Basic Computer Definitions By Intel Corporation

Hi Friends!

Today, I am going to share my grey cells, but instead will share a link which will familiarize you with the basics of computer terminologies.

This article is from Intel corporation in which they have written crisp and succinct definition of many computer fundamentals. My sincere advice to you all, please read it and add to your understanding!

You can navigate to the link by clicking here.

[or you can copy + paste the link in your address bar: http://smb.intel.in/solutions/get-an-understanding-of-the-computer-terms?cid=40_smb_outbrain_common-computer-phrases_link ]


Feel free to ask your queries in the comment section.


Rest Is Next!

What is 'Bricking'?

Hi Friends!

Windows last weekend released Windows RT 8.1 update. But alas! things didn't work out as expected and it was reported that the Surface devices have bricked.

Let us understand what does bricking a device means.

Bricking of a device(computer, router, mobile devices...) means that the device will not normally boot up or function properly. In simpler terms, the device(i.e. the software part of the device) has become a brick: hard, rigid and untenable( i.e. its current position cannot be justified).

Causes:

Bricking is caused usually when there is an up gradation of lower level system or firmware. Mostly, on a Windows machine, you would have seen notification as shown below:

Some of these updates requests you to restart your system. And while you are restarting, you see a screen like:

This is the time when most of these low level operations take place, say up gradation of BIOS , then your system restarts and the new configuration is loaded.

But, in case, your device switches-off during this instant(while the operation is in progress) or the battery dies, the firmware is partially over-written. Hence, the next time you try to boot your system, nothing may happen, it may not even allow you to install a new OS!

Solution

Well, recovery options may not be helpful technically, here's what you can try:

• Contact your system manufacturer and get it done by them: This is plain and simple advice. Don't get your hands dirty on something where your domain knowledge is low.
• For Apple devices, there is a DFU Mode for recovering from seemingly bricked situation.

So, be sure of the place from where you download updates for your devices! I am getting a one-liner here:                       

                                   Smart Device In The Hands Of A Smart User 

                                               (I'll get a copyright for this line!)

Also, Microsoft has released an fix for this. You can read the coverage here.

Cheers!

No Taskbar When Chrome/Firefox Is Open

Hi Friends!

Yesterday one of my colleague summoned me this time and asked me that he is not able to see task bar at the bottom of her computer when Chrome/Firefox is open. I asked him in plain words rather sleepily, 'Dude just revert whatever you did, & it should be fine!'.

But the element of surprise was that he did not do anything[apart from browsing some images, ya I know its weird!].

I did not know what was wrong so told him to do what I call as the Elixir for Windows.

The Elixir is to reboot explorer.exe process. So lets see how it is done.

#1: Open Task Manager(on keyboard, press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC)

#2: Follow the instructions to kill the explorer process

N.B. Once you kill the explorer process, there will be no task bar or anything on your desktop. Worry not! In the next step, we are again going to learn to start the process. :)

#3: On the Task Manager, navigate to File -> New Task(Run...) as shown below:

#4: Type explorer.exe in the space provided and hit enter/press OK

And everything is back on track! It should right, doesn't this is exactly what an elixir supposed to do?!


Now be assured and browse whatever you want, let this problem occur, we are equipped with its solution!

Happy Surfing!
[Apologies for the bad quality of images, can't help!]

ClickJacking: Your Facebook/Twitter Nemesis

Hi Friends!

My friends in Facebook complained that there was a video posted from a friend. He clicked on the video and he was presented with a fake CAPTCHA code, after which the video was indirectly posted the video onto his wall and also was "Liked" by him!

& he intended non of it!

So what went wrong? How did all of this happened if he never clicked "Share" or "Like"?

Dear friends! My pal was victim of ClickJacking. Let us understand in layman's language what ClickJacking is:

"Clickjacking (User Interface redress attack, UI redress attack, UI redressing) is a malicious technique of tricking a Web user into clicking on something different from what the user perceives they are clicking on, thus potentially revealing confidential information or taking control of their computer while clicking on seemingly innocuous web pages. It is a browser security issue that is a vulnerability across a variety of browsers and platforms. A clickjack takes the form of embedded code or a script that can execute without the user's knowledge, such as clicking on a button that appears to perform another function. The term "clickjacking" was coined by Jeremiah Grossman and Robert Hansen in 2008. Clickjacking can be understood as an instance of the confused deputy problem."
                                                                                                                 --- Wikipedia

This definition, I presume is pretty straight forward.

You navigate to a site, you see a CATCHY (I guess, you understood what I mean. For those, who don't, hmm... Forget it!) pop up. You click on it to close the pop-up. But what you do not know is that there could be a Trojan horse associated with the click which can sneak into your computer system.

Click on the Link to know more. Here's an detailed explanation with a short demo and resolution techniques.


Surf Safe, Play Safe!

Add Translator To Your Web Site: A Step By Step Tutorial

Hi Friends,

Greetings.

I am glad that I have once again become frequent with my blogging capabilities.

Today, we will add a Google translator to your web site. Google translate provides you option to translate your web content to 70+ languages(though Google limit the number to just 60+, very modest Google!) and that will result in more audience base(/traffic) to your site. So, I highly recommend you to add it to your site.

But, wait a second, where on Earth, do we look out for a step-by-step process to add it. Well, friends, you have knowingly(or unknowingly) landed on the correct post. ;P

So lets get started:

Step #1: Navigate to the URL: https://translate.google.com/manager/website/
              You will be directed to this page:

                      

The steps to be taken are mentioned in the screen shot. Click on Add to your website now button as shown above

Step #2: You will now land onto the below page under Website Info tab:

Fill in the details of your web site details as I have done for my blog. Click on Next>> 

Step #3: Now you will be navigated to the second tab Plugin Settings tab:

Step #4: Now you will be redirected to the 3rd tab Add Plugin tab as shown below:
               

Copy this code to say notepad and keep it handy. We have all the prerequisites at our disposal! You have to now add this code in the template of your blog. You can understand template as a Master Page which is consistent to all the pages in your blog.

Step #5: Now equipped with the required code, navigate to the template code of your blog. The URL of the page will be something like:
               http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=<<your 19-digit blogID>>#templatehtml

Add the code copied in Step #4 (for quick reference, I have added a screen shot above for the same)

And we are done!

Now, visitors to your site can read your site in more than 70+ languages. The translator is available in my blog as well[towards the top, see screen shot below].

That's all pals,

Catch you in my next blog. Feel free to write your comments or like it.

Cheers!