Sporting rich list 2009

Eurosport takes a look at sport's top-20 earners in 2009, with a certain Tiger Woods comfortably topping the list ahead of his recent scandal.

It's impossible to say what Tiger Woods's serial womanising will do to his bank balance, but the world's number one golfer was the highest-earning sportsman in 2009 before his altercation with a fire hydrant.

Already one sponsor has parted company with Woods, and his agents will surely need to renegotiate with those sticking by their former cash cow after his decision to take a break from golf and lie low for the foreseeable future.

The following rich list was compiled before the Woods scandal broke, when he was clearly sport's biggest fat cat for the fifth year running, while David Beckham is the highest-earning non-American at number three on the top-20 list that includes six athletes from the NBA, and three each from the worlds of football, formula one and golf.

1. Tiger Woods - £59.3m

As mentioned, Woods's earnings will doubtless take a hit following his "transgressions", but probably not enough to stop him becoming the world's first billion dollar sportsman in the next couple of years. Already his career earnings are close to $800m and, assuming he returns to golf in the next few months, he is likely to pass the magic billion dollar mark before he breaks Jack's record of 18 Majors. Nike and Upper Deck have promised to stick by Woods, Gillette, AT&T, Pepsico and Tag Hauer are still assessing the situation, while Accenture have dropped him altogether.

2. Phil Mickelson - £31.6m

With Woods out of the way for the time being, Mickelson will hope to take advantage by increasing his on-course earnings, but Lefty still has some way to go before he can match his great rival's pulling power - despite the scandal. However, the likes of Rolex and Callaway must be delighted that they chose a man who has remained loyal to their values, and whose popularity is growing steadily.

3. David Beckham - £26.9

Golden Balls is the highest non-American athlete on the list and a sportsman whose earnings from endorsements and advertising far exceed his salary for playing football. That said, Beckham has the potential to earn £128m from his five-year deal with LA Galaxy in MLS, and if he achieves his aim of making the England squad for the 2010 World Cup then 'brand Beckham' will continue to bring him vast riches.

4. LeBron James - £25.3m

James is approaching the end of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers and, after finishing last season as the NBA's MVP and a five-times first-team All Star, he is in a powerful position to renegotiate his salary. Endorsement deals with the likes of Nike and State Farm Insurance are said to boost the 6'8" small forward's coffers by twice the amount of his salary.

5. Kimi Raikkonen - £23.9m

Ferrari were clearly hoping for a better return on their investment as Raikkonen finished a lowly sixth on the 2009 drivers' standings. They had, after all, made him the highest-paid driver in Formula One on the back of his 2007 world title and 18 grands prix victories. The Finn and Ferrari had issues with their relationship and he was replaced at the Italian marque by Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso before announcing he was taking a break from F1 to compete in the World Rally Championship with Citroen next year.

6. Manny Pacquiao - £23.8m

The Filipino pugilist has defeated all before him of late and if the rumours of a showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr are to be believed then his bank balance is set for an even bigger boost next year. Indeed, he would be higher up the list had his earnings from his latest victory over Miguel Cotto been included. Pacquiao is a true hero in the Philippines - so much so he has very real ambitions to go into politics - and is the perfect role model for the likes of sponsors San Miguel and Nike.

7. Lionel Messi - £23.7m

The best footballer on the planet: that's what most fans think and certainly what the powers at Barcelona thought when they offered him a massive contract at Camp Nou through to 2016. The Argentine is said to be paid £8.5m-a-year by the Spanish giants, who think so highly of their prized investment that they included a whopping £222m buy-out clause in his contract. Messi's earning potential could increase considerably now that Argentina have secured a World Cup stage on which he can display his remarkable talents.

8. Alex Rodriguez - £23.3m

The baseball star enjoyed a £19.7m salary in 2009 as part of a massive 10-year deal with the New York Yankees said to be worth $275m in total, the richest is baseball history. And while he picked up several more millions in endorsements, this income stream could be limited after he admitted this year that he had taken steroids earlier in his career.

9. Valentino Rossi, Fernando Alonzo and Shaquille O'Neill - £20.9m

All three have highly-lucrative deals with their respective teams, as well as healthy endorsement incomes. Shaq received an £11.9m salary, Rossi £9.5m and Alonso a reported £12.5m as part of a two-year contract with now former team Renault.

12. Kevin Garnett - £20.7m

13. Yao Ming - £19.7m

14. Lewis Hamilton - £19.6m

15. Kobe Bryant - £18.6m

16. Roger Federer - £17.6m

17. Allen Iverson - £17.3m

18. Vijay Singh - £17.1m

19. Derek Jeter - £16.9m

20. Ronaldinho - £16.3m

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ASB Dividend is 7.30 Sen Per Unit for Year 2009

Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) announced that for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2009, Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) unit holders will receive
- Income distribution of 7.30 sen per unit and
- Bonus of 1.25 sen per unit
- Total is 8.55 sen per unit

Last year income distribution was
- Income distribution of 7.00 sen per unit and
- Bonus of 1.75 sen per unit
- Total is 8.75 sen per unit

The total dividend yield for this year is 0.20 sen lower than last year and there is 6.78 million unit holders who currently hold more than 70 billion ASB units.

Even tough the yield is lower than last year but the total payment for this year is RM5.48 billion compared to total payment of RM4.79 billion last year

According to PNB group chief executive and president Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman ASB is capable of paying more than 11 sen per unit but decided to paying 7.30 sen per unit and bringing forward the balance of 3.70 sen for 2010.

The quoted reason is to ensure that the money could be use to buy more shares and do more investment.

Financial Result of ASB
- Gross income for year 2009 - RM5.46 billion up to 10 December 2009 (year 2008 - RM5.28 billion)
- Dividend income - RM1.48 billion, or 27 per cent
- Profit from the sale of shares - RM3.67 billion, or 67 per cent
- Investments in short-term instruments and other investments - RM309 million or 6.0 per cent

From the data, it shows that more than 60% of the income was generated by share trading.

The income distribution and bonus will be automatically credited into the unit holders' accounts. All transactions for ASB will be suspended from Dec 21 until January 3 to enable the calculation of income distribution and bonus. Unit holders will be able to update their accounts from January 4.

ASB is a fixed price equity income fund, opened for Bumiputera aged 12 years and above.

Normally the ASW 2020 and ASM dividend is slightly lower than the ASB dividend. Since the ASB dividend is at the range of 7 percent excluding the bonus units.

Do wait and see whether next April and next September the ASM and ASW 2020 dividend is still maintain at 6 percent plus range (ASM and ASW 2020 Dividend Rate). Besides, on next October the AS 1Malaysia will declare the first maiden dividend.

The 6 to 8 percent per annual return rate from the ASNB fixed price unit trust product could be used as a return rate benchmark to beat if we want to invest on other investment tools.

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Are Facebook bosses trying to trick us?

If you've logged into Facebook in the last 24 hours you will have noticed that the social networking site has changed its privacy settings. The move, which could dramatically increase the amount of personal information people display online, has outraged digital rights groups and civil liberties campaigners.

