How to conveniently transfer photos from a smartphone to a PC

While many companies use their own Cloud solutions, Sony Xperia users have the option of using Box, which comes pre-loaded on most of the company's new smartphones. It’s a simple set up that enables photos to be automatically uploaded to the cloud; you can then easily access your favourite photographs on the PC. Sony Xperia handset owners who still have not subscribed to this web storage service can install the Box software on your PC to begin with. You can even access it online at www.box.com. While registering for the service, choose the free version; Box off ers you 5 – 50GB of space for free. New Xperia customers are given as much as 5GB of storage space for free.
If you find the storage space to be too low for your needs, you can choose to buy more space too. Look for the Box app on your phone. If it isn’t installed, you can download it via the Google Play store. Open the app, sign in, set up your account and you’re good to go. You can choose to upload pics manually or via other apps. Box can be used to store and share all kinds of files. The service
lets you access all your files from any supported device through the app or a browser, anywhere you might be. All you need to do is connect to the Internet.
NOTE Unlike Apple’s Photo Stream service, your photographs will remain permanently stored in Box. You will need to manually remove all your photographs and files later if the available free space gets low.

How to Remove Public WLANs From the Android/ iOS Device Memory

Once a public Wi-Fi network has been used, its access data like SSID and password remain stored in
the device. This enables your device to automatically access the network whenever you're in range. This means that there is a danger of you unwittingly logging-in to the same or another unprotected WLAN with the same SSID. This is possible because simple titles or brand names are frequently used for Wi-Fi networks' SSIDs.
But in any case, you must avoid surfing when connected to an unprotected Wi-Fi network to avoid off ering hackers an opportunity to attack. For removing such WLAN access data on your iOS device, go to 'Settings | WLAN', and click on the arrow on the right next to the concerned network. Now choose 'Ignore this network'. In Android, open the Settings menu and go to 'Wireless & Networks | Wi-Fi'. Select and hold the concerned network and then select 'Forget network'.

How to Send Text From Internet to Amazon's Kindle

If you want you can send text messages to a Kindle device from the Internet with the free tool—Send to Kindle. This tool is available for PC, Mac and Android devices. There's also a plug-in for Google Chrome. You can download it from www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle. If you want to load the plug-in for Google Chrome—go to the Chrome Webstore, and search for Send to Kindle for Google Chrome. Once you have it installed, log in with your Amazon account. Click on ‘Start Now’, specify the settings and click 'Save'. You can stay logged-in for as long as you wish. To log out, simply go the Menu option. After the installation, to the right side near the address field in the browser, you will find a small button with an orange coloured ‘K’ on a black background. If you chance upon an Internet page which you find particularly interesting, but don't have the time to go through it, simply click on this button. In the following menu, just select the desired action— Send to Kindle, Preview & Send or Send Selected Text.

NOTE: The desktop versions add a command—Send to Kindle in the Windows version, or in case of a Mac, a special printer driver.

How to Add Pre-defined Events to Your Facebook Timline

Facebook offers a pre-defined event category which you can use to fill your Timeline with a virtual biography, thus providing your friends and contacts a glimpse into your life. Doing so is very easy.

 

First go to your profile page, and next to “Status”, you will find Life Event”, simply click on it. You will see the pre-defined events like Work & Education, Family & Relationships, Home & Living, Health & Wellbeing and Travel & Experiences. Each of these has several sub-categories. For instance, Health & Wellbeing has options like “Over came an illness”, “Quit a habit”, “Broken Bone”, etc. If you select “Broken bone” then Facebook will also ask you the body part you broke, where you were when you broke it and with whom. There is also an option to tell the story behind the
event and upload a picture. Once you have selected the event and filled in the necessary details, click on “Save” and the event will reflect on your Timeline.

How to Control the Number of Notifications on Facebook

Facebook is an excellent place to connect with friends, constant updates can distract you and leave you exasperated. Fortunately, Facebook allows you to control the kind of updates you receive from individuals. You can do so at two levels. Firstly, you can create lists and classify people in them. For instance, you can create a list of your close friends, acquaintances, office colleagues, relatives, etc. and sort your contacts accordingly. Now click on the option ‘More’, which is on the right of your homepage, and select the option ‘Friends’. You will see all the lists you have created under this header. From here you can click a list and Facebook will display updates only from the people
on that list.
However, you may have a person on the list who habitually posts irrelevant content that may clog your news feed. In such cases, you can choose what kind of updates you wish to receive from a particular individual. To do so, click on the down arrow next to the post. Click on ‘Hide’. This action will hide the current post and then it will show you two options ‘Change what updates you get…’ and ‘Organise who you see in News Feed’. With the help of the first option you can control the kind of updates you want to receive: you can either choose ‘All Updates’, ‘Most Updates’ or ‘Only Important Updates. You can also choose the events you want to be notified about, like ‘Comments and Likes’, ‘Gaming activities’, ‘Photos’, etc. Select the things you want to be notified about and only those posts will be visible on your Timeline. The second option is similar to the first method, but with this the choice you make is a permanent one. You can add the person to one of the lists and you will have a lower number of updates from people on that list.

