Network LAN Adapter - Flush DNS

To flush DNS cache in Microsoft Windows (Win XP, Win ME, Win 2000, Vista, Windows 7):-

- Start -> Run -> type cmd
- in command prompt, type ipconfig /flushdns

 

 

 

How to remove virus 'msbackup.exe' ?

MSBACKUP.EXE

 

Q. How to remove virus 'msbackup.exe' ?

A. First of all, "AVG" is the worst AntiVirus ever. I wonder why do so many people use it.
Get "Spybot S&D", or "Malwarebytes". Also, try cleaning your PC with Crap Cleaner (CCleaner). -Remember to turn off "System Restore" while removing the virus.- Once you get rid of the virus, get another antivirus program. I'd suggest Symantec Endpoint, but Eset Nod 32, Avast, Kaspersky etc... aren't bad too.

 

 

BlueScreenView - analyze system crashes

BlueScreenView - analyze system crashes

 

 

BlueScreenView enables you to investigate the cause of a system crash (blue screen of death) by analyzing the content of the Minidump files that are created during each crash. The program scans the content of the Minidump folder and provides a detailed report with the basic crash details as well as all the drivers and modules involved. It can highlight the drivers that were found in the error stack, allowing you to narrow down the possible cause for the crash. In addition to the technical details, the program can also show you a simulation of the original blue screen error. Note: In order to use BlueScreenView to analyze crash data, your system should be configure to save a `Small memory dump` file in the default folder - this setting can be found in the `Advance System Properties` dialog under `Startup and Recovery`.

 

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Knowledge Base> Arrow keys not working in Excel

 

Issue: Arrow keys not working in Excel 2003 or Excel 2007

 

Resolution: Just check whether your SCROLL LOCK is in ON position

 

 

 

Free HTTP Server >Fortitude HTTP Is A Local Web Server For Windows

Fortitude HTTP Is A Local Web Server For Windows

 

The web server is immediately functional after installation and it is possible to connect to example websites by pointing the web browser to http://localhost/.

 

 

The http management console is used to configure the web server locally. It displays the hosted websites, their settings and global settings in the left sidebar.

 

 

New websites can be added easily by right-clicking the websites entry and selecting Configure from the context menu. Here it is possible to delete, add and edit websites.

 

A name, port, root directory and description can be added in the web site creation menu. Each website can be configured individually from a maximum connection limit and buffer size to the server admin email, root login details, scripting engines (supported are python, php, perl and vbs), SSI and CGI.

 

The global settings are identical to the local ones, with the difference that they are applicable for all web servers.

 

The only thing missing is a database server like MySQL which needs to be installed separately.

 

For more info, please visit http://goo.gl/AUks

 

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KB> Registry Hack> Stop the system automatically rebooting after Windows Updates

Registry> Stop the system automatically rebooting after Windows Updates (Windows XP/Vista)

 

Open your registry (Type regedit on the Run) and find or create the key below.

 

Create a new DWORD value, or modify the existing value, called "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers" and set it according to the value data below.

 

Exit your registry; you may need to restart or log out of Windows for the change to take effect.

 

 

Registry Settings

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
Value Name: NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = no effect, 1 = do not automatically reboot)

 

Windows 7 Tips and Tricks > Wipe your Hard Drive Securely

Wipe your drives securely with a hidden Windows 7 tool

It’s always a worry when you get rid of a PC or hard drive that all sorts of personal data could be sitting on it waiting to be stolen.  This is even more important when it comes to business computers.

There have always been a huge variety of hard disk wiping packages available from third-parties, but did you know that Windows 7 has it’s own free in-built tool for securely erasing, not just whole hard disks, but specific folders as well?

The cipher.exe tool has been around for years now and is used for managing the EFS (Encrypted File System) feature that preceeded Bitlocker and was first introduced with Windows 2000.  It’s run from the Command Prompt (as an Administrator).

With Windows 7 though Microsoft have added a new switch to the tool, and it’s one you should definitely use with care!