The changes make more information, photos and videos visible to everybody on the web unless you specifically edit the settings yourself - status updates can now also be picked up by search engines.

The pop-up message that greets members asking them to change their privacy settings appears to be different depending on how engaged that person was with Facebook. We would urge all members to log on and double-check their privacy settings now, if they haven't already done so.

Facebook said the changes, which were introduced on 9th December, help members manage updates they want to share, not to trick them into revealing more information than they are comfortable with.

So why then are status updates now automatically made public unless specified otherwise by the user?

"These new 'privacy' changes are clearly intended to push Facebook users to publicly share even more information than before," said Kevin Bankston, a senior attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Even worse, the changes will actually reduce the amount of control that users have over some of their personal data."

Facebook began testing the privacy changes during mid-2009 before introducing them site-wide. The changes let people decide who should see updates, whether all 350 million Facebook members should see them, and if they should be viewable across the web.

Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman, said users could avoid revealing some information to non-friends by leaving gender and location fields blank. Any suggestion that we're trying to trick them into something would work against any goal that we have," said Mr Schnitt.

Facebook is encouraging users to share their updates because, he said, that was in line with "the way the world is moving". But the important differentiator is that these changes are more in line with how Facebook wants the world to move forward, not necessarily how its users want the world to move forward.

As blogger Marshall Kirkpatrick said, this is not what Facebook users signed up for. This issue isn't about privacy for Facebook, it's about increasing traffic and the visibility of activity on the site.

Many users have left comments on the official Facebook blog criticising the changes.

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Windows 7 Command Prompt Commands

Note: Windows 7 Command Prompt commands are fairly similar to classic MS-DOS commands. However, the Command Prompt is not actually MS-DOS even though the commands are similar.

Below is a complete list of commands available in the Command Prompt in Windows 7:

Append
The append command can be used by programs to open files in another directory as if they were located in the current directory.

Arp
The arp command is used to display or change entries in the ARP cache.

Assoc
The assoc command is used to display or change the file type associated with a particular file extension.

At
The at command is used to schedule commands and other programs to run at a specific date and time.

Attrib
The attrib command is used to change the attributes of a single file or a directory.

Auditpol
The auditpol command is used to display or change audit policies.

Bcdedit
The bcdedit command is used to view or make changes to Boot Configuration Data.

Bitsadmin
The bitsadmin command is used to create, manage, and monitor download and upload jobs.

Bootcfg
The bootcfg command is used to build, modify, or view the contents of the boot.ini file, a hidden file that is used to identify in what folder, on which partition, and on which hard drive Windows is located.

Break
The break command sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking on DOS systems.

Cacls
The cacls command is used to display or change access control lists of files.

Call
The call command is used to run a script or batch program from within another script or batch program.

Certreq
The certreq command is used to perform various certification authority (CA) certificate functions.

Certutil
The certutil command is used to dump and display certification authority (CA) configuration information in addition to other CA functions.

Change
The change command changes various terminal server settings like install modes, COM port mappings, and logons.

Chcp
The chcp command displays or configures the active code page number.

Chdir
The chdir command is used to display the drive letter and folder that you are currently in. Chdir can also be used to change the drive and/or directory that you want to work in.

Chglogon
The chglogon command enables, disables, or drains terminal server session logins.

Chgport
The chgport command can be used to display or change COM port mappings for DOS compatibility.

Chgusr
The chgusr command is used to change the install mode for the terminal server.

Chkdsk
The chkdsk command, often referred to as check disk, is used to identify and correct certain hard drive errors.

Chkntfs
The chkntfs command is used to configure or display the checking of the disk drive during the Windows boot process.

Choice
The choice command is used within a script or batch program to provide a list of choices and return of the value of that choice to the program.

Cipher
The cipher command shows or changes the encryption status of files and folders on NTFS partitions.

Clip
The clip command is used to redirect the output from any command to the clipboard in Windows.

Cls
The cls command clears the screen of all previously entered commands and other text.

Cmd
The cmd command starts a new instance of the command interpreter.

Cmdkey
The cmdkey command is used to show, create, and remove stored user names and passwords.

Cmstp
The cmstp command installs or uninstalls a Connection Manager service profile.

Color
The color command is used to change the colors of the text and background within the Command Prompt window.

Comp
The comp command is used to compare the contents of two files or sets of files.

Compact
The compact command is used to show or change the compression state of files and directories on NTFS partitions.

Convert
The convert command is used to convert FAT or FAT32 formatted volumes to the NTFS format.

Copy
The copy command does simply that - it copies one or more files from one location to another.

Date
The date command is used to show or change the current date.

Debug
The debug command starts Debug, a command line application used to test and edit programs.

Defrag
The defrag command is used to defragment a drive you specify. The defrag command is the command line version of Microsoft's Disk Defragmenter.

Del
The del command is used to delete one or more files. The del command is the same as the erase command.

Dir
The dir command is used to display a list of files and folders contained inside the folder that you are currently working in. The dir command also displays other important information like the hard drive's serial number, the total number of files listed, their combined size, the total amount of free space left on the drive, and more.

Diskcomp
The diskcomp command is used to compare the contents of two floppy disks.

Diskcopy
The diskcopy command is used to copy the entire contents of one floppy disk to another.

Diskpart
The diskpart command is used to create, manage, and delete hard drive partitions.

Diskraid
The diskraid command starts the DiskRAID tool which is used to manage and configure RAID arrays.

Dism
The dism command starts the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool (DISM). The DISM tool is used to manage features in Windows images.

Dispdiag
The dispdiag command is used to output a log of information about the display system.

Doskey
The doskey command is used to edit command lines, create macros, and recall previously entered commands.

Driverquery
The driverquery command is used to show a list of all installed drivers.

Echo
The echo command is used to show messages, most commonly from within script or batch files. The echo command can also be used to turn the echoing feature on or off.

Edit
The edit command starts the MS-DOS Editor tool which is used to create and modify text files.

Edlin
The edlin command starts the Edlin tool which is used to create and modify text files from the command line.

Endlocal
The endlocal command is used to end the localization of environment changes inside a batch or script file.

Erase
The erase command is used to delete one or more files. The erase command is the same as the del command.

Eventcreate
The eventcreate command is used to create a custom event in an event log.

Exe2Bin
The exe2bin command is used to convert a file of the EXE file type (executable file) to a binary file.

Exit
The exit command is used to end the Command Prompt session that you're currently working in.

Expand
The expand command is used to extract a single file or a group of files from a compressed file.

Fastopen
The fastopen command is used to add a program's hard drive location to a special list stored in memory, potentially improving the program's launch time by removing the need for MS-DOS to locate the application on the drive.

Fc
The fc command is used to compare two individual or sets of files and then show the differences between them.

Find
The find command is used to search for a specified text string in one or more files.

Findstr
The findstr command is used to find text string patterns in one or more files.

Finger
The finger command is used to return information about one or more users on a remote computer that's running the Finger service.

For
The for command is used to run a specified command for each file in a set of files. The for command is most often used within a batch or script file.

