Every Web Designer hates Internet explorer, I too hate Internet explorer for many reasons (especially IE6). HTML 5 and CSS3 are the most powerful techniques of creating a good design but IE can’t handle them. Few tricks can do some work to give a good look in Internet explorer. The hacks like creating rounded corners, embedding HTML5, text and box shadow, Opacity are been given here.

Internet Explorer hacks

Here are few tweaks for Internet Explorer to make your Blog look on Internet explorer:

HTML5 For IE

HTML5 is very powerful, it is the major advancement of HTM: the core markup language of the World Wide Web. most of the browsers handle HTML 5 very good but for IE it can be pretty difficult. It simply ignores the markup. The html5.js can do the work for you. Embedding it can be pretty easy. You can hotlink/add the script anywhere in as shown in example below.

<!--[if IE]>
<script src="http://html5shiv.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"></script>
<![endif]-->

Text Shadow In IE 6 With CSS

Due to recent implementation of text shadow in Firefox 3.5, it has been in use by every web designer. But this doesn’t work with Internet Explorer. IE-only filter property can create text-shadow quite well. As filter isn’t a standard CSS property so it should be isolated from different codes.

Implementation of CSS shadow effect in IE can be done as below:

p.shadowed {
  text-shadow: #0000ff 0px 0px 3px; /* Modern browsers */
  filter: glow(color=#0000ff,strength=3); /* IE */
}

CSS Box Shadow in Internet Explorer

Box shadow can be done in IE with simple codes. It is the coolest trick for creating HTML elements without using alpha channel png images. Saves load time and makes looks very impressive. A real impressive look.

.shadowed{
    box-shadow: 10px 10px 5px #888;
}

But for IE you still can’t get the shadow with the above property. You will have to use filter proprietary property. To implement it, here’s what you have to do.

.shadowed {
    filter:
        progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.DropShadow(color=#969696, offx=1, offy=1)
        progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.DropShadow(color=#C2C2C2, offx=1, offy=1)
        progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.DropShadow(color=#EFEFEF, offx=1, offy=1);
}

Rounded Corner’s in Internet Explorer

Rounded corner’s is an way to get a good looking smooth corners. They are very popular in Web 2.0 because of its easy implementation without the use of images. For those who don’t know here’s an example-

.round{
    border-radius:5px;
    -moz-border-radius:5px;
    -webkit-border-radius:5px;
}

For IE rounded corners can be implemented by adding a JavaScript. DD roundies is a small JavaScript which can round HTML elements the way you need. The code can be explained as -

<script type="text/javascript" src="DD_roundies.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  DD_roundies.addRule('.roundify', '10px');
</script>

You can download the JS file from here.

Opacity in Internet Explorer

It is one of the coolest feature used by web designers. Again for IE opacity can be given by filter CSS property that can help to attain opacity. The example can be shown as-

.element{
    opacity:.7; /* Standard CSS */
    filter:alpha(opacity=70); /* IE patch */
}

These are some of the cool hacks in Internet Explorer that can make your design compatible with IE. If you have any question’s feel free to comment.

Windows keyboard shortcuts are a very easy way to get your work done faster and also more efficient. If you are a windows user and has a lot of Windows usage then these shortcuts are on your list to check. Here is a list of more than 100+ keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier and more faster.

The General keyboard Commands Revised -

CTRL+C (Copy)

CTRL+X (Cut)

CTRL+V (Paste)

CTRL+Z (Undo)

DELETE (Delete)

CTRL+INSERT (same as Copy Command)

SHIFT+INSERT (same as Paste command)

CTRL+ALT+DELETE (Opens Task Manager)

WINDOWS+TAB (switch between the open Windows)

SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin)

CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item)

CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item)

F2 key (Rename the selected item)

CTRL+RIGHT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word)

CTRL+LEFT ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word)

CTRL+DOWN ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph)

CTRL+UP ARROW (Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph)

CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Highlight a block of text)

SHIFT with any of the arrow keys (Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document)

CTRL+A (Select all)

CTRL+W (Close the Open Window)

F3 key (Search for a file or a folder)

ALT+ENTER (View the properties for the selected item)

ALT+F4 (Close the active item, or quit the active program)

ALT+ENTER (Display the properties of the selected object)

ALT+SPACEBAR (Open the shortcut menu for the active window)

