How to delete the contents of the clipboard

We often use so many times the commands for “copy” or “cut” which copies information to your Windows clipboard . This information is kept in the RAM memory until it has been replaced by something else. Unfortunately, when you are copying large files it can adversely affect the computer’s performance. When you perform a lot of copying, cutting and pasting of large text files, pictures, videos, or objects between applications, the system starts to slow down. So clearing or deleting the contents of the clipboard will help you free up the much needed memory resources.

Here is how to do it.
A. The simplest thing would be to just copy something small to your clipboard. Copy a word or a sentence in a word processor to your clipboard or anything small is fine. Since your clipboard can only hold one item at a time, the previous big file is replaced with the new smaller file.

B. Open the Clipboard Viewer, hit the Edit menu, then Delete. This will quickly purge the clipboard contents.

To open the Clipboard Viewer and view Clipboard contents on Windows XP
1. Goto Start > Run. This will open the Run box on your computer.
2. Type Clipbrd in the Run box and click OK.
3. Clipbook viewer will appear showing current copied data on the Clipboard.

 To Delete Clipboard contents on Windows XP
1. Open Clipboard viewer.
2. Goto menu option Edit > Delete to delete and erase currently copied data on the clipboard.
3. This will display confirmations pop-up box. Click Yes on confirmation window to delete clipboard data.

Clipboard Viewer on Windows 7 & Vista
Above method will not work on Windows 7 and Vista as default clipboard viewer utility is not present on newer version of Windows. You can download free Clipboard Viewer for Windows 7 & Vista to view and delete clipboard contents.

Important Google search tricks

We search for many things on Google that we want to know about such as objects, information etc. Google has several operators that can help find the specific information very fast and accurately. Using operators we get the desired result very quickly, which can be called as advanced Google searching. Google search is not case sensitive, Google excludes common words like "I" and "the"

Here are some of the advanced methods that are used to search on Google.

A. Internet Search:

1. Placing text in quotes searches for the exact phrase. eg.  "how to write a letter"
2. Putting OR (capitalized) includes either of the words. eg. blackberry OR mp3
3. Putting ... between numbers searches for numbers in that range. eg. economy 1245...1258
4. Search within a web domain by including site: and the URL. eg. site: alternatives.com battery
5. Search for sites that link to another by including link: and the URL. eg. link: azk34.org
6. Including related: and the URL, searches for results that are somehow related to that URL. eg. related: google.com
7. Placing text and a ~ in front of a word searches that word and all its synonyms. eg.cat  ~nutrition
8. Placing a - in front of a term excludes that word. eg. mac -computer

B. Information Search
1. Get definitions of a word from multiple sources using define: eg. define: recession
2. Get the current time for any location using time: eg. time: phoenix, az
3. Get the current exchange rate for money using the name of the currency eg. 12 pounds to dollars
4. Get information about a URL, including a short description, links to its cache, similar pages, and sites that link to that URL using info: eg. info:prezi.com
5. Quickly call up a map of a location using map eg. map phoenix, az
6. Find out the current weather conditions and forecast for a city using weather: eg. weather: phoenix, az

C. Math Search
1. Input a math arithmetic expression for Google to solve. It includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponents, and remainders. eg. 2+5, 2009-25, 365*5,100/5, 4^2, 17%5 etc.
2. Use Google to convert expressions with different units. eg. convert 3 gallons to cups.

How to create strong and unique passwords that you can remember

These days we have to log in to a bunch of websites that we use it on a daily basis such as email accounts, social networking sites, online forums, shopping sites, banking sites, and many other different types of websites. Here we face a difficult situation of choosing a good password that is easy to remember and also difficult to crack. There is a confusion whether to give a weak password that is easy to remember or a strong password that is hard to remember.

Here are some rules and guidelines that will help you to overcome the confusion when creating strong passwords that are unique and secure.

The two important rules for creating stronger passwords:

1. Password Length: The more longer the password is the more stronger the password. The password strength improves with more characters. Adding a character will add to the strength of the password by 62. Any password that is more than 8 character length is sufficient but more than 10 character length is good.

2. Password Complexity: The more complex the password is the more stronger the password. The password should contain atleast one character from each of the following group. The password strength improves with a combination of characters from all these groups.

a. Upper case character.

b. Lower case character.

c. Numbers.

d. Special characters.

Guidelines for creating an easy to remember, strong, and unique password:

1. Choose a memorable sentence, a pass phrase, quotation, easy-to-remember saying, or a line from a nursery rhyme that you can remember all the time.  Take the first letter from each word. For example the sentence, This Is How I Like To Log Into The Web Site!