Forfiles
The forfiles command selects one or more files to execute a specified command on. The forfiles command is most often used within a batch or script file.

Format
The format command is used to format a drive in the file system that you specify.

Fsutil
The fsutil command is used to perform various FAT and NTFS file system tasks like managing reparse points and sparse files, dismounting a volume, and extending a volume.

Ftp
The ftp command can used to transfer files to and from another computer. The remote computer must be operating as an FTP server.

Ftype
The ftype command is used to define a default program to open a specified file type.

Getmac
The getmac command is used to display the media access control (MAC) address of all the network controllers on a system.

Goto
The goto command is used in a batch or script file to direct the command process to a labeled line in the script.

Gpresult
The gpresult command is used to display Group Policy settings.

Gpupdate
The gpupdate command is used to update Group Policy settings.

Graftabl
The graftabl command is used to enable the ability of Windows to display an extended character set in graphics mode.

Graphics
The graphics command is used to load a program that can print graphics.

Help
The help command provides more detailed information on any of the other Command Prompt commands.

Hostname
The hostname command displays the name of the current host.

Icacls
The icacls command is used to display or change access control lists of files. The icacls command is an updated version of the cacls command.

If
The if command is used to perform conditional functions in a batch file.

Ipconfig
The ipconfig command is used to display detailed IP information for each network adapter utilizing TCP/IP. The ipconfig command can also be used to release and renew IP addresses on systems configured to receive them via a DHCP server.

Irftp
The irftp command is used to transmit files over an infrared link.

Iscsicli
The iscsicli command starts the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator, used to manage iSCSI.

Label
The label command is used to manage the volume label of a disk.

Loadfix
The loadfix command is used to load the specified program in the first 64K of memory and then runs the program.

Lodctr
The lodctr command is used to update registry values related to performance counters.

Logman
The logman command is used to create and manage Event Trace Session and Performance logs. The logman command also supports many functions of Performance Monitor.

Logoff
The logoff command is used to terminate a session.

Mem
The mem command shows information about used and free memory areas and programs that are currently loaded into memory in the MS-DOS subsystem.

Mkdir (Md)
The mkdir command is used to create a new folder.

Mklink
The mklink command is used to create a symbolic link.

Mmc
The mmc command can be used to open Microsoft Management Console in author mode or to a specific snap-in console, all from the Command Prompt.

Mode
The mode command is used to configure system devices, most often COM and LPT ports.

More
The more command is used to display the information contained in a text file. The more command can also be used to paginate the results of any other Command Prompt command.

Mountvol
The mountvol command is used to display, create, or remove volume mount points.

Move
The move command is used to move one or files from one folder to another. The move command is also used to rename directories.

Msg
The msg command is used to send a message to a user.

Msiexec
The msiexec command is used to start Windows Installer, a tool used to install and configure software.

Mstsc
The mstsc command starts the Remote Desktop Connection tool from the Command Prompt.

Muiunattend
The muiunattend command starts the Multilanguage User Interface unattended setup process.

Nbtstat
The nbtstat command is used to show TCP/IP information and other statistical information about a remote computer.

Net
The net command is used to display, configure, and correct a wide variety of network settings.

Netcfg
The netcfg command is used to install the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), a lightweight version of Windows used to deploy workstations.

Netstat
The netstat command is most commonly used to display all open network connections and listening ports.

Nlsfunc
The nlsfunc command is used to load information specific to a particular country or region.

Nltest
The nltest command is used to test secure channels between Windows computers in a domain and between domain controllers that are trusting other domains.

Nslookup
The nslookup is most commonly used to display the hostname of an entered IP address. The nslookup command queries your configured DNS server to discover the IP address.

Ocsetup
The ocsetup command starts the Windows Optional Component Setup tool, used to install additional Windows features.

Openfiles
The openfiles command is used to display and disconnect open files and folders on a system.

Path
The path command is used to display or set a specific path available to executable files.

Pathping
The pathping command functions much like the tracert command but will also report information about network latency and loss at each hop.

Pause
The pause command is used within a batch or script file to pause the processing of the file. When the pause command is used, a Press any key to continue... message displays in the command window.

Ping
The ping command sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request message to a specified remote computer to verify IP-level connectivity.

Pkgmgr
The pkgmgr command is used to start the Windows Package Manager from the Command Prompt. Package Manager installs, uninstalls, configures, and updates features and packages for Windows.

Pnpunattend
The pnpunattend command is used to automate the installation of hardware device drivers.

Pnputil
The pnputil command is used to start the Microsoft PnP Utility, a tool used to install a Plug and Play device from the command line.

Popd
The popd command is used to change the current directory to the one most recently stored by the pushd command. The popd command is most often utilized from within a batch or script file.

Print
The print command is used to print a specified text file to a specified printing device.

Prompt
The prompt command is used to customize the appearance of the prompt text in Command Prompt.

Pushd
The pushd command is used to store a directory for use, most commonly from within a batch or script program.

Qappsrv
The qappsrv command is used to display all Remote Desktop Session Host servers available on the network.

Qprocess
The qprocess command is used to display information about running processes.

Query
The query command is used to display the status of a specified service.

Quser
The quser command is used to display information about users currently logged on to the system.

Qwinsta
The qwinsta command is used to display information about open Remote Desktop Sessions.

Rasdial
The rasdial command is used to start or end a network connection for a Microsoft client.

Recover
The recover command is used to recover readable data from a bad or defective disk.

Reg
The reg command is used to manage the Windows Registry from the command line. The reg command can perform common registry functions like adding registry keys, exporting the registry, etc.

Regsvr32
The regsvr32 command is used to register a DLL file as a command component in the Windows Registry.

Relog
The relog command is used to create new performance logs from data in existing performance logs.

Rem
The rem command is used to record comments or remarks in a batch or script file.

Rename (Ren)
The rename command is used to change the name of the individual file that you specify.

Replace
The replace command is used to replace one or more files with one or more other files.

Reset Session (Rwinsta)
The reset session command is used to reset the session subsystem software and hardware to known initial values.

Rmdir (Rd)
The rmdir command is used to delete an existing and completely empty folder.

Robocopy
The robocopy command is used to copy files and directories from one location to another. The robocopy command is superior to the more simple copy command because robocopy supports many more options. This command is also called Robust File Copy.

Route
The route command is used to manipulate network routing tables.

Rpcping
The rpcping command is used to ping a server using RPC.

Runas
The runas command is used to execute a program using another user's credentials.

Sc
The sc command is used to configure information about services. The sc command communicates with the Service Control Manager.

Schtasks
The schtasks command is used to schedule specified programs or commands to run a certain times. The schtasks command can be used to create, delete, query, change, run, and end scheduled tasks.

Secedit
The secedit command is used to configure and analyze system security by comparing the current security configuration to a template.

Set
The set command is used to enable or disable certain options in Command Prompt.

Setlocal
The setlocal command is used to start the localization of environment changes inside a batch or script file.

