As an example, to load up Microsoft’s simple editing program, you had to type the name of the drive that the program was on, the directory that the program was in, and then the name of the program. So if Microsoft Edit was in a directory or folder named “Process,” you could start the program by typing, “C:>process\edit.com” Then, and only then would the program load up for use.

This is a small command, but just imagine if you had a program that was deeply nested within a series of folder. You could end up typing a command as wide as your computer screen or worse, long enough that the entire command would have to wrap onto the next line! Now imagine having to type these long commands every time that you wanted to start a program. Yikes!

That’s one of the reasons why batch files became so popular. Batch files are small text-based documents that contain a bunch of these commands on their own lines. When executed, they would process each command without the user having to type each and every one of them.

When Windows was developed, the need for typing commands was essentially eradicated thanks to the introduction of the point-and-click (mouse) interface. But this didn’t stop the batch file fever that started under MS-DOS – and in some small circles, batch files are still as popular as they were in the beginning.

Even though you may use Windows XP or Vista, batch files can save you tons of time by automatically starting multiple programs and performing different tasks at the single click of a button. They don’t require any extensive programming background and they don’t need to be encrypted with some weird, expensive compiler. Batch files are plain text files, and you can build one for your own personal use with Windows’ Notepad.

You could make a batch file that loads up your favorite websites at once for example, or you could make a batch file that fills your desktop with the most important applications for the day. To do so only requires a little knowledge about the locations of these applications.

Let’s say that every day we need to load up the Yahoo web browser, Microsoft Word, and then the calculator that comes with Windows. Instead of doing this by hand, we could write a batch file to do it for us.

First, we’d load up Notepad and type in the following:

START “http://www.yahoo.com”
START “winword.exe”
START “c:/windows/calc.exe”

We would then save this data into a file named, “mytasks.bat” onto the Desktop for easy access. Each time we double-clicked on this file, the Yahoo website would load up, Microsoft Word would start, and the simple calculator would pop up.

Since we want these programs to load every day, we could create a shortcut to this file and then place the shortcut inside our computer’s Start Up folder. That way, these three programs would load every time we turn on the computer. If you wanted these programs to start minimized, you could type the following into a batch file instead:

START “http://www.yahoo.com”
START “winword.exe”
START “c:/windows/calc.exe”

This will run all three programs as before, however the “/m” parameter will minimize them so that they don’t clutter up the desktop.

Other people have found much more creative and effective ways to use batch files, but the important thing is that you know they’re a resource you can use to save a few seconds or minutes in performing important tasks. We’ve come a long way from MS-DOS, but it’s still a valuable source of automation that anyone can use with no programming knowledge at all.
Batch files are one of my primary interest and would be putting up more tutorials on it. You would know it’s fun learning and creating batch files.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview soon to be Launched.

Finally Windows 8 Consumer Preview is going to be released in upcoming days at Mobile World Congress (MWC).The Mobile World Congress will be held on 29 Feb in Barcelona, Spain.

So, In this article we’ll be discussing some of the tips which needs to be followed while dealing with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview like How you are going to deal with the new beta version of Windows 8, What steps to be followed after downloading the Windows 8 beta version and many more such things.

The minimum hardware configuration required to successfully operate Windows 8 are:

# 1 GHz Processor

# 1 GB and 2 GB RAM for 32- bit and 64-bit OS respectively

# DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 driver

# 16 GB & 20 GB HDD free space for 32-bit & 64-bit OS respectively

Do not install beta version directly into your main working PC, instead install it on the less used system in order to check out its working and features. And in my advice do not try this beta version on Laptops, Tablets or any other devices as PC have generic drivers that will make the system operational. Since it is beta version only so need of experimenting it on your daily working devices.

Also do not try installing Windows 8 over Windows 7, it is preferred to first format the hard drive and then install a fresh copy of Windows 8. If you still face some problem then it is definitely Windows 8 causing the problem.

Now the Question will arise in your mind: Will Windows 8 install in my system if it does not possess ARM based motherboard?

As we all know, currently there are very few people who have the possession of ARM based motherboard. So, do not worry about it as it will not be an issue for you. As it is the beta version it will be easily installed in any latest configured motherboard.  So, your PC would easily handle Windows 8 beta version. You will be able to access almost all the features of Windows 8 like Tile interface, reset & refresh feature and other many more new features. Since Windows 8 is touch centric so its touch screen options will also work but only on Touch screen monitor.

[stextbox id="download"]

Update : Here is the link to download windows 8 in different formats.

