PTCL ONU Service – Point Of Criticism

PTCL ONU Service – Point Of Criticism?

PTCL launched triple-play service:

Pakistan telecommunication limited introduced a triple play service. Subscribers of that service can enjoy more than 100 TV channels, DSL and a regular phone service all just on one phone line. PTCL sources claimed that PTCL has invested 3.5 Billion PKR in this project and the triple-play service will charge PTCL customers around 1,500 Rupees per month.

One may be wondering that what is the difference between the earlier DSL provided by PTCL before the launch of triple play service and after the launch. Answer is simple that is company has overhauled its system and has replaced copper wires with optical fiber system completely to ensure best possible service. That’s why this service is also termed as ONU service; Optical Network Units service. Actually Optical network units have been installed in several exchanges to provide efficient and quality service via optical cables system. Company is investing without any offenses and hesitation just to provide best possible service to customers that there is. This point can be justified by the fact that one ONU costs rupees 10 million and more than 350 ONUs have been installed from exchanges to telephone cabinets.

Can we afford such technologies?

Before the launch of ONU connections there were old copper cables acting as a medium between telephone and exchange they didn’t need any source to boost their signals up. But fiber optics needs an electric source in order to connect to exchange, MEANS NO ELECTRICITY NO CONNECTION, then in a country like Pakistan where we are facing severe power cut issues how can we afford such latest system??

There are a few statements coming from PTCL sources about the backup batteries installed in the cabinets that can keep connection up till 6 to 7 hours in case of load shedding, but on the other hand the subscribers are wildly complaining about no such backups and frequent connectivity loss in case of power cut.

So is this ADVANCEMENT?

Today, when this super service has been launched we are still sitting on the issue tables and trying to justify that ONU connections are much better than the old copper ones’

Whatever we conclude, whatever we tell to media one thing is clear that in this deadly load shedding phase People can’t afford ONU system. I am not saying the service is bad or substandard but I am just pointing out the inefficiency of our institutes. They have spent so much money on the ONU service without creating its basics that is electricity.

Moreover, I think subscribers of ONU connections can still afford lack of DSL connectivity during load shedding but what about the call service which also drops along with the TV and internet during load shedding, as obviously that is also depending on optical fiber networks. So, No light No TV, No net and No CALLS even.

Isn’t it the point of criticism for anyone?? Yes it is!!!

Webcam Effects for your webcam

Webcam Effects for your webcam

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• Add text to your webcam video window with any application.
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Get it here: http://www.manycam.com/

Wireless at Fiber Speeds New millimeter-wave technology sends data at 10 gigabits per second. By Kate Greene There's no shortage of demand for faster wireless, but today's fastest technologies--Wi-Fi, 3G cellular networks, and even the upcoming WiMax--max out at tens or hundreds of megabits per second. So far, no commercial wireless system can beat the raw speed of optical fiber, which can carry tens of gigabits per second. One way to achieve faster speeds is to harness the millimeter-wavelength frequency of the wireless spectrum, although this usually requires expensive and very complex equipment. Now, engineers at Battelle, a research and development firm based in Columbus, OH, have come up with a simpler way to send data through the air with millimeter-wave technology. Earlier this year, in field tests of a prototype point-to-point system, the team was able to send a 10.6-gigabit-per-second signal between antennas 800 meters apart. And more recently, the researchers demonstrated a 20-gigabit-per-second signal in the lab

Five Reasons Why Microsoft’s BING Outshines Google

Five Reasons Why Microsoft’s BING Outshines Google

By Bryan Lambert

PullQuote 222On June 3, 2009 Microsoft officially unveiled its latest incarnation of the search engine: Bing! Yes, Bing, as in cherry, as in Crosby as in BING! I found it! Bing is not so much a search engine as it is a “decision engine”. Bing is what Google was 10 years ago, fresh, innovative, and (dare I say it) cool. But how does it stack up to the behemoth of the search engine world? Pretty well actually, and with this Tech Tip I’ll give you FIVE reasons why Bing outshines Google!

ONE - It’s all about the results baby!

