Editing the hosts file on Windows Vista is not as easy as on Windows XP, since editing requires the administrator account. TechFigure has a great article about editing the hosts file on Windows Vista. I found it useful, I hope it helps you too.

More at the source: How to edit hosts file on Windows Vista

Google Hot Trends (www.google.com/trends) is a utility that shows in almost real time what most people are searching right now on the Web.

While it is a great tool for learning what happens around the world, many webmasters have been abusing it, by posting keywords from Google Hot Trends on their site, in order to get high ranks in Search Engine Results (SERP).

However, it appears that such abuse has made angry the Google team (and it is logical) because is considered as web spamming. The result is that sites that abuse the Google Hot Trends tool are de-indexed from Google very soon or get a -30 to -950 penalty, eliminating the 90% of their visitors.

I don’t blame Google about this. It is the correct thing they do. Many sites where posting an article having a title with keywords from Google Hot Trends and its text contained just nonsense. This catched high results in search engine ranks, but it was completely useless for the visitors trying to get info about the specific keywords.

Google doesn’t like web spamming sites and tries to display only useful results, by filtering spamming sites. And I find it logical because none of the Internet users like them too.

So… stop abusing Google Hot Trends by posting keywords from it on your site, without any useful content. Your site will get soon de-indexed or penalized and you will loose all your visitors.

Post useful, unique and rich content. This will give you much visitors within a long period but they will remain forever. Getting 10.000 unique visitors within 2 weeks you create your site (eg. by abusing Google Hot Trends) will set off the web spamming alarms and your site will be de-indexed.

Over a seafood dinner with HP management last Friday, the PC maker offered more than just aorta-clogging cuisine. In an informal chit-chat session, we learned that HP is readying its first UMPC which may hit the market in late spring.

Spec-wise, it disclosed… absolutely nothing. But digging deeper between the lines, we suspect the company’s maiden voyage into this niche segment is likely to be competitively priced, much like the ASUS Eee PC. In fact, according to one HP staff, “you won’t even need to consider this purchase. You’ll buy it like a handphone without a thought”. At this price range, we reckon it is unlikely to be a convertible tablet PC like the LifeBook U1010. Claiming that its UMPC will address several issues plaguing the current crop of pocketable portables, we were told that one of the key areas of improvement will be in battery life, though again no specific numbers were mentioned.

HP staffers also mentioned that this product has great potential as a lifestyle accessory, catering to professionals as well as youths. Again, we read between the lines that it is likely to be exceptionally portable and no larger than 10 inches. In the personalization department, the Palo Alto company mentioned laptop skins, so it may be possible that HP may offer custom skins for its first UMPC.

The only thing for certain is that HP is gearing for an official launch within the next few months. So for those of you contemplating a UMPC, you may want to wait just a little longer.

Thanks to CNet Asia

This article describes how to use the Disk Cleanup tool in Windows XP.

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk by searching your disk for files that you can safely delete. You can choose to delete some or all of the files. Use Disk Cleanup to perform any of the following tasks to free up space on your hard disk:
• Remove temporary Internet files.
• Remove downloaded program files. For example, ActiveX controls and Java applets that are downloaded from the Internet.
• Empty the Recycle Bin.
• Remove Windows temporary files.
• Remove optional Windows components that you are not using.
• Remove installed programs that you no longer use.
You can start Disk Cleanup, by doing any of the following:

• Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type cleanmgr, and then click OK.

-or-
• Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.

-or-
• In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, click Properties, click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.

Remove Files Stored on Your Hard Disk
To remove files stored on your hard disk that you no longer use, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.
4. Click the Disk Cleanup tab (if it is not already selected), click to select the check boxes next to the files that you want to remove, and then click OK.
5. Click Yes to the proceed with this action, and then click OK.

Remove Windows Components
To remove Windows components that you are not using, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.
4. Click the More Options tab, and then under Windows components, click Clean up.

The Windows Components Wizard starts.
5. In the Components list, click to clear the check box next to the component(s) that you want to remove.
• A shaded check box next to a component indicates that only some of its subcomponents are installed.

