You can download and install Shell Tools from here. Once you have done so, have a look at the Shell Tools control center. Enable and disable the various shell extensions from here. Let’s have a look at a number of tools that are included:

Any File Shell Extension
This extension includes two utilities: Filenote and CopyFilename. The CopyFileName Utility allows you to copy the filenames. Just right-click on the file and choose the option. You can select multiple files as well and copy all of the names.

Filenote, on the other hand, allows you to add notes to your files. These notes can contain additional information about the file, something you want to add to the file in future or just about anything. Right-clicking on a file and choosing Filenote will create an invisible text file and open the newly-created text file for editing. Anything you type is saved as a note for the original file. The next time you choose Filenote on the same file you will open the previously created note. You can also choose to hide the text file via the Shell Tools Control Panel.

Folder Background Extension
Enable this and you can quickly toggle Window’s “Show Hidden Files” option. After enabling this extension, right-click on the empty space within an open folder and you will see an option to “Show Hidden Files” which you click to toggle the setting quickly.

UrlFile Extension
Allows you to click and select one or more of your internet shortcuts (or favorites) and then copy the link, URL or name to the clipboard. You can double-click the commands within the Shell Tools Control Panel and edit them to your liking.

FontFile Extension
This allows you to load and unload fonts quickly without having to go to the Windows Control Panel to perform all the customary rituals! (Although Windows Vista and Windows 7 simplify the process)

RegisterServer Shell Extension
Another handy addition to DLL and OCX files’ context menus. This would allow you to quickly register and unregister the DLL, OCX and EXE files with ease without having to visit the command line or the Run dialog.

Shell Tools is a handy collection of nice utilities that add some extra functionality to your context menus allowing you to do certain tasks quickly. The ability to edit the commands from within Shell Tools Control Panel is an added benefit, letting you customize the editor that is launched to create notes or the command that is run while copying links.

Download: Shell Tools

Just one note: As we will be heading into the internet cache folders of the respective browsers, it pays to clear it of all old files before navigating to the desired page. It makes the Flash file search a lot easier.

So, here’s how to do it in three of our popular browsers.

Download SWF files using Firefox
Fire up Firefox and browse to the page which contains the embedded SWF Flash file that you are eyeing to download. Let the SWF file stream through once completely.
On any empty part of the page, right-click and select the Page Info context menu option. Or alternatively, go to Tools – Page Info.
Select the Media tab. The Media tab lists all image formats, icons, style sheets and flash files that were rendered by the webpage.
Look amongst the items to find the particular file with the SWF extension. The type column will show up with an Embed filetype. Highlight the file and click Save as to save the file on your hard drive.

Download SWF files using Internet Explorer
In IE8, we have to head to the Temporary Internet Files folder which stores all rendered files during a browsing session. (It can be directly accessed from here in Windows XP – C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files.)

Go to the IE Menu bar. Click on Tools – Internet Options.
On the General tab, click on Settings under Browsing History.
The Temporary Internet Files and Browsing History box opens up.

Click on View Files. You will get all the rendered webpage elements in this folder.
To rummage about effectively amidst the mass of files, choose View – Arrange by Type from the menu. Also go to Tools – Folder Options, and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types option.
Seek out your SWF files, copy and then paste it to your preferred location.

Download SWF files using Opera
In Opera, downloaded SWF files can be accessed in two simple ways –

Type opera:cache in the address bar.
Go to Tools – Advanced – Cache from the toolbar.

Either way, a huge list of downloaded page elements opens up with their URLs. Search for a file with the .swf extension. Alternatively, you could search (Ctrl+F ) and hunt it down, with swf as the search query.

Right-click on the particular file and choose either Saved Linked Content As or Save to Download Folder to save the SWF file on the hard disk.

After downloading the SWF file, one can use the Adobe Flash Player to view the Flash file or a supported media player like Media Player Classic. Or, an easier way would be to just open it in a browser by right-clicking it and selecting the browser of choice.

