How to check a Hard Disk Drive's health?

You start up your computer then suddenly you hear strange noises coming that seems to come from one of your hard drive. Naturally you start to worry. What if your hard drive is starting to fail? There is a way to check all  your hard disk's health using only what Windows offers.

Yes, like any other device, a hard drive also has its own "life expectancy". Same thing with other parts of your computer, actually more so for it because a hard drive consist of a moving (rotating) part.

So how would you determine if your hard drive is already dying? One indication that your hard drive is dying is when you start to see delayed right fail errors. Although a healthy hard drive may also encounter this error, it is more common on a drive that is starting to deteriorate.

But if you wish to see all your drive's health there are many third party software that you can install which will do such a specific task, that is to monitor your hard disk's status. Be aware though that installing such third party software will contribute to your overall load and may even slow it down a bit or a lot depending on your hardware.

But that is not what this is about, this is about using what you already have. This is Windows' Disk Management tool. Here is how:

1. Go to control panel and click on Administrative Tools.
2. On the Administrative Tools window, click on Computer Management.
3. Under Computer Management, you will see several items listed on the left of the window. Look for Storage and expand it to reveal another set of list. Locate Disk Management and click it. Wait for several seconds while it propagates all hard drives connected to your computer. When it finally shows all the drives, it will also show each drives' status. In the example image below of my drive, all are healthy.

List of hard drives with their health status shown under Disk Management of the Computer Management window

Lastly, it a good practice to always make a back-up of the content of your hard drive. Do not wait until you see signs of failure before you start backing up your data since by that time some of your data may already get corrupted beyond recovery.

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How to change your Smart Bro DNS server to Google Public DNS or OpenDNS

Smart Telecom's MF180 USB modem is bundled with an interface which has a limited options on it Settings page. Not even a away to edit its network configuration settings through the User Interface (UI).

So how to change the DNS setting?
By editing the NetConfig file.

In windows explorer, go to C:/Program Files/SMART BRO. In the SMART BRO folder look for the NetConfig file. This is what you must edit.

note: Before you do anything with the file, you must create a back-up just in case you mess up while editing, you have a back-up file to copy from. Just create a folder and name it Back-up, copy NetConfig file and paste it in the Back-up folder.

Right click NetConfig then Open With ... choose Notepad. In Notepad, you will see the following:

Original SMART BRO Configuration

Change it to

[SmartBro]
Name=SmartBro
UserName=none
UserPass=none
DialNum=*99#
IsAutoGetAPN=0
APN=SMARTBRO
IsAutoGetDNS=1
MainDNSaddr=0.0.0.0
AltDNSAddr=0.0.0.0
IsAutoGetPDP=1
pdpAddr=0.0.0.0
pdpType=IP
AuthType=PAP
IsDfault=1
DeniEditDelete=1
askUserAndPass=0
SaveuserAndPass=0
IsFactoryDefault=1
IsMmsConfig=0

[SmartBro]
Name=SmartBro
UserName=none
UserPass=none
DialNum=*99#
IsAutoGetAPN=0
APN=SMARTBRO
IsAutoGetDNS=0
MainDNSaddr=8.8.8.8
AltDNSAddr=8.8.4.4
IsAutoGetPDP=0
pdpAddr=0.0.0.0
pdpType=IP
AuthType=PAP
IsDfault=1
DeniEditDelete=1
askUserAndPass=0
SaveuserAndPass=0
IsFactoryDefault=1
IsMmsConfig=0

In the original configuration, IsAutoGerDNS is 1 while I changed it to zero (0) to mean false. This change cause the UI not to automatically get the DNS instead configure it to use the set MainDNSaddr and AltDNSAddr which is 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 respectively (Google's public DNS- can be interchanged). Without setting IsAutoGetDNS to 0, the UI will automatically get the ISP assigned DNS for you even if you set the MainDNSAddr and AltDNSAddr to your desired DNS.

Save the file and relaunch your Smart Bro UI to connect to the internet.

For OpenDNS, use the following: MainDNSAddr=208.67.222.222; AltDNSAddr=208.67.220.220

Other public DNS are:
Comodo Secure DNS: Main=8.26.56.26; Alt=8.20.247.20
Norton ConnectSafe: Main=198.153.192.40, Alt=198.153.194.40
DNSResolvers.com: Main=205.210.42.205, Alt=64.68.200.200

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Meta tag generator

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Meta tag generator

Here is a free meta tag generator/builder for blogger users and non-blogger users that include facebook and twitter meta tags.

Simply input the page title, description and keywords (if you wish not to include it leave it blank) and the post URL and click the Generate Meta tags button. To include facebook and twitter meta tags, just click on the option list that you wish included.

Copy the code (that appears after the button) applicable for you and paste it on your page. It is important to copy including all leading spaces so it will align properly when you paste it on blogger template, If you are a blogger user look for the <b:include data:='blog' name='all-head-content'/> and paste the code just below it. For non-blogger users, paste the code within the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags.

