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Modify the Windows XP System Properties logo

The Windows XP System Properties logo is often changed by computer manufacturers.
Hardware vendors use this general system information dialog to brand your computer with their own logo and support contact information.
In this tip you can learn how you can insert your own logo in the system properties dialog and complete it with your own contact information. T
o invoke the system properties dialog, click the Start button, right-click “My Computer” and select “Properties”.
This will open up your general system information dialog.

If you want to put your own graphic in there, you should create your image in a .bmp graphic file. It’s also a good idea to create this bitmap image with the same background shade of gray (RGB: 192, 192, 192) used in the Properties dialog.
Otherwise, you risk letting Windows make its own judgments regarding color contrast and background shading.
The next thing to consider is the image size.
The system properties dialog only offers enough real estate for an image of about 180 (wide) x120 (high) pixels.
Make sure that you can fit your logo in this area.
Once you have created your logo and saved it as a .bmp file, copy it over to the system32 subfolder of your Windows system folder.
If you don’t know where your system folder is :

- Click the Start button and select “Run”
- In the “open” field, enter “cmd” (without the quotes) and click ok
- Windows will open up a dos command window
- In the command window, type “set system” (without the quotes)
- Look for the line that contains “SystemRoot”, this is where your system directory is (generally, the Windows XP system folder is c:\windows)

Now that you know where your system folder is, copy your logo image file over to the system32 subfolder of your system folder.
Then rename your logo image file to oemlogo.bmp
Additionally you can create a new file in this same folder and name the new file oeminfo.ini In this file you can enter your contact information like in the example below :

[General] Manufacturer=Your Company Name
Model=ShowCase [Support Information] Line1=” ”
Line2=” For support, sales, upgrades or questions:”
Line3=”"
Line4=” Some text to demonstrate the XP System Properties logo”
Line5=” Windows XP PC ”
Line6=” Your Company Name”
Line7=”"
Line8=” +1 (888) 888-888 (voice)”
Line9=” +1 (888) 888-889 (fax)”
Line10=”"
Line11=”"
Line12=” http://www.your/ Company Name.com/”
Save and close the file and you are ready.

From this way, if someone opens up the system properties dialog, your own Windows XP System Properties logo is in there.

posted by abhilasha @ 3:18 AM 0 comments

AJAX

AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML.
AJAX is a type of programming made popular in 2005 by Google (with Google Suggest).
AJAX is not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing standards.With AJAX you can create better, faster, and more user-friendly web applications.
AJAX is based on JavaScript and HTTP requests.

Ajax uses a combination of:
XHTML (or HTML) and CSS for marking up and styling information. The DOM accessed with a client-side scripting language, especially ECMAScript implementations such as JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the information presented. The XMLHttpRequest object is used to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some Ajax frameworks and in certain situations, an IFrame object is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data with the web server, and in other implementations, dynamically added script tags may be used. XML is sometimes used as the format for transferring data between the server and client, although any format will work, including preformatted HTML, plain text and JSON. These files may be created dynamically by some form of server-side scripting. Like DHTML and LAMP, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies.The "core" and defining element of Ajax is the XMLHttpRequest object, which gives browsers the ability to make dynamic and asynchronous data requests without having to reload a page, eliminating the need for page refreshes.Besides XMLHttpRequest, the use of DOM, CSS and JavaScript provides a richer "single-page" experience

posted by abhilasha @ 2:02 AM 0 comments

NTFS

To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System
FAT16 The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS

The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to. The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition. When to Use FAT or FAT32 If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer (see my earlier column Multibooting Made Easy), you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

posted by abhilasha @ 1:31 AM 0 comments

MAYA -3D Graphics

posted by abhilasha @ 1:01 AM 0 comments

Manage Sybase, Oracle, DB2 and Sql Server databases in......