The Achilles heel which viruses exploit is the autorun.inf file. Autorun.inf file is a simple instruction file present in removable media like CDs, DVDs and USB drives. This file contains a series of commands that triggers the operating system to start an executable, tells it which icon to use, and which additional actions to make available. A basic autorun.inf file looks like this –
[autorun]
open=autorun.exe
icon=autorun.ico

Special Note: Autoplay is the Windows action which asks you to specify the application to use to open a particular file. The autoplay dialog box asks you to select from the options when you insert a media. Autorun on the other hand, is the Windows action which automatically launches applications depending on the commands given in the autorun.inf file when we double click the removable drive icon.

The keyword is automatic. We have to find ways to short circuit the automatic execution of programs (good or bad), so that a hidden malware does not penetrate our system. The idea then is to change the way Windows handles the autorun.inf file. The methods expressed here are majorly for Windows XP.

Use the SHIFT key
Suppress autorun by pressing the SHIFT key when inserting a USB drive. Then, right click on the icon in Explorer and select Explore to access the contents of the drive. This is a one-time action and you have to keep that in mind every time you insert an USB drive. And you have to be ever mindful of never double-clicking your USB drive icon in Explorer.

Go to the Group Policy Editor
Group Policy Editor is used to define user and computer configurations for groups of users and computers.

Open GPEditor via Start – Run. Enter gpedit.msc in the Run box.
Navigate to Computer Configuration – Administrative Templates – System.
Highlight System on the left hand pane. On the right hand pane, go down to the entry – Turn off Autoplay and double click on it.
Select the Enabled radio button, then for the Turn off Autoplay on dropdown, select All drives.
This will disable the autorun feature and let you explore the drive contents for all drives instead of directly opening it.

Hack the registry
We can also disable the autorun feature by making a change in the registry. Be forewarned that if you are not at ease with the registry, it is advisable to skip this step.

Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Run box (Start -> Run)
On the left hand pane, keep expanding the entries by clicking on the + sign. Search for this entry – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

For this registry entry, go to the right panel and double click the NoDriveTypeAutoRun registry key.
Change the Value data to FF for Hexadecimal or 255 for Decimal value.
Click OK to close the registry editor and restart the computer.
Fall back on software
If you are the type who hates going into the guts of the operating system, there are of course handy pieces of software available. Here are two examples of such applications.

USB 1.3
This 7KB USB anti-virus tool works by detecting the removable drive and renaming the autorun.inf file to autorun.inf_current date_time thus preventing its running by the system. The program loads in the system tray and with just one click, you can turn Autorun on or off. Another option informs the user about all actions on autorun.inf files.

The program works from the system tray and is compatible with Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98 and Windows 95.

TweakUI
TweakUI, Microsoft’s Power toy for Windows XP gives a user access to system settings that are below the visible interface of the OS.

To disable autoplay using TweakUI, go to the My Computer – Autoplay – Drives setting. Deselect the drive you wish to disable the autoplay for. Also, go to My Computer – AutoPlay – Types. Uncheck Enable Autoplay for removable drives. Click OK and you are done.

The 126KB download is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Piriform CCleaner
Piriform CCleaner, available as freeware, scores high points all around with a simple interface and a complete set of features. CCleaner will:
Search the computer and remove obsolete system files.
Delete browser history, cookies and cache for all the major browsers.
Search the registry for problems, back it up and fix it.
Uninstall applications, rename and remove entries from ‘Add/Remove Applications’.
Remove or disable start-up items.
Automatically update itself if you allow it.

Revo Uninstaller
Revo Uninstaller, although it has a more advanced uninstaller routine, comes in second because the interface is slightly clunky when compared to CCleaner. In addition to removing applications and cleaning the registry, Revo Uninstaller also has:
‘Browser Cleaner’ that removes traces of web surfing.
‘Microsoft Office Cleaner’ that clears the recent documents history.
‘Windows Cleaner’ that removes cache and history files from Explorer, such as Recent Documents.
‘Evidence Remover’ that overwrites free space to clean tracks of already deleted files and an ‘Unrecoverable Delete’.
The ‘Hunter Mode’, specific to Revo Uninstaller, enables you to choose the application you want to remove with the mouse – which is useful if the program you’re trying to remove doesn’t show up in the Add/Remove Programs list.