Installable     ISO Images 

[/stextbox]

I hope you will now be able to install the upcoming Windows 8 consumer Preview and if you still face some problems feel free to ask, At this time why not subscriber to our email updates so we can keep you updates on windows 8 topics and other tech tips  ?

[stextbox id="info"]Malicious + Software = Malware[/stextbox]

Malware is short name for malicious software. Malware is a kind of  software or script or code which is designed to disrupt your computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems.

It is a general term used to describe any kind of software or code specifically designed to exploit a computer, or the data it contains, without the knowledge of the user..

By now I guess it’s pretty clear that a Malware is not a good thing to have in your computer. Do you know you are always at risk of getting infected by malwares while doing day to day browsing (Even without downloading any programs) ?

[stextbox id="warning"]Malware is big and having malware in your computer is bad.[/stextbox]

While you are searching for your favorite movie, song or TV program or downloading softwares from third party website your computer is highly at a risk of infections by Malware. As we mentioned above a malware sitting in your computer can steal your personal data or monitor your online activities. Would you afford to have your credit card or bank details being monitored and stolen by some strange programmer?

[stextbox id="info"]Here is the bad news: Malware is not gonna go away soon[/stextbox]

It’s a fact that Malware is not going away very  soon. Malware is being hard to detect and and even more hard to remove day by day. Only the most robots and contently updating  protection e software can protect your computer from such threats. Today we will talk about such a program which is trusted by corporates and available for free to use.

[stextbox id="info"]The Good News is : “Malwarebytes”  - Detect – Remove and Protect from malware[/stextbox]

One of the most robust and sophisticated anti-malware software is  Malware bytes. It is trusted by corporates and being suggested by top technicians in popular tech support forums every day.

Malwarebytes´ is an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware software designed to detect and remove malware that even the most well known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect.

Have a look at some of the features Malwarebytes antimalware have -

• Light speed and quick scanning.
• Ability to perform full scans for all drives.
• Malwarebytes´ Anti-Malware Protection Module. (requires registration)
• Database updates released daily.
• Quarantine to hold threats and restore them at your convenience.
• Ignore list for both the scanner and Protection Module.
• Settings to enhance your Malwarebytes´ Anti-Malware performance.
• A small list of extra utilities to help remove malware manually.
• Multi-lingual support.
• Works together with other anti-malware utilities.
• Command line support for quick scanning.
• Context menu integration to scan files on demand.

Editor’s Note :  The free version does not include realtime protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating, but that is OK for a basic user most of the time.

[stextbox id="download"]You can download Malwarebytes Free version from their official download link here.[/stextbox]

Have some question or not sure about something ? Feel free to write in comments below and we will take it from their.

Do not miss out important updates about computers and stay updated with technology,  Join with hundreds of other WinTechGeek readers and stay ahead in technology.Simply put your Email Address and we will deliver next articles right into your inbox.

This article is kinda off topic but still a worth read for my readers. Most of you are working employees so should be relevant. Just thought of writing something other than tech stuff

There are times when you felt like you are working at a dead end job. If that’s the case definitely you are not alone. Even through with that in mind,Just because you think that you are working in a dead end job, it’s not always necessarily mean that you are. Sounds confusing ? yes it is. If you want to clarify things and have have some proof or verification you might be interested i n reading on.

Sign #1: Same position for years and years ?

Do you find yourself at same position for years ? If that is the true be aware! it’s one of the sign that you might be working in a dead end job. If you joined your organization with the intention of no improvement then the current position may be fine for you,But is that the case ? Being said that in mind,If you have goals and have yet to see those accomplished you might be working in a dead end job. Do you want your hard work un-rewarded ? Especially if you were hired by the same company for years.

Sign #2 : Same Payout for years and years  ?

Another sign that you might be part of a dead end job is you are getting same payout for years. Actually many employers automatically give you appraisals yearly or even quarterly.  If you are working with same organization and for a long period of time with no or less appraisals you may be part of a dead end job. There is a good thing though, If your only issue is with pay you still have chance to turn this dead-end job into a great job. You can do this by inquiring about a pay raise. Sometime it works and sometime makes you feel like you are begging for your rights  Sad but true.  Though many employers expect this, especially after an extended period of time without a raise; therefore, you may have nothing to lose by at least asking.

Sign #3 : Your hours are counted as minutes

When you love what you are doing, most likely you don’t stare on the clock. When you know you are going somewhere positive you usually don’t care how much time you are spending. But the thing is , When you stop caring about what you are doing (Job) a feeling come that  your job is taking away your important time which you could spend with your family members or other tasks.

You can ask below question to you and see whether you are doing a dead-end job or a great job.