Easy-to-use powerful IDE for database and application developers. Syntax highlighting, Intellisense, Auto Complete, Speed Typing, Schema Scripting, Schema Browser, Visual Data Diff, direct data edit. Supports Oracle, Sybase, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and ODBC data sources. Zero installation. Version 2.99 adds aliases. S q l D b x 2.99 is a database SQL development IDE focused on application developers who work in heterogeneous Database Server environments. SqlDbx built around an advanced SQL Editor and schema explorer. SqlDbx provides an easy to use and consistent user interface between different DBMS Systems. The Intuitive and straight forward interface allows developers to improve their productivity by having easy access to the most commonly used features. Query, execute scripts and browse database objects without leaving editor window. SqlDbx is a standalone executable file, so no installation is necessary. Furthermore, SqlDbx does not modify anything on the user's computer.
Features at a glance:
* Native support for major Database Servers including Microsoft, Sybase, Oracle and IBM DB2 * Browse / Explore Servers
* Advanced text editor with Intellisense, Syntax highlighting, Auto Complete, Speed Typing, Drag/Drop, Undo/Redo, Find/Replace
* Visual Data Diff
* SQL Scripting
* Generate SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, WHERE IN data modification statements directly from result grid
* SQL templates with replaceable formal parameters
* Export to CSV, XML, Excel
* Schema browser
* SQL statement history
* Favorite objects
* Search in Database and in result grid
* Directly edit table data in result grid
* Display query plan and query statistics
* Simple deployment and removal. No dll's or other dependencies. Just one executable (1.3 meg.)

Supported DBMS Systems
* Sybase® System 10.x - 15.x
* Microsoft® SQL Server 6.5 - 2005
* Oracle® 7.3 - 10g
* IBM DB2® 7.x - 8.x
* ODBC 3.0 compliant sources

SqlDbx Personal Edition SqlDbx Personal Edition is a free version of the Professional Edition, and is for personal non-commercial usage. It differs from the Professional Edition by only allowing you to connect to one Database Server at a time; otherwise both versions are identical. You can use SqlDbx in a commercial environment for evaluation purposes for period of 3 months

License:F R R E E Requirements: Windows NT/XP/2003 Server

posted by abhilasha @ 12:28 AM 0 comments

Java vs .net

Java platform Pros

Fully cross platform APIs including support for Graphics, Windowing and Multimedia. All future APIs will be cross platform. Java has even more APIs than Windows. Look at the current proposals
Mature.
LOTS AND LOTS of libraries available. Many are free and/or open source.
High density of OO design patterns put to practise compared to C#/.NET. This makes developing complex applications much easier (at the cost of making 'my first text editor' type projects slightly more difficult).
Well designed APIs following good OO practise.
The Java Community Process allows people with an investment in Java have a say. New Java features can be proposed, discussed and voted for in a open democratic forum. Microsoft does NOT have anything like this which is unfortunate for anyone investing in .NET.
Apache.
Currently supported by multiple commercial vendors (not one).
Although not recognised by any international standards committee, Java is an open standard governed by Sun and the JCP members (or which there are MANY). C# is an ECMA standard but without support from Microsoft, very few third parties have been willing to implement it. Sun also tends to be less secretive than Microsoft about their products. The C#/CLI ECMA submission is also just a subset of the .NET framework. It has yet to be seen whether any future APIs for .NET will ever be submitted for standardisation (it doesn't look good).
Smallest unit of distribution is a class (.class file). This helps in application development, debugging and deployment. Having a one to one mapping between types and the file system is simpler because file systems are well understood.
Good IDEs are available (Netbeans, Eclipse, Together). Many are free and support more features than VS.NET. Unfortunately many are slower than VS.NET :(.
Swing is well designed and utilises the MVC design pattern extensively. Windows Forms pales in comparison.
Swing is more powerful than SWF(System.Windows.Forms). For example, border styles can be plugged into any component using the strategy design pattern. In Windows Forms, components are responsible for supplying and drawing their own borders. Some support borders, some don't, and some only supply a few borders. This is because SWF is a thin wrapper around 7 year old windows controls and doesn't seem to have any improvements over WFC in J++. Infact it's lacking some features that were present in WFC like DHTML support.
Java developers are more likely to be University graduates with a strong understanding of OOP.
Unlike Microsoft, Sun understands and embraces OOP. Microsoft prefers speed over good design (at least some of their employees seem to anyway).