How to Link Outlook's Calendar with a Doodle Account

If you are using more than one service to manage your schedule, it's likely your appointments might be duplicated or even overlap. To prevent this, it is adviceable to link the two accounts. For instance, if you use Doodle and Outlook, then Doodle lets you link your Doodle account with Google, Outlook and iCal, so you can keep your schedule updated via all of the services. Here’s how you can link your Doodle account with Outlook 2007 or 2010.

On the Doodle homepage, you will see the ‘Automatically sync appointments to your calendar’ option. Clicking on it will show a couple of options. Here, click on the ‘Connect with Outlook’ option. Before proceeding, you will have to sign up for a Doodle account if you haven’t got one. Now, download the file and follow the instructions for the setup. You will have to restart your machine. When you next start Outlook, you will be required to log-in to your Doodle account as well. You will also have to authorize the app to access your Outlook account. You can select the Outlook calendar you want to connect with Doodle. You can even control the amount of information that you wish to share with Doodle. Once the accounts are linked, you can search for a particular appointment directly through the Outlook calendar search option.

How to Boost Graphics Performance with with Optimal Settings

You can increase up to 40 percent more 3D performance from your Nvidia graphics cards without installing new drivers or dangerous overclocking. Keep in mind that you will be sacrificing image quality for the boost in performance. Changes can be made through the Nvidia system control panel.
To open the control panel, right-click on the desktop and click on ‘Nvidia system settings’. Now under the section ‘3D settings’, click on the tab ‘Program settings’ and find your 3D game. Change
the settings as follows:

􀁘 Anisotropic filtering: 16x
􀁘 Antialiasing - transparency: Off
􀁘 Triple buffer: Off
􀁘 Energy Management mode: select maximum power
􀁘 Maximum number of pre-rendered single images: lowest value
􀁘 Multi-display acceleration: single display- power mode
􀁘 Texture filtering - anisotropic scan optimization: Off
􀁘 Texture filtering - negative LOD bias: Clamp
􀁘 Texture filtering - power: quality
􀁘 Texture filtering - tri-linear

Texture filtering - anisotropic filter optimization: Off
􀁘 Threaded optimization: On
􀁘 Vertical synchronization: Automatically off
􀁘 PhysX: CPU

Save and close the Nvidia control panel once you're done so that all settings are accepted.

How to Make USB Drives UEFI-Capable

When you try to install Windows from a USB stick on a system with UEFI-BIOS, you will see that the UEFI mode is not available for selection. That is because the UEFI Bootloader is not to be found on the stick. The setup program needs this bootloader to start the installation in UEFI mode. If you face this problem, you can make your stick UEFI-capable with some clicks.

First of all, prepare the USB stick for copying the setup files and make it bootable. For this, connect the USB stick to the PC and invoke the command prompt by pressing [Windows]+[R] and entering ‘cmd’. Now start the Windows hard drive partitioning tool with the command ‘diskpart’. Enter ‘list disks’ to get a list of all the storage media installed on the system. Memories the number of your USB stick and then select it with the command ‘select disk X’. In place of ‘X’ enter the data storage number of your USB stick. The easiest way for you to recognize the USB stick would be by its size. Now enter ‘clean’ to remove all the existing data and then create a new partition with the command ‘create partition primary’. Select the new partition by typing ‘select partition 1’. Make the partition bootable with the command ‘active’. Now quick format the disk into the FAT32 file system with the command ‘format fs=fat32 quick’. Assign a disk letter to the stick with ‘assign’ and close the command prompt with the command ‘exit’. Now copy the contents of your Windows setup disc onto the USB drive and install the UEFI Bootloader on the USB drive. To do this, browse to ‘\efi \ microsoft\’ on the USB stick and copy the folder ‘boot’ to ‘\efi ’. Now, browse to the 'sources' folder on the setup DVD and open the file ‘install.wim’ with an archive program like 7-ZIP or WinRAR. Now head to the folder ‘\1\Windows\Boot\EFI’. Copy the file ‘bootmgfw.ef’ from the 'install. wim' fi le to the folder ‘\efi \boot’ on the USB drive. Rename the file to ‘bootx64.ef’, so that it is recognized by the UEFIBIOS. That’s it. You can now boot from the USB stick and install Windows with UEFI mode enabled.