Blog post URL:

Page Title:

You have 160 characters left.

Description:

You have 160 characters left.

Keywords:

You have 160 characters left.

Tell Robots to:
Index this page and follow the links on the page
Index this page but do not follow the links on the page
Do not index this page and follow the links on the page
Do not index this page and do not follow the links on the page

Facebook Meta tags
Include Facebook Meta title tag (og:title)
Include Facebook Meta URL tag/Canonical URL (It will use the same URL as the one supplied above) (og:URL)
Include Facebook Meta description tag (og:description)
Include the type

Select Type
blog
website
article

Include Facebook Meta image tag (og:image)

Image URL:

Include Facebook User IDs (fb:admins)

User IDs:

Twitter Meta tags
Include Twitter Meta URL tag (twitter:url)
Include Twitter Meta Title tag (twitter:title)
Include Twitter Meta Description tag (twitter:description)
Include Twitter Meta image tag (twitter:image)
Include the type

Select Twitter Card Type
summary
photo
player

For Blogger Users copy this

For others use this

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Put the Loading... text with animated dots

There are times where you navigate to a page and you see the "Loading..." text with moving three or so dots like this

Loading

and you wonder how they did it.

Here is how
Copy and paste the following code to where you wish for it to appear inside you page

<span id="wait">Loading</span>
<script>
var dots = window.setInterval( function() {
    var wait = document.getElementById("wait");
    if ( wait.innerHTML.length > 12 )
        wait.innerHTML = "Loading";
    else
        wait.innerHTML += " .";
    }, 300);
</script>

You may replace the value 300 (in red text) to a value you wish. 300 means 300 millisecond or 0.3 second interval between each appearance of the dot so naturally the higher value you put in, the longer it will take for each dot to appear and vice versa.

You may also wish to add some format to the text like making the font size 40px and color gray. You can put an inline CSS at the span tag like this:

<span style="color:gray;font-size:40px;" id="wait">Loading</span>
<script>
var dots = window.setInterval( function() {
    var wait = document.getElementById("wait");
    if ( wait.innerHTML.length > 12 )
        wait.innerHTML = "Loading";
    else
        wait.innerHTML += " .";
    }, 300);
</script>

And the result will be like this:

Loading

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Using Google Spreadsheet as a query-able table using Javascript

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Using Google Spreadsheet as a database for your site

Turn Google spreadsheet into a query able database that you can publish on your web page.

In a previous post (Create your own form and display all response real time using Google Drive) I have mentioned that you can post the results of your Google Form that updates real time. It is good because it is an active result by that I mean it updates data real time.

But the output result will also include everything like the menu bar and tool bars which is basically anything when you open a spreadsheet in Google Drive. It therefore looks and feel more like a work space than a web page. Refer to below image for the output.

Output on your website using the link share address of the spreadsheet.

But what if you wanted a better output without the distracting menu and tool bars, column and row headings and just wanted it to look like any other table you see around the internet?

Use the Data Source URL instead of the link share address
Fortunately, there is a better way of showing your response table and that is using the data source URL. It looks like this:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE

To find your spreadsheet ID, open your spreadsheet in Google Drive and on the address bar should look like this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=SPREADSHEET_ID#gid=0

Just copy the spreadsheet ID and paste it on your data source URL. To post this in your website, use the iframe tag just like when you made the link share address. It therefore should look something like:

<iframe frameborder="0" height="1100" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" width="1000" src="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE"></iframe>

Please note also that I have highlighted in bold and blue the text tqx=out:html that is because there are three possible output in using the data source URL (json, html and csv). Without specifying the output, it will automatically assume a json output (default). The tqx=out:html text will ensure that it gives an html output which is more readable to us common folk. Using csv will download the table to your hard drive.

Supposing your iframe options were set properly, you will not see any evidence of the iframe on your page and should look like this:

Using the data source URL gives a cleaner look.

Add Query on your data source URL for better interactivity with your table
Now looking better! How about if you wanted some interactivity with the table like showing responses only on a certain category. Like this:

Sort by:
Real Estate                     Automobile or Vehicle
Job Opportunity              Computers and Electronics
Others

From the above table, you can see that you can sort the data by clicking on any of the choices on how to sort it.

To do this include a query in the data source URL. The query has the following syntax:

&tq=QUERY_STRING_HERE

The entire data source URL then would look like this:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE&tq=QUERY_STRING_HERE

Replace that into your iframe source and it will display any data that meets the query requirement.

But what to put on the query string? Instead of discussing the details, I will give you the code for the above example as it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss in detail about the query language.

Here is the code. Feel free to use it. Just copy and paste it to a blank page and it should work fine.

