OneDrive app for Windows Phone gets updated to v 4.2

July 22, 2014

OneDrive keeps improving! Only last month we had seen OneDrive app for Android and iOS being updated. Now the OneDrive app for Windows Phone gets yet another update. The latest version is 4.2.0.0. Though this update is not a major one, it includes quite good feature updates apart from bug fixes.

This update works not only with Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows Phone 8, but also on Windows Phone 7.5. This could be one of the last updates for Windows Phone 7.x, as Microsoft had announced that the mainstream support for Windows Phone 7.8 ends September 9, 2014.

Now let’s check what’s new in this update.
Apart from bug fixes and performance enhancements, this update adds a feature where one can choose where one can download the files and save them on the device. The update also provides a progress page where one can see the status of progress of uploading and downloading.

What’s new in OneDrive app for Windows Phone v 4.2

To summarize:
• The ability to download files to your phone and pick where to save them
• A new progress page for uploading and downloading
• Improvements to picking contacts when you share files
• Bug fixes and performance improvements
Check your Windows Phones for the update or get it here.

Microsoft announces new Lumia 530 at just 83 Euros

For Lumia fans, it can’t get better than this. Believe it or not, at just 83 Euros, here comes the Lumia 530, the most affordable Nokia Lumia Phone till date. Microsoft Devices Group, today, that the affordable Lumia device will be available starting August 2014.
Loaded with high end features such as Action Center, Word Flow, Cortana and personalized Start screen backgrounds, the Lumia 530 is built to deliver the most personal smartphone experience, courtesy to Windows Phone 8.1.

Jo Harlow, corporate vice president of Microsoft Devices Group, said at the announcement,

“We are moving quickly to help more people experience the uncompromised Lumia technologies, third-party apps and Microsoft services that we deliver on our flagship products,” Lumia 530 underscores our commitment to making affordable smartphones for everyone, and introducing more people to the best of Microsoft.”

Lumia 530 specs

Lumia 530 has the makings of a high-end Lumia Phone.  The Phone is powered by 1.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that delivers a super fast and lag-free user experience of your favorite apps, gaming and internet browsing on the 4-inch LCD display.
Just look at the features of this Windows Phone and you would know why Nokia Lumia 530 is a threat for its competitors.

• Equipped with the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1
• Integration with Microsoft services such as Skype and Microsoft Office
• Availability of Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber and WeChat
• The dual-SIM 3G variant for easy switching between two SIM cards, helping people manage their data costs
• Smooth performance with signature Lumia apps such as Creative Studio and Glam Me, which help people take voice-guided selfies with the 5-megapixel rear camera
• More content and apps with 4 GB of onboard memory, expandable with SD cards up to 128 GB, and an additional 15 GB of free cloud storage on Microsoft OneDrive.

Alongside Lumia 530, Microsoft also announced  the new Bang mini speaker by Coloud.The €19 portable speaker can be connected to your phone via the 3.5mm headset jack. Also, the rechargeable speaker provides great sound for up-to 8hours.

Really! I am eagerly waiting to hold this exciting Lumia in my hands. What about you?

Logyx Pack: Collection of 107 classic logic games for Windows

Feeling bored? Try out this classic collection of 107 logic games under one interface. Logyx Pack is a collection of 107 classic mind sharpening games that involves logic. Let it be Puzzle, PipeDrop or Memory, all the games are nicely built and are easy to operate but a bit difficult to play. The games are accompanied by their hilarious sound effects. Though, if you don’t like them, you can turn them off from the settings.

Logyx Pack

Under the Play menu, games are categorized and organized alphabetically however you can even disable the alphabetical sorting and go for simple sorting. All one hundred and seven games are amazing, my personal favourite is Pipe Drop, in which you have to clear all the connecting pipes in least moves.

Classic logic games

When you play a game you can locate an Options menu and click it for some game settings. Like – you can change the level from intermediate to hard or easy. You can even change the images in some games. I must say that in some games like memory, the images shown are really very funny. They include some old cartoon characters, which I used to watch in my childhood.