Setver
The setver command is used to set the MS-DOS version number that MS-DOS reports to a program.

Setx
The setx command is used to create or change environment variables in the user environment or the system environment.

Sfc
The sfc command is used to verify and replace important Windows system files. The sfc command is also referred to as System File Checker and Windows Resource Checker.

Shadow
The shadow command Is used to monitor another Remote Desktop Services session.

Share
The share command is used to install file locking and file sharing functions in MS-DOS.

Shift
The shift command is used to change the position of replaceable parameters in a batch or script file.

Shutdown
The shutdown command can be used to shut down, restart, or log off the current system or a remote computer.

Sort
The sort command is used to read data from a specified input, sort that data, and return the results of that sort to the Command Prompt screen, a file, or another output device.

Start
The start command is used to open a new command line window to run a specified program or command. The start command can also be used to start an application without creating a new window.

Subst
The subst command is used to associate a local path with a drive letter. The subst command is a lot like the net use command except a local path is used instead of a shared network path.

Sxstrace
The sxstrace command is used to start the WinSxs Tracing Utility, a programming diagnostic tool.

Systeminfo
The systeminfo command is used to display basic Windows configuration information for the local or a remote computer.

Takeown
The takedown command is used to regain access to a file that that an administrator was denied access to when reassigning ownership of the file.

Taskkill
The taskkill command is used to terminate a running task. The taskkill command is the command line equivalent of ending a process in Task Manager in Windows.

Tasklist
"Displays a list of applications, services, and the Process ID (PID) currently running on either a local or a remote computer.

Tcmsetup
The tcmsetup command is used to setup or disable the Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) client.

Time
The time command is used to show or change the current time.

Timeout
The timeout command is typically used in a batch or script file to provide a specified timeout value during a procedure. The timeout command can also be used to ignore keypresses.

Title
The title command is used to set the Command Prompt window title.

Tracerpt
The tracerpt command is used to process event trace logs or real-time data from instrumented event trace providers.

Tracert
The tracert command sends Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request messages to a specified remote computer with increasing Time to Live (TTL) field values and displays the IP address and hostname, if available, of the router interfaces between the source and destination.

Tree
The tree command is used to graphically display the folder structure of a specified drive or path.

Tsdiscon
The tsdiscon command is used to disconnect a Remote Desktop session.

Tskill
The tskill command is used to end the specified process.

Type
The type command is used to display the information contained in a text file.

Typeperf
The typerperf command displays performance data in the Command Prompt window or writes the data to specified log file.

Tzutil
The tzutil command is used to display or configure the current system's time zone. The tzutil command can also be used to enable or disable automatic Daylight Saving Time adjustments.

Unlodctr
The unlodctr command removes Explain text and Performance counter names for a service or device driver from the Windows Registry.

Ver
The ver command is used to display the current Windows version.

Verify
The verify command is used to enable or disable the ability of Command Prompt to verify that files are written correctly to a disk.

Vol
The vol command shows the volume label and serial number of a specified disk, assuming this information exists.

Vssadmin
The vssadmin command starts the Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command line tool which displays current volume shadow copy backups and all installed shadow copy writers and providers.

W32Tm
The w32tm command is used to diagnose issues with Windows Time.

Waitfor
The waitform command is used to send or wait for a signal on a system.

Wbadmin
The wbadmin command is used start and stop backup jobs, display details about a previous backup, list the items within a backup, and report on the status of a currently running backup.

Wevtutil
The wevtutil command starts the Windows Events Command Line Utility which is used to manage event logs and publishers.

Where
The where command is used to search for files that match a specified pattern.

Whoami
The whoami command is used to retrieve user name and group information on a network.

Winrm
The winrm command is used to start the command line version of Windows Remote Management, used to manage secure communications with local and remote computers using web services.

Winrs
The winrs command is used to open a secure command window with a remote host.

Winsat
The winsat command starts the Windows System Assessment Tool, a program that assesses various features, attributes, and capabilities of a computer running Windows.

Wmic
The wmic command starts the Windows Management Instrumentation Command line (WMIC), a scripting interface that simplifies the use of Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and systems managed via WMI.

Xcopy
The xcopy command can copy one or more files or directory trees from one location to another.

Did I Miss a Command Prompt Command?

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SIGMATEL STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio Drivers on Windows 7

I've been upgrading a few of our PCs and Laptops with Windows 7 this evening and hit upon a problem with the SIGMATEL STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio device that came with my Dell XPS M1330 laptop. A quick google confirmed I wasn't the only one having problems.

Since I have now solved the problem I thought I'd post it here on my blog as I'm sure it will be a popular search on Google in the coming months as the masses move to the new OS.

The symptom
Following a fresh install of Windows 7 (I haven't tried an in place upgrade as I just don't trust 'em !) the OS sees the Sigmatel device and reports it to be working, but the sound just doesn't work. Any attempt to download and install the latest Vista drivers also fails to cure the issue.

The fix Audio
Download the latest x32 or x64 (as appropriate for your computer) Vista driver from the Dell website and leave the EXE in a folder somewhere
Or get them direct from us, click for the 32 bit driver or for the 64 bit driver
Right click computer, and choose manage, then device manager. In the Sound, Video and Game controller group you will see a device called "Windows High Defintion" - delete this by selecting and pressing delete. Now having removed this device from your system you should run the Dell Sigmatel Driver EXE you downloaded previously
Your system will prompt for a restart upon install. When you restart you will get the reassuring sound of the Windows 7 start up tune and all will now be well !

Base System Device problem (Inspiron 1420)
http://ftp.us.dell.com/chipset/R141246.EXE

Hope this helps someone, took me an hour today to figure it out.

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Maybank Announcement On Credit Card and Charge Card Service Tax

Maybank had issued a statement to its' credit card holders related to the recent announcement of the annual RM50 service charge on each principal credit card and RM25 on each supplementary card.

Maybank urged the credit card holders not to take any action now as Maybank is obtaining further guidelines from the authorities on this matter. Besides the annual service tax is only take effect from 1 January 2010 onwards.

With this statement from Maybank, it is believed that other credit card issuers are seeking on the details of the credit card service tax issue as well. Definitely there will have some counter measures by all the credit card issuers

Based on the recent Budget 2010 announcement, it seems that the RM 50 or RM 25 service tax is applicable to the new credit card holders and during the time the exiting credit cards renewal date from 1 January 2010 onwards. The service tax will not imposed immediately on January 2010 for all credit cards or charge cards.

Hence, if you are an existing credit card holders and your renewal date is at the end of the years. It is best that retaining the credit cards and enjoy the provided privileges. Wait till next year renewal date only decide on whether to continue using the credit cards by judging whether it is worth to pay the service tax.

Do make sure that the prudent use of the credit cards and do not over spend beyond your affordability by using the credit cards. Credit cards facility supposed to provide convenience to the card holders and definitely you do not want to be the "Credit Card Loan Holder" that pay only minimum amount every month.

If the credit card holders facing the problem of paying back the credit card bills, it is better to stop using the credit cards till the time you are able to payback in full every month in order to avoid the high interest charges.

