Not everyone uses old desktop these days as now new desktop PC’s are quite cheap to own now and we are upgrading hardware more frequently. Still one thing which annoys some people like me who are always in a hurry is the booting time. When we upgrade to new PC with better and faster processor, we do it because either we have already started or plan to use heavy software applications. Let’s take example of Adobe Photoshop 7 in days of Pentium 3. This would have run slow on a P3 and when upgrading to Pentium 4 most upgraded to Photoshop CS range which was more resource hungry than its older versions. This made even Pentium 4 slower and then came multiple core processors. Booting time is effected with the number of software’s installed as every software make entries in registry and some even need services to be started when windows start, all these increase the booting time. Booting time here means the time from system power on till the desktop becomes ready for use (means all notification area icons appeared and antivirus software loaded). Booting time depends on applications installed on the system and nothing to do with the age of your PC. Here are some tips to cut down on booting time and shutting time as well:

1. Install a SSD hard disk and install operating system on it. If space is left, you can also install frequently used application. I would suggest antivirus software because it is running all time right from the boot till shut down. SSD drives have high read and write speed enabling your system to boot faster.

2. Install maximum possible RAM. If there is an empty slot in your motherboard for RAM then do get a RAM and fill that slot! When your system is short of RAM space (many time it is), it uses hard disk space as RAM (virtual memory) and you know hard disk can never be as fast as RAM. RAM is the fastest memory you can provide your computer with. Cache and registers are even faster but they cannot be upgraded as they are inbuilt in CPU.

3. Remove unnecessary programs from startup. Type “msconfig” in the RUN box (works for Windows XP Pro and later OS) and a window will open where you can deselect the applications that you don’t need at startup. If you are unsure of some, leave them checked or Google their name and you will find info about them.

4. Remove unnecessary fonts. Each and every font gets initialized when system boots up, so if you have a large number of fonts that you downloaded and used for any project that you will no longer work on then its good idea to remove them. In case you need them again in a rare occasion, you can install them again. To remove fonts, open control panel and double click on the folder icon named “fonts”. You will see many fonts icon and to delete any font, just right click on its icon and click “delete”.

Summers come with their own set of problems, especially for those who have sensitive skin. Even if you feel you don’t have any problem after going out in sun, you are mistaken. The damage is done to exposed part of the skin and you may not notice it immediately. Apart from skin damage, there are other problems like headache, fatigue and other symptoms seen after several hours of spending time outside in summers. So here are ten tips for you to keep yourself fit and fine in these summers:

1. Buy sunglasses that block UV rays if you don’t have already and wear them whenever you go out. Your eyes can easily be damaged if exposed to UV rays. Also if not directly exposed, looking at objects reflecting sunlight for long (road, buildings and everything) causes eye strain and even headache. Sunglasses are fashionable too, so hit the store and choose the one which looks good on your face. Information about UV rays protection is mentioned on the sunglasses tag.

2. Wear fabric that breath. Some fabrics restrict air passage and you should avoid these. If you wear, you will sweat more. Light colored clothes will absorb less heat and reflect more, so these summers make light colors your favorite colors!

3. Rely less on those 24 hours deodorant and take bath. Use good quality shampoo and soap.

4. When going out, drink water and also carry water bottle. When returned, don’t drink chilled water from fridge but some fresh water, you may add a little cold water if you want.

5. In summers hand and feat sweat a lot, so you may want to carry a tissue paper with you always and keep hanky for rare occasions when you can’t use a tissue paper. When you reach home, before you step on your bed or touch that TV remote, wash your feet’s and hands. This will not only wash away most of the germs but also cool you down. When your body temperature becomes normal, take shower if needed.

6. When you are out of house and need refreshment, drink fresh fruit juice instead of fizzy drinks. If you don’t get fresh fruit juice then packaged juice is fine too. One more point I would like to add, if you are not in a mood of drinking fruit juice then don’t drink just because it’s said it’s good for you, pick your favorite fizzy drink this time and enjoy it, really I mean it here. You can always eat raw fruit or take fruit juice at some other time when you are in mood of it. Lemonade is a good refresher too. If you are really very exhausted then you should have glucose.

7. Both your home and your car AC should not be set too cold. Keeping AC at most 25 deg (I keep at 27). Apart from saving electricity, this is good for your health too. When you move out of a room that was air conditioned and temperature was set too low, your body faces a sharp change in temperature which is not good for your health. This does not mean at all that you switch off the AC and start sweating, enjoy the luxury of AC but within limits of your body tolerance. Also don’t forget to use sleep mode at night!

8. If you follow above tips then you should not have any summer related skin problems, but in case you get skin rashes or other minor summer related skin problems then applying normal talcum powder helps a lot better than most of the fancy products available in market.

9. Most people might not want to get tanned in summers so for them using a god quality sunscreen lotion (choose nothing below SPF 26) before going out in sun is a must. However, nothing is better than protecting yourself from direct sunlight, wear hat, travel in car or carry an umbrella. Using sunscreen lotion adds to the protection from sun. Don’t hesitate to consult a dermatologist for advice on any type of skin problem that don’t get easily solved using home remedies.

