With the recent KDE 4.0.3 released, the third bugfix and maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop. KDE 4.0.3 is the third monthly update to KDE 4.0. KDE’s award-winning tools and applications are available in 49 languages. KDE, including all its rich libraries and neat applications, is available for free under Open Source licenses. KDE can be obtained in source and various binary formats from download.kde.org

Today I decided to ditch my Debian server and install Kubuntu 7.10. First, I obtain the Kubuntu (KDE 4.0) from http://kubuntu.org/download.php. Proceed with the installation process, takes about 20 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

You don’t need a web server (IIS / Apache) or host a website for you to access your files. You can run a web, FTP, and database server straight from a USB drive!! A slim web server package called XAMPP fits on a USB stick and can run database-driven webapps like the software that powers Wikipedia, MediaWiki. Read the instruction on how to setup MediaWiki on your flash drive from Lifehacker.

Windows XP is still dominates the market and most likely most of us will stick with XP for a while because Vista slows down your PC. Live CD is one methods to avoid lots of hassle. Well, one of the easiest ways create a Live CD is by using a software called pebuilder. Using it, you can create an XP Live CD in about 15 minutes!
Here’s all the software you will need:

1. Download pebuilder
2. Get Plugins: xpe-1.0.7.cab (the GUI shell) from here. Other plugins from here.
3. Nero Building ROM or other CD Burning software
4. Bootable XP CD

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Recall the two undersea Internet cables that were cut off or seriously impaired in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria at Jan. 30? This caused severe phone line disruptions and compounding an already existing Internet outage across large parts of the Middle East and Asia. Millions of dollar lost and communication crippled. The reporter says it will take about 12-15 days to completely repair the damage.

Do you know how many undersea cables in the world? Have you ever wonder how long is the longest cable? What about the capacity of each cable or how big are they? The longest cable reaches 39,000km, the length is more than the distance from New York City, USA to Sydney, Australia and back!

I found this amazing map (jpg) from Guardian Unlimited which tells you all the answers in a graphical format.

Click to enlarge the image

This morning I got an email from PPCGeeks saying WM6.1 is available to download - here. This version is more like a hotfix so if you’re having issues with your current WM6, I would suggest try to install this new version. 6.1 fixes the following.
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As you know Firefox is a beast when it comes to RAM consumption. It eats up your computer memory when more tabs opened. There are some memory optimizing techniques (e.g. edit Firefox config file) to reduce the memory usage in Firefox, but still it doesn’t significantly reduce the memory usage.

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As a technician in ComputerSquad (Geek Squad’s Competitor), one of the most common questions I encountered is “Why my computer is so slow?” Things tend to save and install into our computers from time to time, either we aware of it or not. These things (i.e. spyware) accumulate and eventually the computer performace deteriorates.

Windows Vista (Standard OS)

Windows Vista is a rather heavy operating system (OS) with many neat features, but unfortunately they all come at a price. Right out of the box it requires a pretty hefty system to run (arguably). 2GB of RAM is the minimum although some laptops equipped with only 512MB because to lower the price! Therefore, before you run out and buy a new computer just so you can run your base operating system, check out these 5 Simple Ways To Speedup Windows Vista tips to lighten the load. I have 10 Tricks but I will save some until next time, just absorb this 5 Tips first

1. Turn off UAC, or at least make it less annoying

Now, there’s ton to talk about the new user account control policy in Vista, and all I can say is: it annoys the hell out of me and slows down my normal computer usage. Do you realize it flash your video card to a black screen, take 5 seconds and really just make itself a royal pain in the arse? (I know this is all about security = BS)

1. To turn it off, the easiest way is to go into the Control Panel and type in ‘UAC’ into the search bar. It’ll bring up a search result of ‘Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off’. Just follow the prompts from there.
2. To keep UAC, let’s just turn off the crazy annoying blacking out screen bit. To do this:

• Open group policy (start | run | gpedit.msc)
• then navigate to Computer Configuration | Windows Settings | Security Settings | Local Policies | Security Options
• Find the policy named ‘User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation’. Set this to disabled.

2. Disable Aero

I personally do not do this just because this is one unique feature that’s distinct from XP, but I realize fancy feature comes with a price. It does tend to eat up both RAM and CPU usage - laptops battery seems to drain faster
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