Face it, why do more people today use Google than any other search engine out there? In a word, results – pertinent results to what you’re looking for. However, sometimes to get the results you want, you have to wade through a lot of chaff. It's analogous to dumping a waste can of papers onto the floor and searching for one tiny scrap. With Bing, you get “enhanced results” – what I mean by that is that you get intelligently organized results quickly and efficiently. With many of the search results, you can hover over the right-hand side and get a pop-up window with more information on that particular result. However, along with these results you also will find that you have a plethora of refinement tools to drill down to exactly what you’re looking for. These refinement tools brings us to reason Two.


TWO – The silver platter – that cool left-hand navigation pane

Under the heading of “how could something so simple and elegant be so powerful,” you can now add Bing’s left-hand navigation pane. This pane saves you so many steps in searches that in a short time you’ll wonder how you lived without it. With it, you get your search results categorized, possible related searches, a “reference” pulled from Wikipedia (if one exists), a quick link to images and videos as well your search history - all in one convenient package. Speaking of images and videos, let’s take a look at reasons Three and Four.


THREE and FOUR – Images and Videos done right

Every search engine can search images and videos, and they can mostly come up with what you want – but many times the presentation leaves a lot to be desired. With Bing you get image and video results on steroids. For instance, with the image results it is actually possible to just continually scroll down (instead of hitting next, next, next), and the next set of images are dynamically loaded (they call this the “infinite scroll” feature). Also, with the image results you get some really cool filters (in that nifty left-hand navigation pane) that filter not just by size, but by layout, color, type and “people” (very cool). Hover over an image, and you can also get an option to “show similar images.”

The videos are cool in that if you hover over the video, it starts playing a snippet of it right in the search result box (some have complained about this, but the content filter is set to “moderate safe” by default – turn it off and you see that same kind of “results” you’d see on any other video search engine (just without the auto-playing snippet part)). The videos too have easy to use filters in the left-hand navigation pane such as length, screen size, resolution and source just as the images have. Click on a video and a larger version of it pops to the top of the results page giving you the option to watch it right there, or go to the actual website. It is actually this and other little things that really make Bing shine. Speaking of little things, this brings us to reason Five.

FIVE – The little things

There are so many little cool things that come along with Bing that it is hard to know where to start. From “instant answers” where you can literally type in “traffic” and get your local traffic, to its Local Search (which runs circles around other local search features I’ve seen on other search engines), you'll be amazed at the usefulness of the Local Search features where you can not only find what you’re looking for, but can get one-click directions and a bird's eye view. It seems the folks at Microsoft sat down and decided to do the search engine right – or rather decided to bring the search engine, rather, decision engine into the 21st century. All this and I haven’t even touched on the travel or shopping features of Bing. For more information, I’d really recommend checking out Bing’s product guide at http://www.discoverbing.com/.

Final Words

Really, the more you play around with Bing, the more you’ll love it. Now, I know that some of you are thinking that Google fulfills all your search needs and that “Bing is just there to be there” so why bother checking it out. To this I say, “give it a try” (or as Microsoft would say, “Bing and decide”), and you too will find out why Microsoft’s Bing will outshine Google.
Thanx To TECH TIPS...!

Valuable PC Maintenance Tips

Valuable PC Maintenance Tips

Your PC is your best friend, when it comes to maintaining your personal and business affairs safely. Therefore, you will not want any tampering with your personal details. However, keeping it optimized demands sincere effort on your part. You need to have profound knowledge about PC maintenance tools and PC maintenance software, which give your PC the best of longevity and durability. Take a glance at the following, if you are not aware of the maintenance tips.