<b>Sort by:</b><br />
<a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&amp;tq=select * where (B='Real Estate' or B='Category') order by A desc&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE" target="pakita">Real Estate</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&amp;tq=select * where (B='Automobile/Vehicle' or B='Category') order by A desc&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE" target="pakita">Automobile or Vehicle</a><br />
<a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&tq=select * where (B='Job Opportunity' or B='Category') order by A desc&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE" target="pakita">Job Opportunity</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&tq=select * where (B='Computers/Electronics' or B='Category') order by A desc&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE" target="pakita">Computers and Electronics</a><br />
<a href="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&tq=select * where (B='Others' or B='Category') order by A desc&amp;key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE" target="pakita">Others</a>
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="900" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="pakita" src="https://spreadsheets.google.com/tq?tqx=out:html&amp;tq=select * order by A desc&key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE" width="1000"></iframe><br /><p style="font-size: 8px;">Courtesy of <a href="http://cyberliving.blogspot.com">http://cyberliving.blogspot.com</a></p>

A little explanation for the code
In order to make an interaction with the table, I made use of an achor text (<a href="source URL>) in order to make the query using the data source URL then targeted the frame (iframe) as my output.

You might have also noticed the blue and red texts. These are what composed the query string, except for the key=YOUR_SPREADSHEET_ID_HERE which we have already explained earlier. The blue texts are called clauses while the red texts are the conditions you set for each clause.

For the select I gave it the * to mean select all columns in the table. You may also select only certain columns. Do it by specifying its column letter. Ex. select A,B,C or select A,C,D,E or select B,E,F

The where clause tells your query which among the data is to be displayed. In my example I used where (B='Real Estate' or B='Category') on my first anchor text (Real Estate) because I just wanted to display all responses under the category Real Estate. I included or B='Category' so that it will still display the column title. Without it, the displayed data will not have any column title.

Then there is the order by A desc. This serves to arrange the data according to the content of column A. Since I wanted it to display the data from the latest entry from the form down to the earliest I choose column a to sort because it contains the time stamp data as to when each data has been created and since I wanted the latest entry to be on top I choose "desc" for descending order.

That is it. I hope I helped you solved your problem. If you wish for any clarification, leave your comments below.

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Kaspersky uses too much memory

From a previous post I have written about how you can monitor which of your programs running in the background is making your computer to run slow.

In this post I am going to give an example.

By sorting the list of processes in Task Manager by handles, I saw that avp.exe has the highest handles. Although it has not the highest memory usage, its memory usage is still considerably large. So with this new info, I went to search for answers and found out that avp.exe is the process name for Kaspersky Internet Security.

I have also learned that Kaspersky do scan system memory, start-up objects and system partition while the computer is idle. It also checks for Automatic updates of anti-virus databases and application modules. Both this are resource intensive tasks that can cause CPU as well as memory usage to go extra high when it is started causing your computer to slow down.

Fortunately, there is a way to disable it. Just open KIS then click Settings (gear icon), and go to General Scan Settings (click magnifying glass icon). Uncheck the Perform Idle Scan and Perform regular rootkit scan radio buttons.

After disabling both, I now see a decline in my handles as well as the memory usage and I don't see much CPU spikes anymore.

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Make use of your ISO files without any CD/DVD/Blue Ray discs

How to extract the contents of an ISO file without burning it into a disc?

First off an .iso file is an image file of a disc dontained into a single file. It is much like a .zip file except that there is no compression involved. It is just that all files in a cd is put into a single file this way it is much easier to transfer within a network.

The problem with an ISO file is that Windows can not natively open such a file. Usually, the contents of an ISO file is extract into a disc through a burning software. After you burn an ISO image to a cd, you will be able to browse and even at all the contents. But what if you don't want to use a CD?

A simple solution is to use what is called virtual drive. These virtual drives emulates a CD/DVD/Blue ray ROM even if you don't have any of it physically installed on your machine.

Here is what you can do:

Launch your virtual drive emulator - if you don't have one, download and install one. There are several freeware available just search using your favorite search tool. Try using the following phrase to look for your virtual drive: "virtual drive with ISO support". I specified the ISO support since there are some that may not support ISO mounting.

Mount the ISO file - look for the ISO file you want to browse and mount it into your virtual drive. If your virtual drive has its own UI then browse for the ISO file from there. But there are some virtual drives that uses the File Explorer of windows to mount and opens the ISO file as if Windows can natively open it.

Browse the contents of the ISO file - Once the file has been mounted into the virtual drive, it is now possible to look at its content. You may even copy files or if it is an installer, you may directly install the application from the virtual drive.

That's all there is. Enjoy.

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Windows XP not updating

Normally Windows XP does the update automatically for you, if you have enabled automatic update that is.

However, if this is not the case and when you try to update it through the Help and Support Center (Start -> Help and Support -> under Pick a task click Keep your computer up to date with Windows Update) instead of getting the updates you get this error message instead:

Error number: 0x80244019
The website has encountered a problem and can not display the page you are trying to view.

Error message when trying to update Windows XP.

You might be having any of the following issues listed below. To solve your porblem, follow  each process as it is  shown. It is advised that you bookmark this page so in case you need to restart your computer, you can get back to it.




