Firefox latest beta version : 4.0 Beta1

I've installed the version 4.0 Beta1 of Firefox. Haven't went through any review of firefox 4.0 beta1 before I installed it
Here is a screen shot of the application. Please note that if you need a stable version, stick on to  the current version (3.6.6 is the current stable version of firefox).

As a first impression it is the new clean UI, the loaders and the option to give feed back that welcomes us. 

Will try to post more on it when I start using it more.

Applications I can't live without : Part 1.

I work in the software Quality assurance field, and here are the Windows Applications I can't live without.(Doesn't involve the software testing apps - that list is endless). I use 3 windows OS: Win XP / Vista/ Win 7. These must have applications(atleast for me) are mostly free and open source which are sure to work in all the three OS. Check them out.

1. Notepad++:  free as in both "free speech" and "free beer"
        - The replacement for notepad, having advance features, and easy to use with a tabbed interface. It helps me a lot in writing my technical blog, as well as do some basic programming as well.
More info in Notepad++ website

2. Paint.Net :
        - Replacement for the Paint in Windows (the MSPaint in windows 7 is more powerful than the one in other versions like xp and vista). This application can handle layers, and can do almost all the adjustments that are needed for your small time picture editing needs.
More info in Paint.Net website

3. Open Office :
        - Open Office(earlier with Sun, now with Oracle after the acquisition) is an open source office applications having almost all the capabilities of of MS Office. A true MS Office replacement and nifty to work with!
More info in Open Office website

4. Foxit reader :
        - I use this instead of Adobe Acrobat reader to view *.pdf(Portable Document Format) files. Light to the memory, and easy to use.
        Foxit Reader website

5. Browsers - FireFox/ Chrome :
        - Firefox is the thing with fire in it's stomache and can be claimed as the IE killer - Open source, fast(except may be because of some scripts), and almost crash free. Chrome from Google is also reliable in most of the cases.
         FIrefox and Chrome can be obtained from their websites.


To be continued...

New building for Infopark; Athulya opened by Chief Minister

Infopark's new building, Athulya was inaugarated by Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan, the cheif minister of Kerala, India on last day. This Information Technology Park(Info Park) is the second initiative of Kerala Government in the field of Information Technology after technopark, Trivandrum, and already houses some of the big names in the industry. The chief minister also opened the 2.4 KM infopark express high way, that links the technology park to the sea port airport road.

Situated on 7.1 acres of land in Infopark SEZ, Athulya has a total built-up area of 5.5 lakh square feet and can house a software development block (with an area of 3.5 lakh square feet), a cafeteria building (with an area of 0.50 lakh square feet), and multi-level car parking facility (300 cars). With a total seating capacity of 4000, Athulya will have a total of 10 elevators (8 for the software development blocks and 2 for the cafeteria). With an average floor plate size of 50000 sq. ft. Athulya also boasts of facilities such as incubation centers; training rooms; direct four-lane connectivity road ...etc.
More info on the facility of athulya in infopark can be found out in Kerala Information technology's blog.. in the function a mention on the smartcity issue also came up.

image courtesy : The Hindu

SQAGuy

Series on Basics on software testing is over. Now need to input more things that are beneficial in SQAGuy. The stat plugin is down in that.. need to restore that as well.. Busy week ahead!

Web Security And GFI WebMonitor 2009

Security is a major concern these days.Everyday we are hearing about networks being hacked,sites being hijacked, viruses being spread.Keeping a database of effected sites is not an easy task.Automated solutions like web filtering and web monitoring solutions are an absolute necessity for all those who are using internet today.Another issue is with the uncontrolled usage of internet and download of unmonitered data during office hours.Now a days,the practice of accessing unsolicated sites are common among childrenIn the absence of their parents,they become unable to control these kind of activities of their children and the same may lead to the physical and mental abuse of children. A safer browsing experience can be obtained by installing products like GFI WebMonitor 2009 .

Some of the features of GFI WebMonitor 2009 are ability to control thr browsing hours, updated webgrade database having more than 165 million URLs,that are black listed ,wide spread coverage of domains. According to Phil Bousfield , the GFI's VP of Product engineering, This product is a major boost to the administrators effort to block a number of sites from getting accessed. Another addon that is in GFI 2009 are the inclusion of two new reports. Top Policy breaker report to identify the people with most number of variances in the established company norms and also the bandwidth allocation report. There are provision for real time monitoring and general policy exceptions. Blocking of MSN messaging feature allows us to make sure that the company time is not spend on chatting.

If interested, you can download free trial version of the same from the GFI's website.

Ubuntu 8.10 - Are you ready?

Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more. More over it is free... A new version of ubuntu, 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) is about to release...