Some useful PC maintenance tips

* Computer backups play an integral role in helping you maintain valuable files and disks safely. So, do not forget to prepare backups, simply by burning CD or DVDs. Besides, make good use of USB sticks and portable USB drives.
* Always use protection - update the antivirus software in your PC. In case you fail to buy computer virus packages, then at least try to have free ones like AVG antivirus that is reliable for home use. Do not forget to install a Firewall in your computer to protect your computer from any alien intervention.
* The Recycle bin is one place, which remains filled with too many files. So, empty the Recycle bin at least once a week, to prevent sluggish functioning of your PC.
* Defragmentation once a month is important to keep your system running smoothly and efficiently.
* Keep your hard drive clear of temporary files. Since, these are merely junk files they only clog the space and slow down the functioning. Make sure that you clear the temporary files at least once a month.
* Perform 'Scan disk' once a week to ensure PC maintenance.
* If you frequently make changes to your computer or make a number of downloads within a short span of time, then run a registry cleaner, such as RegCure. This will speed up and ensure excellent performance of your computer system.
* Remove the least important files for smooth functioning of your system.
* The fan inside the CPU should be kept clear of hair, dust and debris. Make sure that it blows cool air to the parts of hardware and keep the CPU temperature under control. This helps a lot in proper functioning of your computer system.
* Disable or delete unrecognizable items in the startup tray.
* Monitor your computer system for spyware and adware.

Looking for more PC maintenance tips, tricks and software about how to speed up, clean, repair, optimize and protect your computer? At http://www.Tune-Your-PC.com you will find solutions for your computer issues, such as error messages, slow PC performance, tweaks, security (spyware, viruses, privacy), and data & photo recovery

A History of the USB Standard

A History of the USB Standard

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard for connecting peripherals to a host. It was designed to allow peripherals to be connected using a single standardized interface and to improve plug and play capabilities by allowing peripherals to be connected or disconnected without having to reboot the computer or turn the device off. This bus can connect devices including mice, keyboards, gaming controllers, scanners, digital cameras, printers, digital media players, flash drives and external hard drives. USB has become the standard connection method for the majority of consumer electronic devices. To date, billions of these devices have been introduced into the consumer electronics market.

The USB Implementers Forum, Inc. (USB-IF) is a non-profit corporation founded by leading companies in the computer and electronics sectors. The organization was formed to provide a support group and forum for the advancement and adoption of USB technology. The Board of Directors is currently comprised of the following companies: Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel Corporation, LSI Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, NEC Corporation and ST-Ericsson.

USB 1.0 and 1.1
The USB 1.0 specification was introduced in 1994 with two data rates, Low-Speed (1.5 Mbps) and Full-Speed (12 Mbps). It was designed to replace the myriad of connectors at the back of PCs and simplify software configuration of communication devices. The 1.1 specification was released in 1998 and was the earliest revision to be widely adopted.

USB 2.0
The USB 2.0 specification was released in 2000 and was standardized by the USB-IF in 2001. Several companies led the initiative to develop a higher data transfer rate of 480 Mbps, about 40 times faster than the 1.1 specification. Also known as Hi-Speed USB, 2.0 expanded the range of external devices that could be used on a computer. And, offered backward compatibility with previous generations.

USB On-The-Go
Many USB devices are portable, and there is an increasing need for devices to communicate directly with each other without a computer. The On-The-Go Supplement makes it possible for peripherals to communicate directly with each other. On-The-Go features include:

- Limited host capability to communicate with selected USB peripherals
- A small connector appropriate for the mobile form
- Low power requirements for preserving battery life
- Ability to be either host or peripheral and to dynamically switch between the two.

Locking Folders

Locking Folders
By Mansoor Ahmad

There are plenty of software which locks drives and folder to protect your confidential data. Why waste money on such tools when you can do it with a simple registry tweak? Here’s how: Caution: Before you attempt these tweaks, please make sure that you have a backup of your registry, just incase something goes wrong in the middle. Locking Folders: Consider you want to lock a folder named XXXX in your E:\, whose path is E:\XXXX. Now open the Notepad and type the following ren xxxx xxxx.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Where xxxx is your folder name. Save the text file as loc.bat in the same drive. Open another new notepad text file and type the following ren xxxx.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} xxxx Save the text file as key.bat in the same drive. Steps to lock the folder: To lock the xxxx folder, simply click the loc.bat and it will transform into control panel icon which is inaccessible. To unlock the folder click the key.bat file. Thus the folder will be unlocked and the contents are accessible.