Your Automatic Updates service is missing

• Click Start then Run. In the Run input box copy and paste these text then click Ok button:

%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 %windir%\inf\au.inf

• In case your computer asks to insert your system CD (your Windows XP CD installer) or is asked for the location of the wuapi.dll file, type the following text into the Copy files from input box then click the Ok button.

%windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386

• If the same message is displayed, then you will need to insert your system CD into your CD ROM drive then click the BROWSE button and select the drive for the CD ROM then click the Ok button. This should continue with install process for the Automatic Updates service.
• Restart your computer then retry to get the updates (at this point I would like to remind you to bookmark this page if you have not done it yet). If you still get the same error, proceed below.

It may also be that the Background Intelligent Transfer Service is missing

• Click Start then Run. In the Run input box copy and paste these text then click Ok button:

%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 %windir%\inf\qmgr.inf

• In case your computer asks to insert your system CD (your Windows XP CD installer) or is asked for the location of the qmgr.dll file, type the following text into the Copy files from input box then click the Ok button.

%windir%\ServicePackFiles\i386

• If the same message is displayed, then you will need to insert your system CD into your CD ROM drive then click the BROWSE button and select the drive for the CD ROM then click the Ok button. This should continue with install process for the Automatic Updates service.
• Restart your computer then retry to get the updates. If you still encounter a problem, proceed below.

Download the Service Pack 3 (SP3) manually
You may not have the Service Pack 3 installed yet.

• Open a new window of your browser and copy the following text URL into the address bar and press Enter.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24

• You will be directed to the download site for the Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). Click the download button.
• Once download is finished install the file (following each instruction).
• Restart your computer. Check if there is still problem with updating your computer.

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Share your laptop's internet connection

Recently, I wrote about how to share a desktop's internet connection. This time I will discuss how to share a wired laptop's internet connection wirelessly also known as an ad hoc connection.

An ad hoc connection is simply a connection between computers via wifi. If it is a wire connection, it is not considered an ad hoc connection.

How does this differ differ from my previous post How to share your desktop internet connection? That post was intended to share a connection via a router that way it is still shared wirelessly via wifi while this how to will turn your notebook into a wifi hotspot without needing to connect a wirelss router.

Here is what needs to be done.

Start by sharing your internet connection
1. Go to your network connection (Start ->All Programs -> Accessories -> Communications -> Network connections). On your network connections find your connection to the internet, right click it then click on Properties.

2. On the properties window, click on the Advanced tab.

3. On the Internet Connection Sharing box, check the Allow other network users to connect through this computer's internet connection. Any warning that comes up, just click ok.

4. In case you are using a USB modem and not a wired connection, a drop down window just below this check box will offer you two choices either Local Area Connection or Wireless Network Connection. In this case choose wireless network connection. Choosing Local Area Connection will tell the system to share the internet through the ethernet port which is for wired connection.

5. Uncheck Allow other network users to control or disable the shared internet connection. This step is to ensure that nobody but the owner has control over the network.

6. ClickOK and the internet connection is now shared.

Now turn on ad hoc connectivity and make your laptop a mobile wifi hotspot.
1. Again on Network Connections, right click Wireless Network Connection and click Properties.

2. On the properties window, click on the Wireless Networks tab.

3. Look for the Preferred networks box and just below it is the Add button.

4. On the Association tab of the new window, input any network name you desire (Network name SSID).

5. Choose Shared for Network Authentication and WEP for Data Encryption.

6. Uncheck The key is provided for me automatically to be able to input custom password.

7. Check This is a computer-to-computer ad hoc network. Then click OK to accept the settings and close the window.

8. Click OK on the properties window to start the ad hoc network.

9. The ad hoc network should be ready by now. For other computers to connect to this network, the network has to be provided.

**Note that as of this writing (April 7, 2013) an Android device could not detect it. This was tried on an Android tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich but it could not find the ad hoc network. Nokia phones however with symbian O/S were able to detect it.

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Make fonts larger for easier reading

At a gathering a friend asked me, I have trouble reading through my computer. The letters are too small. Please help me to make it bigger.

The solution is very simple and it is called zoom. When you are at your browser, just press Ctrl then press the plus key at the same time (Ctrl + plus key). That is it, the next time you open your browser again, it remembers your previous setting and gives you the same bigger fonts like the previous time you open it.

If you wish to make it smaller, just do the opposite, press Ctrl plus the minus key at the same time (Ctrl + minus key).

Now, however, that does not affect the appearance of your window. To make the fonts in your windows bigger, click on Start, then click Control Panel. At the Control Panel, click on Display. At the display setting window, click on the Appearance tab and at the bottom of it is a drop down window click the down arrow botton to bring down a list. You may choose from normal, large fonts and extra large fonts then click apply button to test it out. Once satisfied, click ok to accept the setting. Done!

