How To Accelerate Performance of Hard Disk and Maintenance Tips

Hard Disks aren’t passé yet mainly because of its low cost compared to SSDs. But Problem with these HDs is the speed which is usually related to the mechanical components of Hard Drive used for reading and writing data on disk sectors.

Performance degrades day by day, since the other PC items depend on the data stored on the HD. Of course, this slowing down is much more aggravating for the most demanding applications and games. To circumvent the problem, here are some quick tips to accelerate performance of Hard Drives.

Setup and Physical Maintenance of Hard Disk

1. Check if disk is properly screwed and installed source provides sufficient power to run.
2. Make Sure there are no Jumper misconfiguration. It is recommended to set the Hard Disk as Master.
3. If your motherboard is compatible with SATA drives, please use the latest standard supported and make sure the HD is not configured to operate in compatibility mode.
4. Enter the BIOS and see if the configuration is correct. Make Sure that the option “Block Mode” is enabled.

Before Installing Linux

If you are performing a new installation of Linux, create the swap partition before the root. Follow the recommendations of the distribution you are installing. The Penguin operating system needs blocks of the first hard drive to work with temporary files. This speeds up your computer performance considerably.

Windows Setup

At the time of installing Windows, you should do it in a separate partition. So, before you begin the process, partition your hard disk, leaving considerable space for the system essential programs and temporary files.

Let’s take an example: if your drive has 500 GB, 100 GB worth leaving for the installation of Windows. The remaining nearly 400 GB should make the secondary partition, which will serve to store your documents and prevent data loss in situations that need to reinstall the operating system.

Windows virtual memory

Microsoft’s system stores temporary files in a paging file. If your computer has at least 8 GB of RAM, you can disable this feature. However, if not, then follow the steps below to set PageFile configuration:

1. Go to Start Menu >> Properties of Computer
2. On Windows System Properties, click on “Advanced Settings” on left pane.
3. In Advanced Tab, Click on “Settings” button in Performance.
4. Again, under Advance Tab, Click on “Change” Button under Virtual Memory Options.
5. Uncheck “Automatically manage Paging File size” and select “Custom Size”
6. In the “Initial Size“, enter at least 1024 MB for the system to unload the kernel in an emergency. In “Maximum Size“, enter 1.5 Times the amount of RAM installed. For example: I have 4GB of RAM on my system so, for me it will be 4×1.5=6GB i.e. 6144 

Preventive Maintenance

Having installed the drive correctly and configured the system to use it optimally, you just have to do the occasional defragmentation. This process helps to organize the data from the HD, which facilitates procedures for reading and writing.

• Does Defragmenting Shorten HDDs Life?

Windows does have an inbuilt Defragment tool but there are some better tools out there which does the same job in more optimized manner. Check out Best Defragment Tools for Windows and decide which one to go with.

Useful Tips to Buy a New HardDisk

Over time, the hard drive may have problems or do not offer enough space for your data. If this is the case, purchase of a new component can be interesting. However, buying a HD should be planned, because every little detail makes a difference in time to perform robust software. Pay attention to the following factors:

• Memory cache: choose a model with 32 or 64 MB;
• RPM: 7200 rpm disks are faster;
• Average access time: choose a HD at the lowest possible value;
• Technology: prefer a component with more advanced features and search for information on what each manufacturer offers;
• Interface: find a disk with the most current standard. (Though, SATA 3.0 is latest however 2.0 is enough)
• Storage space: purchase a product with the largest size possible, because the trend is significantly increasing the size of files and programs.

Of course, all these tips can result in small improvements, but we can not guarantee that your computer will be much faster because hard disks are no longer so quick. It seems that the evolution to the SSD will be inevitable, at least with regard to speed. And already we are seeing that most of the users are using SSDs as Primary / OS Drive while HDs are used for rest of the storage.

5 Only Instagram Tools You’ll Need to do Wonders With Your Photos

Instagram needs no Introduction, it magically transforms any photo on Smartphones and shares it on the go. But Wait.. There is more you can do with instagrammed photos thanks to 3rd party Web Services.

Backup Download Instagram Photos to Computer

Instagram doesn’t allow to download or save your photos by default. Fortunately there is an service callInstaport.me which can be used to backup and download all your photos from Instagram account to Computer.

Complete Backup of Photos is archived and can be downloaded as single ZIP file. You can then use it in combination with Google+, Facebook or any other (photo) application.

For Android Users, there is an app called SaveGram which can download all publicly shared images in one go.

Instagram Web Interface and Search

Instagram, being mobile application only has mobile interface and doesn’t allows to open anywhere except Cellphone.

If you want to find photos that contain a particular hash tag, then go for Webstagram. This photo viewer allows you to see your feed in either a grid or list format. Webstagram also helps you to find photos, sort, tag, follow and comment on other people’s photos.

Create Instagram PDFs and Slideshows

Convert Pictures from Instagram account into high quality PDF and slideshow thereby using Instagram2PDF Service. You just have to Login to Instagram, Select Photos, select PDF options and Download hige quality PDF Document contain your Instagram photos.

Make Mirror Site of Instagram Web Stream

In case, you don’t just want a local backup copy of photos but also have a shadow copy running on web at same time, then, use Parallel-Ogram. It is a simple web app to create an archive of your Instragram photos (and likes) and to make that archive a living, breathing website of its own.