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Freida Pinto & Dev Patel: Lilac in London

Slumdog Millionaire stars Freida Pinto and Dev Patel wear complementary purple hues as they walk through London on Tuesday (October 20).

Dev, 19, held hands with Freida, 25, as they walked together. They’ve been spotted in public being more affectionate recently after post-Slumdog speculation ran rampant about their relationship.

Both stars will have movies out next year - Freida recently finished shooting a still untitled Woody Allen movie, while Dev will appear as Zuko in The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

FYI: Freida is wearing boots by Roger Vivier.

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PIKOM PC FAIR 2009 (III)

PIKOM PC FAIR 2009 (III) LAUNCH ALERT

Thank you for supporting the PIKOM PC Fair.

We are pleased to notify that we will conduct the PIKOM PC Fair Balloting as follows:

Date	Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Venue	Hall 4, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

PC Fair 2009 (III) locations and venues are:

26-28 November 2009	Seri Manjung
27-29 November 2009	Kluang, Alor Star & Seremban
4-6 December 2009	KL, Penang & Melaka
11-13 December 2009	JB, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu & Bintulu

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Hire purchase agreements versus loan agreements

Hire Purchase or Loan

There is a lot of difference when you choose to buy something with the help of a loan and when you do it on hire purchase basis. In the former case, the ownership passes to you but in the later case you are just in possession and not a legal owner. It means that a person who has bought a car on hire purchase cannot sell it. Simple enough, he is not an owner of the car and, therefore, he has no such right.


Let us take an example.

You want to buy furniture and you go to a lender asking for an unsecured loan. Any furniture or whatever that you buy with the loan amount is legally yours and, in the event of failure to repay, the lender cannot ask you to return the goods. Yes, the lender always has legal remedies available to him for getting back the loan amount. In case of hire purchase, the creditor can ask you to return the goods if you don’t make regular payments.

A hire purchase creates a ‘debt’ and you have to pay it. Once you fully pay your debt then only ownership passes to you. As far as reclaiming of goods under the hire purchase agreement is concerned, there may arise two situations. If you have paid more than one-third of the total debt, the creditor has to go through the County Courts. But, in case you have paid less than one-third of your debt, a creditor only needs a court order to remove goods from your property. Even this court order can be dispensed away if the property is lying in a public place. It means that if you have taken a car on hire purchase, the creditor can remove it from the street without court’s order. So, there is a lot of difference between purchasing a car through unsecured loan and through hire purchase agreement.

Remedies in case of non-repayments

In case of loan agreement, the lender can take legal remedies in case of non-repayment of loan. In case of hire purchase, the creditor can take you to the court for non-payment of debt. There is a specific procedure to be followed by both the creditor and the purchaser. If creditor wants to get back the goods, he is required to obtain a ‘Return Order’ from the court.

Terminating agreements

A loan agreement comes to an end when you repay all your installments and other dues. You can repay before the loan period agreed in the loan agreement. This may or may not involve early repayment penalty. In case of hire purchase agreement, you can normally terminate it by handing back the goods to your creditor. The creditor may ask you to pay up to half of the original agreement price, irrespective of when you terminate the agreement. The hire purchase agreement contains the conditions upon which you can terminate the agreement.

So, you can now decide whether unsecured loans meet your requirements or would it be better to go for a hire purchase agreement.

Note: Law, Rules and Regulations may differ in your country. Get professional advice and ask friends who may have hire purchase experience.

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Christian Huygens (1629 - 1695)

Christian Huygens was a Dutch physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and inventor who was the leading proponent of the wave theory of light. He also made important contributions to mechanics, stating that in a collision between bodies, neither loses nor gains "motion'' (his term for momentum). In astronomy, he discovered Titan (Saturn's largest moon) and was the first to correctly identify the observed elongation of Saturn as the presence of Saturn's rings.

Christian Huygens was born at the Hague on April 14, 1629, and died there on July 8, 1695. He generally wrote his name as Christiaan Hugens, and it is also sometimes written as Huyghens.

Telescope Lenses
In 1654, his attention was directed to the improvement of the telescope. Together with his brother, Christian Huygens devised a new and better way of grinding and polishing lenses. As a result of these improvements, Huygens was able during 1655 and 1656 to resolve numerous astronomical questions of the day including the fact that Saturn's rings were made of rocks and the presence of Titan.

Pendulum Clock and Watches
In 1656, Huygens invented the first pendulum clock, as described in his 1658 article "Horologium". The time-pieces previously in use had been balance-clocks, Chris Huygens' pendulum clock was regulated by a mechanism with a "natural" period of oscillation and had an error of less than 1 minute a day, the first time such accuracy had been achieved. His later refinements reduced his clock's errors to less than 10 seconds a day.

Around 1675, Huygens developed the balance wheel and spring assembly, still found in some of today's wrist watches. This improvement allowed 17th century watches to keep time to 10 minutes a day. Watches or portable clocks had been invented early in the sixteenth century, however, they were clumsy and unreliable, being driven by a main spring and regulated by a conical pulley and verge escapement. The first watch whose motion was regulated by a balance spring was made in Paris under Huygens' directions, which he gave as a gift to Louis XIV the King of France.

Achromatic Eye-Piece
The increasing intolerance of the French Catholics for his science led to Christian Huygens' return to Holland in 1681. He then devoted himself to the construction of lenses of enormous focal length. Three telescopes he made with of focal lengths of 123 feet, 180 feet, and 210 feet, were given to the Royal Society of London where they remained. It was about this time that Christian Huygens discovered the achromatic eye-piece (for a telescope) which is named after him.

Other Achievements
The most important of Christian Huygens' written works was his "Horologium Oscillatorium" published in Paris in 1673, it discussed the mathematics surrounding pendulum motion and the law of centrifugal force for uniform circular motion.

In 1680, Christian Huygens designed (but never built) an internal combustion engine that was be fueled with gunpowder. In 1689, he traveled to England in order to meet with Isaac Newton, whose Principia had been published in 1687. Christian Huygens fully recognized the intellectual merits of the work, however, he thought that Newton's theory was incomplete because it did not explain gravitation by any mechanical means.

In 1690, Christian Huygens published his treatise on light in which the undulatory theory was expounded and explained. The general idea of the theory had been suggested by Robert Hooke in 1664, however, not in great detail. Up to that point in time, only three theories have been suggested about the mechanics of light.

1. Either the eye sent out something, which feels the object (as the Greeks believed);
2. or the object perceived sent out something which hits or affects the eye (as assumed in the emission theory);
3. or there was some medium between the eye and the object, and the object caused changes in the form or condition of this intervening medium affecting the eye (as Robert Hooke and Christian Huygens supposed in the wave or undulatory theory).

According to this last theory space is filled with an extremely rare ether, and light is caused by a series of waves or vibrations in this ether, which are set in motion by the pulsations of the luminous body. From this third theory, Christian Huygens deduced the laws of reflection and refraction, explained the phenomenon of double refraction, and gave a construction for the extraordinary ray in biaxial crystals; while he found by experiment the chief phenomena of polarization.

