Do you fell monotonuos using the same OS everyday ?? Do your work hrs on your pc seem irksome and mechanical seeing the same components on your desk -- the same start button on the lower left , same drab icons , or you feel like a loser having experience only on the windows platform (thats what 90 % users are using) ??

Want to get a taste of new OSes everyday without messing up your computer's boot loader ,hdd partitions and data ??

Sun's virtual box comes to the rescue !! Whats exciting is that Virtual box is a Free and Open Source Software. So no need to get in extra bucks (or for that matter feel proud that you wont be infringing any lincenses of any kind by pirating.) and whats even more exciting is that you will be able to run the other OS even when your favourite(overworked) OS is up and running without any issues !!

1.) First download the virtual box from here .
Choose the OS you are using as the host and download the appropriate package.
2.) Install Virtual Box as a normal application.

3.) Now get the .iso of your favourite OS* (I have used DSL(damn small linux) in this tut.)
4.) Run virtual box and you will see such a screen :


5.)Now you need to create a new Virtual machine.Click the NEW button. Press next button and give a appropriate machine name (general thumb rule is the name of the OS you are using as the guest.)
Choose the OS you are using as the guest (for DSL I choose Debian based.)




6.)Set the amount of RAM you want to allocate to the guest OS (I recommend you to refer the recommended settings of the guest OS.....for DSL 256MB is more than sufficient . )

7.)Create a virtual HDD by clicking on new and choose expanding type and 8 gb in subsequent steps.


8.) Now select that virtual hdd and press next > finish .
You are done !!

9.) Now comes the installation of the guest OS. Right click on the virtual machine you have just created and click settings. Make sure in the boot order the CD/DVD drive is checked.
(If you want to directly run it from the iso without burning a cd.....do as shown in the image below



)

10.) Check the sound options and USB support if you want those features from the guest OS (most will need those.)
11.)You are done !! now click on the virtual machine and click START (or just double click on the machine.)
The installation of your guest OS should begin. (or if its a live OS it will run along with your windows up and running thus you can harness the power of windows while experimenting with your new OS.)
(My live! DSL up and running along with win vista !!)


The rest is upto you !! Run guest applications , hack in frenzy and learn and throw OSes at your own sweet will !! Keep discovering and post your reviews here !!

*- For mac OS X you will get .dmg. Better use Ultra ISO along with virtual box to extract max juice from your box !! If you want more information on Ultra ISO post your valuable comments !!

Cheers !!
vandit (Now an overworked EPWOM !!)

Recently one of my friends windows box got infected with brontok virus which had disabled the task manager and cmd and god knows what !!





So upon some searching on the net and the thinkdigit forum I found ways to fix it....although the best fix was through the antivirus but I came to know about various tricks in Windows XP which might be helpful in some cases.

This wonderful tutorial by Vishal gupta gives valuable registry tips and tricks and also enabling those features which were disabled by the virus/admin/pesky friend ....

hope this link will help you guys immensely.

VARIOUS RESTRICTIONS IN WIN XP/VISTA/2003

Many of you must have guessed that this was coming up !!!

Its the 24th of November and I have turned 20 . Actually me and my brother share the same birthday !!
Its not all rosy when its 12:01 am on your birthday and specially if you are staying in a hostel or amongst a bunch of 11 brats !!
It all started with these guys assembling in my room @ 11:55 one by one as if everything was normal . Some of them even asked doubts(yes the exams are on..) now slowly everybody gathered in my room. I smelt something fishy. I had a deja vu that something was going to be kicked and dragged around . The clock struck 12:00am and all of a sudden J2 and VT attacked and lifted me up with J2 by the hands and VT holding the legs . And I realized that it was my @## that was going to be knocked around . Soon water from heaven was showered on me and it was freezing cold (actually it was haddy and riksy who were there with buckets of freezing water.) soon face washes were applied where they weren’t meant to be used and I received kicks and punches as if The Great Khali was taking out his wrath on me. I requested for a bucket of warm water as I was feeling cold but it fell on deaf ears and the pounding continued.
C'mon what have I done wrong ?? Its just my birthday !!hehehe... These are the moments of happiness which leave you somewhat stiff for a day or two.
Soon my phone rang and I was kept busy for the next 1 hr on the phone( luckily ). Soon absurd topics sprang up and outlandish questions were asked ( questions may be rated as improper content here.)
Then we played another prank on J2 and havent slept yet even as I typed this and it was 2:30 am !! Details of our modus operandi of the prank continued in the next post. (I posted this today as I wasnt in my pink of health due to the pounding I recieved for the last few days...lolz.. Actually my exams were up !!)