Send Real Post Card of Instagram Picture

Postagram app will turn your Instagram image into a real postcard, add your custom message, and send it in the snail mail to whatever address you enter.

The app is free but each postcard costs $1. You’re not limited to sending Instagram images—you can choose any shot from your Photo Album.

There are many Instagram Tools floating on web but I sorted out only the most essential Instagram Tools as from my point of view. They are enough to manipulate with Instagram Photos and play with your account.

Increase Gmail Attachment Size By Syncing With Cloud Storage

Attachments.me brings all your content from cloud storage folder like Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive and Google Drive to Gmail. It makes possible to send Gmail attachments to Cloud Folder without downloading on computer.

Not just download but it also makes it possible to send file attachments to email recipient right from Cloud folder. In this way, the file size restriction of Email service (maximum 25MB in Gmail) is overridden.

Yes, it possible to send File of even 1GB as Gmail attachment thanks to Attachments.me.

How to Increase Gmail Attachment Size

1. Download Attachments.me Addon/Extension for Firefox / Chrome.
2. You will have to authorize this service to access Gmail account. Do not worry about your password as they are not stored and bank level encryption is implemented.
   
3. Once Gmail authorization is done, you have to choose from Cloud services to integrate which further requires authorization.
   
4. After successful integration of cloud account, you will be able to send attachments from those folder and also save file attachments there.

How To Send Big File Attachment From Gmail

I assume that you have an account on any of the Cloud service: Box, Dropbox, Google Drive or Skydrive. And files to be shared is saved on these cloud storage.

From now on, whenever you compose new email, you will notice “Share From Skydrive” button. (Skydrive in my case but can differ in your case according to cloud folder you choose)

Instead of clicking on “Attach File”, click on Share From button which opens dialog box showing files from cloud folder. Choose file and click insert.

File from cloud storage is now added and link to that attachment is in email content.

How To Save Email attachments to Cloud Storage

Whenever an email arrives with attachment in inbox, Attachments.me detects automatically and shown on right sidebar. Click on “Send to” button and cloud folder will open in new dialog box. Select folder to save this file in cloud.

How To Automate Saving Email Attachments To Cloud Storage

If you want to save all Telephone bills received in email every month to a specific folder in Cloud storage. Then, it can be easiy configured using a feature called Automatic Filing rule. Paper clip button at the top offers an option of “Automatic Filing rules”.

You can set “Which Type of File” received “From Whom” to be sent in “Which Folder” of “Which Cloud Storage”.

Connect Multiple Cloud Storage To make Big Space and Manage from One window

Bottomline

Attachments.me hence can be used to manage Cloud Storage from Gmail account and not just increasing Gmail attachment size. If you find this solution lengthy then go for freeservices to share large files over web without registration.

uTorrent Download Speed Increased to 135% Just by Changing Settings

Set Upload Speed to Optimum

The default configuration of uTorrent does not establish limits to the speed of uploading files, which can compromise the throughput of downloads. The more “clever” ones will leave this value to least, but this causes the program to identify you as a peer bad, lowering its priority in time to receive files from other people. To avoid this, just leave a median value.

In Options > Setup Guide, click the down arrow next to “Your upload speed” and choose an amount equivalent to 80% of the maximum upload speed of your connection (use SpeedTest to find it). Click “Save & Close” to exit.
Make Sure you Set the Results in Kbit instead pf Mbit.

• How to Increase Upload Ratio of Torrent Trackers

Change Maximum Number of Peers and Connections

Now it’s time to change the program preferences. Go to Options > Preferences > Bandwidth control : at the bottom of the window, change the maximum number of connections to “450″ ??and the maximum number of peers per torrent connect it to “200″.

Enable Protocol Encryption

In the menu “BitTorrent”, find the field “Protocol Encryption” and change the output value to “Enabled”.

Some Advanced Tweaks

In the advanced settings of uTorrent, change the values of following parameters to “80″

1. bt.auto_dl_sample_average
2. bt.auto_dl_sample_window
3. bt.ban_threshold
4. bt.connect_speed
5. net.max_halfopen.
6. rss.update_interval

Add Windows Firewall Exception

Generally, it is done while installing itself but in case you forgot to add exception, you can go toPreferences > Connection, check the “Add Windows Firewall Exception” to avoid problems like the program is unable to perform downloads.

Force Start Torrent

When a download is in progress, right-click on it, select “Force Start” (only in torrents to various sources) and Bandwidth Allocation > High.

• How to Control uTorrent Remotely from Mobile Device

In these settings, it is always interesting to watch the number of seeds (people sharing) and Leechers (people downloading) a torrent. When the number of people wanting to download is larger than just those who are distributing a file, the download speed tends to be very low.

The same happens when the torrent is very new, because there are few people who have the entire file to share.

So when doing a search on torrent sites, always arrange the results by number of seeders : the larger it is, the better your chances of getting higher download speed.

Download October 2012 Calendar Theme for Windows 7

October 2012 Calendar Theme Backgrounds

The total theme package is of 13.12 MB and with really eye catching wallpapers. After you have finished downloading the Themepack, just click on it to apply. You can also try out Bing Daily wallpaper pack to have new wallpapers rotate on your desktop automatically, when you have a active internet connection.

DOWNLOAD: OCTOBER 2012 CALENDAR THEME