CTRL+F4 (Close the active document in programs that enable you to have multiple documents open simultaneously)

ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items)

ALT+ESC (Cycle through items in the order that they had been opened)

F6 key (Cycle through the screen elements in a window or on the desktop)

F4 key (Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer)

SHIFT+F10 (Display the shortcut menu for the selected item)

ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the System menu for the active window)

CTRL+ESC (Display the Start menu)

ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name (Display the corresponding menu)

Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu (Perform the corresponding command)

F10 key (Activate the menu bar in the active program)

RIGHT ARROW (Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu)

LEFT ARROW (Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu)

F5 key (Update the active window)

BACKSPACE (View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer)

ESC (Cancel the current task)

SHIFT when you insert a CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive (Prevent the CD-ROM from automatically playing)

Microsoft Utility Keyboard Shortcuts-

Windows Logo (Display or hide the Start menu)

Windows Logo+BREAK (Display the System Properties dialog box)

Windows Logo+D (Display the desktop)

Windows Logo+M (Minimize all of the windows)

Windows Logo+SHIFT+M (Restore the minimized windows)

Windows Logo+E (Open My Computer)

Windows Logo+F (Search for a file or a folder)

CTRL+Windows Logo+F (Search for computers)

Windows Logo+F1 (Display Windows Help)

Windows Logo+ L (Log Off The Computer)

Windows Logo+R (Open the Run dialog box)

Windows Logo+U (Open Utility Manager)

Windows logo+Break (open System Properties)

PRINT SCREEN SYSRQ Button (Takes a snapshot of open Window)

WINDOWS+R (open’s Run)

Dialog Box Keyboard Shortcuts-

CTRL+TAB (Move forward through the tabs)

CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the tabs)

TAB (Move forward through the options)

SHIFT+TAB (Move backward through the options)

ALT+Underlined letter (Perform the corresponding command or select the corresponding option)

ENTER (Perform the command for the active option or button)

SPACEBAR (Select or clear the check box if the active option is a check box)

Arrow keys (Select a button if the active option is a group of option buttons)

F1 key (Display Help)

F4 key (Display the items in the active list)

BACKSPACE (Open a folder one level up if a folder is selected in the Save As or Open dialog box)

Accessibility Keyboard Shortcuts -

Right SHIFT for eight seconds (Switch FilterKeys either on or off)

Left ALT+left SHIFT+PRINT SCREEN (Switch High Contrast either on or off)

Left ALT+left SHIFT+NUM LOCK (Switch the MouseKeys either on or off)

SHIFT five times (Switch the StickyKeys either on or off)

NUM LOCK for five seconds (Switch the ToggleKeys either on or off)

Windows Logo +U (Open Utility Manager)

Windows Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts -

END (Display the bottom of the active window)

HOME (Display the top of the active window)

NUM LOCK+Asterisk sign (*) (Display all of the subfolders that are under the selected folder)

NUM LOCK+Plus sign (+) (Display the contents of the selected folder)

NUM LOCK+Minus sign (-) (Collapse the selected folder)

LEFT ARROW (Collapse the current selection if it is expanded, or select the parent folder)

RIGHT ARROW (Display the current selection if it is collapsed, or select the first subfolder)

Internet Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts-

CTRL+B (Open the Organize Favorites dialog box)

CTRL+E (Open the Search bar)

CTRL+F (Start the Find utility)

CTRL+H (Open the History bar)

CTRL+I (Open the Favorites bar)

CTRL+L (Open the Open dialog box)

CTRL+N (Start another instance of the browser with the same Web address)

CTRL+O (Open the Open dialog box, the same as CTRL+L)

CTRL+P (Open the Print dialog box)

CTRL+R (Update the current Web page)

CTRL+W (Close the current window)

ALT+D (Select the Address Bar)

CTRL+SHIFT+PLUS (Resizes the Page)

CTRL+ENTER (open’s a quick .com URL)

Remote Desktop Keyboard Shortcuts-

CTRL+ALT+END (Open the m*cro$oft Windows NT Security dialog box)

ALT+PAGE UP (Switch between programs from left to right)

ALT+PAGE DOWN (Switch between programs from right to left)

ALT+INSERT (Cycle through the programs in most recently used order)

ALT+HOME (Display the Start menu)

CTRL+ALT+BREAK (Switch the client computer between a window and a full screen)

ALT+DELETE (Display the Windows menu)

CTRL+ALT+Minus sign (-) (Place a snapshot of the active window in the client on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)

CTRL+ALT+Plus sign (+) (Place a snapshot of the entire client window area on the Terminal server clipboard and provide the same functionality as pressing ALT+PRINT SCREEN on a local computer.)

