Desktop Enhancements and Essential Softwares: CCleaner, Pandora Recovery, Logon Studio and Fences

My System's Bells and Whistles...

CCleaner

Cleans and Fixes Windows Registry, removes extra temporary or application dump data - freeing space. It also has an Uninstaller built in to uninstall stubborn applications. A Windows Startup editor which can let you enable, disable and see what all applications/processes run on system start up/booting. Furthermore it has a System Restore Index (from where you can remove previous Windows restore points whenever you've fiddle with applications or updates by installing or uninstalling them). And, Lastly, the most sinister feature...The Drive Wiper; A tool which can be used to wipe clean or format the drives attached to the system. It has got multiple pass cleaning setting which can be adjusted.

Did you know, that whenever you delete any file or uninstall stuff, the files and data are only unlinked from the OS? Yup! True Story. That means that the actual data still remains in the hard-disks memory only it's address link is nullified. The data can be accessed when it's stored bits are scanned, identified, collected and read from that drive using data recovery tools. No sir, not even your beloved Shift+Delete Key would save you from this type of espionage. Formatting the drive, which is actually writing or overwriting the entire disk or drive with zeros makes it clean. Still, cleaning softwares work by estimating the un-indexed (due to deletion) data/disk segments and sectors writing zeros in them. Which, means parts of that data can still be recovered, though incomplete. Now, when you overwrite multiple times you are only decreasing the probability of leaving behind even a few bits or bytes of data behind.

Pandora Recovery

As you've been wondering which kind of scanner application recovers deleted data, well wonder no more! (Or, at least don't turn away from this webpage at least; Google not required.)

Pandora Recovery is a good tool to recover deleted data files. Though it has a limited set of file-type identification, it can easily identify and recover most office documents, images, files and others. But, it also shows the level of deletion or overwritten parts of the file to be recovered. It cannot make complete recovery of overwritten data or may even fail to yield results.

Still, it is useful to recover accidentally deleted data especially if you have a habit of quickly Shift+Deleting files or when you've emptied the Recycle Bin.

Stardock's Logon Studio

Logon Studio, lets you, without any manual hacks, replace the Windows boot screen to an Image of your choice. It also supports Slideshow feature of changing you Log-on Screen in selected intervals. Good at impressing your friends with beautiful wallpapers or artwork on your log-on screen.

Stardock's Fences [Full Version is Paid]

A very good desktop enhancement program that arranges your icons in beautiful fences/boxes and adds features like multiple icon work-spaces (like Expose in Mac OS X or Virtual Desktops or Work spaces in Ubuntu/Linux). It also gives some other cool features like Icons hiding and others. Icon hiding feature is very useful if you have cool Wallpapers.

Free Alarm Clock

A clock I got from Download.com, which is useful as any other clocks but, with customizable audio for alarms, makes it particularly useful for me. I add mnemonics, quotes and facts I need to memorize, in my voice, to be played after some intervals as audio flash cards. Cool eh? Specially useful with learning new languages. (Which I'm not currently engaged in.)

Slide Show Windows Desktop Gadget

That funny little floor plan you see in that small window of my Desktop, is an actual floor plan. I use this gadget to well, show pictures from a selected folder repetitively . These pictures are my own edited and drawn (using MSPaint) flash cards, to memorize stuff whenever I look at my desktop. More on it, I write later, in another dedicated blog post.

Bibliophile: 1984, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein.

Finally, finished flash reading Frankenstein. The story was decent but, senselessly verbose. Actually, if rewritten with the actual story plots it'd be pretty small; Maybe even a short story.

Some of the themes I found in the story should be a premonition to new readers of this classic, which is hardly classic. It starts with the same flavor as is with the story Faust (as much I can gather from Faust's reviews and synopsis; I've not yet, read the original text of Faust.). Another theme is Technophobia and Paranoia (as per the story writer's fault; Yes, that's Mary Shelley's psych evaluation). Religious propaganda, as was common in the west with the authors at that time - which led to subsequent corruption of western perception and fear/hate over time...the rest you can gather. It is not scary, even.though it is classified as horror. It's more of a tragedy.