Software - Q.A. - Random thoughts

What happens when the bugrate of the programs written are zero?
Many people will be losers.. like the testers, QA people and of course the company as a whole because there is no scope for support!

Quick thought! - Poll

What is the office software you are using? is it Microsoft office or Open office or any other ?




PLease check the Poll on the left side.


Update: Am not able to create a poll... it is saying The poll doesnt exists or is deleted. :(

Is something wrong?

Clean your Registry

TweakNow RegCleaner Standard Is a tool that can be used to remove the unwanted registry entries and helps to keep your computer clean!




Try downloading that from Tweaknow

What do you use to change your login Screen? - Vista

I was rather getting bored in seeying the plain login screen in my HP DV 6701AU. So I started looking for options to change the same... now I use the logon studio from stardock. Through this program, I am now able to change the background of my login Screen :)

Consumer IR Drivers for HP Laptops( for Vista - May be for other windows versions as well)

Many of you people may have similar experience like mine. I was having windows Vista installed in my laptop and I formatted the recovery partition.. boom.. everything went hay wired.. Then I went ahead with clean install of Vista and found one unrecognized hard ware in my device manager list.! poor me.. it was the consumer IR.. I searched for the same in the whole internet.. and I couldn't find a suitable driver for the same.. Every time I login, it keep on saying that I have a missing stuff inside my HP Pavilion DV6701 AU Laptop. I couldn't find any in the driver section of the HP India (and US as well) Site. Suddenly one day i rectified the issue here is how.

I was running a critical update for my vista.(I've turned off the automatic update.. so do manual update occasionally)
I juz went into the the other optional and recommended updates and there I saw the Drivers for consumer IR... Yes.. Vista update have the drivers for the HP consumer IR.. What are you waiting for my dear.. juz go ahead and run an update.. and btw, this may works with Windows XP as well...

Bugs, testers and extra functionality.

The Software we uses may contain lotta bugs... and its the duty of the testers to eliminate them before the final release.. err.. the actual sentence would be, to find and report them.. so its like what Terminix do. or rather may be its done b the programmer itself. What ever the case is it must be bug free. A software can be said to be as a good one, if it is usable in the eyes of the final user, if its functional in the eyes of the tester and if its less buggy in the eyes of the project members(and of course in the eyes of customer and testers as well.)

Extra functionality.
Extra functionality is always welcome. but imagine a customer complaining that he is directed to other pages on certain keystrokes or certain combination keys(for him it may be undesirable). That will be a pain. So when ever a customer gives out his requirement(s), either stick to the same or discuss with him what ever extra functionality you are gonna add. This clears the last minute debate(over the money and functionality) before the release.

Programmes I cant live wihout

1. Notepad ++ [http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/]
Yeah this article itself is typed in notepad++ and I love this software.. when ever some one calls to give a number, open an unknown file , I automatically press winkey + R (activate the 'RUN' ) and type in "notepad++" (without double quotes) and swoosh.. its before me.. its so fast, easy to handle and controllable. This is the program which i use frequently

2. Paint .net (paint dot net or PDN) [http://www.getpaint.net/]
A li'l image manipulation tool that is helpful in times. for hose simple resizing, retouching job, this program is soo light and easy.

3. Firefox [http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/]
I love this browser.. except that it doesnt opens up my bank account secured page.. but that is ok :)

4. Flashget [http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm]
This is a wonder tool for me which helps me a lot in managing the downloads in my office and home... small but powerful.

5. Open office. [http://www.openoffice.org/]
Thanks to this program which helps me a lot in creating pdf documents that draws attraction in my company as well as among my friends. This is primarly a well managed document tool. I dint forgot about the spreadsheet, presentation capabilities ...etc.

6. Google talk [http://www.google.com/talk/]
For hose hi and bye I use google talk (less frequent now a days). Thanks to google, i am in touch with my friends

7. Blogger [blogger.com]
I use blogger and i have used my domain over it. so definitly blogger is in my list

8. Picassa [picasaweb.google.com]
Picassa is neat and organisable to an extend. I use them in my blogs, for hosting my personal album ...etc.

9. Google Apps. [google.com/a]
yeah, the google apps is definitly a boon for me. With that am getting a lotta free space for my mail. google sites, and google pages, where I can even store some files to dowload.

10. AVG Antivirus Free editon [http://free.grisoft.com/]
Yeah, I use the free edition of AVG from grisoft and that helps me in keeping major vulnarabilities out.

11. Tweak UI / powertoys [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx]
For keeping my computer neat

12 Ccleaner [http://www.ccleaner.com/]
For keeping my computer clean


So that is it. these are the major programs I use on a daily basis. For my video audio needs, i use windows media player itself.

So what are your essentials?


* This is not a comprehensive list.. i juz penned down(oops I mean keyed down) the data which came in to my mind.