Emulating Your CD/DVD Image using Daemon Tools Lite

There's a lot of CD/DVD image file types such as *.iso, *.cue, and *.nrg. To read this type of file you need a CD/DVD emulator. Among the popular CD/DVD emulator are Daemon Tools Lite, UltraISO, and Nero.

Today, I want to share the best CD/DVD emulator that I've known so far which is Daemon Tools Lite. It's a freeware and using small amount of memory of your laptop/PC.

Daemon Tools Lite

DAEMON Tools Lite is a lightweight and powerful application for CD/DVD emulation. It allows to run software from backup copies as if the original disc was inserted.
In order to run backup copies you need to create appropriate image files of your original cd/dvd discs with software which has such functionality (e.g. DAEMON Tools Pro ).

DAEMON Tools Lite is a virtual CD/DVD-ROM emulator based on a SCSI miniport driver. It emulates up to 4 DVD-ROM drives and works with CD/DVD images created by many burning and image-creating programs. It is great on notebooks without a physical CD/DVD-ROM drive or to save accumulator power and speed up CD/DVD access. In opposite to other CD/DVD-ROM emulators DAEMON Tools Lite doesn't use a proprietary container format. The advantage is that you can burn images you're using with DAEMON Tools Lite using Astroburn software or just test an image before burning it to see if it was created correctly. DAEMON Tools Lite works with most popular image formats. Media Descriptor format (MDF/MDS Files) is the native DAEMON Tools image format, also DAEMON Tools Lite supports RMPS Media.

DAEMON Tools Lite supports the following image types:

• b5t (BlindWrite images)
• b6t (BlindWrite images)
• bwt (BlindRead images)
• ccd (CloneCD images)
• cdi (DiscJuggler images)
• cue (Cue sheets)
• iso (Standard ISO images)
• mds (Media Descriptor Files)
• nrg (Nero images)
• pdi (Instant CD/DVD images)
• isz (Compressed ISO images)

Here's the download link.

Installation

Run downloaded setup file and on the first screen press Next.

Read License Agreement carefully and press I Agree to continue installation.

Choose license type you want to use and press Next.  (Of course you need to choose Free License). :P

Choose what components you want to install and press Next. Usually I leave all the box untick, so I suggest you do the same.

Choose destination path for installation and press Install. 

If prompted, reboot your computer (Actually it will asked you to reboot).

Done!

It will autostart every time when you start your windows. If you're using this software ocassionally, I suggest you disable the autostart.

Here's how :

After the installation/boot there will be an icon on the taskbar which look like this (see red box):

 

 Right at that icon, it should show like this (go to Preferences and click there) :

 

 Now just untick "Autostart" box in the General tab at Preferences menu. Reboot and finish. =.=

Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop's Battery Life

Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up.  How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible?  Here are 15 easy ways to do so.

1. Defrag regularly -  The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery.  Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.

2. Dim your screen – Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen.  Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance.  Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.

3. Cut down on programs running in the background.  Itunes, Desktop Search, etc.  All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life.  Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.

4. Cut down external devices – USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery.  Remove or shut them down when not in use.  It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.

5. Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory.  Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.

6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse.  Even having one in the drive can be power consuming.  They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used.  Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.

7.  Keep the battery contacts clean:  Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol.  This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.

8. Take care of your battery – Exercise the Battery.  Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time.  Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)

9. Hibernate not standby – Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does.  Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.

10. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler.  Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips by LapTopMag.com.

11. Set up and optimize your power options – Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).

12. Don’t multitask – Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery.  Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3’s, set your mind to one thing only.  If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!

13. Go easy on the PC demands – The more you demand from your PC.  Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD.  If you’ve got a single battery charge – pick your priorities wisely.

14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop -  Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries.  Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.

15. Prevent the Memory Effect - If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ – Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect.

Bonus Tip #1: Turn off the autosave function.  MS-Word’s and Excel’s autosave functions are great but because they keep saving regular intervals, they work your hard driver harder than it may have to. If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low. While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies.

Bonus Tip #2: Lower the graphics use. You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers. Graphics cards (video cards) use as much or more power today as hard disks.

* Very lazy to write anything. Sources from Friedbeef web page.

Free Photo Editing Software

Got bored with Adobe Photoshop? Or you think Adobe Photoshop is too complicated? Well there's a few photo editing software you can choose to do your photo editing task. It doesn't have to be only Adobe Photoshop... Here's a few photo editing software that I found useful. Plus it's all FREE. 

1. Picasa 3

This is a basic tools to edit your photo. Recommended for beginner.

