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From today onwards, computer users will be forced to operate on Window Vista as Window XP will not be available in the market. Microsoft Corporation is scheduled to stop selling its Windows XP operating system to retailers and major computer makers from Monday.

A slice of PC users although protest this decision who don’t want to be forced into using XP’s successor, Vista. A group of vocal computer users who rallied around a “Save XP” petition posted on the industry news site InfoWorld had been yelling for Microsoft to keep selling XP until its next operating system, Windows 7, is available.

The software maker has said it expects to release Windows 7 sometime in 2009.  Last week, Microsoft said it would provide full technical support for six-year-old Windows XP through 2009, and limited support through 2014.

Once computers loaded with XP have been cleared from the inventory of PC makers such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., consumers who can’t live without the old operating system on their new machine will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally “downgrade” to XP.

Microsoft will still allow smaller mom-and-pop PC builder shops to buy XP for resale through the end of January. A version of XP will also remain available for ultra-low-cost PCs such as the Asus Eee PC.

Tags: Microsoft, PC, Windows XP, XP

Tech world is surrounded with lots of myths and many people do believe them without having any knowledge of truth. The myths give unnecessary troubles the tech users. Here are a few myths which can help you to get rid of your superfluous worries.

1) Shut down the PC before switching off power: Many users believe that turning power off without shutting down PC physically damages their hard drives. However, this is an age-old myth and has no grounding. However, if the user is working and did not save the data before switching off, the data will be lost.

Many users also believe that one should shut down PC every couple of hour so it can rest. This may be fine, but shutting down your PC every few hours may actually be harmful to your PC. Components in the PC are most stressed when they have to either boot or shut down. However, this doesn’t mean you must keep your computer on forever. Operating systems do need a shut down once in a while, because even the best OS’ crash if not given a rest.

2) Emptying recycle bin ensures permanent deletion: You might be relaxed after deleting the files from recycle bin but that doesn’t mean a permanent deletion. Actually Windows just marks the area of the disk occupied by such files as empty, but the data still resides there until the disk area is overwritten by any new data. There are many file recovery software available such as TOKIWA Data Recovery that enables you to undelete files, even if they have been removed from the recycle bin. Such programs can track the deleted files in the hard disk. Recovery of the deleted files is possible as long as the disk area is not overwritten by any new disk.

3) No magnets near PC: It is a common saying that there should be no magnet or magnetic substance near computer but it is a myth. Although floppy can get affected by a magnet but hard drives and laptops are insensitive to magnetic field as they are free from magnetic composition. Similarly thumb drives, memory cards and CDs are also immune to it.

4) Radiations from PC monitor are cancerous: Radiations coming out of monitor are harmless and don’t cause any risk of cancer. Radiation from your cell phone might give you a brain tumor, but a monitor can’t do this. So don’t get panic to sit before your computer as these radiations are weak in nature and human body is safe from them. In fact, according to many studies the amount of ultraviolet radiation produced by a computer monitor is a small fraction of that produced by florescent lighting.

5) Cookies from sites track every move: Cookies do track your activities on a website. But they simply make sure your next visit to the site remain easy and hassle free. Basically these are small text files that help the browser remember specific information like your id and password, preferences, shopping cart information etc. Plus they are usually deleted when you shut down your browser. To delete cookies in IE, you can follow this route: Tools -> Internet Options ->Privacy tab ->Advanced and select override automatic cookie handling.

6) A USB device always stopped before unplugging: This statement applies to only a few cases. This is said to ensure that the USB device is not unplugged while data is being read from or written to it. Doing so would corrupt the file being transferred or maybe damage the USB drive. However, when the USB is in the idle mode it can be unplugged without going through the entire process of ‘Safely Remove hardware’. Keyboard, mouse, printers, scanners, can be just unplugged when not in use.

7) If you have antivirus you can click anything: No single antivirus program can completely safeguard you against virus, trojan, malware and spyware attack. Though an anti-virus is a must-must, but one cannot just relax especially in a 24X7 connected world. There are always chances of getting infected. The anti-virus program loaded in your PC may not be effective against spyware or other kinds of malware not classified as viruses. Also, in case of a bigger attack, the security vendor may take long time to issue a security update. Hence, anti-spyware program is needed for the PC and a regular updation of anti-virus software is must to keep the PC safe.

Tags: Knowledge, PC, Technology Myths, Truth

People are not at all getting relieve from the rising prices in the essential commodities in India and inflation rose to a record high of 7.83% on the week ends on 3rd of May 2008. This was the highest value of inflation rate recorded in last 44 months.

In the previous week, that is the week ending on 26th APril inflation was at 7.61%. Despite Indian Government trying its best, inflation is not at all coming under control and the prices of the vegetables, essential food items etc. are increasing day by day.

The main gainers in the prices are fruits and vegetables, coffee, maize, spices, masoor rose, atta, coconut oil etc.

A few days back Indian Finance Minister PC claimed that the prices of the food items are begun to come down and very soon inflation index will also come down.

Tags: Finance, Finance Minister, Food Prices, Inflation Rates, PC

A new computer system in on its way to develop which will be able to talk to you and can react to your voice and facial expressions!

A team at Queen’s University in Belfast claimed making this ‘talking computer’ known as Sensitive Artificial Listener (SAL) system, as part of an European project called SEMAINE which is led by DFKI, the German centre for research on Artificial Intelligence.

The new system SAL will be able to perceive human being’s facial expressions; voice tone and perform different actions accordingly.

Lead researcher Prof Roddy Cowie said, “A basic feature of human communication is that it is coloured by emotion. When we talk to another person, the words are carried on an undercurrent of signs that show them what attracts us, what bores us and so on.”

He told that non-interacting behavior of computers is one of the reasons which make people frustrating while working.

He stated, “SEMAINE and projects like it will change the way people interact with technology. They mean that you will be talking to your computer in 20 years’ time.”

“These new developments depend on connecting technology to the relevant understanding of people, and it is recognized worldwide that we have a distinctive strength in bringing psychology, linguistics and ethics to bear on the process of developing the new systems.” He added.

The new system will definitely make the work more interesting and the interaction with machine will give a new definition to the technology.

Tags: Computer, Future, PC, System, Technology

The Finance Minister P.Chidambaram said that an 8-9 % economic growth will be fine for this fiscal year and that further export bans could be considered as a way to drive down inflationary expectations.

He said that to get a specific forecast for the year ending on March 31, 2009 is hard but we must aim at 9 per cent.

He said, “we must be happy if it’s between 8 per cent and 9 per cent.”

Chidambaram said that inflation is the biggest problem in Asia today. Increasing price of foodstuffs and other commodities is a matter of concern of developing countries.

He said, “Inflationary expectation is driving prices.”

The wholesale price index, which reached a 41-month highest of 7.81 in the week ended on March 29 get lowered to 7.14 per cent in the week ended on April 5. The central bank had aimed for close to 5 per cent at the end of the 2007/08 fiscal year and its medium-term goal is around 3 per cent.

Inflation was also being stoked by a mismatch between supply and demand, and by cartel-like behaviour in some sectors of the economy, said Chidambaram.

India has banned the export of some rice and Chidambaram said he would consider banning exports of other goods, even if that went against the principles of free trade.

“As a short term measure … we will consider such bans, too,” he said, mentioning the possibility of export bans in the steel sector.

Tags: Ban, Business, Chidambaram, Export, Finance, PC