> Map Gmail as Network Drive

Of all the email clients, Gmail is quite famous for its clean banner free interface, its reliability as a Google product and its sufficient storage space which keeps increasing with time. How about using this available storage space as an extrenal network drive. Something similar to your computer hard drives.

Using a small application Gmail Drive, you can convert your gmail account to a network drive which can be accessible through your windows explorer. Basic tasks like COPY/PASTE can be performed as you would do from any other computer drive. The amount of space available on your gmail account is the available space for your network drive. You can use this space to upload content directly from your computer and save it online in your Gmail account.

GMail Drive is a Shell Extension that creates a virtual drive for your system, using any of your Gmail accounts, allowing you to use Gmail as a storage medium. It literally adds a new drive to your system under My Computer, where you can create new folders, copy, paste, drag’n'drop files to.

With GMail Drive you have ready space to store and retrieve files, whenever you want. There is no file format restriction, just that the indivisual file size can be as much as your gmail attachment limit.
When you copy a new file using GMail Drive, it generates an e-mail and posts it to your account. The e-mail appears in your Inbox folder as a normal mail, and the file is attached as an e-mail attachment.

Incase if you feel that these mails clutter up your Inbox folder, you may wish to create a filter in Gmail to automatically move the files (prefixed with the GMAILFS letters in the subject) to your archived mail folder.

Please Note: Even though Gmail Drive may look and feel as your regular computer drive, it is not and may have some limitations.

It may have some barriers (such as total filename size must be less than 65 characters and file size limit), but being a free service that can be overlooked. Since the tool completely depends on your free Gmail Service provided by Google, changes in the Gmail system may break the tool’s ability to function. There can be no guarantee given for lifetime functionality of this tool. Hence use it till it lasts :)





You can Download the application HERE

> Trace Mobile number

There may be instances where we need to know details for a Mobile number. It may be tracing a location for a blank call or knowing details for an advertiser who continuously spams us with calls or messages or it may just be our curiosity.

I recently came across a site that enables us to trace any Mobile number in India.
Once we enter a 10 digit mobile number, the site returns data for the Mobile network operator, the type of service and it's location in India. The system is working hard to trace Mobile Operators on District and Town level as well. We may expect this feature soon.

Apart from number tracking, the site also tracks Bulk SMS sender.

We usually get promotional/informational sms from organizations link Banks, Mobile Services, Trading services etc. These organizations do not disclose their numbers. What we see is some typical codes like TA-ICICIBNK,AD-Orange...etc. Thanks to this wonderful service, we can now decode this and get details on the sender and the location of the sender.

There are few more services that add to the bouquet.

You can trace:

> Vehicle Numbers
> Pincodes
> IP addresses
> WHOIS record



Check the site HERE

> Edit Send To context menu in Windows

What do you do when you want to copy a file from a location to another folder?
You select the file. Copy it (CTRL+C). Open the destination folder and paste it (CTRL+V)

Wouldn't it be great if you could just right click the file and send it to the destination folder? You could save some valuable time doing this.
Here is a method, where you could customize the "SEND TO" function in your context menu (right click) to get desired results.

This is very simple and can be done in a minute.
Lets say you have a folder named "NF1" located somewhere in your computer. This is your personal folder and you wish to add it in "SEND TO" menu such that you could right click any file and hit SEND TO "NF1"

To begin with open windows explorer. From the main Menu select Tools > Folder Options > View > Show Hidden Files and Folders.
Once you've activated this goto C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo path

This is where you will add a shortcut to "NF1"

To create a shortcut, right click on "NF1" and click "Create Shortcut"



















As mentioned earlier, Move this newly created shortcut to C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo folder.

You can now rename this shortcut as per your convenience. This is all you need to do and your edited context menu is ready.

Now you can right click any file, click on "Send To" and select the shortcut to "NF1" that you just created. The file will be copied to the destination folder without much efforts.

> Free banner promotion

How would you like if someone promotes your site for you and expects nothing much in return?

I recently came across a site that does the same. You get free banner promotion for your site and its absolutely free. You get a backlink to your site and also free traffic. In return, you are humbly requested to put a backlink for them, but don't worry; your banner will not be removed if you don't.

The implementation process is very simple and quick. You need to fill up a small form as you see in the screen-shot below. If everything goes well your advertisment will be up and running within 24 - 48hrs.

If you are all set to go for this free promotion, make sure you are ready with an attractive GIF or JPEG banner of 172x86 pixel. This is the exact dimension required.



Your promotional link should be pointing to a webpage which should begin with http://
Take your time to finalize an appropriate banner, cause once the banner goes live, you will not be able to change it. You are allowed to delete it though.

Check out the site HERE

> Custom domain for blogger

Blogger does not provide Name servers, which are usually needed to set up a custom domain for your site. This makes Blogger different from other hosting providers.

I recently set up a custom domain for my Blogger blog and it was far more easier than I actually thought. It involved a change in DNS settings and then a change in my Blogger settings. The work around took 5-10 mins, the wait time was around 12 hrs and my domain was up and running.

I referred several online resources, but each failed to keep it simple. Here I would list some quick steps that will help a smooth transition to a new domain, without any downtime.