C#/.NET Pros

The CLR is well designed and arguably better than the JVM (pity about some of the class library...) .
The CLR supports execution of both managed and unmanaged code.
The CLR was designed to be language agnostic and has extended instructions to support non-imperative languages such as mondrian (a functional language) and mercury (a logical language). Ironically, Java currently supports more programming languages.
The best way to write Windows desktop and web applications.
The remoting framework is advanced and well designed.
Good support for taking advantage of the native OS. [This isn't so good if you want to be cross-platform].
Metadata attributes are a VERY, VERY powerful feature. Attributes allow classes to be much more expressive. Java NEEEEEDS attributes.
SWF is faster than Swing (most of the time). Unfortunately the design is lacking when compared to Swing. My guess is it was designed with VB programmers in mind :-(. Windows Forms does have powerful support for DataBinding. If you're writing data bound rich clients, Windows Forms will get the job done quicker.
The proposed generics support is vastly superior to the upcoming Java 1.5 implementation.
XML documentation tags are cool. (We have JavaDoc tags to thank for promoting the idea).
The CLI is an ECMA standard. Unfortunately, this isn't as useful as it appears since many of the .NET class libraries are missing from the standard. When Java gets new APIs, they become a standard that other vendors can implement (there are even reference implementations). This has not and most likely will not happen with .NET.
The System.CodeDom namespace is cool.
Supports ValueTypes (structs) as first class citizens. "Int" is considered an object.
Access to native code is easy. A lot of thought has been given to the runtime marshalling infrastructure.
When overriding virtual methods you have to explicitly state that you're overriding with the overrides keyword.

The CLI submissions are only a small subset of the .NET framework. This is for a good reason, most of .NET relies on Windows services (System.DirectoryServices, System.Windows.Forms, System.EnterpriseServices, ...).C# and the CLI does NOT make up a platform like Java. It's more like C. Both C# and C provide a basic set of APIs. Anything more 'advanced' is provided through extension libraries that may or may not be cross platform (just like C). You could write a sound library for C# that uses DirectSound and it would only work on Windows. On the other hand, you could write a sound library for C# that uses OpenAL. It would work on all platforms where OpenAL is supported.Many features found in Java (such as GUIs, Telephony, Speech, Sound, 3D) aren't supported by .NET and certainly won't be standardised. Sound support will be added by Microsoft in the future but it will use DirectSound (obviously NOT cross platform).The cross platform hopes for C# pretty lie in OSS hands. It is up to the OSS community to write 'standard' cross platform libraries for C# (just like we have for C). C# interfaces nicely with C so it is likely that many cross platform libraries for C# will use the corresponding C libraries. This will be made easy by the fact that C#, unlike Java, has outstanding support for communicating with native code.The CLI is much more like C+LIBC than the "Java Platform".Java is a meta-operating system. It supports a huge set of APIs that are consistently implemented on all platforms.C#/CLI does not always provide a consistent API on all platforms but it allows and encourages you to rely and exploit on the native APIs available on the underlying operating system.Which is better? It really depends on what you want to do. Java is currently the only choice for cross platform development. C# however, appears to be a good replacement for C -- especially on the client side. C# complements the underlying operating system whereas Java tends to hide it. This is why you will see a lot of C#/GTK# applications for Gnome in the future but not many Java/GTK applications.

posted by abhilasha @ 12:23 AM 0 comments

Oracle DBA Responsibilities

Oracle DBA Responsibilities
(1) Creates and maintains all databases required for development, testing,
education and production usage.
(2) Performs the capacity planning required to create and maintain the
databases. The DBA works closely with system administration staff because
computers often have applications or tools on them in addition to the Oracle
Databases.
(3) Performs ongoing tuning of the database instances.
(4) Install new versions of the Oracle RDBMS and its tools and any other tools
that access the Oracle database.
(5) Plans and implements backup and recovery of the Oracle database.
(6) Controls migrations of programs, database changes, reference data changes
and menu changes through the development life cycle.
(7) Implements and enforces security for all of the Oracle Databases.
(8) Performs database re-organisations as required to assist performance and
ensure maximum uptime of the database.
(9) Puts standards in place to ensure that all application design and code is
produced with proper integrity, security and performance. The DBA will perform
reviews on the design and code frequently to ensure the site standards are
being adhered to.
(10) Evaluates releases of Oracle and its tools, and third party products to
ensure that the site is running the products that are most appropriate.
Planning is also performed by the DBA, along with the application developers
and System administrators, to ensure that any new product usage or release
upgrade takes place with minimal impact.
(11) Provides technical support to application development teams. This is
usually in the form of a help desk. The DBA is usually the point of contact
for Oracle Corporation.
(12) Enforces and maintains database contraints to ensure integrity of the
database.
(13) Administers all database objects, including tables, clusters, indexes,
views, sequences, packages and procedures.
(14) Assists with impact analysis of any changes made to the database objects.
(15) Troubleshoots with problems regarding the databases, applications and
development tools.
(16) Create new database users as required.
(17) Manage sharing of resources amongst applications.
(18) The DBA has ultimate responsibility for the physical database design.