• Do you honestly feel that there are adequate opportunities for advancement?
• Do you honestly feel that your boss and the management cares about you?
• Whether there is a sense of camaraderie and a common purpose at your workplace?

Sign #4 : Management is a bunch of incompetent buffoons ?

You might be getting nice benefits,package and a decent salary but it can be still be hard to work on a blood-sucking project full with problems that management is unwilling or unable to fix.

it’s fact that Management doesn’t always know how to best motivate their employees. Possibly they are taking some kinda short approach to bleeding the employees dry instead of giving the tools to succeed.  Do you notice salary and  compensation is based on arbitrary instead of performance ?

Few questions which should say whether the ship is starting to sink?

• Number is departuers are far more than new hiring ?
• Lack of communication between management and you ?
• You do your job without even knowing why ?
• Management only speaks in terms of generalities and vague statements ?
• Mostly The real news comes only through the grapevine ?

If most of the answer is positive, possibly these are signs the ship ain’t going into right direction.

Sign #5 : Do you spend more time looking at Facebook rather than doing your job ?

If you don’t love your job, you tend to spend more time looking at facebook and other websites instead of doing the actual job. Reason could be either there is no much work to do or you are simply demotivated to work.

This will be for short time of-cou se, Management will find out you are surfing the web instead of doing your job and crank down the ways to access outside website but did they tried to look into why employees don’t like the job ?

Sign #6 :  Promise of promotion which never come true ?

Of-course managers know that it’s their responsibility to keep the employees motivated, But they may not have the budget or whatever of that sort to hand out appraisal latters. Or you think they simply not have will or desire to do so ?

At this point, they might hold back from sharing the bad news with you. A simple “NO” may demotivate you so they try to say “yes” from their own. They Surly understand that “A motivated employee is  more productive”.

1. When was your last promotion ?
2. Have your management give you lot of hints but no real action ?
3. Is there even a room for you to get promoted ?

It will be really annoying to feel like like management is not listening to the performance reports from the ground. You want  to feel like you are working on projects that will make a difference, and that their concerns are being heard.Don’t you ?  Nobody wants to be stuck working on a manager’s bridge to nowhere.

sign #7 : Working as a senior but being paid like juniors ?

Last but not the least. So after a long time you got the position and raise you were waiting for. But in this time their base starting salary increased due to market needs. Now even through you are working as a senior but your payout is lower than the newly hired junior. That hurts and is enough to demotivate you

Above mentioned are just few sings that should trigger whether you are working in a dead-end job or not. As mentioned earlier it is important to remember that you are not bond to keep on working what may be called as a dead-end job forever. There are still ways you can take to see improvement and success.

At this point the best thing you can do is, hear yourself. what you want ? and To accomplish that what you can do ?

Alright, That’s is for today. have you ever trapped in a dead-end job ? I would love to hear your stories.  Write down below in comments .Either use your own name or use a fake name  depends on your guts

In this post I want to give you a few tips that you can use to up your game on Battlefield 3 and make sure that you are dominating the game.

The thing is that the game changes a lot of the aspects that are present in other FPS and that is you need to make sure that you know how to work together with your team. There are 4 classes in Battlefield 3 and depending on which class you pick it will greatly change your experience of the game.

If you want to have the edge in Battlefield 3 then you need to consider getting some good tuition! It is the same as with anything. If you want to play the guitar you need lessons right? Well the world of FPS (First person shooters) can be a dangerous one especially online

If you don’t know what you are doing you will get killed a lot, shouted at a lot on multiplayer and the main thing is that you will not have that much fun.

So Can You Be Good At Battlefield 3?

Yes, you can!

There is a common misconception that to be good at the game you will have to put hours and hours into perfecting your skills. While this is true in part, you will need practice you might not need as much as you think!

We recommend that if you are new that you stick with the Assault class as this is a good all-rounder but you should also get to grips with the slightly more difficult classes that I think are Recon and Engineer..

The good thing is that a guide has been released that gives you a complete guide to the game and as well as a full class guide and how to customize your weapons you get a video walkthrough for the single player campaign and the multiplayer missions as well.

Probably the best thing about the guide is the fact that it has HD videos giving you the tactics and strategies that you need to dominate multiplayer in the game as well!

Click on the image to download

If you want to up your game and you feel that you are getting left behind check out the full Battlefield 3 guide which is called BF3 Dominator and discover how you can go pro fast:

Click here  to read more on this battlefield 3 guide.

Basically this guide takes you through all aspects of gameplay and includes a full campaign walkthrough for the game on single player and multiplayer. As well as that you also get a full multiplayer guide that will take you through the battlefield 3 maps and the strategies that you need to start winning.