Keep reading !!
-Vandit

So you dont know how to tie a necktie eh ?? Feeling like a spoilt kid who cant even tie his own shoelaces ?? Neither did I know till I saw this amazing video on youtube !! kudos !!



Watch how to tie a tie !!

Tired of hearing your mom's high pitched screaming on you for keeping your room as if it were a laundry with your clothes strewn all around !!
So you dont even know how to fold a tshirt !

Watch this video and I bet you will do it quicker than your mom(...and I dont mean screaming here !! lolz ) ... just in 2 seconds !!!

Watch how to fold a tshirt in 2 seconds !!

kudos again !!

Expecting some comments !!

-VRK (EPWOM reloaded !!)

Since last few months my processor(a.k.a my brain) was coming up with such amazing posts sequentially and thanks for the readers who posted their comments.

Lately the universal serial interrupter has issued an interrupt signal as the exams are within sniffing distance. So it has been acknowledged and the processor has gone into the RST mode (Read Sincerely Till exams ). It will RETURN to the main program and write sequentially from address 291108 when hopefully it will encounter the return instruction. Till then Happy reading !!




-vandit(an EPWOM...upgraded )(see electronics verbiage becomes an integrated part of the language protocol when we study microprocessor for too long ...)

So after using my laptop for so many days(nearly 25 now) I was getting bored messing with the same wallpaper everyday I booted up vista. So the hunt for new and exciting wallpapers began . I searched the internet for vista wallpapers and got some exciting ones.. but when I visited the blog of microsoft's official wallpaper creator MIKE SWANSON . I found some breathtaking,high resolution pics which he specially optimised for use on wallpapers for Vista(although you can use for other OSes also.) He also has a tutorial about how he goes about "manufacturing" such astounding pics. So here are the links if you want your desktop to look really pretty or you just want to know who that guy is and pick up some of the photography yourself.

some eg. of his wallpapers.







The official blog : MIKE SWANSON
The link to the wallpapers : WALLPAPERS
The link to the "how does he make the wallpapers" : c'mon explore his blog...you might find something more interesting . No spoon feeding from now on guyz...


Special thanks to vishal gupta (another Microsoft MVP and a thinkdigitian ) for introducing me to his blog.

Do post comments thanking me and the guys I mentioned above for introducing you to some of these goodies..

Cheers ...
vandit (An EPWOM)

It has been about 20 days since my laptop has arrived and already it has served as the object of experimentation !!

First of all... There is a genre of people who like to test the build quality of everything that comes within reach and when it comes to testing laptops... Their favourite is the keyboard !! It had been barely 15 days from arrival that J2 had laid his dirty hands on my lappy... He has this inveterate habit of ''conciously'' banging on the generally soft keys of a new keyboard ... Luckily my lappy passed this slang-bang endurance test without any injury. Thank god.
From the comments I got in the review post from cool89..It seems like he will also put it through his trademark test when he gets to check it out !!!


The second test came from my 2 yr old cousin sister. We all know how 2 yr olds are like. Actually this one is pretty smart. She was sitting in my lap and I casually asked her ''what is this ?''(pointing towards my laptop ...) she surprised me with her answer. '' Laptop '' she said !! Yes I felt proud of my sister and I let her take the control of my lappy thinking if she could differentiate between a laptop and a computer she must be a damn geek !! But then the smartness became volatile and a devilish gleem was seen in her eyes ... She also put my lappy through the keyboard endurance test and touchpad response test and luckily she was light enough for me to lift her away from my lappy !! Phew that was close !!

The 3rd test was a kind of viva ... Yes the kind they take at the college and the quiz master was none other than CD(curly durly) !! He started asking absurd questions on seeing the ''slot load'' DVD drive(they are rare to find.).
The first question or rather a remark was ''see the dell guyz have shipped faulty equipment !! They forgot to put on the tray !! '' I kept my temper under control and just demonstrated that it was fine by popping in a DVD and he got his answer. But soon a string of questions started !! The most insane questions you can think of ''what if I pop in a roti ?? Will your lappy accept it ?? What if I pop it in upside down (good heavens he didnt say vertically ) ?? What will happen if I put a knife in ??''

Why do people asks such questions ?? These scenarios are possible even with the conventional tray drives !! I mean would it make a difference if I popped in a roti in a slot load or the normal one ?? Both the drives wouldnt read a upside down disc and inserting a knife would beat the hell out of any kind of drive !!

My sheer patience kept me in my senses. See these are the kind of grilling tests a new equipment has go through.And I hope you will take the necessary precautions not to let your newly arrived hot-house-plant lappy go through such outlandish tests after reading this post ... ;)