navigation to power options have become pretty difficult in Windows 8. You need to navigate to power option in system tray using Win+C then Settings and there you can find power options.

All hard work looks like waste when you see the only power options available are

• Sleep
• Shutdown
• Restart

And there is no Hibernate option available.

To enable hibernate mode in power options, navigate to

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\System Settings

Click on Change Settings that are currently unavailable. Once you click there Shutdown settings which were disabled becomes enabled,

Check the checkbox for option Hibernate – Show in Power Menu and click Save Changes button.

Now the hibernate option is enabled in Power Menu.

                          

If you have encountered such issue you may perform the following methods to resolve the issue:

Method 1: Startup Repair from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer.

2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.

3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next.

6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on Repair your computer.

7. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.

8. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Startup Repair.

Know more about Startup-Repair

Method 2: Rebuild BCD using the Bootrec.exe tool

To run the Bootrec.exe tool, you must start Windows RE. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Put the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when you are prompted. Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next.

3. Click Repair your computer.

4. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.

6. Type Bootrec.exe, and then press ENTER.
Refer the following link for more information:

How to use the Bootrec.exe tool

Method 3: Use the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to run System Restore

1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer.

2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.

3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and clickNext

6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on System Restore.

7. Follow the System Restore Wizard instruction as usual and choose the appropriate restore point.

8. Click Finish to restore the system.

Know more about “System Restore”

                          

While clearing my piles of CDs and DVDs I found some CDs which contained invaluable data and were long forgotten. Since I don’t use CDs DVDs just like any other Geek around I thought of copying those files in my external storage device. And that was the moment I was stumped. Those CDs were having many scratches and copying them was not possible as it hanged my Windows Explorer for long. Tried an old trick of copying files in Windows Briefcase too that copies partial file but I was not satisfied with this one.

After lot of search I came to find a free tool Unstoppable Copier that recovers files from disks with physical damage. this tool allows to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data. The program will attempt to recover every readable piece of a file and put the pieces together. Using this method most types of files can be made useable even if some parts of the file were not recoverable in the end.
The program can be used as a daily backup system using its batch mode functions. A list of transfers can be saved to a file and then run from the command line to perform the same batch of transfers on a regular basis without having to use the GUI interface. The program supports command line parameters which allow the application to be run from schedulers or scripts so it can be fully integrated into daily server tasks.

Available for both Linux & windows (Windows7 too) users this useful file copy utility is available for download here: Unstoppable Copier

                          

To enable Internet Sharing of USB Modem in Windows 7, follow the steps:

1. Navigate to system tray click on the arrow button to show the list of available processes and tasks.

2. Select the Internet access from the list available and click on Open Network & sharing Center. (You may also reach here via Control Panel)

3. From the Left side pane, select manage Wireless Networks

4.Select the Add option in the Manage Wireless Networks Window.

5. From the Manually connect to a wireless network pop up window, select Create an Ad hoc network.

6. Click next after reading details about wireless ad-hoc network.

7. Configure Ad-hoc network. Enter desired network name, security type and security key.

8. Make sure you select an encryption type. Make the security type WEP and password protect it using 5 or 13 character key.

9. Click on Turn on Internet Connection sharing to share the internet.

10. Internet Sharing is enabled. Press Okay to proceed. You have now enabled WiFi connection from your laptop available to other users.

To connect to your system’s internet one must simply locate and select the network just created and connect using the encryption security key as entered.

11. Once done, you may remove the adhoc network from Manage Wireless networks window.

Caution: Make sure you don’t leave the authentication open in security key as any one may connect to your Internet and might misuse it.

                          

While working on excels with tremendous amount of data, it is desired many a times to track if the current cell alignment is corresponding to right column or to make sure data is entered in a correct cell. This issue arises frequently when the excel worksheet is stuffed with loads of data and in such scenarios user has to scroll left/up and then right/down back to work. To keep an area of a worksheet visible while you scroll to another area of the worksheet, you can lock specific rows or columns in one area by freezing panes .

By freezing the panes, you keep specific rows or columns visible when you scroll in the worksheet. This feature makes important columns display as you move throughout the spreadsheet. Locking columns in Excel is an option called freezing panes.