      

Info :

Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that makes your pictures look great. 

Sharing your best photos with friends and family is as easy as pressing a button

To download, click HERE.

2. Paint.NET

If you already an intermediate/professional user of photo editing software you can use this software.

Info :    

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the Microsoft Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple image and photo editor tool. It has been compared to other digital photo editing software packages such as Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Paint Shop Pro®, Microsoft Photo Editor, and The GIMP.

To download, click HERE. 

3. GIMP
This is an Open Source base software. However, it also have a windows version of it.

Info :

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Mac OS X. 

To download, click HERE. For Windows user, please download the GIMP for Windows.

This is three software that I found very useful in photo editing. Hope you'll like it.

Speed Up Your Boot Time on Windows 7/Vista

Note : This only will show result if you are on dual/quad core processor. A single core processor will not show any differences.

Although one way to make your computer boot faster is to make sure you don’t have too many programs in your startup list (as each and every one of these programs will slow down the boot process), and buying a newer, better machine is a thing we all postpone as much as we can, you can try making a few changes in the MSConfig dialog. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Type “msconfig” (without quotes) in Vista or Windows 7 start menu search box and hit enter.

2. Click Continue if you get a UAC prompt.By default, you won’t get a UAC prompt in Win7.

3. Navigate to “Boot” tab and click on “Advanced options” button.

4. Check the box named “Number of processors” and also select the number of processors from the drop down box.

5. Click “Ok” and restart to see the time difference.

6. You are done.

Note: Microsoft also mentioned the importance of this tweak in their KB959233 article recently. So, go ahead and tweak it right now!

Remove Unwanted Startup Programs Using System Configuration Utility (msconfig)

Many programs are designed to automatically load when you boot up your computer. Typically, they will run in the background, so they will immediately open when you click on the program's icon. This is convenient for programs that you actually need, but for those you don't, it merely drains system resources, slowing down your computer.

I know. Many people knew about this. But for those who don't, here's how :

1. Startup processes and other programs are also defined by the system configuration utility. To open this goto Start > Run and type msconfig. The msconfig window will look like this :


2. Firstly, select the Startup tab. Unselect any unnecessary programs from loading automatically when your computer boots.

Caution : Look for really unnecessary programs only.

3. Secondly, select the Services tab. Unselected any services that you no longer want to run on startup.

4. Reboot your computer.

How to clean your laptop~

Keeping your laptop clean, while help it to run more smoothly and last longer. Dust, crumbs and dirt can get into your laptop and cause it to run less effectively. Cleaning your laptop once a month, is good maintenance to assure that your laptop lasts longer.

So what do you need?
- Compressed Air (Small Blower would be nice)
- Cotton swabs
- Cleaning solution
- Soft cleaning cloth such as a cotton t-shirt.

*Precaution : Please unplug your laptop before cleaning.

Laptop Body

• Use a soft damp cloth such as an old cotton t-shirt to clean the casing.
• Do not use a scratchy or abrasive cleaning cloth.
• Don't use harsh cleaning products.
• Never spray any cleaning solution directly onto the casing - spray onto a cloth first.

Cooling Vent


This part is very sensitive and dangerous. If you don't expert enough please don't open the vent cover. Clean it from outside. Use a can of compressed air to clean the cooling vents. Be careful with the compressed air that you don't spray too hard and get liquid on the fan blades. Use cotton swabs to hold fans in place while you clean them. Spraying directly on the fan and making them spin could cause them to over spin.

I don't know where to find the compressed air can. If you have information about it, I would like to know. Looking for it for years now.

I/O Ports

This is the very simple part. Just use cotton swabs to wipe away large pieces of dirt that have accumulated around the usb port, power supply etc.

Display

Use a cleaning kit that you can buy in any computer store or supermarket. Most of the cleaning kit especially the cleaning liquid have the solution of water and alcohol (isopropyl alcohol to be exact). If you are "hardworking" enough, you can make your own liquid solution by adding isopropyl alcohol with water in ratio of 1:1. Use a non-abrasive cloth such as a cotton t-shirt and wipe the screen carefully.

Keyboard



If you're expert + hardworking enough you can take out the keyboard key one by one and clean the key board with compressed air can and non-abrasive cloth. But if don't want to take that risk, just use cotton swabs cleaning in and around keys.

CCleaner

Today I'll introduce to you the best registry cleaning software that I've known. Plus it's free~

CCleaner

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :)

*Update : If you do not know how to use this software you can learn more here:

http://www.ccleaner.com/help/tour