Use Gmail offline on your laptop

Google gives access to vast collection of apps on chrome web store to chrome users. Few days back, I found Offline Google mail app for chrome web browser that makes very simple to take all your mails on the go without staying connected to the internet!


You might be thinking of other options available for the same, like mail clients (Microsoft outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Apple Mail, etc), but they are too much bulkier on your system and can suck up a ton of space on your computer.

QR Code

Simple QR Code image

QR Code stands for Quick Response Code. It is used to encode some sort of information like name, url, web address, email address, etc.

It is a 2 dimensional code that can be read by smart phones. To read a qr code, your cell phone needs a camera and an application to read it. You can find varieties of qr code readers from various appstores for different smartphone manufacturers. Once your qr code reader application reads the detail you can store it to your phone.

How To Hide Hard Disk In Windows

Photo Credits: Eric Gaba

Sometimes we prefer to hide our hard disk drive to be listed in My Computer. It's a good idea to store all your personal data in any single partition of hard disk and then hide that partition. Although, hiding this way won't stop the smart computer users to access those hidden partitions. But still this works for general users and children.

Hiding hard disk partition in Windows requires a minor tweak into the registry keys. Follow the below easy steps to hide your hard partition.

• Open Run menu
• Type gpedit.msc in Run menu and click OK. It will open up Group Policy window.
• Navigate to the following template in the Local Group Policy Editor:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Component > Windows Explorer

• Locate the template Hide these specified drives in My Computer and double-click it.

Double click on "Hide these specified drives in My Computer" template

• Select Enabled from Not Configured and select the combinations from drop down menu to hide the partition(s).

Select "Enabled" and Drive Combinations to hide

Restart the system to see the changes you have made. At anytime, you can revert these changes by disabling settings in the Group Policy Editor.

Data Validation in Excel

Microsoft Excel is outstanding software for numerical data processing. It provides numerous mathematical and scientific functions. Many times we create a worksheet to collect data from others; at such times ensuring valid data entry is an important task. You may want to restrict data entry to a certain range of numeric values, date within time-frame, text of a specified length, etc. Applying data validation on worksheet will help to instruct users and clear messages when invalid data is entered.

To keep it simple, I've created a very simple example that limits salesperson's bonus to 10% of his salary. If payroll manager mistakenly enters bonus more than 10% of salesperson's salary then he will be notified with an error message. You can download sample excel sheet to perform this example from Google Docs.

Greenshot - Enhance Your Screen Capturing

Print screen (Alt + Print screen, too) is always boring task in windows XP, you've to instantly paste your screenshot image to either word document file or Microsoft paint to save it.Windows XP also lacks region screen capturing facility.

We can get rid off this problem. There are so many software available but some of them are paid tools. Greenshot is a free screen capturing tool. It is quite good and useful for those who are doing screen capturing for their daily documentation work.

Let's explore the features available in Greenshot.

CCleaner - Optimize and Clean Your Windows PC

CCleaner, one of the best available tool, automatically removes all unwanted temporary internet files from you computer. This way you could reclaim some hard-disk space by clearing out all those scrap using CCleaner tool. It also offers Registry Cleaner and Software Uninstaller and some more advanced features like secure file deletion etc.

Lets get a closer look at CCleaner.


1. Cleaner Tab [Home Screen]

The cleaner tab allows you to choose the options on which you wish to perform automatic cleaning operations. The windows tab under the Cleaner tab lists all of the built-in softwares and tools in the Windows. While Applications tab allows you to select options for third party tools or softwares like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.

CCleaner Home Screen

Once you are done with the selection options. Hit Run Cleaner button to start cleaning your computer. You will presented a Summary Results when CCleaner completes the cleaning operation.

Have you seen, it reclaimed 18 MB by removing those temporary junk files from my computer?

How To Setup Google Chrome Sync

Google Chrome Sync saves all your bookmarks, tabs, history, and other browser preferences to your Google account when you sign-in with your Google credentials in to the Chrome browser. You can then load the same settings, bookmarks and everything you synced with Chrome on other computer and devices.

It might happen that you've saved some bookmarks at your office and you need the same at home. Before the Sync option available, I used to store important bookmarks in a draft mail on my Gmail account for access anywhere purpose!

But now, you can easily sync and save bookmarks, extensions, apps, theme, and browser preferences to your Google Account so that they are available no matter what computer or device you’re using. That way, you can have the same web experience everywhere.

Check this introductory video by +Google Chrome.