The Prime message of the Story:

We make our monsters and villains. Our, civilized society discriminates on appearance and other facets, shunning and oppressing the victims. The ensuing suffering of the victim corrupts him/her to hate and malice. Hence, we are responsible for our own problems and suffering, for we built those agents of chaos and pain. Regret fuels redemption whereas, Hate fuels only revenge culminating to Loss/suffering which again kindles Hate (in this new victim - the earlier oppressor). And The Cycle of Hate goes on forever unless, one regrets their mistake and agrees to amend it.

A quote from Frankenstein, (As I quote the best lines I find from the books I read):

"Man, how ignorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you say." - Frankenstein.

Also, the book is replete with stanzas from S.T. Coleridge's, best poem, "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". (I wish to read the poem in it's entirety. So, far I've only read excerpts of it.) I hold this poem in very high degree of respect.

Moving forward on the reading list:

Now, returning to the next on my to read Book list is; George Orwell's iconic novel, "1984". And...remarkably, I have received it today for a mere sum of INR 96, that includes delivery. (Yup! Got it from Snapdeal. Read the addendum for my shopping experience of "1984" from Snapdeal.)

But, in the chronological order of stacking of my books on the shelf, H.G Wells's  "The Invisible Man", awaits being read still in it's transparent plastic packing. (Nah! I had to rip it open. Reasons for unpacking later.)

A small Synopsis/teaser of both these works as per my knowledge is as follows (It's better not to read the synopsis and reviews online as they spoil the material's true quality.):

H.G Wells's "The Invisible Man":

A work of science fiction by the science fiction classic writer. As the name suggests, it's a story about an invisible man, driven to insanity and plotting a heinous crime. I have to admit I've seen a lot of invisible men from pop-fiction. The best to date I found was, Lloyd Ventrix aka Mojo, the Invisible Man from Batman the Animated Series episode, "See No Evil". This guy was formidable, giving the Dark Knight a run in the dark. Though, Batman could've and has on many occasions devised ingenious contingencies like, SONAR or using non-visible electromagnetic spectrum to detect the invisible entity (like IR or UV cameras).

George Orwell's "1984":

A work of dystopian science fiction but, with greater emphasis on the social and real-life implications of such a world and it's inhabitants. The story is more grounded in reality and is actually a sociopolitical response/propaganda against Socialism. Famous for it's inception of the term and idea, Big Brother: A system of constant surveillance of the public (with emphasis on encroachment of personal privacy). It's themes are again inspired and adapted from another earlier work; "Brave New World". I've seen and read a lot of similarly themed works in a wide range of formats from comics, movies, cartoons and books to real life news (Yeah! You must be abreast of the latest news as well as hue and cry over NSA spying and the PRISM, internet conspiracy theory.)

Though the best identical themed work I've seen and read is V for Vendetta. (The best there is in this flavor. Trust me.)

*This book is thicker i.e voluminous, with 312 Pages. While,...wait a minute. I'll have to remove the plastic cover.....Yes. 218 Pages.

*Then it is done, gentlemen. I'll be starting with The Invisible Man.

Addendum:

I had ordered for 1984 A Novel by George Orwell in the last month's ending days. The delivery was not made to me even though the package had reached the city, Patna three days before it's online delivery date. Even after telephonic verification the book was not delivered to me. The next two days were holidays due to Diwali. Though, Amazon ordered, "The Invisible Man" and "Frankenstein" reached on it's promised delivery date + 1, due to festival on 6th of this month.

Maybe, the delivery service of Snapdeal is not efficient in the smaller cities, like Patna. But, both Amazon and Snapdeal had sent their packages via the same delivery service, surprising, ain't it? While Amazon's delivery reached late it was delivered on time (I was intimated of the delay), Snapdeal's earlier delivery was not handed over to me despite asserting the courier company, BlueDart, that the package is already present there in their collection. What next? I had to take a flight by mid-day on 7th.