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Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network

I was searching for something using Google on the internet one morning but because it was quite difficult to find, I was searching somewhat actively. By that I mean, I tried diffirent phrases and I did it simultaneously. I had about 3 windows doing searches at the same time. I guess, it is worth noting that at the time of my search, I am having a rather slow internet connection which explains why I had 3 searches going on at the same time. As I move along with my searches, I am also getting that message more often and so I decided to investigate. Here is what I have found.

Not all the sites I visited redirects me to this error message. And so it
looks like it was related to some search term or at least to the particular
search term I am using during that time.

Clearing my cache did not made the problem go away. As we all know, a virus can cause your computer to behave abnormally including sending information from my computer to some place who knows what. And so I checked my computer with my favorite anti-virus and anti-malware programs but did not find any threat.

Others also suggested that maybe I have a conflict within my network (that is from my ISP, I do not have a static IP and obtains it automatically by my service provider). Instead of going to the command prompt release and renew my IP, I did reboot everything. Restarted my modem, my router and my computer (no other computers were connected to my router that time).

After the restarts, I did not encounter that message again. Aaah! The magic of reboot. I did not know exactly what happened because after reboot, things went back to normal but Google team have some more extensive course of action you may take like the following:

• A malware maybe causing this. They recommend to use HijackThis.
• After HijackThis, they recommend to use other antispyware and antivirus softwares to check for further infection.
• Check your network for other computer that may be doing this or ask your network administrator to do so.
• If still unable to find the problem, contact Google support group.

Lastly, here are some of automated traffic not permitted by Google:

1. Sending automated queries
2. Using software that sends queries to Google to determine how a website or webpage ranks on Google for various queries
3. 'Meta searching' Google
4. Performing 'offline' searches on Google

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Site map for Blogger and how important is it?

I am writing this post in the hope that anyone who will read it will not suffer the same thing that I did.

Fist a little background
I went to webmaster tools (my first time) and was going through all the tools and when I got to Blocked URLs, I noticed I have a huge number under Blocked URLs. This got me a bit curious so I check my robots.txt to see if somehow there are listed URLs there but there are none. Well there should be none because I have not configured it to not crawl any of my posts/pages.

My investigation
I don't understand why I should have a big number of blocked URLs, actually by my estimate, it was my entire blog content. This should not be so because doing a search for site:http://cyberliving.blogspot.com to check if my site is being crawled and indexed shows all my pages. This only means that I have not been blocked or penalized by Google.

I as able to breathe better knowing I am not being punished by Google. But something is really wrong because webmaster tools is reporting some blocked URLs. I checked my index status and imagine my shock to find out that it is showing 0 (zero) total indexed, Blocked by robots show the same number as the Blocked URLs but Ever crawled is showing a steady increase.

I have checked my other blogs if it is showing the same problem (I thought that maybe there was an error on this tool) but my other blogs are showing a good amount of indexed page and none on the Blocked URLs.

The realization of the problem
Well now I am starting to understand things. Making some comparisons on what I did to my other sites compared to my current problem, I have come to realize that I did not make a site map.

I then went ahead and updated to update my site map and voila! all my URLs have been submitted and after a day, I can see that all my URLs have been indexed.

Before this, I have not really considered a site map to be important but after seeing what it has done for this site, I urge everyone that it is one of the first a webmaster needs to do in order for search engines to crawl your site extensively and get indexed properly.

Site Map
I tell you now my fellow blogspot users, the only site map we can use for blogger are RSS feeds. If you go search the internet on how to create and submit a site map for your blogspot site, you will only be disappointed and maybe confused. There is NO WAY you can use an XML or any other file as site map. I am stressing this point to save you the same trouble that I went through.

So RSS feed it is. There is also one good thing about using feeds as site map and that is you do not need to update your site map every time a new page is added to your site which is particularly useful when you are blogging because all you need to worry about is creating your posts and your feeds will do the job of updating your site map.

Fortunately, an RSS feed is already made for you when you create your own blog and it is powered by Atom. Its location can be found in your robots.txt file and your robots.txt file can be accessed through webmaster tools -> Health -> Blocked URLs (or you may type in the address bar http://YOURSITENAME.blogspot.com/robots.txt). In there you can already see the content of your robots.txt file. Look somthing like this:

Sitemap: http://YOURSITENAME.com/feeds/posts/default?orderby=UPDATED

Submit your Site Map
Copy everything after the .com (blue fonts from above) then go to Webmaster Tools -> Optimization -> Site Maps -> Click ADD/TEST SITEMAP. Paste on the input box the content of your clipboard (feed location that you copied from robots.txt). You are done. After submitting a sitemap the list of submitted maps will be updated together with its status.

If you still have some doubts or question, you may post them on the comments section and so long I will try to helps as much as I can.

