the internet protocol address

the ip or the internet protocol address is the adress of the computer and can be used to track the details and the location of the computer . i shall post soon on how to hide the ip for anonymous web surfing with full privacy . so keep reading my blog .

also to maintain privacy , it is better to erase your history after surfing . it is difficult to do it manually and one can go for the usage of software designed for this purpose . i shall describe the software soon .

the image converter

while creating your own websites or trying to load pictures into portable players you may need to convert the format of the pictures into the supported formats of your player etc . a few years ago thi graphics interchange format( .gif ) was widely used. these days the JPEG( .jpg ) format is gaining heavy popularity and is supported by all modern mobiles .so you may need the help of an image converter . the microsoft windows paint application itself is a very good image converter . open the image with paint and save the file using the format desired .

to record audio

sometimes we may find audio on the internet which is not available for download. in such cases we need to use an audio recorder . audio recorders are available at www.download.com . some are trial versions and some freeware ia also available . audo recorders can be used to record any sound which comes out of the speaker . we have to just adjust the settings in the recording volume control in the software . it does not require the usage of a mike . the software has been designed in such a way that it can record the audio which is sent by the cpu to the speaker and the audio can be saved in a desired format on to the hard disk.

also we may have the video of a song out of which we need to extract the audio and make an audio song file . the recorder can be useful in cases like this .as the song begins , we have to switch on the recording using the recorder and when the song is over , we can stop recording and save the file in a desired format . the popularly used format is the mp3 format which can be played by almost all phones and portable devices .

the need to convert.....

we can play a variety of formats using media players on the computer , but mobiles and portable video players do not support all formats . flv format is rarely supported by dvd players , phones etc . hence there arises a need to convert between formats. many video converters are available on the internet . there are also some websites which can convert the videos online and download the converted file to your computer . a converter which can convert with high speed between popular formats is very useful . such a software can be found on :

www.anyvideoconverter.com

some phones use only the 3gp format . hence to use your videos on such phones , we can use the plato 3gp converter which is available on the internet . there are many other good converters available on www.download.com .

to download videos from video sites

to downlaod videos from the video websites like youtube and google videos , one can take the help of several websites which can download files from youtube by using the URL of the video . the url is actually the addresse of the particular file. youtube mentions the url of the video on the right side top portion of the web page. the url has to be copied and pasted on the websites which help to download these files .

www.keepvid.com ( allows to download files in both flv as well as mpeg formats .)
there are scores of other websites which you can find through google.

there are also certain softwares which can help download videos from youtube . real player is a video player which can record the videos in flv format . real is a vary useful software and can be downloaded from www.real.com and www.download.com . free download manager ( fdm ) can also be used to download videos . many other such softwares are available for download on www.download.com and are popularly used all over the world .

the formats of video

the common formats of video which can be which can be played on the computer are

1 . wma(windows media audio)
2 . mpeg
3 . 3gp
4 . mov ( these files have a .mov extension )
5 . avi
6 . flv ( these files are found on the interenet )

flv is a popular format in which thee files are uploadede on the internet for example youtube. the files are of low clarity compared to the other formats and they occupy very less space. these files require video players like the applian flv player which is easily available through many websites and can be found by searching on google. the other format is the 3gp format which can only be played by apple quicktime player . a few modern phones support this format and if you want to convert your video files to this format u need to use the plato 3gp converter. a free download of this software is easily available on the internet .

the other formats mentioned above can be played easily by the windows media player . the dvd video files come under the mov files and they have the .mov extension . they can be played using divx player or cyberlink power dvd . power dvd is not a free software but a 30 day trial version is available on wwww.download.com .

the nero showtime is also a very popular video player and can also be used to take snapshots of the video. it is avaialble on the nero cd rom .

it's time for software

Now let us put errors aside for sometime and concentrate on different softwares . i will try to describe some good software which can be for very useful . I will also post various websites from where cool software can be downloaded for free.so keep reading my blog and check out for the latest posts.and i also request you to to please put up some problems for discussion and post some useful websites .you may also post some errors faced by you and your suggestions on how to solve them.

installing a DSL modem

There is a mistake which people make while installing the driver for a DSL broadband modem. let me describe the entire procedure here. first the connections are set up and the modem is connected to the pc using the usb cord to the usb port of the computer. after that windows detects the new hardware and the " found new hardware wizard" opens . put the cd rom inside and ask the wizard to automatically search and install the drivers. the wizard searches the cd rom and after finding the suitable software , the installation begins.the installation takes place in two steps. the first step is quite smooth . then the 2nd step begins. when the second step is going on , the " found new hardware wizard" appears again. the mistake which people make is that htey cancel this wizard. that is not the way . again u should ask the wizard to search for the suitable software while the 2nd step of the first installation is still going on . the wizard searches and starts to install. the 2nd step of the first installation gets completed 100%. the driver is ready and the computer has to be restarted before use. if the wizard is cancelled when it prompts again ( when the installation process is already going on ) , an error message is displayed which says that windows can not install the drivers for the modem . if u are still having a problem installing the driver , then i suggest the use of the ethernet port rather than the usb port because a modem working on an ethernet port does not require the installation of a driver.

unable to boot from windows cd ??

generally , when we want to reinstall or repair windows , we have to restart the system after putting the cd rom inside. but there are cases when we may not be able to get the message " press any key to boot from cd " after restarting and the computer simply restarts normally without entering the windows setup menu. in such cases we have to follow a simple procedure . after pressing restart , we have to enter the BIOS by pressing the right key (the key for entering the bios is generally shown automatically in the initial stages of starting the computer.) after entering the bios we have to enter the option of BOOT . here we have to disable all boot devices other than the cd drive in which the windows cd rom has been placed( only thta cd drive has to be left enabled). after that you have to exit the bios by SAVING THE CHANGES.
after exiting , the comp retarts on it's own and this time it will boot from the cd and enter the windows setup menu.