Also, Snapdeal does not provide any facility to alter recipient address once the package has been put in transition. Again, Amazon, saves the day here. Amazon provides an online address change facility. I'm not sure if the shipping address change is charged or not. But, the initial delivery was under Amazon Assured free home delivery service. While, I had to spend INR 30 for delivery of this book 1984.

Another, thing about the book I have from Rupa Publications; The Invisble Man's paper quality is very good but, has a yellowish tinge to it. This actually, artistically speaking, extends the dull yellow cover theme and the type-written fonts with typewriter like ink variations in it's print makes it all the more nostalgic classic book to read. (Mind it this book is from Amazon).

But, 1984, bought by my judging of it's beautiful cover was an illusion. The pages are thin, dull white and feel like recycled newspapers. Still, the text and fonts are alright. I may have bought some incorrect print version.

Also, about Frankenstein, the book from Collins Classics collection and published by Harper Collins (One of the very best publishers) was excellent with it's Easter egg - Classic Literature: Word and Phrases adaptation from the Collins English Dictionary, at the end of the book for quick reference of old archaic word meanings. Next time I buy a classic I'll first seek it in a Collins Classic collection.

Books Discussed:

1. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (Science-Fiction, Horror, Tragedy)

Books Mentioned:

1. Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Supernatural, Horror ??)- I must read later.
2. The Invisible Man by H.G Wells (Science Fiction)
3. 1984 by George Orwell (Dystopian Future, Science-Fiction, Fantasy)
4. Ancient Mariner by S.T Coleridge (Story-Poem, Archaic, Adventure)

Bibliophile: Neil Davidson and Software Pricing

Speed read the first three chapters of Neil Davidson's "Don't Just Roll The Dice: A usefully short guide to software pricing" and had my mind's horizon expanded almost instantly. This book (booklet? It's pretty small.) is an essential guide to any self-respecting software developer and all the entrepreneurs, management honchos and tech industry elites, worth their salt.

It deals in terse and lucid language the various thoughts and ideas to consider over software pricing. The tales recounted from history gives me ominous premonitions of all these small amateur IT start-ups subsequent death, especially in India. Furthermore, the book discusses critical points like software piracy, market competition and consumer psychology in the software context.

I'll be adding more to this post when I finish reading the free e-book. Here's a link to it.

Happy Reading!!

Total Reinstall

What would you do if you were to start anew? No more carrying around regrets, failures, traumas, scars, bad memories and, even, bad habits? What would you give to give-up your weaknesses and build new strengths? Will you use your wasted time wisely? Or, will you repeat your sins; being hell-bound?

Now, returning from the philosophy to technology, these questions still resonate, albeit, remotely. Yet, the impact of such questions even in the pretext of an aging laptop is one with great influence and ramifications on the user's life. Already gave up my love of games when my PC started shutting down unexpectedly mid gameplay. Then, came the overheating...graphics card failures, weakened battery and failing motherboard circuitry.

But, now that everything has been repaired and restored in my hands, will I walk the same path so often tread? Or, will I rise upto the occasion and build one of those marvels, of codes and science, that every Dad expects his son to build, when he hands him a laptop? Do We as modern day users truly deserve this high powered device that we lust after and buy? I've seen high-school students run after Corei7 Processors and Graphics Cards, even when they would be able to use a small iota of its true power playing games. People want more just because they can afford it. Rephrasing; "People mistake that whatever they earn is what they deserve."

They want the costliest car. The fastest bike. The biggest house. The largest TV. So on and so forth. But, is it what they need? Or is it just their want? Why can't they be at peace with what they have? Why can't they make do with OK? Why do we crave after luxury? *Enough of Psychobabble, Naseem! Get to your point!!* Okay! Okay! Jeez, you guys take the fun out of these...*Ravings of a mad man?*...Whatever you call these.

