tutorials related to this software.

So, without further ado, here are some bad-karma free alternatives that you can use instead of Adobe Illustrator CS 4 or CS 3 or whatever version that you wanted to initially use.

Free alternatives for Adobe's Illustrator (or Vector editing software)

Note some of the software here is Linux only (yes, that's right, only runs on linux!) but fear not, take a look at my guide where I mention how to run Linux applications on Windows.

1. Inkscape (Windows, Linux, Mac) - Inkscape is a great piece of free and open source software that can do just about anything Illustrator can do. Bezier curves, typography, an infinite canvas, you name it. Although you will likely have to learn some new tricks and learn Inkscape from scratch if you're used to Illustrator, having free software that you can use whenever you want is always a good thing. It's also the only open source alternative that turns on any platform of your choice.


2. Skencil (Linux / Unix only) - While being Linux only, it is still a very powerful tool to help you create vector art. Check out the preview below! It comes with the Illustrator look and feel and also has similar features. Plus its free too! (well, actually, everything on this page is)



3. Xara LX (Linux only) - Linux only, but boy does it do interesting stuff. It has all the standard tools found in Illustrator, bezier curves and all and has the potential to produce great quality art. Definitely worth a look.


4. OpenOffice Draw (All platforms comes along with OpenOffice.org) - While most people don't find OpenOffice draw to be anything special, people who do not wish to spend the time on learning complex software like InkScape or Illustrator can still take advantage of a much simpler editing program. It's perfect for doing little posters, banners or greeting cards or something with a minimal amount of effort. And you can always save your stuff in a variety of formats.


5. Gimp - While GIMP is almost always known as a raster/bitmap imaging application, You can always still use it to do Illustrator like stuff, provided the factor of scalability that you need isn't as great and the art you are doing is somewhat simple.

There you have it, 5 great alternatives for illustrator, all freely available on the Internet. Also, if you are probably going to use the software for commercial uses, you might want to be kind and donate some money to the developers, however, downloading the applications (and... gasp... their source code!) is completely gratis (or free).

Read More

The real way to clean up your Windows registry and make Windows Faster!

Have you ever heard of those applications that promise you that they can clean up your registry in only 1 click and make your computer run faster with only 1 use. Well, let me tell you why these applications don’t work and the real way to keep your registry clean and make sure your system works smoothly.

Why do those registry cleaners don’t work?

Well, the truth is, that the way the Windows registry is built, it’s impossible to find out which keys to delete and which keys to keep. Think of it this way:

You have a closet full of clothes. But this closet is really disorganized and you really want to organize the closet so that you can find your clothes much faster. So, you get someone else to clean up your closet. That someone else, doesn’t know who you are, what size clothes fit you best and what clothes you’d like to keep or what clothes you’d like to get rid of. Is it possible for that person to make your closet all neat and tidy? Not likely.

It is possible for the person to organize the closet, and get rid of clothes that are ripped and are out of fashion. But will that really guarantee that you can find the clothes that you want? Not really.

Registry cleaners work the same way. They get rid of keys that THEY think are of no use to the computer and try to optimize the registry. But that’s not really what the system wants. So, it’s impossible for you to buy or use a free registry cleaner and hope that your system will become faster.

Ok, so how can you really clean up your registry?

The truth is, you can’t really clean up your registry. Once you add information to the registry, it’s in there. There’s no way of getting rid of only the unnecessary information to keep the computer running smoothly. So if you uninstall an application and its registry information is left behind in the registry, most of it will remain in there… forever. Until you reinstall the whole operating system.

Therefore, the best way to keep a clean registry is -

1. Start off with a clean slate – reinstall the operating system all over again and start anew.

2. Keep it clean - If you can’t start off fresh with a new install at least don’t install any unnecessary applications that you know you’ll only use once. Just try to stay away from those applications. That’s the only sure fire way of keeping a clean registry.

Wait, so if I can’t use registry cleaners to keep my system fast, how can I make it fast?

Well, just because I’ve said here that you shouldn’t really use registry cleaners, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make your computer faster using other ways. There are many other sure fire ways to make your computer faster, that I’ve also mentioned in this blog several times. 5 ways to speed up Windows should be the place for you to start if you really want to speed up windows without messing it up.

Read More

Backing up and restoring your Windows Registry

Well, it seems like I should have written this post a long time ago, before I published posts like:

10 Registry Hacks to Make Windows Faster, Free!

Make Microsoft Windows XP Passwords more secure

Enable/Disable low disk space error message in Windows

Free up disk space and get rid of junk on your PC

5 steps make Windows XP faster in 2 mins FREE!

A note on why you should back up

The registry in windows is like a set of configurable commands that tells the operating system (In this case Windows) what to do. As an administrator, you can ‘hack your registry’ by modifying these set of instructions to the operating system. However, you can also screw up the operating system because of ‘improper’ instructions. Therefore, its important to back up the set of instructions (or registry keys) to ensure that you can always restore them if you accidently change something. To read more about how to back up and why you should back up.. read on!

So, How do you back up your registry?

It seems as though when I say ‘BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY’ in a post, people are still unsure of how they could really back up their registry. Especially when I read comments like this one. Nevertheless, once you know how to back up your whole registry, reverting any changes made to it should be really easy.

First, in order to back up your registry, you have to open regedit. It’s short for registry editor. To do that:

1. Click on the start button and click on Run or simply press Windows Flag Key + R key together. This will open up the Run window (you might have to accept a UAC prompt to continue)
2. In the run box that pops up type in regedit like shown below
3.  
4. Then when the Registy Editor opens, click on File > Export,,, 
5. Type in a file name (I suggest you give it a date or a identifiable name.. like ‘BeforeRegistryHack-Dec11’ or something similar so you know the file that you’d have to use to restore your registry (more about how to restore your registry below). I recommend that you select All for most back-ups. But if you want to only restore a ‘part’ of the registry or only the keys that you are going to edit – choose Selected Branch. Of course, if you choose selected branch, you’ll have to navigate to that branch first by using the sidebar on the Reg edit window and then click File > Export….
6. 
7. Click on Save to export your file,
8. That’s it, you’ve just backed up your registry!

Restoring your backed up registry

How will you know when it’s time for restoring the backed up entries? Believe me, you’re system will refuse to do things correctly, crash all the time, slow down tremendously and might even start hanging all the time as well. You’ll certainly know when the registry entries are incorrect , because your system will start showing the symptoms above and start acting up right after you make a change to the registry. But no worries. Restoring your keys is even simpler.

1. First, find the file that you’ve hopefully saved before making the change.
2. Double click on it.
3. Say yes to the prompt that appears when Windows asks you if you really want to add the stuff to the registry.
4. Reboot your computer.

That’s it. Windows will now restore everything in the registry to how it was when you made the back up.

Read More