Hike Your VISTA Experience Ratings

Hike Your VISTA Experience Ratings


1. Open up Windows Explorer & Browse to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore. 2.Right Click on the most recently created XML file there & click on properties. 3.Click on the Security Tab & then on the Edit Button. 4.Click on Add & enter the user name that you log in using . click OK. 5.Select the entered ID & check the checkbox Full Control & click OK. 6. Click on YES for any confirmation Windows that may popup.Finally , click OK. 7. Open Wordpad from Start>All Program> Accessories> Wordpad. 8.Click on File>Open & Browse to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore. Select All files as the type of files Using the drop down menu & select the XML file & Click OK. 9. Under the section, Make changes to the scores given. These are the changes we made to strike the totally extraordinary scores. 10. Save the file & Restart the performance information & tools in the control panel

15 ways to Extend Your Laptop's Battery

15 ways to Extend Your Laptop's Battery


Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up. How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible? Here are 15 easy ways to do so. 1. Defrag regularly - The faster your hard drive does its work - less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery. Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems. 2. Dim your screen - Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen. Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice. 3. Cut down on programs running in the background. Itunes, Desktop Search, etc. All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life. Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery. 4. Cut down external devices - USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery. Remove or shut them down when not in use. It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery. 5. Add more RAM - This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory. 6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD - As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse. Even having one in the drive can be power consuming. They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used. Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones. 7. Keep the battery contacts clean: Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient. 8. Take care of your battery - Exercise the Battery. Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects) 9. Hibernate not standby - Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does. Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down. 10. Keep operating temperature down - Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler. Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips by LapTopMag.com. 11. Set up and optimize your power options - Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect). 12. Don’t multitask - Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery. Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3’s, set your mind to one thing only. If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed! 13. Go easy on the PC demands - The more you demand from your PC. Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD. If you’ve got a single battery charge - pick your priorities wisely. 14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop - Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries. Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix. 15. Prevent the Memory Effect - If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ - Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect. Bonus Tip #1: Turn off the autosave function. MS-Word’s and Excel’s autosave functions are great but because they keep saving regular intervals, they work your hard driver harder than it may have to. If you plan to do this, you may want to turn it back on as the battery runs low. While it saves battery life in the beginning, you will want to make sure your work is saved when your battery dies. Bonus Tip #2: Lower the graphics use. You can do this by changing the screen resolution and shutting off fancy graphic drivers. Graphics cards (video cards) use as much or more power today as hard disks Bonus Tip #1 to give caution about turning off autosave, tip #8 to change information about discharging batteries - thanks to all who pointed it out. Added Bonus tip #2, Tip #1 to add in clause in regards to Mac OSX, Tip #1 about the spinning of hard drives - thanks to all who pointed it out

10 ways to speed up torrent speed

10 ways to speed up torrent speed




P2P file sharing is one of the widely used applications now days. The Torrent search engine is the utility which is excessively used in this context. As the young generation says “impatience is the new world”, means the generation can’t afford anything too slow, same is the case with torrent download. But there are some tips which can really help to improve your download speed. Let’s have a quick glance at these tips.

1. Choose your ISP wisely

The basic rule is that the maximum Torrent download speed that you can get can’t cross the upper limit of the bandwidth provided by your ISP. Usually ISP’s specify the upload and download maximum for the connections. So it is always better to have an ISP who provides better Download and Upload limits for an affordable price.

2. Choose the right BitTorrent client

Always choose the latest versions among the available BitTorrent clients. mTorrent, Vuze etc are some of these latest versions available now. The latest versions are equipped with provisions for obtaining the highest download speed and an overall smooth downloading experience.

3. Check the seeds and peers

A peer is a computer which participates in the P2P sharing either for downloading or uploading. A seed is a computer who has got a complete copy of the file and is sharing that file in the network. A leech is a computer who doesn’t have a complete copy of the file, and is downloading the file at the moment. A leech becomes a seed when it completes the download and shares it over the network. It is always advisable to choose the files with more number of seeds and less no of leeches. That means the file with the highest seed to leech ratio.