To lock or freeze Row/Column in an Excel, follow these steps :

1 Open an Excel worksheet. Add data into row and column header as well as in cells as desired.

2 Highlight the entire column/row to lock.

3 Click on the "View" tab if using Microsoft Excel 2010. Under the Window group item in the menu, click on the arrow for "Freeze Panes." Select the option to "Freeze First Column" to lock only the one column highlighted. Select the option to "Freeze Top Row" if you want to freeze the top Row at one time.

4 Repeat the process listed in steps 1 through 3 and then select “Unfreeze Panes” to unlock all the panes .

And the Row/Column locked, scrollable Excel sheet is prepared. Quiet handy in the worksheets dealing with enormous amounts of data.

                          

A lot of Websites these days adding Keyboard shortcuts to their websites. Keyboard shortcuts provide access to different arena of a website with fewer clicks. Facebook (no Intro required for what it does and what it is), too have some Keyboard shortcuts that you can use on your Facebook profile to navigate around.

As like Google, Facebook too has become a Verb lately in casual conversation. Here is the list of the Keyboard shortcuts that you can use on Facebook :

Navigate to Facebook page and login to your account. Click on any empty space on the pace before you try these shortcuts.

1: Alt+1 or Alt+Shift+1 take you to the homepage of Facebook.
2: Alt+2 or Alt+Shift+2 to your profile page.
3: Alt+3 or Alt+Shift+3 opens your friend requests tab. (On I.E click enter to display)
4: Alt+4 or Alt+Shift+4 opens your messages tab. (On I.E click enter to display)
5: Alt+5 or Alt+Shift+5 shows your notifications tab. (On I.E click enter to display)
6: Alt+6 or Alt+Shift+6 opens edit account page.
7: Alt+7 or Alt+Shift+7 opens privacy settings page.
8: Alt+8 or Alt+Shift+8 takes you to official Facebook page.
9: Alt+9 or Alt+Shift+9 takes you to terms and conditions page.
10: Use right and left navigation keys to navigate photos.
11: Alt+? should take you to the Facebook search box.
12: Ctrl +W to close the tab.

These shortcuts works best with Firefox and Chrome. If you like to add a few more shortcuts, comment here to let us know.

                          

Google has introduced a feature for Gmail service, which enables Gmail users to access their Gmail account without Internet. Google Gears allows to use Gmail without using internet, but enabling the powerful web apps and adding exciting features to the web browser. Using Google Gears, Gmail will download the local cache of your mail. Thus making it possible to access Gmail account without Internet.

Google have launched their new powered app Google Gears which will hold download the local cache which is synchronized with Gmail servers as long as your internet connection stays and after the connection is break, this app will switch to offline mode automatically and uses that cache stored on your PC’s HD.

To access Gmail without Internet follow these steps :

• For Mozilla Firefox or Internet explorer or any other browsers you need to install Google Gears. For Chrome, there is no need to install Google Gears app as it is already installed.

Download : Google Gears 

• Login to your Gmail account and Switch to Labs Option from the the menu. If you haven’t upgraded your profile, then Click on Settings Option and from there you need to click on Labs Option.
• In the Labs Option, switch to Offline option and then click on Enable roption and click Save Changes.
• If you haven’t upgraded your Gmail account, after switching to Settings Option, click on Offline Option and there you can select the Enable Offline Mail for this computer and save the changes.
• After saving the changes, you should be able to see the offline link at the top right of your Gmail account page. Some times you may have to refresh the page manually.
• If you are using the Browsers other than Chrome, then you need to install Google Gears app from Gmail’s Google Gears page.
• Finally, allow the Google Gears to access your Gmail account on your system, by selecting the Allow Option.

• You can also create a shortcut of Gmail on your Desktop by selecting all the check-boxes that were displayed in another pop-up window
• Now, your Gmail account will be synchronized and this will help you to access your older mail without Internet access.

This is sure a way for the people having inconsistent Internet connections.

                          

To re-install the Windows 7 Operating System through the option other than CD / DVD i.e through the USB Pen Drive there are a few options you need to trigger to make the USB drive bootable and run like a normal DVD, allowing you to install the whole Operating System easily.