 The command is Simply cipher /w x:\folder where you would substitute x:\folder for the location you want wiped, for instance your D:\ drive or your C:\Users\Mike Halsey\Music folder.

This will write a series of 0s, 1s and then random characters to every sector of the drive or folder to securely erase the data that’s stored there.  Believe me, if you do this casually you’re not going to get your data back afterwards.

Microsoft say that this feature is here for clearing empty folders and drives that need to be erased, and it’s an excellent way to save money on expensive third-party software.

So the next time you’re upgrading your hard disk, don’t waste your money, just cipher the thing instead.

 

 

 

 

Folder Monitoiring Tool

Watch 4 Folder > Folder Monitoring Tool

 

 

Watch 4 Folder 2.0 is a simple, small and portable tool to monitor folders and files activities.
You can set a monitoring process with just 4 simple quick steps and then minimize the tool to the system tray.
It can monitor 15 different types of events, execute a program or batch file, or show a popup message in case of an event.
it is possible to write to a text log file and to watch a live log running.

 

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Windows 7 Tips and Tricks

Windows 7 Tips and Tricks

 

 

Read or DOWNLOAD

 

 

Windows 7 > Tips and Tricks

Windows 7 > Tips and Tricks

 

 

Enable Check Box Selection in Windows 7

 

 

The process is simple: Enter "folder options" in the Start menu's search bar and hit Enter, click the "View" tab on the resulting window, and then check to enable the "Use check boxes to select items" option. Hit Apply and OK, and you'll see check boxes pop up next to the items you're hovering next to with your cursor.

 

Wifi Signal Booster

Homemade Wifi or Wireless signal booster

 

http://cid-614d9fe19298a5bf.office.live.com/self.aspx/Videos/Wifi-Signal-Booster-for-less-than-$1.3gp

 

http://cid-614d9fe19298a5bf.office.live.com/self.aspx/Videos/WIFI-Extender-In-2mins.3gp

 

 

ipod > Sync Your iPod To Computer Without iTunes

6 Ways To Sync Your iPod To Computer Without iTunes

by Steven Campbell on Jun. 15th, 2010

There has always been one universal constant for purchasers of an iPod – that they would be using Apple’s iTunes to sync it. Apple’s iTunes has been downloaded millions of times and is adored by many, but what if you’re looking for an alternative?

Last year, we covered a similar topic entitled6 Ways To Sync Music To Your iPhone Without iTunes. The article was very popular and it covered 6 great applications. There has since been many capable alternatives to iTunes, each program having its own pros and cons.

In this article, I am going to cover some of the best free alternatives to using iTunes to sync iPod to computer without iTunes.

[Note]: Depending on which model of iPod you own, you may want to still keep iTunes around for firmware updates, application downloads, and other advanced features that one or more of these programs may not be capable of.

Floola (Cross Platform)

Floola is a freeware application that will effectively manage your iPod’s music, videos, podcasts, and photos. It is a standalone application that can be run directly from your iPod and needs no installation under Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. The current version supports every type of iPod except for the iPhone/iTouch.

Floola supports almost all of the features offered by iPods. It can convert incompatible audio and video files, add YouTube videos to your device, and sync Google Calendars. With Floola you can copy almost any file to your iPod. It is also very easy to uninstall, which makes it worth giving a try.

Songbird (Windows & Mac)

Songbird is a Mac and PC compatible application that handles all of your digital media management needs. It is an open source media manager that will sync your music, video, and photos to and from iTunes with ease.

Songbird allows you to set up watch folders to keep Songbird in sync as your media changes over time. It also supports hundreds of add-ons that can add features, integrate services, and customize the application.  We have covered Songbird a lot in the past.   Just click here to see the search results.

Amarok (Cross Platform)

Amarok is a powerful music player that is supported by Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It has an automated playlist generator, a similar artists and upcoming events applet, and support for the Last.fm database. Amarok is integrated with a lot of web services and features support for all iPods.