It’s an impressive amount of multimedia for the free portion of a web service, and, in two tests, most of it actually worked. Lifehacker editors could hear audio from each others’ microphones, video streaming worked when it was available, and desktop sharing worked, at least for those with Java plug-ins installed. Web site owners can also embed an ongoing Tinychat room into their blogs or sites, with most of the same features.

There’s no way to password-protect the rooms without a paid ($9.95/month) Pro account, and it should be made more apparent that “signing in” with your Twitter username actually broadcasts your chat room location on your Twitter feed. But given the hop in, hop out nature of a Tinychat room, it’s relatively safe to hand out a URL to just those folks you want chatting and use the room for what you need. A Pro account also allows for the naming and preserving of five rooms, saving of chat transcripts and streams, and HD-quality video.

Tinychat is a free service, no sign-up required to use it.

Visit: Tinychat

Using FilesOverMiles is simple. Like any other file-sharing site, you start by choosing the file you want to share. The difference is that rather than immediately starting to upload the file to a FilesOverMiles server, the webapp simply creates a unique, private URL that you give to the person you want to share the file with. Email or IM that link to the person of your choice, and when they visit that URL, their browser will immediately begin downloading the file directly from you. That also means an extra layer of privacy, since your important data will never end up on someone else’s server.

It’s important to note that the file is only available to share while the page is open. Close the browser or navigate away from the page and the URL is no longer valid.

* Many traditional file-sharing web applications have a 100MB (or so) file-size limit. With FilesOverMiles, the maximum file size depends on your own computer as well as the computer in use by the recipient.

This limit is only because FilesOverMiles is based on Adobe Flash Player that requires that the uploaded or downloaded file is stored entirely in the computer memory (RAM). As a consequence, a sender may upload only those files that are smaller than the memory available on his/her computer. In turn, a recipient may download only those files that are smaller than half of the memory available on his/her computer. Hopefully, upcoming versions of Adobe Flash Player will remove this limitation and then FilesOverMiles will have no file size limits.

FilesOverMiles is currently in beta and is free to use.

Visit: FilesOverMiles

There is no registration necessary, you can dive right in and try out the basic lessons. Registering for an account lets you save your progress and other statistics. Along with a clean and easy to use interface, what sets TypingWeb apart from other free typing tutors is the ability to change the language and keyboard layout. Want to learn Dvorak without tearing your current keyboard apart? Learning to type on a keyboard other than an English QWERTY layout? Swap out the keyboard in the settings section.

TypingWeb is structured to take you from the home row all the way to efficiently using infrequent keys and key combination. There are also actually enjoyable typing games, unlike the lame typing games you may recall from grade school typing tutors. TypingWeb is free, but if you want to get rid of the ads, you can pay a one-time $9.99 fee to turn TypingWeb ad-free.

Visit: TypingWeb

Adding the search providers is simple enough—just visit the links below and install the version for your browser, choosing whether to enable suggestions or not. Readers using Internet Explorer 8 might want to enable the suggestions because of one interesting feature: Bing will show you a preview of the weather by simply typing “weather” followed by your location—extremely handy for a quick glance at the temperature.

Readers using Chrome can add a new search provider by right-clicking on the address bar, choosing Edit search engines, and then adding a new search engine using the following URL:

http://www.bing.com/search?q=%s

If you aren’t a fan of the quick search box, you can always create a keyword bookmark by right-clicking on the Bing search box and choosing “Add a keyword for this Search” from the menu.

Mozilla Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12205

Internet Explorer 8 Add-ons Gallery: http://www.ieaddons.com/en/details/searchhelpers/Bing_Search/

Once you’ve launched the application, you will be prompted for your Gmail account information—after which you will see the unread count as an icon right on the taskbar button and hovering your mouse will show a preview of your unread email. Right-clicking on the button uses Windows 7′s excellent Jump Lists feature—with quick and easy access to frequent tasks like opening your inbox or composing a new email message.

Gmail Notifier Plus is a free download for Windows 7 only—hit the link for more screenshots and the download link.

Download: Gmail Notifier Plus

To get unread Gmail messages in the FavIcon in your Firefox tab read this article : http://leoworld.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/get-unread-gmail-message-count-in-favicon/

Download : RadarSync