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Blank screen on reboot with no warning beeps (Computer will not boot not even a POST)

I just came back from a week's vacation and when I got back I want to change my mails. I powered up my desktop and everything went like any other time I have done so. Checksum error showed (CMOS went back to factory default due to a depleted CMOS battery), after setting the date and time at CMOS set-up page, my desktop restarted and then loaded windows. When windows has completely loaded, my PC freezes. Keyboard num lock went off and unresponsive, mouse is also not responding, even the reset button is not working. I had to force it to shut down by pressing on the power button for 5 seconds or until it shuts down.

When I tried to restart it, I got nothing on the screen. There is power on my PC, DVD drive initializes and hard disk drive activity indicator is lit but there is nothing on the screen. Not even a POST report. The fans are also working.

I tried the following:

1. Reset the CMOS but nothing happened.

2. Replaced the CMOS battery with a new one and again reset the CMOS but still nothing happened.

3. Changed the monitor cable but still nothing on my screen.

4. I tried to reseat all cards and still nothing happened.

5. Checked the power supply and all are within specs.

6. I am getting at my wit's end then as a last resort I tried to check my memory cards if one or both of them may be at fault (I have 2 DDRII 512mb each). What did you know, restarting after my first attempt at removing one of the cards, I got that single beep indicating all systems are green and my display came alive displaying the POST report.

If you are experiencing the same problem, try checking your memory cards. If you have two, remove one then restart if that did not work, try the one you removed instead. If you only have one card, try borrowing from other PC or from a friend if you don't have a spare.

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Movetab MA900 review
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Movetab MA900 review

I recently acquired a Movetab MA900 tablet from a well known department store in my area for Php7,500. I was looking for a cheap tablet that is still good enough at least for blogging.
What got my attention about this device is that it comes with a keyboard that is embedded on its cover. For me, that is definitely a plus as I do a lot of writing.

Right off the box it comes with a power supply, a USB cord, a USB adapter and the ones I mentioned above, a cover (housing) with embedded keyboard which you connect to the tablet through the mini USB port. It also comes with an Android OS (Ice Cream Sandwich). Oddly enough, it has a head/earphone port but no earphone was included.

The rest of the specs are as follows: 8GB Storage, Wi-Fi capable, Cortex A9 1.2GHz processor, Capacitive Touch Screen, Full HD Playback, HDMI port, micro USB port, 1Gb DDR3 RAM, 0.3 mpfront and 2mp rear camera, 9.1" TN LCD 1024x768pixels display, USB 3G dongle capable (selected models only), 5V, 2A power adopter, size: 242mmx189mmx9mm

The response of the touch screen was good. Screen output is also good. I mean, for its price the screen output is already very good. It is not iPad equivalent but . . . . oh you get the idea. I forgot to mention that the screen is plastic and so there is a potential that it could get scratch rather easy. A screen protector is thus necessary which is not included.

Some of the pre-installed apps are skype, angry birds, Aldiko, Pinterest, Adobe PDF Reader, Instagram, AVG Antivirus, picture viewer and video players.

User experience is somewhat a hit or miss. Video/audio playback is good. I watched a 1.5 hour movie and it played with no problem. The same with music.

USB connectivity however seems to be limited only to PC. From the manual, it says that it is compatible with the two big telecommunications company here in the Philippines. But checking the list of compatible USB modem from the settings menu does not show the recent dongle that this two companies currently use. Connecting other devices through the USB also don't work. Example is the memory card readers. Although it comes with a micro SD card slot, most camera to date uses an SD card which unfortunately can't be read through this device since it can't recognize any other device attached to its port other than a PC. Even that, the file browser does not list my PC so a user is confined to using the PC to copy and paste files to and from Movetab MA900 and the PC.

Solution to this is connecting your Movetabe MA900 via wi-fi and browse any shared folders on the network using ES file manager.

Camera
The movetab MA900 has two camera. One in front and one at the back. The front camera has a missly 1.7 megapixel while the back is slightly higher at 2 megapixel and both have quiet very small sensors. As expected the output isn't something you can brag about. At a bright sunny day, any bright objects like white shirt will "glow" and make your subject look like an angel. Obviously it does not have a proper metering. What I have been doing is pointing at the sky until it gets dark then go back at my subject and quickly take the shot before it readjusts.

There is however the panorama mode where you can pan for an angle of 180 degrees and you get a very wide image.

Internet browsing
Browsing is quiet nice. It slows down quiet a bit as you browse so you may want to clear the cache a few times if you want faster browsing experience. There is an option to request the desktop site (or full site), which I always do since I always connect to a wi-fi anyways, but its default is to get the mobile site. When the browser is closed it defaults back to getting the mobile site even if you have opted the full site from your last browsing.

Going to youtube always give you the mobile site even if you checked the Request desktop site check box on the browser. And sometimes some video will not load with the mobile site using the MA900. The trick here is go down to the Youtube page and click on the Desktop Site link. This reloads the page in full, now you can watch your videos!