EphPod (Windows)

EphPod is a full-featured Windows application that connects with Apple’s iPod. It supports standard Winamp playlists and will synchronize an entire music collection with one click. It imports Microsoft Outlook contacts and can download the latest news, weather, e-books, and movie listings to an iPod.

On the download page it is noted that EphPod may not work properly with new iPods, but it is worth investigating.

YamiPod (Cross Platform)

YamiPod is yet another cross platform iPod manager that is supported on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. Like Floola, it is a standalone application which requires no installation. Your iPod is automatically recognized and synced with your computer. It supports multiple iPods and can copy/sync your music, playlists, and song lists.

Banshee (Linux)

Banshee is packaged for many Linux distributions and is even the default media player for several. According to the site, it will soon be available for Windows and Mac OS X as well.

Banshee allows you to sync your music and videos to your iPod, Android, and other devices. It supports audio, video, podcasts, album art, playlists, and more.

 

 

 

 

Knowledge Base > Outlook >How to create a recurring e-mail message in Outlook

 

How to create a recurring e-mail message in Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 / Send recurring email reminder automatically

 

Microsoft Article Number KB239087

 

Outlook does not provide a means to create recurring e-mail messages. For example, you might want to send an e-mail message every month to remind a group of people that a report is due. While you can set up appointments and tasks as recurring events, you cannot create a recurring e-mail message.

You can use Visual Basic Script and the recurrence settings of a task to automatically generate a recurring e-mail message. This procedure consists of the following tasks:

1. Publish a custom task form that creates an e-mail message when the task status equals completed.
2. Use the custom task form to create a recurring task.
3. When the task comes due, mark it as completed. The code will generate the boilerplate message, which you then send. At the same time, a new task is created because the original task was set to recur.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. 
If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or Microsoft Advisory Services. For more information, visit these Microsoft Web sites:

Publish a Custom Task Form

1. Start Outlook and open your Tasks folder.
2. On the Actions menu, click New Task.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Forms, and then click Design This Form.
4. On the Form menu, click View Code, and type the following code in the Script Editor:

 

Sub Item_PropertyChange(ByVal Name)    Select Case Name    Case "Status"            if Item.Status = 2 then '2 = Completed                    Set NewItem = Application.CreateItem(0)                    NewItem.To = "myemailaddress@myisp.com"                    NewItem.Recipients.ResolveAll                    NewItem.Subject = "This is the message subject text"                    NewItem.Body = "This is text that will appear in the body of the message."                    NewItem.Display            End IF    End Select    End Sub

                                                           

5. In the Script Editor, on the File menu, click Close.
6. On the Tools menu, point to Forms, and then click Publish Form.
7. In the Look in list, click Tasks. In the Display Name and Form Name boxes, typeReminder, and then click Publish.
8. On the File menu, click Close. Do not save changes.

NOTE: In the code, substitute your own information inside the quotation marks forNewItem.To, NewItem.Subject, and NewItem.Body. These lines set the To, Subject, and body of your reminder message.

 

Create a Recurring Task Using the Custom Form

1. Open your Tasks folder, where you published the custom reminder form.
2. On the Actions menu, click New Reminder. This will open a new task based on your custom form.
3. Type a subject for your reminder task. In Due Date, click to select a due date from the calendar. Click to select the Reminder check box.
4. On the Actions menu, click Recurrence, and set how often you want the reminder message sent.
5. Click Save and Close.

 

To Send Reminder E-mail

When you receive the reminder that the task is due, click Open Item. In the Status box, click to select Completed.

 

Knowledge Base > MS Outlook Message - Undeliverable Error

 

Outlook- Message Undeliverable error

 

From: System Administrator
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:07 PM
To: me, you
Subject: Undeliverable: Apple

 

Your message did not reach some or all of the intended recipients.

 

      Subject:            Apple

      Sent:                 6/15/2010 4:07 PM

 

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

 

      Jeena, Seem on 6/15/2010 4:07 PM

            You do not have permission to send to this recipient.  For assistance, contact your system administrator.