So, Enjoying your Gaming and let me know how far you gone after 3 days.

Should I buy a windows 7 desktop or wait for windows 8?

I was planning on buying an Hp pavilion desktop, but i found out about Windows 8 and i like it. Should i get the Hp or wait for windows 8?

What do you think? Answer below!

Different people look at the internet in different ways. Some feel that it is the invention that truly changed the face of the Earth while others believe that it is one of the major factors that is causing the youth to behave in an irresponsible manner. A lot can be said on both sides. I do agree that the there are certain sites on the net that are creating a lot of ruckus and they are affecting the minds of the youth adversely, but we cannot say that the internet in general has a negative impact on children. There are many software that is available in the market that will help you to keep track of what your child is viewing on the internet or to be more specific block social networking sites or adult sites.

Today we are going to talk about One of the best software that is available in the market for this purpose, that  is the CyberPatrol Parental Controls.

Overview of CyberPatrol Parental Controls Software

The CyberPatrol Parental Controls enables the children to play and surf the internet and at the same time controls the time that is spent online. It can allow and block specif sites depends on your preference, such as blog social networking sites like Facebook etc. You can protect up to three computers with the help of one package and it restricts all the bad sites that you child can intentionally or accidentally end up browsing.

Main Features of the CyberPatrol Parental Control Software

1. The most important feature that makes the CyberPatrol Parental Controls a must have in case you have kids in the house is that the software restricts the entry of the user to any adult site or any other site that is shady and may have a negative impact on the child’s mind.

2. You can restrict the user from visiting social networking site such as Facebook and Twitter and YouTube as well. Other than this there are nine other categories that are available that you can block so that the kids do not venture into the darker areas of the internet. As a careful parent who does’t want to Block social networking sites ?

3. Another striking feature of the software is that you can limit downloading to certain sites only, thus preventing a possible virus attack.

4. The software lets you chat with people without disclosing your identity and whereabouts and you can also restrict your kids from chatting and entering the various chat rooms that are available on the internet with the help of the software.

5. You will receive in depth information about all the sites and pages that your child has visited in your absence and the duration of the visit as well. So you can leave the child alone and get on with your work and later go through the history of the software and know what all the child did in your absence.

6. If you are worried that your child spends too much time on the internet in your absence, then this software will help you to put a restriction on the time as well. This means that you can set a time period for which there would be internet connectivity, after this the connection would automatically break, even if you are not there.

CyberPatrol Parental Controls is the perfect choice among all the other such software that are available in the market and the basic reason for this is the fact that the software is loaded with features that it’s useful for every parent or person looking for kind of internet filtering software.

Detecting drive letter from command prompt is possible but a bit tricky, First we have to get into Diskpart then identify the disk type and obtaining the drive letter. Scripting this can be difficult. Instead going this route Why not try a easy VBScript ?

In this tutorial We will see a vb-script  which will detect the drive letter of a USB removable drive and output either on screen or on the cmd console.

[stextbox id="grey"]

‘ DetectFlashDriveLEtter.vbs
‘ VBscript to detect the drive letter for a flash drive

Option Explicit
Dim objWMIService, objItem, colItems, strComputer
Dim strDriveType, strDiskSize
On Error Resume Next
strComputer = “.”

Set objWMIService = GetObject _
(“winmgmts:\\” & strComputer & “\root\cimv2″)
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
(“Select * from Win32_LogicalDisk”)

For Each objItem in colItems
Select Case objItem.DriveType
Case 1 strDriveType = “Drive could not be determined.”
Case 2 strDriveType = “Removable Drive”
Case 3 strDriveType = “Local hard disk.”
Case 4 strDriveType = “Network disk.”
Case 5 strDriveType = “Compact disk (CD)”
Case 6 strDriveType = “RAM disk.”
Case Else strDriveType = “Drive type Problem.”
End Select

If objItem.DriveType =2 Then
Wscript.Echo objItem.Name
Else

End If

Next

WSCript.Quit

[/stextbox]

As you can see, here we have 5 different type of drives which can be identified using this script. Those are

1.  Removable Drive
2. Local hard disk.
3. Network disk.
4. Compact disk (CD)
5. RAM disk.

[stextbox id="grey"]

How to use this Script to detect drive letter from CMD -

External References : WMI – Logical Disk Properties

1. How to Remove Header and Footer Info from Printed Webpages

One of the default settings of Windows Internet Explorer causes it to print out information in the header and footer such as the URL, date, and page number when printing out a webpage. However, there may be times when you want to discard this extra information.