Under the Game menu you can reset the game. The Common menu lets you change some essential settings – like for instance, if you want to play full screen then you can do so from the Common menu.  You can even enable short descriptions so that you can get an idea about what you are going to play. As mentioned earlier you can enable or disable game sounds from the same menu. If you want you can get help for a particular game you are playing by clicking the help option from the common menu.
These Windows games are very nice and can really help you sharpen your mind by applying simple logics. Logyx is a must have game collection. The UI is really very and easy to operate but the game are logical. You will feed the need to scratch your head, every once in a while, while playing these games.
Click here to download Logyx Pack. It worked just fine on my Windows 8.1, but remember that resolution of only 800×600 is supported.

Facebook introduces the Internet.org App

In today’s world, the Internet has become a necessity more than a luxury. It connects us to the whole world. However, there are still majority parts of the world which do not have access to the internet. This is mainly because, for the people in these areas, internet is truly a luxury. They cannot afford it. And the second reason behind lesser use of the internet in such areas is the lack of awareness. Many people still don’t know how to use the internet and how useful it can be. For such remote areas, Facebook has taken a step, by introducing the Internet.org app.


According to the official statement by Guy Rosen, Product Management Director of Facebook, almost 30% of the total world’s population is still untouched by the magic of the internet. With Internet.org app, Facebook is going to make the internet accessible as well as there will be a set of free services.

Guy Rosen mentions in his official statement on Facebook’s newsroom,

“With this app, people can browse a set of useful health, employment and local information services without data charges. By providing free basic services via the app, we hope to bring more people online and help them discover valuable services they might not have otherwise.”

However, readers must note that this app is currently made available only in Zambia. That too, it will be available for the subscribers of Airtel, an Indian multinational telecommunication services company. The app will be available for the remaining parts of the world very soon.
Through Internet.org app, the Airtel users will have access to some of the useful apps such as AccuWeather, Airtel, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Wikipedia, Google Search and Facts for Life. Besides this, the websites that are meant for Zambia alone are also included in the free services. These services include Go Zambia Jobs, Kokoliko, MAMA (Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action), eZeLibrary, WRAPP (Women’s Rights App) and Zambia uReport.

Enable and use Chrome built-in Password Generator

Not many of you may know this. Google Chrome browser includes a built-in Password Generator, which can generate complex passwords for you, when you are signing up for new online services. Currently, it is not enabled by default, you will have to enable it first, so that you can use this useful feature.

Chrome Password Generator

For this feature to work, you will need to be signed into your Google Account. In case you are not, then open your Chrome web browser, type chrome://settings in the address bar and hit Enter. Here, under Settings, you will see the option to Sign in to Chrome.
Ensure that the Password box is checked. This allows Chrome to sync your passwords that you generate using Chrome.
Once you have done this, type chrome://flags in the address bar and hit Enter. Click Ctrl+F to open the search bar and search for Enable password generation.
You will the setting as Default. From the drop-down menu, select Enabled. Scroll down and click on the Relaunch Now button. This will enable the Chrome Password Generator.

Now the next time you go on to sign up for any online service, when you click inside the Password box, Chrome will suggest you a password. The password will be a strong password. If you select it, it will also save and sync your password using your Google account. You do not need to save the password that is generated. It happens automatically.

This feature will work for sites that work with both Password Managers and Autofill.

How to use BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool using Command Prompt

We have previously read about the BitLocker feature, where we’ve mentioned about the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool. This tool is currently not available as a download for Windows 7 or Windows 8, and later users and only Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 users can take benefit of it. But if you still want to use the abilities of this tool, then you can use command line tool. In this article, we will talk about using the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool using Command Prompt in Windows 8.1.



Basically, BitLocker Drive Preparation tool prepares a hard drive with the partitions necessary for BitLocker Drive Encryption. Most installations of Windows 7 or later recognize the command line tool. Here is how you can use it.

Using BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool via Command Prompt in Windows 8 / 7

1. In order to use BitLocker Drive Preparation command line tool, open the administrative Command Prompt.
2. Next, you can use the following command with suitable descriptors mentioned below and press Enter:

bdehdcfg [–driveinfo <DriveLetter>] [-target {default|unallocated|<DriveLetter> shrink|<DriveLetter> merge}] [–newdriveletter] [–size <SizeinMB>] [-quiet]

The above mentioned command is in general form and its variable parameters can altered using following descriptors:
-driveinfo <DriveLetter>: Displays the drive letter, the total size, the maximum free space, and the partition characteristics. Only valid partitions are listed. Unallocated space is not listed if four primary or extended partitions already exist.
Example : To display information for C: drive, use bdehdcfg –driveinfo C: command.
-target {default|unallocated|<DriveLetter> shrink|<DriveLetter> merge} : Prepares a partition for use as a system drive by BitLocker and Windows Recovery. By default, this partition is created without a drive letter.
Example : In order to use this command to designate an existing drive (K) as the system drive, use bdehdcfg -target K: merge at Command Prompt.