4. Altering the firewall configuration

By default the firewalls block all the BitTorrent connections coming through. This can adversely affect the downloading speed. So you must make sure that your firewall is configured in such a way that it allows the BitTorrent connections through it. This can be done by checking the box ‘Add Windows Firewall Exception” in the firewall settings following the path options/preferences/connection. For ease some users may disable the firewall, but it is strongly advised that you shouldn’t disable your firewall that it will open your computer to serious threats.(www.AmazingIT.blogspot.com)

5. Limiting your upload rate

A peer to peer sharing is all about simultaneous upload and download. So every BitTorrent clients must upload some data at the same they are downloading some other data through torrent. For obtaining a high download speed you should vary your upload speed accordingly. Usually the upload maximum by the ISP is very much less than the download maximum. It is only 50Kbps for a 2Mbps connection. For fast downloading you can set your uploading speed to 80% of your maximum uploading speed. You must vary the speed as the download progresses for an efficient downloading. Keep the uploading limit maximum in the beginning and then slightly decrease it as the download progresses. In mTorrent the upload limit can be set from the option Global Upload Rate.

6. Selecting a different port

The default port for the BitTorrent file sharing is one between 6881 and 6999. As BitTorrent sharing involves high bandwidth usage the ISP’s usually throttle traffic on these ports. So you can increase the downloading speed by selecting some port above 10000. Usually mTorrent randomly assign the port as the application starts. So set a specific port with a number above 10000, by disabling the Randomize port checkbox.

7. Increasing the number of Maximum Half Open TCP Connections

Usually the maximum no of half open TCP connections in Windows XP with SP2 is set as 10 for blocking the virus multiplication. But torrent needs more. To facilitate this a patch TCPIP.sys is available. Through this patch you can set the maximum no of open TCP connections. Set it to any number between 50 and 100.

8. Protocol encryption

Some ISP’s constrict the bandwidth for P2P sharing. Protocol encryption can be used to override this restriction. Check the Allow incoming legacy connections box and make the outgoing Encryption as Disabled for getting maximum speed on Torrent downloads. Between non-encryption is not advisable as it may lead to some encrypted client to be left as undiscovered.

9. Connections and bandwidth

The BitTorrent client you are using will allow you to enter values for Global maximum no of connections: It is the maximum no of connections BitTorrent client can make for any P2P sharing. Setting this no to a very high value will take up useless bandwidth, and to a very low value will miss out some peers. For a 256kbps connection you can set this number to 130. Maximum no of connected peers per torrent: Set this no to one which is closer to the no of available peers for the file. No of upload slots per torrent: It gives the maximum no of peers to which the BitTorrent client uploads at a time. Since a low settings may affect the download set it to a moderate low value.

10. Miscellaneous

Disable the individual files for download along with a particular file, if we don’t want them at the beginning of download. Be familiar with your BitTorrent client settings from the users manual or web.

Hide Drive in My Computer

This setting allows you to control which drives are visible in My Computer and Explorer. It is possible to hide all drives or just selected ones.

Open your registry (press win+r and type regedit , hit enter ) goto

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]

and find or create the DWORD “NoDrives” there by right clicking on explorer -> NEW -> DWORD value .

The “NoDrives” value uses a 32-bit word to define local and network drive visibility for each logical drive in the computer. The lower 26 bits of the 32-bit word correspond to drive letters A through Z. Drives are visible when set to 0 and hidden when set to 1.

If your not happy working in Hex, add these decimal numbers to hide the drive(s):

A: 1, B: 2, C: 4, D: 8, E: 16, F: 32, G: 64, H: 128, I: 256, J: 512, K: 1024, L: 2048, M: 4096, N: 8192, O: 16384, P: 32768, Q: 65536, R: 131072, S: 262144, T: 524288, U: 1048576, V: 2097152, W: 4194304, X: 8388608, Y: 16777216, Z: 33554432, ALL: 67108863

For example to hide drive A and drive D, you would add 1 (A) + 8 (D) which means the value should be set to “9″.

To disable all the drives set the value to “67108863″.

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.

Note: These drives will still appear in File Manager, to remove File Manager, delete or rename winfile.exe.

Registry Settings
User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ Explorer]

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ Explorer]

Value Name: NoDrives

Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value