To do so, simply press on the drop down menu of the printer icon on Explorer’s default toolbar. Choose “Page Setup.” There should be text boxes that allow you to edit what appears in the headers and footers of the printed pages. To remove things like the URL, date, and page number, simply clear out these text boxes.

2. How to Change Your Default Printer

Some computers are connected to multiple printers. This will likely be the case for an office environment. Having the wrong printer constantly print out documents when you choose to start a print job can be quite frustrating. One way to solve this problem is by changing a computer’s default printer.

First, press on the start button on the Windows task-bar. On the pop-up menu, click to navigate to the “Devices and Printers” menu. You should see icons for each external device installed on your computer. This should include all of your printers. To change the default printer, simply right click on one of the icons and choose “Set as default printer.”

3. How to Make Your Printer Aware of Your Location

Another problem occurs when a person switches in-between computers that technically exist in different networks but still wants to use the same printer. In the past, the default printer would change with each network change. However, an update to certain versions of Windows 7 has changed this. You can now set your default printer to change with you when you switch between different computers at home or in the office.

First, click on the start menu icon. Choose to go to the “Devices and Printers” menu. Right click on one of the printer icons that appears in this menu. Choose the “Manage Default Printers” option. Within this menu, you can choose to have your default printer stick with you when you change to a computer in a different network.

4. How to Change the Order Pages Print Out in Excel

Sometimes, when a spreadsheet contains a large amount of information, a print job can involve a very large number of pages printing out over a long period of time. The default setting in Excel causes pages to be printed out in order from the top of a spreadsheet to the bottom and then from the left to the right. This may be frustrating when you need to order these pages differently or only care about specific information in the spreadsheet.

Thankfully, the order in which pages are printed out in Excel can be changed. First, open up the spreadsheet you wan to print out. Next, navigate to the tab named “Page Layout.” Once there, click on the “Page Setup” option.

There should be a number of tabs in this menu. Choose the tab labeled “Sheet.” On this tab, there will be a section that allows you to choose what direction the spreadsheet prints out in. You can switch it to print from the bottom up or from right to left as opposed to the default settings.

5. How to Repair Printer Drivers

At some point, many users may encounter sudden unexplained printing errors when attempting to send a print job. The printer may be properly hooked up to a computer or network. The printer may also already be installed for that computer.

When this occurs, the problem is often corrupted drivers. There can be many reasons why drivers go bad. Repairing your printer drivers, however, is rather easy.

First, enter into the “Devices and Printers” menu that can be accessed from the start menu pop-up. Right click the printer that is giving you problems and choose “Remove device.” Next, simply choose the “Add a printer” option on that menu’s toolbar. Once you add back the printer, the drivers should reinstall as new.

This article is contributed by James,

Working for a company that deals printer ink cartridges, James is mostly occupied with blogging on the website, but also tests and reviews HP printer cartridges.

This is the next tutorial in “Registry tricks”. In this tutorial we will learn how to disable right click menu in windows explorer. It’s not a troubleshooting tip but just a  fun with computer which you can use to play with your friends. They will think their mouse is not working. We will be modifying windows registry to get this done in as easy as 1 – 2 – 3 done!. If you are not sure what windows registry is, consider reading “Introduction to Windows Registry”.

 How we can disable right click ?  

We are going to disable right click by modifying the registry key “[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\].

[stextbox id="info"]Let’s get Started :-[/stextbox]

Step 1.  Open Windows Registry

1. Windows XP users can type regedit in start=>Run dialog box.
2. Just type regedit In windows 7 start menu search box.

   
   

Step 2.  Navigate to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies]

Step3.  Right Click on the “Right Pane” of registry editor (The white space) and select “new=>DwordValue”

Step 4. As the name of the Dowrd Value, Put “NoViewContextMenu” without quotes..



Step 5. Double Click on “NoViewContextMenu” and then put 1 as the value data.

That’s all needs to be done. Now Simply log off and re login (Or restart your computer). You will see Right click is not working. After 1-2 tries you will get used to it and can complete the above 5 steps in couple of seconds and make your friends scream .
To disable this, simply delete the value or change the value data to 0 (Step 5).

[stextbox id="info"]I get this. Would you mind telling how this thing works ?[/stextbox]

The registry key we used above (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies) contains polies for the user. Windows shell (Explorer.exe) reads this key to determine the way it will behave with this user. Basically these settings are used by system admins in organizations to restricts users with specific components.

Disclaimer : This tutorial requires making changes in Windows Registry. Do not mess with the keys you do not know about. It can cause your system to become unstable. If something goes wrong, Do not panic and try to undo what you have or ask for help with detailed information about what sort of problem you are encountering . You should backup registry before attempting to make any changes.