-newdriveletter : Assigns a new drive letter to the portion of a drive used as the system drive. As a best practice, it is recommended that you do not assign a drive letter to your system drive.
Example : Using command bdehdcfg -target default -newdriveletter K: illustrates that default drive is being assigned the drive letter K.
-size <SizeinMB> : Specifies the size of the system partition when a new system drive is being created. Default is 300 MB at minimum size is 100 MB.
Example : Use command bdehdcfg -target default -size 500 to allocate 500 MB to the default system drive.
-quite : Informs the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool that all actions and errors are not to be displayed in the command-line interface.
Example : bdehdcfg -target default -quiet
-restart : Use this to restart BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool after once a operation is completed.
Example : BdeHdCfg.exe -target d: merge -quiet -restart
In this way, you can use BitLocker Drive Preparation command line tool. Interested readers may visit TechNet and KB933246 to find out further possibilities.

Free Desktop Recorder & Screen Recording Software for Windows 8 | 7

You might have seen some video tutorials and wondered how they were made. Which screen recording software had they used? Was it freeware? If you are looking for a good free screen recording software for Windows 8 or Windows 7, you might want to check these out.

Free Screen Recording Software for Windows

CamStudio: CamStudio is a free and an Open-Source tool that allows you to capture or record your screen without many complexions. It can save your videos into an AVI file and it even has support for creating bandwidth friendly SWF files. You can use it to create demonstration videos for any software program.

There are lots of many other features in CamStudio and they include:

• Highlighting Mouse Pointer
• Recording and embedding music to the saved file
• Video and Screen options
• Unique webcam support
• SWF producer
• An AVI player
• Totally customizable
• Large list of preferences
• And many more!

Apowersoft Screen Recorder is a professional screen video recorder for Windows, that allows you to capture the whole screen and audio activities. Using this freeware, you can record screen video with ease and make video tutorials with ease.



It can record screen and video with audio from Desktop, Webcam as well as Microphones. They also offer a free Online Screen Recorder tool to record full screen, part screen or webcam activities.
Free Screen Recorder: Free screen recorder is a free tool by which you completely record your desktop and save it into AVI file and if we talk about the clarity and features of the application, both are awesome and clarity of video recording and saving it is really good.



Following is the list of features of Free Screen Recorder:

• Can record anything on-screen
• Good support for microphone
• Good Hotkey configuration
• Output video codec, audio codec, and frame rate and frequency options.
• True shape of Curser is recorded
• User Friendly Interface.

Jing: Jing is free capturing software officially developed by TechSmith.
Jing can also take a screenshot of your screen and it can even record videos.
It shows good support for publishing your video as you can directly upload your videos to Screencast, Flickr, Twitter or an FTP account – it is very easy to do so with Jing.

Apart from sharing facility, Jing has some other interesting features such as:

• A well-featured screen capture app that’s visual enough for non-techies.
• Awesome Interface
• Good Clarity
• Microphone Support
• Low-text-density design.
• Very good interface.

Nepflex is an easy-to-use 978 KB application which helps you in recording actions performed by you on the computer’s screen.



This Screen Recorder also allows labeling the areas user clicked or right-clicked on, and keep those labels on the video.
Screenpresso is a freeware utility for Windows that allows you to capture, edit and save  screenshots, scrolling windows, video and share it directly to social networking sites.


The free version however comes with limited branding.

Internet Explorer 11 popularity surges, runs 10% of all desktop browsers

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 11 has surged a record elevation in the latest statistics of web browsers for the desktop provided by Net Market Share. As expected, Internet Explorer has continued its world domination and is used by over 57% people to access the internet.