Main Window Keyboard Shortcuts (Microsoft Management Console (MMC))-

CTRL+O (Open a saved console)

CTRL+N (Open a new console)

CTRL+S (Save the open console)

CTRL+M (Add or remove a console item)

CTRL+W (Open a new window)

F5 key (Update the content of all console windows)

ALT+SPACEBAR (Display the MMC window menu)

ALT+F4 (Close the console)

ALT+A (Display the Action menu)

ALT+V (Display the View menu)

ALT+F (Display the File menu)

ALT+O (Display the Favorites menu)

Character Map keyboard Shortcuts-

After you double-click a character on the grid of characters, you can move through the grid by using the keyboard shortcuts:

RIGHT ARROW (Move to the right or to the beginning of the next line)

LEFT ARROW (Move to the left or to the end of the previous line)

UP ARROW (Move up one row)

DOWN ARROW (Move down one row)

PAGE UP (Move up one screen at a time)

PAGE DOWN (Move down one screen at a time)

HOME (Move to the beginning of the line)

END (Move to the end of the line)

CTRL+HOME (Move to the first character)

CTRL+END (Move to the last character)

SPACEBAR (Switch between Enlarged and Nor mal mode when a character is selected)

If there is any nifty shortcut that I just might have missed, just add your comment.

Are you secured?

Configuring Windows 7 firewall to prevent your computers from any malicious software. Tweak your Firewall and make your data safe.

Windows 7 add some exceptions on its own but others have to be done manually. A step by step guide will show you how to configure Windows 7 Firewall -

1. Open Start to open start menu and click on the control panel to open it.

2.Control Panel Windows open up now go to System and Security and open Windows Firewall.

3. Clicking on Windows Firewall opens a new window.

On the left pane, you can see various options like, Allow a program or Feature through Windows Firewall, Change notification settings, Turn Windows Firewall on or off, Restore defaults and Advanced settings etc.

On the right pane, you will see two types of network which you can configure. They are Home or Work (Private) networks and Public networks.

By default the firewall is protecting both the networks.

4. Open Allow a program or Feature through Windows Firewall. Now a list will open. Check the list and block the access to untrusted applications which you are not sure is helpfull to you.

Have any problems or something to share, do comment.

Installing Windows With a USB

Ever thought of installing Windows 7 with a USB drive? This makes your work more simpler and easier. Use a pen drive to install Windows to your computers and keep your Windows disks protected.

Installing Windows 7 from a pen drive can keep your disks secured and apparently saves installation time.Some Tablet PC don’t have optical drive so you might think that how to install the new Windows 7 on it? The answer is your pen drive.

The step by step process will help you to install the rocking new Windows operating system in no time.

Note: The Guide only works for Windows 7 and Windows Vista Installation’s.

Use a minimum 4GB USB drive to make it a bootable disk.

1. Formatting Your USB drive-

Plug in your USB drive and backup all your existing data to some other media’s or drive. You need to format your USB key before you can make it bootable device.

Open command prompt in Windows with Administrative right. Now type “diskpart” in your command prompt(if it gives an error, go to c:\Windows\system32 and then type it).

The command will open the disk Partition command line tool.

Type “list disk” to get the list of all active disks, each of them are associated with a number. Make a note which one is your USB drive(here i have a 8GB USB disk).

Now type the Following codes stepwise:

“Select Disk #” (where # is the number of your USB drive).

“Clean” to remove any existing files on your USB key.

“Create Partition Primary” it creates a partition with default parameters).

“Select Partition 1” focus on the newly created partition.

“Active” (It sets the in-focus partition to active, informing the disk firmware that this is a valid system partition).

“Format FS=NTFS” (It formats the partition to NTFS format).

“Assign ” Assigns a drive letter to USB Disk, in my case I was assigned “L“.

“Exit” closes the partition tool.

2. Now turning the USB key into Bootable-

Now insert the windows 7 DVD and copy all the files to your desktop or any other location. Incase you have an ISO extract it to a folder. I have copied it to a desktop folder( path of the folder C:\Users\USERNAMEHERE\Desktop\Windows 7\).