How to Install drivers manually in Windows 8

Currently, lots of PC components do not have a functioning driver for Windows 8, so you have to help things along somewhat while migrating to Windows 8. Firstly, make sure that you've updated Windows 8 to the latest version. To know if updates are available, type ‘Windows Update’ on the
Start screen. The search will throw up a short list of options. Initiate the process with ‘Search for updates’. However, hardware like printers or scanners can't be used properly with Windows 8 this way. If the device is not automatically recognised, you will have to download the drivers for it. But if the manufacturer does not provide drivers for Windows 8, get hold of a driver for Windows 7 or Windows Vista and try installing that. When installing the driver, select ‘Properties’ in the context menu of the setup file and in the ‘Compatibility’ tab, set the compatibility mode to ‘Windows 7’. If the setup itself refuses to install on Windows 8, you have one last chance: many Windows Vista and Windows 7 driver packages contain a ‘.inf’ file with which some hardware can function under certain circumstances.
Connect this ‘.inf’ file with the hardware by following these steps. First, search for the device in the ‘Device manager’. You can identify drivers that have not been properly installed by the warning exclamatory mark in the line. You can see which hardware has not yet been recognised by Windows 8 and is not functioning. Now select ‘Update driver software’ by right-clicking on the hardware and click ‘Search for the driver software in the computer’. Click on the button ‘Select from a list of device drivers on the computer’ and then on ‘More’. Now, select ‘Data storage ... Browse’, navigate to the ‘.inf’ file in the driver folder and confirm your selection. Your driver may just be installed on
Windows 8 and there's a good chance the hardware will work.

How to Monitor Running Services Easily via PowerShell in Windows 7 and Vista

Your system often runs some unnecessary services constantly. These services consume memory and may result in poor performance of PC. However, a list of such services can be quite helpful in case you wish to get an informed opinion about what's eating up  your system resources. But to do this, you'll have to access the system control and that can get a bit labourious. But Windows PowerShell lets you generate an overview very quickly with a few linked commands. Start the tool by typing 'powershell' in the search field of the Start menu. The command 'Get-Service' immediately lists all services along with their respective status. You can restrict the services searched for with the parameter '-displayname', followed by the search term with placeholders like 'Google*'. To filter results further and to restrict the list to active services, use 'where {$_.status -eq Running}' separated by a vertical line. Finally, the output of the list can be exported to a text file with the command 'Export-Csv- Path (Insert path here)'. Again, separate this command from the 'Get-Service' one with a vertical line.

How to Copy Data Quickly Flexibly

Copying very large files to a network drive can hinder performance and can be time consuming function. However, with a tool like TeraCopy, you can accomplish such tasks faster thanks to optimised asynchronous copying. Moreover, ongoing processes—as in Windows—can be paused if you need the bandwidth for something else at that time. You can find TeraCopy with a quick Google search. After the installation, the freeware integrates itself into the system and is available in Explorer in the context menu for files and folders. In addition, TeraCopy establishes itself as the default application for copying. You can, however, turn it off . To do this, open the program window, click on 'More' and then open 'Menu Options'. Here, deactivate the setting 'TeraCopy as standard for copying' and confirm with 'OK'. After this, Windows' stock copy function will be used and you can use TeraCopy by selecting it from the context menu. For copying, mark the elements as usual in Explorer and then select the context command 'TeraCopy'. Switch the mode between 'Copy' and 'Move' by clicking on the symbol. Using 'Browse', then navigate to the target folder or select 'Last used'. Once you do this the copy/move function will start automatically. Sortable folders are restricted to the paid, pro-version.

How to Temporarily Clear Icons From the Desktop

Sometimes, you may not want to see the program and file icons on your desktop, for example, when you’re taking a screenshot in which your desktop can be seen. If you wish to be able to hide your desktop icons for a short time before taking a screenshot, click on the desktop with the right mouse button and, in the context menu, remove the check mark in front of the item ‘View | Display desktop icons’. All the icons will now disappear. As soon as you have taken the required screenshot, you can make the icons visible again by resetting the check mark you removed before. No files or folders will be affected in the process.