Examples of some other pass phrases:

Can't See the Forest Through the Trees:  cstfttt

Put Up or Shut Up:  puosu

If the Shoe Fits, Wear It:  itsfwi

You Can Lead a Horse to Water:  yclahtw

The Last Mile Is Always Uphill: tlmiau

I Think, Therefore I Am:  ittia

Oh Say Can You See:  oscys

My Dog Freeway Loves Cheddar Cheese: mdflcc

2. Take the first letters of the words in the above sentence, which will be TihilTlitwS

Here you can alternate between uppercase and lowercase characters as you like and note down their position.

3. You can add a number at the end of the password for a given group of websites like 58 to an email website, 31 to a social networking, and 52 to a shopping website etc. You can choose any number according to your like with more digits. Here the password will be TihilTlitwS31

4. Now you can include a combination of characters of the website name that you are going to log in at the end of the password. For a website such as Facebook it will be like 'fAc' at the end of the password. You can give any number of character from the website name for password creation. Here the password will be TihilTlitwS31fAc

5. Scramble the password. Add a special character to the password such as an exclamation sign at the end of the pass phrase character combination. Give a scrambling character at the place where you find it appropriate. You can select any special character accordingly. Our password will now be TihilTlitwS!31fAc

Some scrambling characters that you can use for password creation:

! excitement and strong emotion
@  the word “at” in place of letter A
# number, pound sign
$ money, value, the letter S

% a part of something
^ raised eyebrow, upside down V
& the word “and”, this and that

* sunny, bright, starry

( the letter c, the moon
) the moon, anything lunar

+ adding one thing to another

- subtract one thing from another

= balance, equanimity, this equals that
< this is less than that, this is younger than that
> this is greater than that, this is older than that
? unknown, variable, questionable
~ water, wind

6. You can also replace the regular character or word with a special character or number.

Replace @ in place of ‘a’

Replace $ character in place of 's'

Replace % character in place of a space

Replace 0 in place of ‘o’

Replace ! in place of  ‘i’

Replace 4 in place of for

Replace 2 in place of to

Here we have used all the character combinations and the length of password is more than 10 character, which makes it a stronger and an easier to remember password which is distinctive for a website.

Now you can check the strength of the password with a password strength checker. Here is one for that Password meter

Important mouse tips you should know

Most of us use a mouse along with the keyboard quite often when working on the computer. The mouse lets you precisely locate an object on the screen, list contextual menu, scroll the windows etc. It can do much more than what one actually does know about. Here are some of the mouse tips that help you get the full potential of your computer mouse, increase your overall productivity, and much beneficial to you in saving time.

Clicking the left mouse button
The left mouse button can be used to select and open a file. For selecting, just left-click the mouse on the file or an object. For opening a file, double click the left mouse button.

Using shift key with the mouse
You can highlight all or portions of text using the Shift key and the mouse. Left click to place the cursor at the beginning of a paragraph or a text block, then hold down the Shift key and click at the end of the paragraph to highlight the full paragraph or text block.

Using scroll wheel in mouse
Mouse scroll wheel is used for multiple purposes,
1. It scrolls up or down the web page or program window for seeking content. By pressing the scroll wheel and lock it to place a double arrowed button which can be used as a guide for the scrolling bars and the scrolling speed can be adjusted by moving the mouse.
2. It can also be used as a button and pressing down on the wheel will act as a third mouse button. This can be used to open a web page in a tab by clicking the wheel on any link and can also be used to close a tab by clicking the wheel on any open tab.
3. For zooming in and out of a web page, word document, excel spreadsheet, etc. by holding down the Ctrl key and scrolling up to zoom in and scrolling down to zoom out.
4. Move forward and backwards the pages while browsing the Internet by holding down the Shift key and scrolling up and down. Scrolling down goes back and scrolling up goes forward.

Selection of content
Any word can be easily selected by double-clicking the word. If you want to highlight the whole paragraph, click the mouse button three times on any text in the paragraph.

Using right-click
Right-click can be used view the properties of highlight text or view the properties of an object. Right clicking also helps to bring the contextual menu for the selected object and select the choice in that menu. Eg. Highlight a file or text, you can right-click the item copy it and then right-click anywhere to paste it.

Opening Links
In a browser pressing and holding Ctrl while clicking on any link will open that link in a new tab.

Use Ctrl key and mouse click to highlight
While holding down the Ctrl key you can left-click to select multiple objects or highlight multiple sections of text. If you wanted to highlight different parts of a paragraph or web page, you could also hold down the Ctrl key and select each section you wanted to copy. You can also select objects and files by Shift and left-clicking for selecting an entire row from start to the end.
You can also hold down the Ctrl key and individually left-click on each cell in a table to copy or drag the mouse down a row to select just that row or text without selecting any of the other text in that table.

Manage the open window with the mouse
Double-click the top title bar of any window to maximize a window or if it is already maximized, resize it to a window. You can also double-click the icon for the window in the top-left corner of the window to close that window.