            MSEXCH:MSExchangeIS:/DC=com/DC=eversoft:EXCHANGE3

 

 

Possible Cause: The message in the queue has expired. The sending server tried to relay or deliver the message, but the action was not completed before the message expiration time occurred. This NDR may also indicate that a message header limit has been reached on a remote server or that some other protocol timeout occurred during communication with the remote server. 

Troubleshooting: This code typically indicates an issue on the receiving server. Verify the validity of the recipient address, and verify that the receiving server is configured to receive messages correctly. You may have to reduce the number of recipients in the header of the message for the host that you are receiving this NDR from. If you resend the message, it is placed in the queue again. If the receiving server is on line, the message is delivered.

 

 

Windows 7 Account Lockout (How to trace source?)

Winodws 7 Account Lockout (How to trace source?)

 

Once we confirm the problematic computer, we can perform further research to locate the root cause. Actually, there are many possible causes for bad password, such as cached password, schedule task, mapped drives, services, etc. Please remove the previous password cache which may be used by some applications and therefore cause the account lockout problem. 

 

Troubleshooting steps:

 

1. Click Start, click Run, type "control userpasswords2" (without the quotation marks), and then click OK.

2. Click the Advanced tab.

3. Click the "Manage Password" button.

4. Check to see if these domain account's passwords are cached. If so, remove them.

5. Check if the problem has been resolved now.

 

If there is any application or service is running as the problematic user account, please disable it and then check whether the problem occurs.

 

 

 

How to use Account Lockout and Management Tools

How to use Account Lockout and Management Tools

DOWNLOAD NOW

 

Installing ALTools.exe

After you've downloaded ALTools.exe from the Download Center, double-click on the file to extract the tools to a directory of your choosing. Then install the tools as needed on domain controllers, member servers, or workstations as described under each tool discussed below.

 

AcctInfo.dll

This DLL adds a new tab called Additional Account Info to user account properties sheets in the Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC). Copy the file to the System32 folder of the computer on which you run ADUC (typically an administrator workstation with adminpak.msi installed) and then open a command prompt and type regsvr32 acctinfo.dll to register the DLL. Now open ADUC and view the properties of a locked-out user like Bob Smith in Figure 2 below:

Figure 2: AcctInfo.dll adds the Additional Account Info tab to the properties sheet for a user account

There's lots of information here, but in particular line four indicates the date and time when Bob's account became locked and when it will automatically unlock. Clicking the Domain PW Info button displays the password policy for the domain:

Figure 3: Result of clicking the Domain PW Info button

Clicking the Set PW On Site DC button lets you reset the password for the user and unlock the account (see Figure 3). This is useful because if you want to reset a user's password you should do it using a domain controller in the AD site where the user's computer resides, otherwise replication latency may cause a delay before the user can log on again. This is a better approach to resetting an account by right-clicking on it and selecting Reset Password.

Figure 4: Resetting a user's password on a DC in a remote site

 

ALockout.dll

This tool creates a log file that can help you diagnose the cause of account lockout problems. Extract the files from ALockout.zip (for Windows 2000) or AlockoutXP.zip (for Windows XP) and copy them the computer experiencing the lockout problems (usually a user's workstation). Copy ALockout.dll to the System32 directory and double-click on Appinit.reg to register the DLL. Then restart the machine and when the lockout problem happens again you can view the log file %WinDir%\debug\ALockout.txt to troubleshoot. Note that interpreting this log requires you understanding Netlogon logging, which is discussed in detail in the previously mentioned whitepaper. 

 

AloInfo.exe

This tool displays the password age for user accounts so you can determine which accounts are about to expire and anticipate problems before they occur. To use this tool copy it to a folder in the system path on a domain controller and run it from a command prompt. Here's an example:

C:\>aloinfo /expires /server:test220

Getting Users (This may take a while)...

Retrieved 28 users
Printing Users in descending PW age...