10. People who have white patches on skin (Vitiligo) should not go out in mid day when sunlight is at extreme, and if it’s really necessary then one should wear clothes covering all parts of body, especially those effected with Vitiligo. However taking sunbath in morning and evening when sunlight is not strong is found to be effective in reducing white patches size. More info on Vitiligo here.

No it’s certainly not about fitting a rocket engine and blasting yourself to space. New freelancers or computer students who want to try the freelancer’s life and earn some money always come to me and ask how to begin? So here I write few tips on how you can begin your career as a freelancer without any hurdle.

1. Make friends – Talk to people who are good in those areas where you are weak. If you are weak in Java say for example then make friend who knows Java well. Now when you have friends like these, you are less likely to get stuck somewhere and you can take help of them. But don’t take advantage of them, if they do a considerable amount of work for you, pay them!

2. Get into a team – Search for a team/person already involved in such works which you intend to do, for example if you want to be a freelance web designer then you should look around for team who are in web design work. When you generally talk to them, these people will be least interested in you and here is how you can get their interest in you: it’s called clients. You can tell them that you can get them new clients or new projects only when they let you do some part of the work and get your share. You can show them your work and also let them know how much you know. Working with people often bring conflicts so make sure you make everything clear beforehand.

3. Make yourself a nice website – Make a portfolio website letting everyone on the web know who you are, where you are and what you do. This will bring you some work for sure.

4. Word of mouth – when you meet new people or even your family friends and relatives, let them know about your freelancing work and show them your latest creations if you can. This is one tip that can keep you busy with work for some time.

When you get enough experience of the market and your skills are well polished, you are ready to become a true freelancer and take up the next step to increase your earnings. This next step can be anything like getting a job in a company or even setting up your own company!

Virus, Trojans, those autorun.inf files which always get copied in your pen drive as soon as you plug them in an infected system are a big headache. And when you return home and plug this pen drive in your system, it gets infected too. If you have good antivirus software then you can be safe but not always. Prevention is better than cure so why not prevent your system from facing these pen drive related virus problem. Here I give you a good solution which will in some cases help you saving your system from getting infected and also stop spreading for virus from one system to another.

Suppose I have to carry some files which I have in my PC so I just copy them in my pen drive, this is most people do. Now I suggest leaving your pen drive and using memory card instead. Grab your digital camera and take out its memory card. Buy a memory card reader if you don’t have one (which comes very cheap). Get a portable card reader for convenience of carrying which don’t need USB cable. Now carry your digital files in memory card and without worrying plug it in any computer with any amount of virus infection! Enjoy the freedom from the worry of virus.

When you reach home, you know your memory card has lots of virus in it and you will not like it plugging in your PC. Plug it in your digital camera instead and switch on your camera. Go to the setup and you should find format option, select it and format your memory card! Boom boom.. all viruses gone! Since those viruses were made for Windows operating system so it will not affect your digital camera in any way. Now you can safely plug this memory card again in your computer for carrying more digital files to your workplace.

You cannot use this trick if you have to take some digital files back to home because formatting will wipe all the data on card.

From school going children to senior citizens, everyone use mobiles and everyone has different amount of mobile usage. Some people are glued to their phone and much of their time spends talking on phone or sending messages. While I have seen some people who hardly use their phone. Due to such variety in usage, telecom operators have different tariff plans to cater everyone’s need at lowest possible cost. Price war is always there between different operators which mean better plans for customers at even lower cost. Most people start with pre-paid plans which are like pay as you go and it gives a surety about how much one wants to spend on talking. If you find yourself spending a lot on pre-paid recharges then I strongly suggest to look at post paid or contract phone deals where you not only get freedom from recharging phone again and again but also get rid of worry about running out of recharge while making that important call.

Contract phone deals sometime include handsets at lower cost than market rates but as we know you get nothing for free and operators usually include some misc. amount in bills or have higher call rates to cover up the cost of set. So when you go for such offer, check out where the tariff plans carefully and read the terms or services line by line. Websites like Dial a phone.co.uk makes our work easier by giving all the information in much clear way rather than hiding them in asterisks and smaller fonts like operators do. So do check out this site.

Mathematics is one subject that if you know it well, you will enjoy it but if you don’t then it will make your life hell. Learning maths can be fun if it does not involve strict maths teachers (I have usually found maths teachers to be quite strict) and student is able to get answer and clear explanation of everything no matter how simple it is or difficult. Students are shy in asking questions in class because they think they question they are going to ask is very simple one and students of class will make fun.

Math answers if easily available with clear explanation then all left for the student is to give it a time in understanding how its done, which formulas are used, learn the formula if he/she don’t know it already and then practice the question few times. Practicing is very important in mathematics. I understood this when I needed Calculus help and no matter how many formulas I learned, I was not able to do tougher problems of calculus. Then I came to know that practicing is all I need and I will have to practice so many problems that in exam no calculus problems should look new to me. Only then I would be able to solve else it may take lots of time to solve it and in exam we have limited time. Precalculus help is also an important thing to get equally for better understanding of this topic.