In short: Got my laptop fixed, finally! And, this blog post was due a long time, even though I've not covered a lot of books to write in my Bibliophile posts, or programmed or tinkered with code to blog about it. Spent my time with Frankenstein though. Read, or flash read (that's what I call my skimming, speed reading and jumping between the material), the first volume of Frankenstein. Currently in Chapter 4 of Volume 2 (5 more chapters to go). I'll blog about it later when I'd have done flash reading it.

A new, still plastic wrapped H.G Wells's, The Invisible Man, rests on my book-shelf. It will be my target next. After this I've been itching to read "1984 A Novel" by George Orwell, though I know about it from pop-fiction but, would like to read it in it's original format.

But, I'll be busy again with my tinkering, coding, studying, job-hunt and re-installing all the lost apps, data and goodies to my Toshiba. Hey, I also set a new set of wallpapers and desktop enhancements! Hopefully, Frankenstein would be completed quickly with my flash reading.

Well, I got work to do! Catch you later, readers. Bye.

Here's a Screen Shot of my Desktop Currently: (I'm adding two Screen Shots. I'll talk about the re-installation ritual in another blog post.)

I'll detail some interesting things for my new perspective and ideas for this resuscitated system. Adios.

Bibliophile: Good Bye Asimov; Hello Shelly!

The sun sets behind the concrete jungle of buildings, here in Shipra Sun City. The only unused patch of land by the Shipra Mall and my apartment, full of wild bushes, tall trees and birds emanates its own music of returning birds and crickets. The evening tunes are occasionally pierced by the escaping songs on stereo from the Mall - I can recognize the faint lyrics of Titanium, by David Guetta, being played. All the while these sounds play with the faint, far-away background noise of traffic and hum of construction machinery.

I‘ve completed reading my book, The Rest of The Robots from Isaac Asimov. All I have to say about these short stories are that they have some good food for thought and vintage value, like a science fiction classic. The stories have ideas and story plots found almost everywhere these days and hence, they didn't amuse me much.

My Toshiba laptop had been troubling me for some time; Overheating, sudden shutdowns and now, Graphics Card failure. Got it fixed yesterday and after an hour or two it burned itself again! I fear the price of fixing that stuff and all my documents were on the system.

Though, being the paranoid I am, I had created a backup on my thumb and portable hard drives, as well as on the cloud. Had to wire my elder brother‘s obsolete PC and hook it up with my laptop‘s hard drive. Will get the work done for now. I hope my Toshiba, infamous for its heating problem, gets repaired quick enough. I've got a job interview tomorrow evening. Wish me luck readers; I‘m in dire need of it considering the pile of problems instantly materializing with the absence of my only laptop.

I‘m blogging from my cellphone so do excuse my typos and other errors.

Now, I‘ll pick up that new book still in packing paper that I had ordered off Amazon; “Frankenstein“.

Here‘s a link to the book I‘m going to start reading.

http://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/0007350961/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1384096088&sr=1-2&pi=SL75

I was biased to this print primarily because of its appealing cover art. (Now, don‘t remind me about that old saying on book contents and covers.)

Even though I know the sketches and themes of the story from pop-culture but, you truly don‘t know, until you've seen it for yourself.

Bibliophilia: Bond...Ruskin Bond!

Got my hands on a short story collection of Ruskin Bond, the famous Indian children's story writer. This collection is titled, "Potpourri", which means "a mixture of things" or "a mixture of dried petals and spices placed in a bowl to perfume a room". Origin, French - a rotten pot.

The meaning and the origin are the courtesy of The Oxford Pocket English Dictionary which I have here by my computer table with its hard-covers ripped off with a few pages indexing the words initialized by 'Z', missing. There is nothing more satisfying to a reader (and a writer) than a worn and dilapidated dictionary. It is...so fulfilling. Just by looking at it for a few microseconds you begin to feel proud/content with your vocabulary and literary achievements. If placed on a coffee table or somewhere in the living room, it will surely elicit praise and admiration from your guests and friends, as a symbol of your literacy and knowledge. (Irrespective of the fact that I have weak spelling retention but, a great meaning retention capacity.)

This gives me an idea...(link to my another post on the digressing idea, in order to keep the blog posts themes and premise in a more consistent and terse fashion).