Use the mouse side buttons
Many new computer mice have buttons on the side of the mouse. These buttons can be programmed to do anything, however, by default the left-thumb button can be used to go back on a web page.

Customizing your mouse
You can customize your mouse button configuration, double click speed, change the pointer object, change the blinking speed of the pointer, display pointer trails, change the scroll extend etc.
Finally, if you have a mouse with more than two buttons, installing the included mouse software will allow you to customize the mouse even more.

How to improve your internet speed by 20 percent in windows

You might experience very slow internet speed at the time of peak hours and in slow internet connections. There is a method of changing system default to improve internet speed. This is achieved by changing the reserved bandwidth for the computer. Microsoft reserves 20% of the computer's available bandwidth for their own purposes like windows updates and interrogating your PC etc. You can get that bandwidth back by adjusting the settings in your PC.

Click Start then Run and type "gpedit.msc" without quotes. This opens the group policy editor.
Then go to > Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > QOS Packet Scheduler > Limit Reservable Bandwidth.

Double click on the Limit reservable bandwidth. At the "Setting" tab limit reservable bandwidth by default shows that it is not configured. In the "Explain" tab it gives the explanation about it:

Limit Reservable bandwidth explanation:
Determines the percentage of connection bandwidth that the system can reserve. This value limits the combined bandwidth reservations of all programs running on the system. By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default. If you enable this setting, you can use the "Bandwidth limit" box to adjust the amount of bandwidth the system can reserve. If you disable this setting or do not configure it, the system uses the default value of 20 percent of the connection.

By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20% of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default. You can enable reservable bandwitdh and set it to 0. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20% and now 100% of the bandwidth is available for your use, making the internet more speedier.

How to clear internet browsing history

Clearing internet browsing history

As you browse the Internet, each of the items you view are saved locally on your hard disk drive. This helps web pages you visit frequently load faster by loading the files from you hard disk drive instead of having to downloading the web page again. To conserve hard disk drive space or to help keep their Internet browsing private, users may find it necessary to delete their Internet History, below is how to do this.

Microsoft Internet Explorer users
Users running Internet Explorer 7.0 and above will need to press the Alt key in order to access the file menu easily to get access to options such as File, Tools, etc.
Viewing History
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and above users can view their history files by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Internet Options", clicking the "Settings" button under the Browsing history, and then clicking the "View Files" button.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x users can view their history files by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Internet Options", clicking the "Settings" button, and then clicking the "View Files" button.

Deleting History
Press CTRL + Shift + DEL to open the Clear Browsing History window.
or
Microsoft Windows users running Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and above can delete their history files by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Internet Options", and clicking the "Delete Files" or "Delete" button. Users also have the option of automatically deleting files each time the close the browser window by clicking the "Advanced" tab and checking "Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed" under the "Security" section.

Mozilla Firefox users
Viewing History
Press Ctrl + H to open the left-side history bar.
or
Click History at the top of the window.
or
Users using earlier versions of Mozilla Firefox can also view their history by clicking "Go" and clicking "History."

Deleting History
Press CTRL + Shift + DEL to open the Clear All History window.
or
Mozilla Firefox users can clear their history by clicking the "Tools" menu, "Options", clicking the "Privacy" button, and under "History" click the "Clear" or "Clear Now" button. If you don't see the File, Edit, View menu press the Alt key.

Google Chrome users
Viewing History
Press Ctrl + H to open the left-side history bar.
or
Click on the "wrench" icon  , which is located near the top-right side of the browser window and then click History.

Deleting History
Press CTRL + Shift + DEL to open the Clear Browsing Data Window.
or
1. Click on the "wrench" icon  , which is located near the top-right side of the browser window.
2. Move your mouse over Tools, then select Clear browsing data.
3. Select the amount of time you want to go back to delete in your history. You can choose from the past hour, the past day, the past week, the last four weeks, and the beginning of time.
4. Select the types of history you would like to delete. You can choose as many as you like from this list: Clear browsing history, Clear download history, Empty the cache, Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data, Clear saved passwords, and Clear saved Autofill form data.
5. Click the Clear browsing data button. This will clear the selected types of Internet history for the chosen time period.

Opera users
Viewing History
Click Help and then About. Within the About Opera window you'll see the full path to where the cached files are stored. Browse to that file path to view cached files.

Deleting History
Opera users can delete their history by clicking the "File" menu, "Preferences", "History", and click "Empty now" button. In addition, users can check "Empty on exit" if they wish for this task to occur each time they exit the browser.

Netscape users
Viewing History
Microsoft Windows users can view history by first opening Netscape and click the "Edit" menu, "Preferences", "History", and view the location where Netscape is storing your files. Next, open this folder within Explorer.

Deleting History
Netscape users can delete their history files by clicking the "Edit" menu, "Preferences", "History", and click the "Clear History" button.