Before he died Christian Huygens wrote "Cosmotheoros, or Conjectures Concerning the Planetary Worlds", a non-fictional premise on life on other planets.

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Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915)

Sir Sandford Fleming was born in Kirkaldy Scotland and emigrated to Canada in 1845 at the age of seventeen. Sir Sandford Fleming first worked as a surveyor and later became a railway engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

According to WebExhibits: Sir Sandford Fleming advocated the adoption of a standard time or mean time and hourly variations from that according to established time zones. He was instrumental in convening the 1884 International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington, at which the system of international standard time - still in use today - was adopted.

A few of Sir Sandford Fleming's many achievements:

• Designed the first Canadian postage stamp. The three penny stamp issued in 1851 had a beaver on it (the national animal of Canada).
• Establishment of Universal Standard Time, Fleming recommended the standard to the Royal Canadian Institute in 1879. Standard Time was accepted universally in 1884. Sir Sandford Fleming was behind the adoption of the present time meridians in both Canada and the U.S.
• Designed an early in-line skate in 1850.
• Founded the Royal Canadian Institute in Toronto in 1849.
• Surveyed for the first railroad route across Canada
• Was the head engineer for most of the Intercolonial Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Sir Sandford Fleming - Father of Standard Time

In 1876, Sir Sandford Fleming missed a train he was supposed to travel on in Ireland. The train's schedule had misprinted the departure time as p.m. instead of a.m. Fleming was inspired to create a 24-hour international clock based on the world globe meridian of Greenwich (Greenwich mean time).

Standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads on 18 November 1883. Before then, time of day was a local matter, and most cities and towns used some form of local solar time, maintained by some well-known clock (for example, on a church steeple or in a jeweler's window).

Standard time in time zones was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act.

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THE HISTORY OF SINGAPORE

On 29 January 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island. Spotting its potential as a strategic geographical trading post in Southeast Asia, Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the British East India Company on 6 February 1819 to develop the southern part of Singapore as a British trading post and settlement.

Until August 1824, Singapore was still a territory controlled by a Malay Ruler. Singapore only officially became a British colony in August 1824 when the British extended control over the whole island. John Crawford, the second resident of Singapore, was the one who made Singapore a British possession.

He signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on 2 August 1824 in which the Sultan and the Temmenggong handed over the whole island to the British East India Company thus marking the start of the island's modern era.

Raffles's deputy, William Farquhar, oversaw a period of growth and ethnic migration, which was largely spurred by a no-restriction immigration policy. The British India office governed the island from 1858, but Singapore was made a British crown colony in 1867, answerable directly to the Crown. By 1869, 100,000 people lived on the island.

The early onset of town planning in colonial Singapore came largely through a "divide and rule" framework where the different ethnic groups were settled in different parts of the South of the island.

The Singapore River was largely a commercial area that was dominated by traders and bankers of various ethnic groups with mostly Chinese and Indian coolies working to load and unload goods from barge boats known locally as "bumboats". The Malays, consisting of the local "Orang Lauts" who worked mostly as fishermen and sea-farers, and Arab traders and scholars were mostly found in the South-east part of the river mouth, where Kampong Glam stands today. The European settlers, who were few then, settled around Fort Canning Hill and further upstream from the Singapore River. Like the Europeans, the early Indian migrants also settled more inland of the Singapore River, where Little India stands today. Very little is known about the rural private settlements in those times (known as kampongs), other than the major move by the post-independent Singapore government to re-settle these residents in the late 1960s

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Sejarah Pengagihan Pendapatan Dan Bonus ASB (Amanah Saham Bumiputera)

Pengagihan Pendapatan & Bonus untuk Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) mempunyai sejarah yang agak menarik. Berikut adalah jadual dan carta pengagihan pendapatan, bonus dan perbandingan dengan Kadar BLR Malaysia dari tahun 1993 hingga 2008.

Pengagihan pendapatan ASB tertinggi yang pernah diperolehi ialah pada tahun 1999 dan Bonus yang terbanyak diperolehi pada tahun 1993 & 1994. Namun begitu, negara juga pernah mencatat kadar BLR tertinggi pada tahun 1998 iaitu 10.50% lebih tinggi daripada pendapatan dividen ASB. Pada tahun 2004 hingga 2006 kadar BLR negara adalah antara terendah sejak 16 tahun sebelumnya iaitu pada kadar 6.00%.

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President Obama Calls Kanye West a "Jackass"

President Obama has inadvertently put his name into the Kanye West/Taylor Swift controversy after stating that Kanye is a “jackass” for what he did at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.

When asked about the incident, President Obama said, “I thought that was really inappropriate. You know it was like she’s getting an award. Why are you butting in? The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What he’s doing up there? He’s a jackass!”

Check out the audio here!

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Support Group Civil Servants To Get RM500 Aid

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (Bernama) -- A total of 860,000 civil servants in the support group will receive RM500 special cash assistance in two payments, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said on Wednesday.

The special cash assistance to be paid before Hari Raya and in December was to help them through the festive celebration and preparation for the new school term at the end of the year, announced Najib in a statement here.

-- BERNAMA

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Download Yahoo Messenger 10 Beta [with Direct Download Link]

Yahoo Messenger 10 alpha has been spotted for a few months and now, Yahoo! finally decided to release the Beta version for public use and it comes with a lot of new and exciting features.

• Video Calls - New high-quality video calling enables full-screen, face-to-face chats at no cost, using the familiar and easy-to-use Yahoo! Messenger environment.

• Updates Tab - A new tab helps people easily discover Updates from friends and family, including status updates, recent Flickr uploads, Yahoo! Buzz stories, Twitter updates and more.

• New Yahoo! Insider - Now customizable by zip code, this re-designed welcome window provides Messenger users with easy access to localized news and weather, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Buzz and Yahoo! Search.

• Language Selector - Yahoo! Messenger now lets people choose from more than 16 languages without having to download a different version.

• Improved iPhone App - People can now receive messages from Yahoo! Messenger contacts even when they are using a different app on their iPhone.

Messenger is also more getting social as we roll out new features to help you stay in closer contact with friends and family. A new “Updates” tab gives you a quick glimpse of what your contacts are up to – including status updates, Flickr uploads, Yahoo! Buzz stories, Tweets and more.

With this beta release, Yahoo! is expecting back some feedback on Yahoo! Messenger 10. Try this out and let Yahoo! know what you think of it. You can download ! Messenger 10 from here

Download Yahoo! Messenger 10 Beta

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How to create a custom Windows Vista Installation DVD

Using the free software vLite, you can create a completely custom, bootable Windows Vista install DVD. Remove the parts of Vista you don’t want/use, change some of the default settings, include Service Packs and Windows Updates, and more. Keep reading for complete step-by-step instructions on using vLite.

1. First up, download and install vLite. At the end of the installation you’ll be asked if you want to run it. Go for it, but expect an error.



2. Navigate to the vLite folder (C:\Program Files\vLite), right-click vLite.exe and select Run as administrator from the pop-up menu.