Returning, to Ruskin Bond, short stories at hand. Ruskin Bond's stories that I've read right now are: "Our Great Escape", "Gone Fishing", "Susanna's Seven Husbands". Some of the stories of which I have some recollections are: "The Girl on The Train", "The Earthquake" and the poem: "Do you believe in Ghosts?".

Currently, my personal favorite of Ruskin Bond is "The Girl on The Train". Hush! I need not whisper anything about it, or, it'll become a spoiler! Short stories are more delicate than novels, you know.

This book happens to be with Ruskin Bond's personal commentary appended with the stories and a recent introduction (July 2007). A lot of funny idiosyncrasies and genuine humor is sprinkled in the introduction. His ideas and thoughts in the introduction are thought worthy and must be reflected upon.

The stories I have read are beautifully simple, lucid and yet rich with realism and emotion. Best fit for children's short stories and some deep thought provoking questions for us mature readers, too. Nonetheless, I am having a nice time reliving my childhood days and his life experiences via his narratives. I gotta buy me one of those hard-bound complete collections of Ruskin Bond as well as the complete short stories of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, by Agatha Christie.

I also am continuing my reading of Isaac Asimov's "The Rest of the Robots", already, mentioned in my previous blog post. (Link appended at the end.) This time completing the Section 2, titled "The Laws of Robotics" comprising of two shorts: "The First Law" and "Let's Get Together". I also, chanced upon an e-comic with the first three collected issues of "Transmetropolitan", one of the great graphic novels ever made.

Though not famous, Transmetropolitan, directly touches issues of grave importance in the current world spiraling towards becoming, Police States with growing corruption and injustice. It also, in the first three issues, beautifully shows the effects of alienating segments of society, discrimination, civil unrest/strife and the cruel actions of the government. Facts, themes and ideas that no longer are mere fiction but, now, resonate with recent world events and sociopolitical situation. And, the comic series being a Vertigo imprint is geared towards mature readers.

Meanwhile, delving deeper in, Asimov's, "The First Law", short story which records the first ever event of a robot's decision to override the hard-wired "First Law" which is;

"A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm."

This overriding was due to the fact that it had begun to feel emotions and love (and subsequent attachment) which made it disregard the First Law in order to fulfill the demands of Love. I re-think this simple idea in the human context. Isn't this the very rule we violate in order to fulfill the demands of our love and other relationships. Isn't love the reason that one will go to war against someone else or avoid saving others in order to protect one's own self-interest (lovers, attachments etc)?

In turn that our attachments are the reason we will violate logically foolproof rules of peaceful self-existence. Doesn't the thief punished by law become a victim of circumstance and fate when his family is starving in poverty? Then why is Justice, blind? And, if it always meant to be blind then why do we tolerate such a system and not evolve it to incorporate the greater aspects of guilt, blame, sin and forgiveness.

Does that mean our self-interest is short-sightedness and our attachments are shackles binding us to err? Or is our defiance of this law, for short term self-interest truly or appropriately rewarding for us? Does this mean that we will always, sooner or later discriminate against someone or the other in order to favor those whom we are attached to (emotionally, socially etc)?

Maybe, this makes me feel a little comfortable with myself and my personal philosophy of perfect detachment and stoicism. Without emotions one will always make correct decisions but, then we also need humanity and morals to guide our laws and decisions for the greater good.

The other story, "Let's Get Together", is a modest mystery story with some adequate logical argument, mystery, challenge and strategy set in a fictional futuristic world of prolonged Cold War between the East and West (referred as "Them and Us"). Short, but, decent considering the age it was written in. Though, modern day marvels like Death Note, the Japanese Manga/Anime would make this look like ancient obsolete flint tools.

