Super HelpDesk Blog: October 2011

Rent Or Buy College TextBooks Cheaply

Note: Most of these sites are US only.

BookRenter

Start with the large search box that helps you trawl through 5 million textbooks. BookRenter offers you no-questions asked book return program plus free shipping. The range of categories cover almost all subjects that are taught in colleges (don’t forget to click the little ‘More’ links). BookRenter gives you different rental rates depending on the borrowing periods. You can also buy used books from the BookRenter Basement. What’s more you can take notes (use highlighters for instance) on the books you borrow from BookRenter. You can return in-store at any of the affiliated locations or ship your return with a pre-paid shipping label.

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10 Impressive Spots On Earth

World’s Largest Airport Terminal

To catch a flight you need to arrive at an airport. Why not put Dubai on your itinerary, after all it has the world’s largest airport terminal (Terminal 3). The largest city in the UAE is also one of the most critical aviation hubs in the world. Wikipedia says that the $4.5 billion Terminal 3 is the single largest building in the world by floor space. (Google Maps Link)

Palm Island, Dubai

What This Script Will Accomplish

This Windows script is going to run the required tools in command line mode. Many of these tools that you’ve been using for years, you may not have even realized that there isa command-line mode available.

Clean Up Registry & Temp Folders

The first step is probably the most important. We’re going to launch CCleaner in command line mode to clean up temp files and the registry.

One catch. In order to make this script work without constant notifications about the apps making computer changes, you’ll have to disable the User Account Control windows feature in Windows 7.

Now you’re ready to roll. Create a file called CleanComputer.wsf and start it off with the following script.

<job>
<script language="VBScript">

Reformat Your FAT32 Drive To NTFS

You may not know it, but choosing the right filesystem for your drives is actually pretty important. Although the main idea of all filesystems is the same, there are many advantages and disadvantages with each one.

While there are lots of filesystems out there, we’ll be looking at the most popular two, FAT32 and NTFS.

About the Filesystems

FAT32

FAT32 used to be the default filesystem for many of the older, non-NT versions of Windows, such as Windows 95, 98, and ME. The original FAT specification was introduced in 1980, while the compatible FAT32 specification was introduced in 1996. More recently, an incompatible exFAT specification has been introduced that is meant to replace the use of the old FAT.

NTFS

Meanwhile, NTFS (or “New Technology File System”) was introduced in 1993, but has received many improvements over the years along with newer operating systems. While it is not used for removable storage (where FAT-type filesystems are prevalent), it is the best choice for

How To Block Facebook Games

There are multiple approaches you can take to block Facebook games. The first involves blocking specific Facebook applications that come from a specific vendor.There are a lot of productive apps out there.

So you may just want to block Facebook applications created by one vendor, such as the game maker Zynga for example. You’ll typically find the app creator listed at the bottom of most applications, such as the game Mafia Wars.

In most cases, traffic for these games comes from the domain of that creator. In the case of Zynga, you can easily block all Zynga apps by adding the keyword “Zynga” to the URL block list in your router.

Blocking Facebook Games By Keyword

For a Linksys router, you can find this setting by going to

Contact the Police

Let’s be clear, the police won’t go out hunting for your laptop. However, when you file a report, depending on where you live the hardware information will be entered into a national database. And with that there is a slim chance that your laptop will be retrieved, since this database is typically checked by pawn shops and other dealers of used hardware.

More importantly, the police should be able to help you with the steps listed below, for example by telling you where to search for your laptop, which people to contact, and how to go about in general.

Inform Local Dealers, Repair and Pawn Shops

Contact any local shops that deal with used hardware, including repair and pawn shops. Give them a good description of identifiable physical features of your laptop, for example scratches, worn paint, cracks,

1. "A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous."
Ingrid Bergmen

2. "Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin

3. "My night has become a sunny dawn because of you."
Ibn Abbad

4. "In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love you want the other person."
Margaret Anderson

Ubuntu 11.10 New Default Programs [Linux]

Interface Improvements

Unity keeps evolving, much to the annoyance of some. If you’re like me though, you’ll enjoy the changes.

The menu button moved from the top bar to the dock. Click the button and you’ll see a similar starting point as before, but the application menu is a huge improvement:

As you can see, it’s possible to

8 Hidden Tools In Windows 7 You Should Know

Snipping Tool

There are tons of simple screenshot tools out there, but did you know there’s a rather good one built into Windows? Simply start typing the word “snipping” in the Windows search to find the snipping tool. With it, you can take 4 kinds of screenshots – full-screen, window, rectangular or free-form.

The snipping tool comes complete with a simple image editor where you can highlight things, mark things with different color pens and e-mail your screenshot to friends.

You can save your creation as HTML, JPG, PNG or GIF.

Sticky Notes

Another hidden Windows surprise

GIMP

Alright, so everyone knows about GIMP. There’s nothing really that should be new to you about this excellent image manipulation program, except that it indeed started out on Linux before it became so popular it was ported over to Windows. GIMP has been quite an important project to

Automate Your Telnet Job

There are basically two parts to this task. You need to establish the sequence of commands that you want to go through during the typical telnet session.

Here’s what I want to do. I have 5 devices throughout the network that can be remotely rebooted via telnet by issuing 4 simple commands. I have to first telnet to it using the IP address and a specific port. Next, a menu appears, and I have to first press enter.

After I hit enter during this telnet session, the next

Download Ubuntu

Click the big orange button to download the latest version of Ubuntu. You will need to create a CD or USB stick to install Ubuntu.

Our long-term support (LTS) releases are supported for three years on the desktop. Perfect for organisations that need more stability for larger deployments.

Download options
Start download
Ubuntu 11.10
32-bit

Direct url for this downloa

Additional options
Take a look at a full list of our previous versions and alternative downloads >
If you're running Windows
You can use Ubuntu Windows installer to run Ubuntu alongside your current system.

Ubuntu Windows Installer >

Other ways to get Ubuntu
Order CDs >

Ubuntu Server >

Upgrade >

Burn your CD or create a bootable USB stick
Once you've finished

4 Hacker Software Tools

jEdit

This is less known than Notepad++. It supports many advanced features, such as syntax highlighting, which is a must if you’re a programmer. It also has features such as a built-in macro language, which allows it to be incredibly extensible. It’s written in Java, which allows it to be cross-platform.

As a programmer, you are constantly removing code to optimize your program, to fix bugs or any number of other reasons. Sometimes, you may need it back. The so called “Kill Ring” stores deleted text, so you never have to worry.

It supports 130 languages, including AppleScript and Objective-C, which surprised me. So even as a stranded Mac developer, it’s worth a go. It comes with a nice amount of documentation that’s easy to understand, so if you’re ever stuck, don’t worry. It’s a powerful text editor that no Windows programmer should go without.

1. Turn It Into A Web Server

Many of us here probably own a website. Well, if you’re up to the challenge, you can set up your own server to serve your websites from. Having your own server gives you the advantage of controlling what software to use, as well as the freedom to upgrade flexibly. Running out of server space? Just add another hard drive! Are the pages loading too slowly? Just add more RAM!

Dave has previously detailed how to build a Linux web server in two parts.

2. Experiment With Viruses

If you can’t turn

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