the windows media player errors

often you may find that for a particular file , though the video is playing , the audio may not play and also sometimes the video may not play. that is because the file which you are trying to paly may require some additional media player files known as CODECS . well i can't eactly tell wat a codec is but i can say that it is a file which can enables the media player to play files of a particular format . hence in such cases , one can try to download a codec pack . a codec pack contains several codecs which can enable the media player to play the files without a problem. good codec packs are found all over the internet . for example a mega codec pack can be downloaded from the website :
www.freecodecs.com
but be careful that the codec pack is compatible with the version of wmp being used.
a codec pack is also found with the setup file for divx player which can be easily downloaded from the internet.

the pack has to be simply installed using it's setup file and the codecs are automatically used by the media players after the installation is complete.

anti spyware and anti malware

Almost everyone who uses a computer knows about computer viruses and anti virus software but not many people are aware of spyware and malware. spyware is like a virus which generally reches your computer through the internet . spyware can track th information entered by the user in various forms and login areas of emails . it can also record credit card pin no.s which the user may enter online. it can also be used to track the activities of the user on the computer. Thus it is better to avoid spyware from entering the system . it should be removed from the system to avoid troubles. It can be removed by using a good anti spyware which can scan and destroy spyware and tracking cookies. many can be found over the net. a few good ones are :

1.spware doctor . available on http://www.pctools.com/ and http://www.download.com/
2.avg anti virus free edition . available on http://www.download.com/

the latest version can be downloaded and can be updated from time to time.
malware can cause harmful changes in the system registry which can slow down and crash the system. it can be removed by the above softwares.

the dr watson postmortem error

This error is related to the internet explorer and can be quite irritating. i suggest the use of a good registry mechanic to scan and solve the error but i'm not really sure. the last time i met this error , i could simply clean it up using a registry mechanic. the error may cause the internet explorer to shut down unexpectedly. all the web pages being viewed currently may be closed down.this error can also be solved by reinstalling the internet explorer or by upgrading to a newer version of the internet explorer . Other explorers like mozilla , google chrome , opera etc can be used if the problem persists. Microsoft has suggested the use of particular procedure on a particular web page which i'll be posting on the same post later.

the generic host process

generic host process for win32 services error is one of the most persistent errors and can not be solved that easily.it is a globally faced error and it is found that it may continue even after repairing windows. it is found on windows xp service pack 2 ( xp sp 2) . it may be caused because of the following reasons :
malware in the regisrty
using old drivers for printers and scanners
windows automatic update errors
microsoft has provided a hot fix for this error in one of their updates.if you have missed it , you can get the hot fix on th following web page :


the error disables certain hardware like audio device and modems. the internet won't work. and the taskbar and internet explorer may change in appearance.

the very useful website

i think download.com is the world's best website to download softwares for all purposes. almost all software needs are satisfied by the website. we can easily browse through the site to get the required software. if not sure which to choose, one can take the help of the user ratings , editor ratings , no. of downloads and also the editor's description of the software. the website not just provides software for windows but also for macintosh and mobiles etc. The various details such as license ,validity,cost etc are also displayed.

repair the registry

certain commonly found pc errors like internet explorer error and many more are mainly due to errors in the registry.Similar to anti virus softwares, registry mechanics can be found all over the internet which can repair registry entries and can PREVENT ERRORS AND SYSTEM CRASHES. most of the registry mechanics are available for free download and they do scan the registry effectively but there is hardly any mechanic which repairs the error for free. it requires payment online . a wide range of registry mechanics can be found on the website
www.download.com
there is a good and popular registry mechanic which is globally used and is among the most downloaded softwares from download.com . it is ADVANCED SYSTEM CARE 3. it can scan and repair the registry for free and also offers some useful additional features like anti spyware etc.

system restore

i dont know how many people know about this feature of windows xp but i must say it is of fantastic help........it allows a user to restore the computer to a previous configuration.....this can be very useful when some harmful registry changes have occured or some files have been accidentally deleted.....all the setings and deleted files can be reobtained by using this featue. windows automatically creates restore points when some new software installation or uninstallation is carried out so htat if the software creates any sort of damage,then we can simply restore the configuration back to the point when the particular software was not yet installed.......
to use system restore :
1.click on start
2.accessories
3.system tools
4.system restore

we can also create restore points of our own
system restore can also be accessed from safe mode.......

the vital registry......

so first i would like to talk of an important feature of windows which is the registry..... the registry is basically core information about the system hardware, memory etc....often due to various software changes and installation of various softwares....... the registry may get altered......certain changes in the registry(keys) may cause harm to the system....sometimes we may have to change the registry keys ourselves for various reasons...... so one must be extremely careful about such changes......they can be performed after backing up the registry......so that the current registry settings are stored and suppose we cause any harmful changes to the computer we may set the system registry configuration back to the back up created...... the process of creating a registry backup is described in microsoft's following web page......


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/

what more....

through this blog let us also discuss some websites useful for various purposes like latest software,music,games etc....so all people out there please contribute to this blog with the stuff you know.....

how it all began......

this blog is an attempt to help people solve common computer errors using simple solutions which can be used by almost anyone........ i know that there are highly trained it professionals who can fix up errors in no time ......, then what is the need for my blog??? well i will just say that i wish to share what i know with others and also wish to be of some help to anyone who needs it ......so feel free to discuss any kind of questions and suggestions and please go through the common problems section of the blog.......