Administrator,28
krbtgt,28
asmith,4
bsmith,4
csmith,3
dsmith,3
esmith,3
...

You can also use this tool to display the credentials for all mapped drives for the currently logged-on user, which can help when troubleshooting account lockout problems caused by cached credentials for persistent connections:

C:\>aloinfo /stored /server:test220

Getting Service Names and the account they start with...

Checking Mapped Drives for usernames...
Drive Y: is mapped to \\test220\docs with username DEFAULT_USERNAME

 

EnableKerbLog.vbs
Used as a startup script, allows Kerberos to log on to all your clients that run Windows 2000 and later.

 

EventCombMT.exe
This tool gathers event logs from several machines to one central location. You can create filters for searching specific event IDS across all servers.

 

 

LockoutStatus.exe

This tool displays various information about locked out accounts that can help you troubleshoot the cause of the lockout. Copy the file to a domain controller and double-click on it to run it, then choose File-->Select Target and specify the name of the user whose account lockout status you want to display. Right-click on a displayed entry to unlock the account, reset its password, or perform other actions (Figure 5):

Figure 5: Unlocking an account using LockoutStatus.exe

 

 

 

 

Reminder: Timer with Reminder

Timer Remainder Pro

 

 

Timer Remainder Pro , is a freeware application that reminds you
about things you need to do during the day or at a specific day
giving the possibilty to remember important things.

 

DOWNLOAD

 

Calculator: Average Calculator

Average Calculator

 

 

This program will let you check your average score
on different subjects, also you will be able to do
different things like organize the subject from low to high, and more.

 

DOWNLOAD

 

Stopper Timer

Advanced Stopper

 

 

This program will let you use your computer as a stopper for any sport ,
or anything you like,
it will also store your last scores so you can compare it.

 

DOWNLOAD

Internal error: Failed to Expand Shell Folder Constant "userappdata"

Internal error: Failed to Expand Shell Folder Constant "userappdata"

 

Click on “Start-Run, type “regedit” (without the quotes)
Navigate to this registry path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER --> Software --> Microsoft --> Windows --> Current Version --> Explorer --> User Shell Folders
Clear the key: Recent (right mouse click on the key/folder, choose “Delete”)
Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

 

If this fails to correct your problem, then

 

The spyware responsible for this makes a simple change to keep you from installing anything new... go to the UserShellFolders folder in your registry, the one where you were told to delete the Recent folder. Look at the APPDATA folder and notice that it has the path $APPDATA$. The path was %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming

Changed the path on the bad comp to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming and rebooted into safe mode. I was able to install MBAM without a hitch and am currently running a scan the machine.

 

Screen Recording - Mouse Recorder Pro

Mouse Recorder Pro – Screen Recording Script

 

 

 

Mouse Recorder Pro Script Converter is a tool used to convert Mouse Recorder Pro 1.3 scripts to
Mouse Recorder Pro 2.0.2.0+ scripts.

This conversion process is necessary in order to play old Mouse Recorder Pro scripts in the new version of MRP.

 

DOWNLOAD My Site Download

 

Font and Size for Business/Professsional emails and Business Letters

Font and Size for Professional or Business Emails

 

 

·         Choose between casual fonts. Casual fonts are sans-serif, or without the calligraphy edges. These fonts have a wider range, from Arial and Trebuchet to Jokerman and Lucinda Handwriting. It's a good rule of thumb to choose calm fonts, such as Arial or Trebuchet, when writing a business letter

·         Keep your font between 11 and 12 points tall. Traditional serif fonts usually need to be 12 points tall. Sans serif fonts can be easily read at 11 points. Choose a font size that is easily readable without unnecessarily taking up too much space.

·         an email template for a client, with Verdana 11px as the default font setting is good

 

I personally like is Trebuchet when writing Business emails or letters...

Secure Password Generator

Password Generator:

 

The PC Tools Password Generator allows you to create random passwords that are highly secure and extremely difficult to crack or guess due to an optional combination of lower and upper case letters, numbers and punctuation symbols.