3. Accept the agreement by clicking I agree.


4. If prompted to install some Dependencies, click the Install button.


5. And now vLite will launch. A window will pop up asking where your Windows Vista install disc is located. Select the DVD drive that has your copy of Vista in it. Now click the Browse button.





6. Click OK on the Copy Files window, and then navigate to the folder you want to save your Windows Vista files in. It’s a good idea to create a new folder to save the files in - I opted for C:\Vista Backup\


7. Click OK when you’ve selected the folder.



8. Now vLite will copy your Vista disc to your hard drive. This can take some time (but probably not the 20 minutes displayed in the screenshot below).


9. Once vLite has copied all the files to your hard drive, it will analyze them to determine the copy of Vista that you’re running. The info will be displayed right below the Status section of vLite. When you’re ready, click Next.


10. Now you have to decide what exactly you want to change/add to Vista. You might as well select all of the possibilities - you don’t actually have to make changes in each section. You’ll probably want to leave Enable before apply unchecked.


11. In the first section, Integration, you can add hotfixes, drivers and language packs to your Vista install disc. This is also the place you can add SP1. If you want to include Hotfixes that you’ve downloaded from Windows Update, you can probably find them in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download. Click Next when you’re ready to move on.


12. The Compatibility window will appear. Select each of the features you want to keep in your custom Vista install disc. If you hover your mouse over each select, you’ll see (at the bottom) what will be affected by not including a particular feature. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you’ll probably want to make sure everything is checked.


13. On the Applications tab you can select the applications you expect to use in Vista. I know for certain that I won’t be installing Halo 2, so I left that unchecked. When you’re done, click OK.


14. In the Components section you can place check marks in the boxes next to the components you do not want included on your Vista install disc. After you’ve reviewed all of the components - and there are a lot of them - click Next to continue.


15. In the Tweaks section you can enable, disable or leave as default some of the Vista settings. In the Security section of the Tweaks, you can disable AutoPlay (yay!) or change things like Hibernation, Power schemes etc.


16. Select System from the Tweaks section, and review the changes you can make. One that I appreciated was to set the Control Panel to Classic View by default.


17. If you’re absolutely sure you know what you’re doing, you can take a look at the Explorer section of the Tweaks, but I’d suggest leaving them alone. In the Internet Explorer section you can disable the IE Phishing Filter and/or the IE Phishing Verification Balloon Tips.


18. Once more, click Next. To enable Vista to install while being unattended, fill in all of the required fields. This allows for a fully automated installation - just put in the Vista installer DVD, click start, and you won’t need to interact with the installation at all.



19. Make sure to check the Regional tab if you’d like to specify a default Timezone, Keyboard layout, Time and currency format etc. Click Apply when you’re done.


20. Now you’ll be asked how you want to save the changes made to Vista. I’d suggest Rebuild one. Click OK.


21. And now watch as vLite rebuilds your version of Vista.


22. It isn’t particularly entertaining.


23. Once the process has completed, click Next.


24. From the Make bootable ISO for testing or burner screen, click Make ISO.


25. And select a location to save your new Vista ISO.


26. Watching the ISO being created isn’t much more interesting than watching the “new” version of Vista being built.


27. Once it’s done, click Exit.


28. Now burn your ISO to a DVD, and you’ll have your custom, bootable version of Vista ready to install on your PC, the next time the need arises.

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What's new in Microsoft Office 2010 ?

Microsoft Office 2010 (codename Office 14) is the next version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. It entered development during 2006 while Microsoft was finishing work on Microsoft Office 12, which was released as the 2007 Microsoft Office System.

It was previously thought that Office 2010 would ship in the first half of 2009, but Steve Ballmer has officially announced that Office 2010 will ship in 2010. The new version will implement the ISO compliant version of Office Open XML which was standardized as ISO 29500 in March 2008.

The software giant plans to offer a Web-based version of its Office productivity suite, known as Office Web that will debut with the release of Office 2010. Office Web will include online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The next versions of Microsoft Office Visio, OneNote, Microsoft Office Project, and Publisher will feature the ribbon interface element used in other Office 2007 applications.

Builds
Earlier this year, on April 15, 2009, Microsoft confirmed that Office 2010 will be officially released in the first quarter of 2010. They also announced on May 12, 2009 at an event, that Office 2010 will begin technical testing during July. It will also be the first version of Office to ship in both 32-Bit and 64-bit versions.

New features
At present, the technical preview of Office 2010 would not be available as it will be starting from July onwards, but when Microsoft used it to show improved integration with Windows 7 at its event this week, various experts find out some of the new features of the new Office.

• The ribbon surface was introduced in Office 2007 and it is here to stay, but now the Office 2010 ribbon gets the flatter Windows 7 look. Ribbon is a form of toolbar, combined with a tab bar.

• In the new application, instead of the round Office icon, there is a button in each app that looks like the buttons for the different tabs on the ribbon, in the signature colour of that application (green for Excel, blue for Word, red for PowerPoint, yellow for Outlook and so on).

• The app windows, which were removed in Office 2007, get their window menus back. The app let you restore, move, size, minimise, maximise or close the window.

• Now with a right-click on the Outlook icon on the taskbar, user can create a new email message, appointment, contact or task, or open the inbox, calendar, contact or tasks window.

• In the new office, you can drag a file from the jump-list of any application onto the navigation pane in Outlook to create a new mail message with the file as an attachment. Outlook can automatically ignore all the replies of the messages you are not interested in.

• The company says user can create his own Quick Steps, making them sound like a combination of the Quick Access Toolbar and macros. For e.g., common tasks like filing a message, creating a meeting, marking a flagged message and deleting it at the same time. Also, user can create quick steps for things he do over and over again in Outlook.

• In new Office outlook, voice mail can be converted to the text and sent as an email. Also, it can sync text messages from a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone into user’s inbox and reply to them.

• When you reply all to messages you were BCC on, a warning is displayed on the desktop. Redmond based company claims that starting, searching and shutting down Outlook are all much faster and also promises that Outlook will run and search faster than the 2007 release.

• At present, there is no news on the next version of Office for the Mac, but the next version of Outlook Web Access will run on Safari and Firefox with all features, rather than in a Lite version.

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How To Choose a Laptop

Buying and using a laptop can be a liberating experience. You will have the ability to take your work wherever you go, take your computer to class, a coffee shop, on a trip - anywhere. You may end up spending a bit more for a laptop than you would for a desktop - after all, the individual components need to be smaller to fit in a laptop chassis - but the convenience is worth the extra cost.


1. Decide what screen size you need. If you are used to a larger-sized desktop monitor, you'll want to choose a laptop that has a larger screen. A 15" screen is usually standard, but there are 17" screens available, which may be worth the extra investment. Dell even offers 19" and 20" screens on certain models. If you need or want a large screen, you may want to consider this, especially if you are choosing a laptop as a desktop replacement. Also, consider if you want a wide screen monitor or a standard monitor. A wide screen monitor is good if you would like to watch movies on your laptop, or if you frequently need to have two applications open side by side.