Open the command prompt and type the following code:

Navigate to C:\Users\USERNAMEHERE\Desktop\Windows 7 or to the location where you have placed Windows 7 Setup files.

“CD Boot” (This gets you into the “boot” directory).

“Bootsect.exe /nt60 L:” (where L is the drive letter assigned to the USB drive, replace L with your drive letter).

This command infuses boot manager compatible code into your pen drive.

Now close the command prompt.

3. Copying Windows 7 Files into your USB drive-

Copy all the files of Windows 7 from the extracted ISO file or the folder you copied the files of Windows 7 into your pen drive.

Your USB Key is ready to go! Restart the PC and select the boot device priority form the BIOS (genrally opened by pressing F2 during the startup) to USB drive.

If you have any problems or loved this do comment.

Windows 7 Keyboard Secrets

The 12 Windows 7 Secret Keyboard Shortcut you need to know. It has been a while when Windows 7 has been released and the response is very good. It beats the previous sale of Windows Vista by 232%(That’s really huge).

I am using it for a while and found that Windows has packed it with hidden features that can make your experience even better. Here are the top 10 windows secrets to make yor work even simpler and better.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

1.Lets kick off with keyboard shortcuts- every user must get familiar with the new keyboard shortcuts as they save time and leave your mouse with jealous and neglect.

ALT + P

Alt + P preview pannel

In windows explorer activate a new file preview pannel, it just enables user to have a preview of file he has just selected.

Windows ++ (Plus key)

Windows +- (Minus Key)

Pressing the keys lets you open the windows magnifier which lets you open the magnifier. You can also open the rectangular magnifier. Keeping the Windows ++ long pressed will give you smooth a zoom in.

Windows + Up (key)

Windows + Down (key)

If a window is not maximized pressing Windows + Up will make it fit the screen and Windows + Down will minimized it down. Using Windows + Up won’t let you get in former state if your window is minimized.

Windows + shift + Up

Windows + Shift + Up

Similar to the shortcut above this shortcut will make your window maximize to the maximum height, it makes no change in the width.

Windows + Left

Windows + Right

The Windows + right and Windows + left key press will cascade the window into right and left hand side as shown above.

Windows + Home

The function of Windows + Home button is to minimize all the Windows running in background and to keep open the selected window. Pressing it again will do it back.

Windows + E

Windows + E

The function of Windows + E is to open the explorer Window.

Windows + P

It lets you toggle between the different monitor or projector. The computer only, projector only mode.

Windows + Shift + left

Windows + shift + right

This will let you switch between different monitors or screens. Swith to the projector, or any other monitor.

Windows + [Number]

The key combination of Windows will launch diffrent applications in your taskbar. For Example if you have Internet Explorer at the first place in your taskbar, Windows + 1 will open the application for you.

Windows + T

Windows + T

IT will open a small prievew of applications opened in Windows. It open a small preview in taskbar.

Ctrl + Shift + Click

Hold down Ctrl + Shift while launching your Application and it will run in full administrative rights.

Windows 7 Cleaning Tools

The best registry tools for Windows 7, speed up your Windows in just seconds. The tools can fix any errors in the database. An error free Windows 7. They also clean unnecessary files, optimizing and tweaking Windows 7.

Super Utilities Pro

CleanMyPC

CCleaner

Registry Mechanic

Tune Up

RegEasy

1. Super Utilities Pro:

This utility software with its latest version has 27 pre built tools that helps cleaning your PC and increasing its overall performance. It has four utility suits for different operations on registries and cleaning etc. The four utilities suits are as follows:

a) System Cleaner

b) System Protector

c) System Maintenance

d) Special Utilities

2. Clean My PC Registry Cleaner:

This software utility is basically for fixing the registry entries of windows. It can backup the whole registry of windows making it safe to work without the worries of registry crashes or failures. It has a startup and a BHO organizer feature which lets you manage your startup and IE BHO items very easily and productively and also lets user control programs started with windows or Internet Explorer.

The utility is a freeware and can be downloaded from the official website regitery-cleaner.net.

3. CCleaner:

CCleaner is one of my personal favorite system utility software. It cleans up all unused data on your system and temporary files that fills up the system and are usually are of no use. It also fixes the registry problems on your PC making the system work faster and in a more efficient way. Besides saving a good amount of space it also clears any traces of any online activity by clearing the cache and cookies.

