Changing the default save format in Microsoft Office 2007 appplications

Microsoft(MS) Office is one widely used office applications around the computing world. With MS Office 2007, the file formats of its applications changed. That is, for eg, powerpoint files were earlier saved as .ppt format while it became .pptx now. Similar with other office applications whose file formats changed with the new version.

It's a common notion that latest is always better but in this case it was not so. People who had saved their office files in latest 2007 format found their files incompatible in computers running 2003 office applications. Thus, it put many a people under inconvenience. So it is better to use the 2003 office file formats till everyone is familiar with 2007. While saving, we may select 'save as' and then select 'type' as 2003 file format(ppt, doc etc) and click on OK. That will work but many of us are careless to remember doing that all the time, or worse still, many new users don't even know about selecting the type and all that stuff. So it's better to keep 2003 file format as default rather than the 2007 one.

I will show an example using MS Word 2007. I will change the format from docx to doc. The images below show step by step procedure.

Changing colour scheme of Microsoft Office 2007 applications

 2007Many people have been asking me frequently how to change the colour scheme of MicroSoft(MS) Office applications. By default it is silver in colour like the one shown below.

I have posted stuff using MS Office applications on various forums and many people have asked how did I make mine Black instead of the default silver(I think so). Actually it is very easy and no big trick is involved. Just that most people overlook the settings required to make the changes.

Firefox memory leak problem solved

I had talked about computer starting to lag after sometime when using Firefox over a long time. The reason is that Firefox has a problem of memory leaks. Read here for more. And I have also posted a couple of solutions for those facing this problem. Other than the link given above, you can check easy solutions here and here. This was a problem for those on Firefox versions 3.5 and earlier. Yes, you heard it right! That was a problem and it has been cleared off in their current Firefox 3.6.

Flash, a CPU hog?

Apple messiah Steve Jobs has recently been on a criticism spree for the graphics company Adobe Inc. While Steve had said that he won't be using Flash for his iPad just like the iPhones calling Adobe as "lazy" and offering "lousy" software, he recently reaffirmed that consumers won't be seeing any flash content on iPad even though competitors may be doing so. According to Steve Jobs, Adobe's Flash is a big time CPU hog and running a flash based content on iPad could reduce the battery life from estimated 10 hours to a meagre 1.5 hours.

Auto Power On and Shut Down

There can be variety of reasons why we may need to shutdown and start the computer at certain times without the need to do it manually.

Google for hackers

Did you know there was a Google search engine version for hackers too? No? Here it is then.
Open your web browser and type the following in the address bar (or copy paste the following)

AntiFeatures are taking your digital freedom away

Did you just say that you got a huge bill for overshooting your download limit on your 'unlimited' to use internet connection? You too are a victim of antifeatures then. Antifeatures, as in 'anti - features' are a very irritating and unfortunate prospect that many people are facing, some even without knowing about them. Antifeatures are some special limitations set by the vendor/company on your use of digital equipment. For eg, many people in India, who have unlimited internet connection get an extra charges section on their bill for overshooting their download limits. Now what the heck does "overshoot the download limits" mean in an unlimited connection?

Get ready for a Crazy revolution

Revolutions have taken place throughout history. Some were in the field of science, some in the industrial arena, while some were just political in nature. But the result was always the same; a wild turn around of things signaling growth and prosperity for all mankind. But what is all these revolution stuff doing in this tech blog? Incase you have got that question in your mind then let me clear it out. The one am talking about, is not one of those backed by political or financial heavy weights, but one which was brought about by a single man, just like James Watt and Newton did in their respective fields, ages before him. The guy am talking about may or may not become a hero like they did, but has the potential of becoming one of them. Wondering what all this babble is all about? Here's the story.

Top 500 worst Passwords of all time

These are the top 500 worst passwords you could possibly use. The following list is from Mark Burnett's 2005 book Perfect Passwords: Selection, Protection, Authentication, where he has compiled the most commonly used passwords by people all over the internet. Though the compiled list is now old, considering that it's the year 2010 now, a full five years on, this list still has got a lot of importance. Though the trend might have shifted a little, with internet users becoming more aware of all these security issues, but even today most people still use some of these passwords.

Making Windows Genuine using registry crack

In most of the client computers I attend to, I have seen that many are still using Windows XP and are either using pirated copies or have been duped by then software vendor by paying for pirated ones. The problem arises when Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage tool (WGA) declares that you are using counterfeit version of Windows and that you need to buy a genuine one. And then on you will be getting that ugly WGA pop up irritating the hell out of you, before blacking out everything for you(as in Windows Vista) and making it unusable.

1 Gigabit per second internet connection ? Yes, Google has got it!

Looks like Google is out there to capture everything that is internet! First they got the world under its control through its flagship www.google.com and subsequently coming up with a slew of other services that has capitulated the company into one of the biggest players in the world computer market. Google's plan, now, is to setup a no of ultra high speed, fibre based, internet connection that will reach 1 Gigabit per second or even more on an experimental basis at the moment.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 RC

I do some casual programming in c++ and vb.net and I use Visual Studio 2008 for it. Recently I wanted a copy of that software to install it on my home computer and found that the dvd had caught a lot of scratches and it won't install the software completely. I had heard weeks ago, that Microsoft (MS) had launched a new version of their Visual Studio software and that they were giving it out for free at the moment, but didn't pay much attention to it until now.