 

How to List all The Installed Drivers in a CSV File

A list of all drivers installed on the system can be very useful while troubleshooting. In order to know exactly what’s going on with your PC for possible future fixes, you want a list in text CSV (comma-separated values) format, which can be opened by Excel as a table or by any text viewer. To do so go
to 'Start | All programs | Accessories | Command prompt’. The command line tool Driverquery.exe assists you in listing the drivers used. Type the command ‘Driverquery.exe -?’ to see an overview of
the possible parameters. The parameter ‘-fo’ is particularly interesting since it helps you determine the type of output. When you use ‘-focsv’, Driverquery.exe generates an output in CSV format. In addition, you can overlay the parameter ‘-fo’ with ‘list’ or a standard ‘table’. You'll have to redirect the information to a file to save it. Supplement the instruction with a '>' as well as the desired file name with the complete path. Such a command would look like this: ‘Driverquery.exe -fo csv > C:\Temp\DriverList.csv’.

Excel might not correctly interpret a file generated this way. To fi x this, you can load the file in any desired text editor and replace all commas with semi-colons using the search and replace function.

NOTE: While calling Driverquery. exe, use the parameter ‘-v’ to show more information about the drivers. Without ‘-v’, Windows only documents ‘Module name’, ‘Display name’, ‘Driver type’ and the ‘Link date’.

How to Create and Use Invisible Desktop Folders

An invisible folder on your desktop would be quite good, but Windows does not allow you to set such a property for folders. However, a small trick can let you have invisible folders. Go to 'Start | All programs | Accessories | System tools | Character map’. In the list of displayed characters, search for an empty box and select it. You can ‘Select’ it and ‘Copy’ it to the clipboard and then close the Character Map. Now right-click on the desktop with your mouse and create a new folder with the option ‘New | Folder’. Paste over the name proposed by Windows with the character copied from
the Character Map using the [Ctrl]+[V] key combination.

This was the first trick: now you have what looks like a nameless folder on your desktop. To make the icon of the folder disappear, right-click on the now nameless folder and select the context command ‘Properties’. In the following dialogue, click on ‘Other icon’ in the Customize’ tab. As before in the Character Map, search and mark a space without content under ‘Choose an icon from the following list’. Then confirm your choice with ‘OK’ and close the ‘Properties’ dialogue with ‘OK’ as well. Your folder will have disappeared. To open it, you have to know its position and must double-click on the correct spot on your desktop. Note that the invisible folder will reveal itself when you drag with the mouse to select and cover a large area of the desktop, or when you use the arrow keys to move between icons.

How to Get Good Pictures from Mobile Phone Camera

Mobile phone cameras aren’t as capable as point-and-shoot cameras, but still you can get similar quality provided you use the available settings to their best. Basically, you have to know which settings are available via the camera app on your cellphone. Use features such as White balance, EV or Flash intensity as often as you can. The automatic mode yields good results only when you are shooting during the day with the sun behind you. Also check out third-party camera and photo-editing apps. They may have more settings or built-in effects to help you make your photos stand out. Further, some apps combine special effects with social networking elements, for example Hipstamatic or Instagram.

How to Read and Listen Music on Kindle at the Same Time

The Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Touch allows you to directly load MP3 files onto the Reader, so you can listen music while reading. Connect your Reader to your computer via USB and copy the MP3 files which you want as background music in a new folder directly in the home directory of the Reader. Once done, detach the device from the PC, tap on >>Menu>>Beta Functions>>MP3 Player.
The player will appear on the lower edge of the display. While reading, you can access the player by tapping on the upper edge of the display. Regular menu options will appear along with the player
buttons.
For the Kindle Keyboard, use >> Home>>Menu>>Experimental >>Play music. The Kindle Keyboard gives you a fade-in menu of an MP3 player, so that the player can be controlled by a key combination. You can start and stop the playback with [Alt] + [Space bar]. And you can choose the next track with [Alt] + [F].
Note that Kindle Keyboard and Kindle Touch will only play tracks in the order in which you have copied them. There’s no shuffle or playlist feature. The devices only support music in MP3 format.

How to Hide Your Phone Number in Facebook

If you are worried about your privacy then it is advised that you do not share your phone number on Facebook. This will not come in way of accessing Facebook on your smartphone, as you can do so by logging on to the Facebook mobile site or downloading the app. But if you have already shared your phone number on Facebook to be notified of new posts, messages via SMS, etc. then you can restrict the access to your number. To do so, go to ‘Privacy Settings’, and under ‘Who can look me up’ you will find the option ‘Who can look you up using the email address or phone number you provided?’. Here, change the setting from ‘Everyone’ to either ‘Friends of Friends’ or simply ‘Friends’. Confirm the dialogue box with ‘Close’.