The software utility is freeware and can be downloaded from its website.

4. Registry Mechanic:

It’s a highly effective software which is built with a strong coding that fixes even the slightest changes in the registry. It detects the missing or invalid registry references that crawl up while working on various software’s  and fixes them. This software is a must have for experts in the field of information technology for dealing with day to day issues. This utility is not a freeware and has to be purchased on its website.

5. Tune Up:

One of the world’s best preferred utility software has now more features than ever. The utility can not only fix the problems on your PC but can also customize its look and feel. It can change the configuration of windows according to your needs. It can fix registry issues and does other works like system maintenance, scheduled checking and system cleaning.

The newest version has a Turbo Mode which disables the unneeded processes has focuses the system memory on the processes at hand. Along with it, there is a Live Optimization system which regularly checks if some programs are consuming memory than usual and prohibits their further consumption making the system speeds considerably faster. The latest version is TuneUp 2010 and can be purchased or downloaded (trial version 30 days) from its official website.

6. Registry Easy:

It’s a simple software which has a very less memory consumption and still can work very effectively. It’s a utility that can work great on low-end PC’s. Scanning and cleaning is done very easily with the help of this utility.

Along with the cleaning features, it can also backup the data of registry and sets system checkpoints regularly in case of a future system crash or software failure. It also has a system optimization utility which helps the user to set the performance of the PC to his or her needs.

This utility is not a freeware. However trail version can be downloaded from the official website which has limited scan activities and is not limited to a few days.

If you have something to share, do comment.

Do you need a Upgrade?

Windows is out in stores, now the question is should you switch to windows 7? Two days ago on 22nd Oct windows launched its most awaited windows 7. Now Do you need a upgrade? or Is windows 7 really something that you should get your hands on?

Windows 7 is the new operating system after Windows Vista, Microsoft has worked hard on the complains in Vista. We will check out the new and improved features of Windows Vista nd will decide whether to upgrade it or not. Top 5 things are reviewed:

1. Look and Feel- Like the Windows Vista, Windows 7 too has Aero effects, 3D-Flip and transparency effects. The new Windows is much sexier and smooth and more glossy, windows has really worked on the looks. The taskbar looks amazing, it displays icons of open applications. The taskbar can be seen below.

Windows 7 Taskbar

You can see the preview of the taskbar in the image above. Its pretty cool, you can see the previews of open applications just by hovering your mouse over them, just like vista. Here applications have icon, no name or stuff like it used to be in Vista or XP. Another feature is Aero Snap, it resize windows and fit them on available space.

Boot Up Screen

Booting Time- I was using the candidate release of Windows 7 since past few months and i must admit it that windows 7 has a pretty less booting time than any other operation system, whether it may be Vista, XP or even Mac OS X. The Windows team has worked on the booting time. Its really good.

Speed and Requirements- The windows 7 requires the same amount of everything that Windows Vista requires. The benefit in using Windows 7 is that it runs faster and smoother than Vista. I love the speed, it does not hangs like the Vista. Although you need a good requirement to run Windows 7.

Compatibility: Well Windows 7 supports all the programs that you use in Windows XP. Earlier version Windows Vista has many application related issues. Windows 7 is coded such that it runs every peice of software which runs on Windows XP but in rare case if it doesn’t, you can use the virtual XP mode in it. So for XP lovers its a good news.

Piracy: It is always been tough to be a pirate, if you are a genuine buyer you don’t have to face many problems. But Windows 7 seems to be the home of pirates. You can use all your downloaded Video’s and Audio’s to display on TV, you just need a Wi-Fi enabled TV or Gadget. You don’t need any software or tool to display media over TV’s or Gadgets.

Upcoming Support: Technology evolves faster, the Windows 7 is designed to work awesome with the new hardware’s and software’s. If 2009 will be the era of multi-touch screens and tablet PC’s, Windows 7 will be the best OS. It include the multi-touch feature. If you talk about processor Windows 7 will scale upto 256 processors. Wow, thats more than enough. The new 7 is ready for the future of computing.

On Overall Basis Windows 7 is a must upgrade, Words aren’t enough. You gotta try the OS to get the look and feel. Have a upgrade today rather feeling good about it later.