Pictures
I have opened some of my very large pictures on my movetab MA900 and although it loads when each file is opened either via file manager or MyPhoto or Gallery, it will not load properly when you use the slide show of MyPhoto or Gallery. What will only show is a small portion of the image. It means slide show will not try to fit your image on the screen. If you need to display several of your pictures using slide show on movetab MA900, you first need to resize them on another computer before copying them to the movetab MA900.

Keyboard
The on screen keyboard is very responsive. Like what was mentioned earlier on this page, the touchscreen response is very good.

But I guess what we are all interested to know is whether the extension keyboard is any good. Surprisingly, it is! The resistance is very good and the overall feel is excellent. The only thing   that is putting it down is it is somewhat small. My first time using it, I have some difficulty fitting all my fingers in place (I type with all ten fingers including thumbs for space bar). The good thing is that after an hour of using the keyboard, I already got used to it. Note to the manufacturer: There is still an inch each side that can be used to make the keys bigger or wider apart.

I guess it is worth noting that I wrote this review using the MA900.

The extension keyboard connects to the movetab MA900 to the mini USB port using a USB OTG adaptor from a thin and flexible USB cable that is permanently connected to the keyboard. It would have been better if it can be connected directly to the mini USB port without using a USB OTG adaptor.

Cover
The case or cover resembles that of a leather planner that opens up to show the clipped movetab MA900 on one side and the embedded keyboard at the other side.

As mentioned above, the the keyboard's USB cable is permanently attached to the keyboard, or in this case the case/cover. Because of this, I am a bit concerned as to how long it will last since it is left dangling when I am carrying it.

Also, a stand is provided at the back of the tablet side of the cover to prop it as you type giving you the same experience as when you are in a notebook at a table. The only problem is the workmanship or the material is very poor. After only three days of using it, I can already see a tear and after a week, the thing that's supposed to prevent the stand from slipping is completely detached rendering it useless. I can still use the stand, but now I can't pull back too much or risk it slipping.

Lastly, with the cover on, you can not use the back camera because there is no opening on the cover for the camera but the front camera is still very much usable. To use the back camera, you'll need to remove the movetab MA900 from its cover.

Screen/Monitor
Again, the screen is good. Not iPad quality but for its price, I can't complain. Me and my son uses it to watch movies through our shared network (movie is on my desktop's shared folder) but there is an angle where the image looks better especially when the scene is dark. You'll need to move the screen sideways to see it. Aside from that, everythings is great.

Sound
The sound is also great (for me at least). By that I mean, It does not produce sound loud enough to be heard audibly to the next room even at maximum but within the room, playing from music to movies is very audible. If you need it louder, use an external speaker to amplify the sound.

Battery life
Back at the store, while I was trying to decide whether to buy it or not, the dealer can't assure me longer than 45 minutes of active browsing or movie playback. But by my experience movetab MA900 can last up to 3 hours continuous browsing although charging also takes sometime. Also, I am not sure how long the battery lasts before it becomes useless and whether it is replaceable or even worth replacing.

Mounting Devices
I have tried to connect SD cards (using a universal card reader), USB modem (not on the list but with memory) and external hard disks and a desktop but unsucessfully able to browse its contents on this tablet. Movetab MA900 detects these external storage and the "Mount this device" on the settings becomes active but it just will not mount. I tried mount manager but to be honest that app seems not intended for device mounting.

Apps/Downloads/PlayStore
Downloading has no problem, everything will depend on your connection speed/quality, size of file to download and whether you have enough storage space on your memory specially with 8G, just several download and you will already be having storage space issues.

Although the movetab MA900 is not an official Android device, accessing the Playstore is no problem as long as you have a Google account. But though the MA900 had the Playstore app preinstalled, it is advised to use the browser to access the PlayStore. Why? Because there are certain apps that will not work with this device, specially resource hug apps, and the PlayStore app will not test for compatibility however the web version does. This way, you can avoid downloading apps that are not compatible with MA900.

Verdict:
When most of what you do with a tablet is browse the internet, read ebooks, check your facebook and twitter status, play music and videos and writing articles for your blog and you're on a budget, then look no further this tablet is excellent for you. With a keyboard cover, the movetab MA900 will give you the same text output as a notebook can. Just use a simple notepad that is available free at PlayStore. And as long as you are not looking every bit of pixel while watching a video or looking at a photo, you won't know the difference between the display of the MA900 and a higer end tablet.

But even if you can afford a more expensive tablet but are mostly doing the same as listed above this is highly recommended and save that money on other gadget or an add-on.

But if you are into gaming and uses apps that requires lots of system resources, this device is not for you. Better save that money until you have enough to buy a Samsung or iPad that costs twice (or even more) than Movetab's MA900.

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Getting more likes out on your facebook posts

You are sitting in front of your computer with your facebook and something caught your attention. It is your friend John's photo on your timeline. It seems to be getting a lot of attention. Looking at the likes, it has a lot compared to yours which only seem to get very few. In fact every single posts he makes have a lot of likes and you wish you have the same number of likes as well. You wondered how he does it.