The browser we all once loved to hate, has travelled miles to stand where it is today. Last month, it registered a three times growth in the market share. IE 11 is the latest version of Microsoft’s web-browser, which originally came out bundled with Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 8.1. But later, Microsoft made it available to Windows 7 and Windows 8 as well.
Internet Explorer 8, which is the default web browser on Windows 7 tops the chart with almost 22% share in the browser space. Its success could be traced back to the fact that Windows 7 is also the most used operating system.

Share wise, Internet Explorer 11 is as of now only behind Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 10 and Google Chrome. Whereas the most used version of Firefox is the version number 25.
Internet Explorer 11 boasts some very intuitive features. Some of which are SPDY network protocol, HTML 5 pre-fetch and resource priorities, some critical changes in CSS management, better support for Web GL, touch improvements, and the infinite tab pinning capability.
We also reported about Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 combined success, which now account for 10% share for the desktop operating system(s).
All the newer versions of Internet Explorer have registered increment in their share. To sum things up, Microsoft rules both the desktop operating system and web-browser space by quite a big margin.

4

New ransomware ZeroLocker, pretends to help, and then encrypts your files

We have new ransomware in town called ZeroLocker. Ransomware are considered as a get-rich quick tool by malaware writers these days. ZeroLocker encrypts all your data including files with AES encryption key once it is done, it display a message to pay via Bitcoins to decrypt computer files.

ZeroLocker ransomware

The workflow of ZeroLocker tool is totally different as compared to any other ransomware, as it encrypts all files under windows C: drive which includes all executable files. Once the file are locked by the tool it adds extension to the file as .encrytped. The file names which include the keywords Desktop, Windows, Program files, ZeroLocker are however safe and are not encrypted.
In the beginning, users won’t even realize that they have installed such application as it appears to them as an authentic de-encryption tool. It  presents itself as a Helper Tool that had discovered encrypted files on your system and is trying to help you. But, in reality it’s not, as quoted by security expert ZeroLocker is considered as the most destructive tool designed till date.
After the encryption is completed, it runs a file stored under C:\Windows\System32\Cipher.exe /w:C:\ command, this command overwrites all deleted data hence provides no room for data recovery software to recover those deleted files. However users can run system restore point along with Windows built-in previous version or Shadow Explorer to recover the files which are not infected by ZeroLocker.

The ransomware stores ZeroLocker.exe under C:\ ZeroLocker folder which is a decrypt executable file which executes as soon the computer starts. The decryption key used to unlock the program are stored to Command and Control Server. When a private key is uploaded to the Command and Control Server, it returns HTTP 200 error – but unfortunately even when ZeroLocker tries to upload those private key it returns HTTP 400, as the requested page doesn’t exist on the server.
Hence, those keys to remove ZeroLocker are not stored in any database, files or folder for recovery. This ransomware can only be decrypted by manually filter through HTTP access logs, reports BleepingComputer. Due to lack of proper decryption tool even a victim pays through Bitcoin, they won’t be able to get decryption key as it doesn’t exist anywhere – hence it is considered as very destructive ransomware!

There are a few steps you can take to take to stay protected & secure and Prevent Ransomware from getting an entry into your computer. You ay want to check the post out.

What is nvxdsync? Fix nvxdsync.exe Application Error

You may have seen a nvxdsync.exe process in your Task Manager and wondered what it is. Well, nvxdsync.exe is a executable file, which is part of the NVIDIA User Experience Driver Component. Its basic function is to manage and help render 3D Graphics.

What is nvxdsync

The file nvxdsync.exe can be found in C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Display folder. If it is located in this folder, then it is the legitimate NVIDIA process. If not, then it could be malware.
The has a size of 1169 KB on my Windows 8.1 and is seen consuming 3.8 MB memory. The program at times is known to use massive amounts of memory. If you face this issue, terminating this process wont crash your system, but it is required for proper functioning of the Graphics/3D card. You may face difficulties while playing 3D games or using 3D processes.
Nvvsvc.exe is NVIDIA Display Driver Service. This process provides desktop level support to the NVIDIA Display driver. If you wish to disable this service, you will have to Run services.msc to open the Services Manager, double-click on NVIDIA Display Driver Service and set its start-up status to Disable. Disabling the NVIDIA Display Driver Service, will stop both, viz. nvxdsync.exe and related process nvvsvc.exe from running, and also stops the NVIDIA Control Panel from showing up on the desktop context menu.

nvxdsync.exe Application Error

Nvxdsync.exe application errors may occur if, during execution of 3D files, Windows encounters lag while rendering the frames. Try to free-up your computer resources, like maybe changing Windows theme to Basic.
Many sites suggest using a Registry Cleaner to fix it. No! Using it will not help you fix nvxdsync Application Error.
I had received this error. Clicking on OK / Terminating the process / A simple restart of  the computer will help make it go away.
If you continue to receive such nvxdsync.exe errors, you might want to consider reinstalling this NVIDIA driver.