To get the things started, minimum requirements are, you will be needing a Portable Drive with a minimum of 4Gb storage capacity as the Windows 7 Installation files itself requires around 2-3Gb of space. Next you will have to make sure that you have a Licensed Copy of Windows 7 in order to complete this installation and make sure that you don’t get any Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications.

Step1: Once you are ready with the initial requirement, you need to open the Command Prompt in an elevated mode i.e. having the Permissions to Run as Administrator, which can be done by clicking on the Start, typing cmd in the “search programs and files” textbox, right click on Command Prompt and select the option ‘Run as administrator’. Now the command prompt is opened with administrator privileges and you can make any changes on your computer using the cmd.

Step 2: The next step would require running the CMD prompt and following the instructions listed below one by one carefully in the right order to make sure no mistakes happen.

First you will have to type DISKPART which will start the utility which allows you to edit and manage Disk Partitions all connected to your computer. Connect the USB Drive to your computers USB Port and move to the next step of finding out the disk number.

Under the CMD Prompt, type LIST DISK which will list down all the connected drivers on your computer with the storage capacity. You can identify your USB drive by the size of the USB drive. As you can see, the Disk 0 has a size of 465 Gb space which is the Internal Hard drive while the other disk with size 4 Gb is the USB drive.

The next step would be cleaning the drive which can be accomplished by typing ‘CLEAN‘ in the DiskPart utility which will delete all the contents and make it a blank drive.

Following this you will have to type ‘CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY‘ which will make the specific partition a primary one.

Type ‘SELECT PARTITION‘ followed by ‘ACTIVE‘ to make the current partition as active.

Once the above steps are done, you will have to proceed towards formatting the drive to NTFS partition which can be done by typing ‘FORMAT FS=NTFS’. This would take around 5-10 minutes of time in order to completely format the whole volume.

Next you will have to insert the genuine Windows 7 DVD into your DVD Drive and then note the drive letter from ‘My Computer’ section. In this case the optical Media drive was at E: drive and the USB Drive was located at F: following which you will have to access the Command Prompt and then get into the CD Boot process by entering – CD BOOT following which all the boot files would be updated to the target volume ie the USB Pen Drive.

Next you will have to move to the ‘My Computer’ section and then transfer all the files from the Windows 7 DVD to the USB Drive which would take a few minutes depending upon the files size in the Windows 7 DVD which is around 2.33 Gb.

Once the data is transferred your USB drive becomes Bootable Windows 7 Installation drive which can be used to install Windows 7 right away.

To install the Windows 7 using USB drive, restart the computer or laptop and then change the boot option from HDD or CD to USB Mode. (For DELL computers/laptops, you can change the same by pressing F12 key @ Bootup)

Then proceed with a restart following which the installation would be completed within a few minutes. The whole installation process speeds up as the data is on the drive which is much faster when compared to a optical drive.

Following the above procedure, USB Geeks can install Windows 7 or Windows Vista as well on their Laptops.

                          

1. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

2. On the Right side pane, open the “MinWidth” entry. If it’s not there, create it by Right-clicking in the right pane, select New, then Select “String Value,” and name the object MinWidth.
3. Change the number in the “Value Data” field the width you want to set for the taskbar icons.
4. Click OK.

And you are done. Its better to have a small sized taskbar button rather than two rows. This trick helps to get more icons in taskbar which can also be achieved by using widescreen laptops or Wide Monitors. To select such laptops or monitors you may also refer to Monitor Review over the internet which can help you in picking one, finally giving you more space @ your desktop.

                          

With the heavy usage of computers, people are not just spending hours working on computer, but also are more prone towards many diseases like chronic backpain, Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), stress etc.

On an average a regular computer user performs 50K to 200K keystrokes a day using their computers for several hours.

For those who work on a computer extensively while blogging, chatting, coding etc, Proper workstation layout as well as Proper Posture techniques to minimize risk of developing injuries of the hand/arm, shoulder, neck, and back are recommended. Overuse injuries develop over time, and may set in more quickly if you spend long hours sitting at a computer at home, as well as at work.

Here are some correct postures which should be used while using a computer to reduce stress and other ill effects.

How to type on a Keyboard

How to use a Mouse

Ideal Adjustments of a computer chair

Follow these tips while working on a computer to reduce the risks of associated diseases significantly. Stay Healthy !