9 Great Downloads from the Editors at MSN Tech & Gadgets

WordPress

Sudoku

Windows Internet Explorer 7

Paint.NET 3.08

The Lion King Grubalicious

Core FTP LE

Bookworm

Spybot Search & Destroy

Microsoft Clip Art

12 Great Do-It-Yourself PC Projects

• Turn a PC into an HD media player
• Spruce up your vacation video
• Make your own web mashup
• Give your business a professional phone system
• Use pro tools to manage your small network
• Run a "guest" OS on your PC
• Share your files and brain power, the web way
• Tweak Vista for peak computing performance
• Make your PC a private recording studio
• Organize your photos
• Unwire your printer
• Set up video chats

Fix Mom's PC From Your Home or Office

By Jon L. Jacobi, PC World

Here's how to repair another system using remote control software.

My family, scattered to the four winds, has a dangerous habit of blindly clicking through software installs and downloading all kinds of junk from the Internet. That's why I hear "The PC is acting funny" a lot. Not long ago an effective fix had to wait until my next visit, but now I can repair the damage anytime from my home or office using the free UltraVNC remote control software).

You can install and use UltraVNC in several different ways; in my experience, it's easiest for the person I'm helping if I run the remote viewer on my machine, and then send a simple applet to them via an e-mail attachment that they click to automate the link to my system.

To set up UltraVNC on your PC, install the application and select Run UltraVNC Viewer (Listen Mode) on the program's Start menu. If you have a router, you may have to open a port (the UltraVNC's default is 5500) to redirect traffic to your local computer. The method for doing this varies from router to router, so check your device?s documentation or the vendor Web site.

Locate your IP address

Next, customize the UltraVNC SC (for "single-click") server, which initiates the connection. Go to download custom.zip (look for the link about a third of the way down). Open the zipped file on your PC, and double-click helpdesk.txt to open that file. Replace both IP addresses (192.168.1.102) under the [HOST] headings with the address assigned to you by your ISP. Leave everything but those four numbers unchanged. If you're routerless, visit www.whatismyipaddress.com and note the number shown there.

Most home IP addresses change from log-on to log-on (this arrangement is called dynamic IP addressing). If you need to create a static IP address, visit the free DynDNS service. You must run the service's utility to update its redirect table every time your local IP address changes? Without DynDNS, you'd have to re-edit and recompile the helpdesk.txt file every time you reloaded your Net connection.

Send them a panic button

Save the helpdesk.txt file back to the custom.zip archive. Next, browse to UltraVnc SC online creator, enter foo in the Userid field and foobar as the password, and click Browse to navigate to and select the custom.zip file. Click Upload, and it about 5 seconds you'll be told to download the custom.exe file that the remote user must click to connect to your machine. E-mail the custom.exe file (or whatever you rename it) to your family members, or post it on your Web site for them to download. When they follow the simple installation instructions that accompany it, you will see a dialog box on your screen informing you of an incoming connection. Accept it, and their Windows desktop appears in a window on your screen, ready for you to control. UltraVNC is free-but consider donating to help fund enhancements.

20 Open Source Windows Apps For You

Some of the commercial software like Photoshop are so expensive that an average user can not afford to buy it. Lately I am looking for some free or open source alternatives for windows programs and i was amazed with the range of programs available. Here i will list some of the open source or free programs as alternatives to windows commercial programs.

40+ Free Windows Apps For You

This post is the part 2 of my earlier post 20 Open Source Windows Apps For You, i got lot of feedback for that post and my readers suggested some excellent programs to be included in that list. So here i am listing all those programs which i have missed in my earlier post. Do check the earlier post for the complete software list.

The list is in random order. Most of these apps serve as alternatives to commercial windows apps.

Add Linux to Your Windows

If you want to take open source out for a trial run without ousting your current OS, these three steps will help you do just that.

Linux Installation Guide

Installation itself has also become far easier. On standalone systems—that is, those on which you want Linux to be the only OS—the installation process actually resembles that of Windows XP or Windows Vista, save that it's typically about twice as fast (or better).