Hope this throws some light on the process.

Microsoft details new features in Internet Explorer 12

June 3, 2014

Internet Explorer 12 has now become the most awaited version of IE. But what is more interesting about it is the list of features in Internet Explorer 12 that IE has published for the world to see. You too can see the features that may be included in the next version of IE. And this is known as the ‘Internet Explorer Web Platform Status and Roadmap’. In other words - status.modern.ie



IE had earlier published an official statement that they want to build a deeper partnership with Web developers. Hence, beta of status.modern.ie was launched which had the list of features that are still in the development phase for the next version of IE, i.e. Internet Explorer 12. In addition to this, IE mentioned that,

“Developers can create new experiences to reach hundreds of millions of devices on people’s desks, in their pockets and in their living rooms. Customers are only a click away. Join us at Build for an unprecedented learning opportunity for developers building on the Microsoft platform.”

status.modern.ie

Status.modern.ie basically holds a list of features that may be included in Internet Explorer 12. We are calling it as ‘may be’ because some of the features are still under consideration. This link also includes explanations for each of these features as well.

IE is happy with the response they have received from the web developers, along with their feedback on what could improve. In other words, it’s a ‘wish list’ for Internet Explorer 12 from the web developers from across the globe.
With the launch of status.modern.ie, IE said,

“Today, after some of our team members host the Microsoft Astronaut’s Welcome Reception at JSConf 2014, we are happy to announce that we are removing the beta tag from status.modern.ie! We’ve incorporated a number of improvements based on your feedback.”

Some of the changes that are embedded in this final version of status.modern.ie are:
1)      Its open sourced
2)      The entire site is available on GitHub
3)      The IE Support data is exposed as a service
4)      There’s a new ‘Interop’ menu that lets users to easily enter in their browser support interests to find features available in the Web platform
5)      Using HTML5 History and Angular routing, status.modern.IE enables users to deep link to a feature they want to share with others.
6)      Improved Mobile Support and Performance
Internet Explorer 12 certainly has a lot of stuff in store for the users. It will be interesting to see how many features that are mentioned on status.modern.ie, get incorporated within this new version of IE!

Restrict access to Control Panel and and PC Settings in Windows 8.1

There may be times when you may want to prevent users from accessing the Control Panel in Windows. This post shows how you can restrict access to Control Panel and PC Settings in Windows 8 or Control Panel in Windows 7, using Group Policy setting and Registry Editor.

Restrict access to Control Panel

Using Group Policy Editor



If your version of Windows 8 has the Group Policy Editor, Run gpedit.msc to open it. Navigate to the following setting:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates, and Control Panel
In the right pane of Control Panel, double click/tap on Prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings.

This setting disables all Control Panel programs and the PC settings app. It prevents Control.exe and SystemSettings.exe, the program files for Control Panel and PC settings, from starting. As a result, users cannot start Control Panel or PC settings, or run any of their items. It removes Control Panel from the Start screen and File Explorer, and removes PC Settings from the Start screen, Settings charm, Account picture and Search results. If users try to select a Control Panel item from the Properties item on a context menu, a message appears explaining that a setting prevents the action.

Using Registry Editor
If your version of Windows does not have Group Policy, you can use the Registry Editor to disable access to Control Panel and and PC Settings. To do so, Run regedit and navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

In the left pane, create a new DWORD (32-bit). Name it NoControlPanel and give it value 1. The following are the possible values and how they work:

• 0 will enable Control Panel and PC Settings
• 1 will disable Control Panel and PC Settings

After you prohibit access to Control Panel and PC settings, if any user tries to access them, they will receive the following error box:

This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.