If you want to remove a subcomponent, click Details, click to clear the check box next to the subcomponent(s) that you want to remove, and then click OK.
6. Click Next.
7. In the Completing the Windows Components Wizard page, click Finish.
8. Click OK, click Yes to proceed with this action, and then click OK.

Remove Installed Programs
To remove programs that you no longer use, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.
4. Click the More Options tab, and then under Installed programs, click Clean up.

The Add or Remove Programs dialog box is displayed.
5. In the Currently installed programs list, click the program that you want to remove, and then click Remove (or Change/Remove).
6. If you receive a prompt to confirm the removal of the program, click Yes.
7. Repeat step 5 and 6 to remove other programs that you no longer use, and then click Close.
8. Click OK, click Yes to proceed with this action, and then click OK.

Remove Restore Points
To remove all restore points except the most recent restore point, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
2. Right-click the disk in which you want to free up space, and then click Properties.
3. Click the General tab, and then click Disk Cleanup.
4. Click the More Options tab, and then under System Restore, click Clean up.
5. Click Yes to remove all but the most recent restore point.
6. Click OK, click Yes to proceed with this action, and then click OK.

REFERENCES
For additional information about how to remove Windows components and programs in Windows XP, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
307894 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307894/EN-US/) HOW TO: Add or Remove a Windows Component in Windows XP
307895 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307895/EN-US/) HOW TO: Change or Remove a Program on a Windows XP-based Computer
For additional information low disk-space notification in Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
285107 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/285107/EN-US/) Description of the Low Disk Space Notification in Windows XP
For additional information how System Restore handles disk space usage, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
300044 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300044/EN-US/) How the System Restore Tool Handles Hard-Disk Space Usage

erh? Finally let someone buy something…

Yes, you read right, Microsoft and Yahoo restart talks.

Read the full article: Microsoft and Yahoo restart talks

SYMPTOMS
After you upgrade a computer that uses a processor other than an Intel processor to Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), you may receive the following error message after you restart the computer:
A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer…

I had this issue but after following the instructions of this article everything is back to normal! I hope this helps lot of people too.

Unbelievable stories… what people exist on the Internet today?
ok, I don’t want to sound dramatic and I don’t mean that everybody is bad. But as in real life, the same on Internet, you must always be careful with strangers…

Read the story:

These stories are becoming more common as Internet companies operate under the laws of many counties.

In February A Moroccan man was arrested for pretending to be the Moroccan king’s younger brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, on Facebook. Facebook complied with Morrocca information requests about the man, leading to his arrest. The man was granted a royal pardon after his sentencing, and was out of jail by mid March.

Today we’re hearing of another arrest, this time in India. 22-year-old IT professional Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid. His crime was writing in an orkut community named “I hate Sonia Gandhi.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Gandhi is a prominent politician in India.

Vaid was charged under section 292 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information TVechnology Act because he created a profile and then posted content in vulgar language about Sonia Gandhi in the community.

During investigations, the cyber crime cell of Pune police communicated with Google (which owns Orkut) seeking details about the who formed this forum and circulated the obscene content. It was known that the vulgar message about Sonia Gandhi was circulated through an email address – Rahulvaidindia@gmail.com . The owner of the email id Rahul Vaid was traced, using information supplied by Google, to Chakarpur in Gurgaon city of Haryana.

Read the full story: Google Assists In Arrest Of Indian Man

In some cases you may receive by an application, the error message that dhtml.ocx is missing.

If so, follow the instructions provided by NGI news:

File dhtmled.ocx missing - Error message: How to resolve

What better way to start off a Saturday than to feel the R.E.A.L.
browsing vibe with the help of the Foxxy One 3.0? You don’t need to
answer that, just know that the Release Candidate 1 of Mozilla’s
Firefox 3 is now up for grabs.

View full story: Firefox 3 RC1

The bad news just doesn’t seem to end for Yahoo. As the Internet portal
prepares to fend off a proxy fight by billionaire investor Carl Icahn,
new research from comScore concludes that for the first time, Google
has overtaken Yahoo as the most-visited Web site in the U.S. Google
reached the pinnacle of the Top 50 U.S. Properties in April.

Read full story @ Techteam