 

 

 

The PC Tools Password Utilities includes useful features to make creating and managing passwords much simpler. Included are three main features:

• Password Generator - is an offline version of the web-based Password Generator which allows you to securely and easily create passwords locally on your own PC.
• Password Checker - a new feature that lets you check the quality and strength of a password. By entering your password in the checker it will run a series of tests on the password to indicate how strong it is, and therefore how easy it may be to guess or crack.
• Password Revealer - works with Internet Explorer to reveal saved password that you have entered in web-forms but may have subsequently forgotten or lost. Simply bring up the hidden password in Internet Explorer, highlight it, and Password Revealer will tell you the saved password.

 

More Details...

 

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Pen drive - PortableApps.com Suite and PortableApps.com Platform

 

Pen drive - PortableApps.com Suite™ is a complete collection of portable apps including a web browser, email client, office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, audio player, sudoku game, password manager, PDF reader, minesweeper clone, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. Just drop it on your portable device and you're ready to go.

 

 

 

Include Applications:

All versions of the PortableApps.com Suite include the integrated PortableApps.com Menu (pictured at right) and the PortableApps.com Backup utility along with a set of custom icons, an autoplay configuration, folders and a quick start shortcut. In addition, the packages include:

• Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition (web browser)
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (email)
• Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition (calendar/tasks)
• ClamWin Portable (antivirus)
• Pidgin Portable (instant messaging)
• Sumatra PDF Portable (PDF reader
• KeePass Password Safe Portable (password manager)
• Sudoku Portable (game)
• Mines-Perfect Portable (game)
• CoolPlayer+ Portable (audio player)
• OpenOffice.org Portable* (office suite)
       - Writer (word processor)
       - Calc (spreadsheet)
       - Impress (presentations)
       - Base (database utility)
       - Draw (drawing)

* The Light Suite includes AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org Portable.

 

 

 

 

Windows XP Mode - To run Windows XP compatible software's within Windows 7

Windows XP mode in Windows 7 – To run Windows XP compatible software’s within Windows 7

 

Click Here to see step by step guided tour

 

Download Windows XP compatible mode

 

*Windows XP Mode is a 500 Mb file and may take several minutes to download

**Enables Windows XP Mode for PCs without Hardware Assisted Virtualization Technology

Window 7 - Record your problem with Problem Steps Recorder

Problem Steps Recorder

 

The 'Problem Steps Recorder' lets you record a particular problem you are having with your PC so you can send it to someone who may be able to help. Click 'Record', and a screenshot is taken with every mouse click, allowing comments to be added in between if required. These screenshots (and comments, if any) are placed in a well-formatted HTML document that is placed inside a zipped folder on your desktop - ideal to be attached to an email.

A PROBLEM HALVED: Simple, yet so effective. Send this to tech savvy friends or even manufacturers

 

Search for Problem Steps Recorder and start using...

 

How to activate High Perormance Plan in Windows7

 

 

Click Here to view how to Add High Performace Plan in Windows 7

 

Advantage of having solid state hard drives

Solid State Hard Drives Advantages and Disadvantages

 

 

Advantages:

 