2. Decide what kind of networking features you want. One of the most popular current features of laptops is wireless Internet access. With wireless access, you can get on the Internet wherever there is a "hotspot" - an area that the public is allowed to use an Internet signal, whether it's for a fee or free. You can also set up a home network and access the Internet anywhere in your house. Most laptops have slots for network cards, but if you want built-in network access, then make sure your laptop has a built-in network card. It's a nice feature if wireless Internet access appeals to you.


3. Determine your battery needs. You'll want to look for a laptop with a battery that lasts a long time if you will be taking your laptop on the road (or on the patio with no electrical outlet). Starting up your laptop is a big drain on a battery, and you may not get much time - perhaps only an hour or two - on a standard battery. So if you will be using your laptop away from a power source a lot, make sure that your laptop features a long battery life.


4. Look into the warranty and service plan. Computer companies and resellers have varying warranties and service plans for laptops. Some companies have you send your laptop back if anything goes wrong, some want you to take it to a service depot (which may be inconveniently located up to 50 miles away), and others will come to your home or business and repair it on the spot. Also, make sure that you can afford to wait the length of time promised for service; Dell has a great next business day plan, whereas some others take weeks to get issues resolved. If your business, school or other activities can't wait an indeterminate amount of time for resolution, make sure to get a next-day (or two day) service plan. Be sure to also check what both the warranty and the service plan cover; some cover very little, while others cover hardware and sometimes software as well. Certain warranties and service plans are voided if you spill on or drop your laptop (even accidentally), while others fully cover anything that could go wrong for any reason. Some companies offer secondary service plans if you have a drop or spill. Count on one of the two happening at some point, so consider this secondary policy if it is offered. Also check your homeowner's or renter's insurance; it may cover accidental spills and drops, so you may not need to purchase an extra service plan for that.

You may already have a favorite brand of desktop computer - it's likely that if you like a particular desktop, the same brand will produce a laptop you like. Just like a desktop, those little upgrades that seem expensive when you are buying a laptop are worth it. Whether you are looking for a laptop as your main computer or as a secondary computer for work or school, you'll love the ease and portability of a laptop. Have fun with your new computer! Oh, an check out Dell's latest Netbook, the Dell Adamo.


Quick Tips:

• Consider what you need in terms of screen size by analyzing how you will use your laptop.
• Decide if you want a wireless network card built in.
• Make sure your laptop has a long battery life if you will be using it away from a power source a lot.
• Read the warranty and service plans carefully.

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Windows 7 RTM Cracked With OEM License Key

Well, that didn't take long.

With every release of Windows is the inevitable race by the pirate community to crack it. Even with activation schemes, which make things considerably more challenging, hackers were able to find a way to activate Windows Vista with a special OEM key. This very same hack has now made its way to activate Windows 7 RTM.

Such a key allows OEMs to pre-activate machines – something definitely not meant for the consumer market. The OEM activation system relies on a special BIOS that identifies itself to Windows. A software hack is all that's required to fool Windows into thinking that any machine is an authorized one that can be activated using the OEM license key.

The OEM license key this time around was extracted from a Windows 7 Ultimate DVD image from Lenovo, which contained the data that hackers needed to make the activation tools.

This type of hack is particularly difficult for Microsoft to stop because it means that it would lock out and greatly inconvenience Windows 7 integration processes already underway at one of its OEM partners – in this case, Lenovo.

Microsoft wasn't able to block out the OEM BIOS hack for Windows Vista until it released Service Pack 1, leading us to suspect that the same could apply for Windows 7.

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Intel: First Time PC Buyers Don't Get Netbooks

Apparently, netbooks aren't the real deal.

Entry level computers for first-time computer buyers are usually inexpensive, no-frills, and usually just perform basic functions. The same descriptors could be applied to netbooks, Intel says that the little machines aren't appealing to those buying his or her first PC.

"I don't think first-time buyers are going to buy netbooks," Sean Maloney, Intel's general manager of sales and marketing, Intel Technology Summit on Wednesday in San Francisco, quoted by Reuters. "The first time you buy something you want the real deal. It's consistent not just in China, but all around the world."

"Netbooks are predominantly... a second or third purchase from someone who's already got a notebook," he said, according to Engadget. "The first time you buy something, you want the real deal. It's a human behavior thing... it's [the same] all around the world."

"If you're going to spend your hard-earned money for the first time, you're going to put a computer in your house," Maloney added.

This doesn't represent any change in stance at Intel, as it always maintained that netbooks were always a supplementary purchase for those who already owned a computer.

Netbooks are adequate machines for those only looking from a computer the ability to surf the internet and email – and this represents a large portion of internet users. Regardless of whether or not netbooks are attractive or viable first PC purchases, Intel's probably going to be pleased as long as it's one of its chips.

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7 things to do after installing kubuntu

I installed Kubuntu and tried it for few days, here are some tips for you if you are planning to instal Kubuntu. Kubuntu is the distant cousin of Ubuntu and uses KDE as its desktop environment. Canonical doesn't pay as much attention to Kubuntu, Kubuntu is generally regarded as one of the worst KDE based distros. I've heard that OpenSuse is a better option to try KDE. Here are few quick things to setup in Kubuntu:

1. Install Flash 10
To install the official Adobe Flash plugin (Flash 10) for Firefox, install the adobe-flashplugin package:

sudo apt-get install adobe-flashplugin

2. Install Java 6.0
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin

3. Install GIMP: I don't know why KDE doesn't ship with GIMP. It is obviously the best image editor other than Photoshop. One of the reasons for this could be that GIMP is an GTK based app.
sudo apt-get install gimp
Initially GIMP will look ugly but we can change that easily later on.

4. Turn off Wallet: The wallet must be one of the most irritating thing ever made for PC. It keeps on nagging for your password after every 5 min. So here is how you stop it.
K Menu > Applications > Settings > Wallet Management
Now look in your System Tray (it is normally at the extreme right side on your panel) for one brown colored icon. Right click on it and select configure wallet and then uncheck Enable KDE wallet subsystem.


5. Play DVDs:
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

if this doesnt work for some reasons use this command:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

6. Make GTK Apps Beautiful: If you try installing Gnome apps like GIMP, Firefox in KDE they will look ugly because they are based on GTK. To make them look like a normal (and beautiul) KDE app type this in a terminal:
sudo apt-get install gtk-qt-engine-kde4
Now got to K Menu > System Settings > Appearence > GTK Styles and Fonts

Here select the option Use my KDE style in GTK applications
also select Use my KDE fonts in GTK applications

Now your Gnome apps will start looking pretty too. After using the above settings my GIMP started looking good before using that GIMP looked like some Windows 98 software :P
[thanks Tombuntu]

7. Add Avatar: You can add cool avatars for your account.
Go to Settings > About Me > Password and User Account

Well KDE 4.1 motto says 'Don't look back' well I have decided that from now on I won't ever try KDE. On the very next day Plasma crashed and I had to reinstall Ubuntu.

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