Facebook's like algorithm is what dictates which goes to your timeline. The more activity (by that I mean, how many likes/shares/comments) it has, the more that it will figure in to our timeline. Meaning, the more active a post is, the more that facebook's algorithm thinks that it is of greater value so it puts it on everyone's timeline and thus gets more exposure.

I noticed that I could get more activity by commenting back and liking on each person's comments. Why? Because everytime a person commented on a post, it shows on their timeline, and in return will be reflected on their friend's and yours. When you return the favor by either liking or commenting back, it goes back on top of you and your friend's newsfeed which in turn will be seen by your respective friends.

At first that post will stay at your newsfeed for a little bit but as there are more likes and comments on that post, it will be shown more and longer in both of your friends newsfeed.

Try this experiment. Put up two pictures on your timeline, on one just leave it as is after posting. For the other photo, share it, like every comment and comment on every friends' comments. You will find out that the former will have fewer likes compared to the later as the later will get more noticed due to a more activity.

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The server's security certificate is not yet valid

I Turned on my computer, my machine stopped booting and I was prompted with a check sum error. I ignored the error and pressed F1 then waited until my machine finished booting. Went to Google logged in and got the red screen that says "The server's security certificate is not yet valid". Why?

The reason is because my date and time is set way back in January 1, 2006. When I tried to log in at Google, it saw that I am someone in the past trying to access the server in the present and because of this, I was denied access.

I changed my date setting and tried logging in again, this time it signed me in immediately.

Why did I have my date set-up way back in 2006? That is because the button battery that powers the internal clock  of my machine was drained so every time I power up (if I unplug) my computer I get a check sum error because it has reset to its factory date. Fixing this at start up by going to the BIOS would be better but adjusting it at windows does the same thing.

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Turn you mobile phone into WLAN hotspot

Has anyone heard about Joikuspot? I was looking at my phone's installed apps and my focus turned into Joikuspot.

I searched and found out that this actually turns your phone into a wireless router. The one bundled on my phone comes with a 10 days trial period after which you need to buy the license to continue using Joikuspot (note by the way that I am not connected to JoikuSpot and am not getting anything featuring them here). You may download it here.

It is recommended that you have an unlimited data plan to enjoy the benefit this app provides.

Other alternatives to the Joikuspot are:
PdaNet
TetherMe
Mobile Hotspot
Foxfi

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Nokia N97 mini as a modem

You guys know by now my problem with my current ISP with its ZTE MF 180 3G USB modem (as explain in detail here). In my last update on that post, I said things are already getting better but I was wrong. That is why I have to find some ways to connect to the internet without always getting disconnected. One thing I did was to do an autoconnect via the network connections panel (as dicussed here). But I need something better than the autoconnect because is still slow I am not getting the full service of what I am paying.

In my last desperate attempt for a better connection, I took my smartphone (in this case Nokia N97 mini) inserted my SmartBro SIM and plugged it to my USB port. Luckily, I have previously installed the Nokia suit on my computer so all I have to do is click on the connect to the internet once my phone was connected to my computer (here is the link for the Nokia Suite download in case you don't have it). Observed for an hour if I will get disconnected and surprise! surprise! not disconnection whatsoever! Even with my favorite torrent downloader downloading a file, youtube, facebook, continued searching with google and yahoo all at the same time. For 1 hour! My connection continued for the next hour and the hour after that, well the entire night actually.

However, I noticed that I only get 460Kbps of internet speed when I know that I could have up to 1Mbps speed. So I disconnected again then went back to network connections and created a new connection from there. Note however, that this connection is still 460Kbps but right clicking this new connection and clicking on properties, one can change it up to 921Kbps (the fastest speed). It is not 1Mbps but at least it is close to that.

Now I can sleep knowing I have a reliable internet connection.

If you got the same problem or have better solution or you can't follow my blubbering above but want to know how I did it please leave a comment below.

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Autoconnect your USB 3G Modem

Nowadays many of us use the wireless networks offered by ISPs using the USB 3G modem. That is because of the advantage that it gives us, which is mobility.

But like most users of this devices, we often experience frequent disconnections specially during peak hours. And if you are like me who is tired of clicking the connect button on the interface that came along with the device, you'd wish that you have a tool you can use to automatically click that button for you. This way you can leave your monitor and still your download software can continue once you are autoconnected.

But you know what? You actually have it already. All you need to do is go to your network connections panel (for XP users: Start - All Programs - Accessories - Network Connections), look for your connection and adjust the options (Right Click and choose properties then click the options tab).

Network Connections (Start-All Programs-Accessories-Network
Connections)

Properties Window. Click Options tab

For Redial attempts, put a number as high as you want depending on your disconnection frequency. In my case since I get disconnected a lot, I put the highest number possible. For Time between redial attempts, choose 1 second (the shortest time possible) then click on the radio button beside Redial if line is dropped to select it. Lastly, click on the ok button and you are set.

Now you can stand up and do your chores or go to work and when you are back your download is complete.

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