• Faster start-up because no spin-up is required.
• Fast random access because there is no read/write head^[14]
• Low read latency times for RAM drives.^[15] In applications where hard disk seeks are the limiting factor, this results in faster boot and application launch times (see Amdahl's law).^[16]
• Consistent read performance because physical location of data is irrelevant for SSDs.^[17]
• File fragmentation has negligible effect.
• Silent operation due to the lack of moving parts.
• Low capacity flash SSDs have a low power consumption and generate little heat when in use.
• High mechanical reliability, as the lack of moving parts almost eliminates the risk of "mechanical" failure.
• Ability to endure extreme shock, high altitude, vibration and extremes of temperature.^[18][19] This makes SSDs useful for laptops, mobile computers, and devices that operate in extreme conditions (flash).^[16]
• For low-capacity SSDs, lower weight and size: although size and weight per unit storage are still better for traditional hard drives, and microdrives allow up to 20 GB storage in a CompactFlash form-factor. As of 2008 SSDs up to 256 GB are lighter than hard drives of the same capacity.^[18]
• Flash SSDs have twice the data density of HDDs (so far, with very recent and major developments of improving SSD densities), even up to 1TB disks^[20][21] (currently more than 2TB is atypical even for HDDs)^[22]). One example of this advantage is that portable devices such as a smartphone may hold as much as a typical person's desktop PC.
• Failures occur less frequently while writing/erasing data, which means there is a lower chance of irrecoverable data damage.^[23]
• Defragmenting the SSD is unnecessary. Since SSDs are random access by nature and can perform parallel reads on multiple sections of the drive (as opposed to a HDD, which requires seek time for each fragment, assuming a single head assembly), a certain degree of fragmentation is actually better for reads, and wear leveling intrinsically induces fragmentation.^[24] In fact, defragmenting a SSD is harmful since it adds wear to the SSD for no benefit.

 

Disadvantages:

• Flash-memory drives have limited lifetimes and will often wear out after 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 write cycles (1,000 to 10,000 per cell) for MLC, and up to 5,000,000 write cycles (100,000 per cell) for SLC.^{[26][27][28][29]} Special file systems or firmware designs can mitigate this problem by spreading writes over the entire device, called wear leveling.^[30]
• Wear leveling used on flash-based SSDs has security implications. For example, encryption of existing unencrypted data on flash-based SSDs cannot be performed securely due to the fact that wear leveling causes new encrypted drive sectors to be written to a physical location different from their original location—data remains unencrypted in the original physical location. It is also impossible to securely wipe files by overwriting their content on flash-based SSDs.^{[citation needed]}
• As of early-2010, SSDs are still more expensive per gigabyte than hard drives. Whereas a normal flash drive is US$2 per gigabyte, hard drives are around US$0.10 per gigabyte for 3.5", or US$0.20 for 2.5".
• The capacity of SSDs is currently lower than that of hard drives. However, flash SSD capacity is predicted to increase rapidly, with drives of 1 TB already released for enterprise and industrial applications.^{[21][31][32][33][34]}
• Asymmetric read vs. write performance can cause problems with certain functions where the read and write operations are expected to be completed in a similar timeframe. SSDs currently have a much slower write performance compared to their read performance.^[35]
• Similarly, SSD write performance is significantly impacted by the availability of free, programmable blocks. Previously written data blocks that are no longer in use can be reclaimed by TRIM; however, even with TRIM, fewer free, programmable blocks translates into reduced performance.^[36]
• As a result of wear leveling and write combining, the performance of SSDs degrades with use.^[37][38]
• SATA-based SSDs generally exhibit much slower write speeds. As erase blocks on flash-based SSDs generally are quite large (e.g. 0.5 - 1 megabyte),^[9] they are far slower than conventional disks during small writes (write amplification effect) and can suffer from write fragmentation.^[39] Modern PCIe SSDs however have much faster write speeds than previously available.
• DRAM-based SSDs (but not flash-based SSDs) require more power than hard disks, when operating; they still use power when the computer is turned off, while hard disks do not.^[40]

 

 

 

TechNews: Google testing desktop Google Voice

Report: Google testing desktop Google Voice

 

Gizmo5's old product, acquired by Google in November.

 

Google continues to evolve its Google Voice product, with reports it's testing a desktop-based version inside the Googleplex.

TechCrunch says that Google has been internally testing a desktop Google Voice application this week, the fruits of its acquisition of Gizmo5 last year. This would allow Google Voice users to treat their PC or Mac like a phone, bypassing the current requirement that Google Voice service be connected to a phone.

It's not clear when such an application may launch, according to TechCrunch. Skype is probably the most recognizable name in this space, although VoIP clients such as Gizmo5's old product aren't exactly novel. Google's edge could be the blend of Web services it already offers integrated into its product.