The DBA should posses the following skills

(1) A good knowledge of the operating system(s)
(2) A good knowledge of physical database design
(3) Ability to perform both Oracle and also operating system performance
monitoring and the necessary adjustments.
(4) Be able to provide a strategic database direction for the organisation.
(5) Excellent knowledge of Oracle backup and recovery scenarios.
(6) Good skills in all Oracle tools.
(7) A good knowledge of Oracle security management.
(8) A good knowledge of how Oracle acquires and manages resources.
(9) Sound knowledge of the applications at your site.
(10) Experience and knowledge in migrating code, database changes, data and
menus through the various stages of the development life cycle.
(11) A good knowledge of the way Oracle enforces data integrity.
(12) A sound knowledge of both database and program code performance tuning.
(13) A DBA should possess a sound understanding of the business.
(14) A DBA should have sound communication skills with management, development
teams, vendors, systems administrators and other related service providers.

posted by abhilasha @ 3:50 AM 0 comments

RAID

(rād) Short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a category of disk drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers but aren't generally necessary for personal computers.

There are number of different RAID levels:

Level 0 -- Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance: Provides data striping (spreading out blocks of each file across multiple disk drives) but no redundancy. This improves performance but does not deliver fault tolerance. If one drive fails then all data in the array is lost.
Level 1 -- Mirroring and Duplexing: Provides disk mirroring. Level 1 provides twice the read transaction rate of single disks and the same write transaction rate as single disks.
Level 2 -- Error-Correcting Coding: Not a typical implementation and rarely used, Level 2 stripes data at the bit level rather than the block level.
Level 3 -- Bit-Interleaved Parity: Provides byte-level striping with a dedicated parity disk. Level 3, which cannot service simultaneous multiple requests, also is rarely used.
Level 4 -- Dedicated Parity Drive: A commonly used implementation of RAID, Level 4 provides block-level striping (like Level 0) with a parity disk. If a data disk fails, the parity data is used to create a replacement disk. A disadvantage to Level 4 is that the parity disk can create write bottlenecks.
Level 5 -- Block Interleaved Distributed Parity: Provides data striping at the byte level and also stripe error correction information. This results in excellent performance and good fault tolerance. Level 5 is one of the most popular implementations of RAID.
Level 6 -- Independent Data Disks with Double Parity: Provides block-level striping with parity data distributed across all disks.
Level 0+1 – A Mirror of Stripes: Not one of the original RAID levels, two RAID 0 stripes are created, and a RAID 1 mirror is created over them. Used for both replicating and sharing data among disks.
Level 10 – A Stripe of Mirrors: Not one of the original RAID levels, multiple RAID 1 mirrors are created, and a RAID 0 stripe is created over these.
RAID-50 (or RAID-5+0): This type consists of a series of RAID-5 groups and striped in RAID-0 fashion to improve RAID-5 performance without reducing data protection.
RAID-53 (or RAID-5+3): This type uses striping (in RAID-0 style) for RAID-3's virtual disk blocks. This offers higher performance than RAID-3 but at much higher cost.
Level 7: A trademark of Storage Computer Corporation that adds caching to Levels 3 or 4.
RAID S: EMC Corporation's proprietary striped parity RAID system used in its Symmetrix storage systems.

posted by abhilasha @ 2:05 AM 0 comments