Need a fried hard drive?

Did you ever fry a hard drive? I did one a few weeks ago and learnt an important lesson. It was a small issue and hardly worth noting but it did cost me a hard disk(in replacement). Here's what happened.

Schoolboy gets a stripper as his birthday present!

Here's a picture I found by mistake in Google's image search. It's truly hilarious. The picture? No the text inside the picutre. Check out the picture below for details.

How To Print Pages In Order with Ink Jet Printers

I found a nice informative (and helpful) article while reading over the net and it was on How to avoid the ink jet page shuffle to put your printouts in order.

Website Edit Hack ?

Just try the following step.

1. Go to any website, say www.google.com
2. Paste the code given below into the address bar, i.e. where you just typed www.google.com, and press enter.
3. Now have fun editing the elements of the site!

The Code:

javascript: document.body.contentEditable= "true"; document.designMode= "on"; void 0

Note: this will work only for javascript enabled websites. This is not a serious hack. What you are doing is that you are editing web elements on the client so it wont be affecting the actual web server. So it's safe to try! I tried with Google and Rediff, it worked. You can find this all over the internet. Got this one from Digg.

Optimizing Windows Registry

In my previous post, we saw how to backup and restore Windows registry easily by using ERUNT tool. In addition to backing up and restoration, the registry requires optimization too. Registry optimization keeps the registry hives healthy and increases overall performance. Just like we need to defragment our hard drive, registry too needs to be done the same. And NTREGOPT does that for you. NTREGOPT stands for NT Registry Optimizer and it works for Windows 7 and Vista too.

Backup Windows Registry

Anyone who has been working for sometime with computers having Windows as its operating system, will be knowing how important a Windows registry is.

Best Antivirus Software

Yes, the topic is about the best antivirus software available in market. Why? Definitely if one would know that there are thousands of new viruses and malwares being made everyday, he would be worried about the health of his computer and will try to get the best protection suite for it. But this is also true, that there is no such thing as 100% protection for a computer. Unless, of course, your computer is never connected to the internet or exposed to any kind of external media.

How to install Windows from USB Drive

Does this picture say something? Are you one of those trying to install Windows from your flash drives but don't know exactly how to do? Or are you one of them who know a certain method but want to know which is one of the most efficient ways to do so?
If, at all, you belong to any of the above (others are equally welcome!), then this post is what you should definitely read up. More and more people these days are trying to leave the traditional way of booting into Windows setup using bootable CDs. It's more of a necessity because people with netbooks do not have an optical drive or may be a person's optical drive has gone kaput.

Install Windows XP

Until I come up with my short guide on making pendrives bootable, here is a quick tip on how to install Windows. Though am using Windows XP as an example, it can be applied to almost any version of Windows from 2000 and later. This guide is basically meant for both new, inexperienced users as well as those who know how to do it.

How to block a website

You may want to block a particular website on your computer. May be you do not want your brother or sister to visit a particular site, or you just do not want your room mate to keep orkuting all day and so you want the website blocked. No matter what the reason be, there are many ways to block a website. One can block a website from a browser, a software or within a computer itself.

Unlocker alternative for x64 Windows - LockHunter

In our earlier posts we have seen about deleting undeletable files using Unlocker and also about deleting undeletable files manually using command prompt. Doing it manually is actually a hectic job and using Unlocker is fast and a sure shot way. But the problem is that Unlocker is only for the 32 bit platform and more and more users these days are moving to the 64 bit version of Windows. Thus, for them, there's another nifty tool named LockHunter that comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Deleting undeletable files manually using command prompt

In our earlier post, we have seen about deleting undeletable files using unlocker. That's a nifty tool for sure and is a must have for all computer users. But one friend of mine asked me if we could delete files manually without using any software. So just to share with those who don't know, I am putting up few lines on how to do it manually.

Deleting undeletable files using Unlocker

Many a time we have come across a situation where we try to remove/delete, move a file or a folder and we get this message.

Sometimes it just says 'Cannot delete file: access denied,' or may be 'Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use'. Most of the times it is true that the file mite be being used and that's why this warning can be a boon to some people. But it also happens that even though it is 'really' not being used anywhere, these kinds of messages pop up and hamper our computer activity.

How to use mouse gestures !

No! Am not trying to lecture on mouse gestures techniques used in Opera or any future versions of Windows. What I want to share with you today is something I accidentally found a couple of years ago.
It's a group of people who are trying to play around with and research the scope of using only mouse gestures for all our computational work. Yes ! You heard it right. Whatever we need to do in a computer can be done 'without' the use of mouse clicks. According to their research, clicking on any item requires an action period of 700 milliseconds but a gesture would take only about 150. So, which is more efficient huh!
They have given a lot of onsite activities that you can enjoy and make sure you don't click by mistake!
Visit the site at www.dontclick.it.
Now, that's a nice domain name isn't it !