Books Discussed:

1. Potpourri by Ruskin Bond (Mixed Bag of Fiction, Autobiography, Poetry, Romance, Mystery, Supernatural, Horror and Humor)
2. The Rest of The Robots by Issac Asimov (Science-Fiction, Classic, Robots)
3. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis - Vertigo (Comic, Mature, Dystopian Future, Social and Political Satire, Science Fiction)
4. The Oxford Pocket English Dictionary - Oxford University Press

Books Mentioned:

1. Complete short stories of Miss Marple by Agatha Christie.
2. Complete short stories of Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie.
3. Death Note a famous manga and anime.

Related articles

• Bibliophilia: Asimov, Milton and More..
• Con Art: Forging the Used Look

Con Art: Forging the Used Look

There is nothing more satisfying to a reader (and a writer) than a worn and dilapidated book. It is...so fulfilling. Just by looking at it for a few microseconds you begin to feel proud/content with your vocabulary and literary achievements. If placed on a coffee table or somewhere in the living room, it will surely elicit praise and admiration from your guests and friends, as a symbol of your literacy and knowledge. (Irrespective of the fact that you've read it or not.)

 

This gives me an idea...I should pick up a few second hand encyclopedias or thick voluminous books like War & Peace, Lord of the Rings or instead defile some of the technical programming books I have lying around here being rarely used  and in mint condition, How to Program Java by Deitel & Deitel would work wonders. Having watched a few seasons of White Collar and one movie, The Invention of Lying, I've been quite educated in the art of forging the rugged, aged and worn out look and feel in artifacts.

A few coffee stains, spills here and there. Folded pages. Randomly underlined texts (a personal experience from trying to highlight important portions of course books which inadvertently ended up coloring the entire book, instead of specific important sections). A few A4 printing sheets scribbled with notes, diagrams and barely legible re-quotations from the texts bibliography, index and chapter summaries. These A4 sheets can be aged by again spilling them over with drinks, food stuffs (avoid the cooking oil-stains - it looks unprofessional and makes you look sloppy), ink spills and then blow dried with a hair-dryer. The blow drying will create a little discolored tone representing age (Thank you, Neal Caffery!).

I saw the protagonist of The Invention of Lying, dousing the document in coffee, to colorize it. Though, I've no personal experience with it (coffee).  Oh! I forgot to mention some of these new printing pages are specially treated to avoid yellowish colorization which would make it quite difficult. Then, go for cheapest available A4 sheets or ripped out notebook pages. Also, fold the book carelessly to create the creases and folds in the covers, in case of paper backs.

Voila! You've successfully faked the use of your voluminous books that you abhor reading and yet, can con your guests in believing otherwise!

My personal tip: Read the Wikipedia summary of the books to get a brief idea in mere minutes before bluffing, else, your intelligent and knowledgeable guests will call your bluff. In my personal experience I have completely conned my old teacher who had assigned us to write a paper on Noam Chomsky.

Addendum:

I have one (proudly) unique habit of using playing cards ranging from "Duel Masters", "Yu Gi Oh!", "Magic: The Gathering", Standard Playing Cards and other trading card games (like Pokemon, which I abhor. The set of cards was an old gift, by the way. And, sports player flash cards) as bookmarks.


Keep a deck around anytime and just place one card whenever you need to bookmark.

How this adds to your forging the used look is by adding a card/book-mark every few chapters. The voluminous the book is the better the placing of the bookmarks appears. Those who are aware of your habit and practice of such book-marking will assume you've read a lot of the text and considered marking the pages for future reference.

I got this idea after my personal experience of bookmarking voluminous programming books. I used to first brainstorm a software/program I'd want to build. Then, I'd explore the Index and the Glossary for requisite locations and sections of text I'd have to refer, read, learn, understand or just mark for future reference.
Many a times I bookmarked all those important sections I did NOT know and intended TO DO. My friends would look at me holding the book with all its bookmarks jutting out and remark that I had thoroughly studied the material. When I tried to explain them my  purpose of bookmarking, they still did not believe. In hindsight I can say that, if I did not know the actual material but, would surely know which page, chapter and section to look for answers.

Other Links to Checkout:
1. White Collar TV Series.
2. Hellblazer comic which tells the tale of the world's greatest conman and occult detective.

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• The Art of Con 101