Since you are reading this, I assume, you've already bought a domain name with full DNS control. Now follow the steps below, in the same order as listed.

1) Log in to your Domain registrar's (DReg) site and check for "Manage DNS". This is where you will make the required changes to DNS. If you are not able to find "Manage DNS", your DReg could help you get there.

2) Once you are in the "Manage DNS" option, you will see some default entries. These would be pointing to a default host, defined by your Dreg. Ignore them they will not be required anymore.




3) There are 3 kind of records you can create here A, MX and CNAME. We'll just concentrate on A and CNAME for now.

4) You will now create 4 "A" records for your naked domain "example.com" and 1 "CNAME" record for your subdomain "www.example.com"

5) 4 "A" records will point to 4 different IPs -- 216.239.36.21, 216.239.38.21, 216.239.32.21, 216.239.34.21 and the "CNAME" record will point to "ghs.google.com".

6) In the "Manage DNS" system, you will see something like this:

Domain Name	Type	Record
example.com	A	216.239.36.21
example.com	A	216.239.38.21
example.com	A	216.239.32.21
example.com	A	216.239.34.21
Sub Domains for example.com
www.example.com	CNAME	ghs.google.com

7) The additional entries apart from what you see above is not required. However confirm with your DReg before you delete them. These are the only changes required in the Dreg system. You can save your changes and exit.

8) It takes around 12 - 36 hrs for your changes to reflect across all DNS servers. So wait patiently.

9) Once you've waited for a day or so, log in to your Blogger account. Go to "Settings" > "Publishing". Click on "Custom Domain". As you've already purchsed a custom domain, go to Advanced settings. Here enter your custom domain like "www.example.com". Once you click Save, there is an additional option to redirect your naked domain "example.com" to your blog, dont forget to select it.

10) If everything goes well, your new domain should point to your Blogger blog. Incase it does not, you may have tried too soon. Wait for some more time and repeat the Blogger settings. It should be working fine then.

Pls note: There are several domain registrars and each may have a different approach to setting up a domain, but the basic concept remains same through out. If you get familiar with the above concept, you may put your queries to your Dreg in a more better manner. This may inturn reduce an unnecessary interaction time.

> Find duplicate entries in excel

Microsoft Excel is an awesome application with a lot of tools and features to manage Data of any kind. The more you use it, the more you get familiar with it.
Routine tasks are generally taken care of, by a user friendly Menus and Tools, but there are some functions where you really need to explore a lot.

Working with Large Spreadsheets with a lot of data may sometimes cause duplicate entries and this can ruin all your statistic calculations. Rectifying this manually will consume a lot of your time and efforts. So what do you do?

Fortunately as always, excel has a brilliant solution for this problem. It combines 2 properties to get the results.
a) Finding duplicate entries b) Highlighting those entries for quick recognition.

I tried it myself, and was so impressed that I could'nt resist Noting it down for later use.

Here are Step wise instructions for better understanding.

Step1) The process works column wise, so concentrate on 1 column at a time. Lets take column "A" as example. The same can be repeated across worksheet.

Step2) If you have a list of data in column "A" select the first cell. This cell will hold the condition to search duplicates in the file. Once the cell is selected, go to the Menu bar and follow Format > Conditional Formatting. This will open a new dialog window.



Step3) In this new window, select "Formula Is". A text box appears, prompting you to enter a formula. Enter this formula into the text box:
=COUNTIF(A:A, A1) >1 (remove spaces if any)
The function "COUNTIF" will search through the column "A" and find any duplicate entries in the column.

Step4) Now click the "Format" button in the "Conditional Formatting" dialog box. This expands the window and presents you with some formatting options. From the sub-menu "Patterns" select the highlighting color for the duplicate entries. Click "OK."

Step5) Copy the cell that holds the condition (A1). Press "Ctrl + spacebar" to select entire column. From the "Edit" menu, click "Paste Special". From the dialog box select "Formats" and then click "OK" to copy the conditional formatting to the entire column. This should highlight all duplicate entries in the column.

Step6) Once all entries are found, you can decide whether to keep, delete or just cut and paste them to some other worksheet incase you need them later. :)

Step7) Incase you need to perform the same function on some other column, the process remains the same, just replace all "A"s in the formula with the column alphabet.

> Full length movies on Youtube

If you think Youtube is only meant for short video clips, movie trailers or news footages, think again; coz Youtube has come up with some popular full lenght movies for you. You can watch them online or download if required. By full length I mean 1 single movie file, no split files.

You can watch some of the popular Bollywood and Hollywood movies on YouTube for free. These movies are well categorized and listed under respective genres.



Genre List
> Action & Adventure
> Animation & Cartoons
> Bollywood
> Classics
> Comedy
> Crime
> Documentary & Biography
> Drama
> Family
> Horror
> Mystery & Suspense
> Romance
> Science Fiction
> Shorts
> Spanish Language
> Sports
> The Screening Room

Currently the collection is limited, but the list may be updated in future.

Like most other YouTube videos, you can embed these movies on your site as well.

Check out the movies Here