How to Check New Web Links in Facebook for Security

Facebook notifications generally contain many links shared by those you are connected with, but you should not necessarily trust all of them. Since crime on the Internet is quite often, some of these links could be dangerous. So it’s better to check the validity of the links before you click them. An easy way to go about it is by using the free Norton Safe Web for Facebook app. In order to get the app, log-in to your Facebook account and then search for ‘Norton Safe Web’. Here, click on the link to the application and change the setting for visibility of posts from this app to ‘Only me’ and then click on ‘To application’. In the next step you will have to grant permission to the app to access posts; to do so click on ‘Permit’. The app will then investigate all links from the past 24 hours and present you with the results in compressed form as a summary, along with the details of individual links. In addition, you must check the ‘Activate the Autoscan’ option so that you do not always have to request the test.

How to Save Screen Shots Directly as an Image File in Windows 8

You can directly save screen shots as an image file in Windows 8. To do this use the button combination [Windows] + [Print] to save a screen shot of the current view on your monitor as a PNG file. PNG files can be opened and processed by image editing programs later. While doing so, the display will go dark for a short while as an indication. The file is saved in the folder “Individual images” of the current user profile. The name follows the sample “Screenshot (1).png” with a consecutive number in brackets. The other ways to do this known so far for screenshots as well as the snipping tool function the same.

How to See Energy Consumption of a Computer

If you want to diagnose energy consumption by a computer. Then use the following steps, type ‘cmd’ in the search field of the Start menu and then click the file ‘cmd.exe’ with the right mouse button and select the context command ‘Run as administrator’. After confirming the User Account Control prompt with ‘Yes’, type the command ‘powercfg/ energy’ in the window and press the [Enter] key. Windows will now audit the system behaviour for 60 seconds. In the meantime, you can go on working. Subsequently, the result is saved by default as a fi le with the title ‘energy report.html’ in the currently open folder which you see in the command prompt. Optionally, you can also define a custom target file with the parameter ‘-output’.

How to Use the ‘Address’ Toolbar in the Task Bar

Generally, you start programs like the Registry Editor by typing its name in the Start menu’s search field, which also doubles as the ‘Run...’ dialogue. However, Windows also gives you an option to
integrate similar functionality directly in the taskbar.

 

For doing so, click the bar with the right mouse button and select the option ‘Toolbars’ from the context menu and then click on ‘Address’. Now, an input field just like the one used for typing in websites in Internet Explorer appears. This comparison is appropriate since you can enter any website name here and open it with [Enter]. Your default browser opens and loads the desired page. However, if you enter a program name like ‘regedit.exe’ or ‘calc.exe’, then the operating system will run the desired tool. The program file must be located in the default system folders or the system will ask you to specify the program's complete path.

NOTE: If desired, you can reposition the input field on the taskbar by clicking it with the right mouse button and removing the tick in front of the ‘Lock toolbar’ option. Drag the checkered line on the left side of the field to resize or relocate it. You can lock the taskbar after you're done.

How to Restrict User Account Space in Windows

If you and your family share a common computer and you would like to prevent other users from filling the internal hard disk with downloads, you can easily do so with individual user accounts. With individual user accounts, every member is allocated an area to save his/her data.

 

However, if you like to provide a limited amount of space on the hard disk to every user account, Windows can easily manage memory allocations. To do this, start Windows Explorer, click with the right mouse button on the icon of the hard disk for which you would like to set up memory allocations. Then select the command ‘Properties’ in the context menu, activate the tab for ‘Quota’ in the following dialogue and select ‘Show quota settings’. For this, you require administrator rights so must either be using an elevated account or provide the appropriate password when prompted.

How to Use the Bracketing Function of the Camera

Number of compact digital cameras come with an auto-bracketing feature. When enabled, the camera shoots three frames in succession with different exposures—under, optimal and over. These photos are then combined into a single HDR photo with optimal lighting in the entire frame. Some cameras such as the Sony NEX-5N and Canon PowerShot S100 have the HDR function built-in. If your camera doesn’t feature HDR mode, you can use the bracketed shots to process the HDR shot manually. Adobe Photoshop or free tools such as easy HDR or Luminance HDR can be used for this.