Brand New Cool Hotmail Domains

I was surfing.. yeah...at ..5 in the morning what else do you expect?.. and I found that Microsoft has launched this kewl site : http://www.coolhotmail.com/. It allows you to create a Microsoft Windows Live Mail Id with a custom domain name.

I've created a list of all of them and 3 hidden domain names also.(Check out the source code of the page to see what I mean by that). The hidden(but visible in my list below) domain names are : appyfizz.in, gobingo.in and bemyself.in. I am not sure whether this will work for existing A/C or not, but sure its a boon for new users. I also liked the way they have put the UI and color elements. A must see for web developers.

Where I Live?	Who I Like?	Who I Am?	What I Like?	I Don't Fit - I	I Don't Fit - II
bangalorerocks.in	clubaamir.com	iamgood.in	iloveyoga.in	apunkaid.com	ontheedge.co.in
chennairocks.in	clubabhishek.com	iamhot.in	ilovetennis.in	clickass.in	soupedup.in
delhirocks.com	clubabhishek.in	iammarried.in	ilovesoccer.in	coolmail.co.in	clingonbling.co.in
punerocks.in	clubaishwarya.com	iamsingle.in	iloveshuttle.in	samepinch.in	jamnation.in
punerocks.com	clubaishwarya.in	iamsizzling.com	iloveshuttle.com	samepinch.co.in	ufoff.co.in
mumbairocks.in	clubamitabh.com	iamsizzling.in	iloveoldmonk.com	koolmail.in	drunkfunk.in
mumbaimail.in	clubamitabh.in	iamcold.in	ilovechess.in	koolmail.co.in	flemgems.co.in
kolkatarocks.in	clubasin.com	iambald.in	ilovefootball.in	heybaby.in	crazyflamingo.co.in
iliveinmalabarhill.in	clubasin.in	iambad.in	ilovegoafeni.com	gobingo.in	laughterclub.in
iliveingoa.com	clubdhoni.com	martinian.in	ilovegolf.in	bemyself.in	freakyfridays.co.in
hyderabadrocks.in	clubdhoni.in	boscoite.com	ilovehockey.in	charsaubees.com	gumgang.mobi
goarocks.in	clubdravid.com	globallyunique.in	ilovekabbadi.com	individuality.in	hangoveradda.co.in
goarocks.com	clubdravid.in	dangerouslyhigh.in	ilovekabbadi.in	itsaboutme.in	gullidandagang.mobi
goaisbliss.com	clubhrithik.com	bungeejumper.in	ilovecars.in	itsmychoice.in	Ruleatwork.co.in
goagoagoa.com	clubhrithik.in	goballistic.in	ilovebikes.in	iwanttobeme.in	Breaktherules.co.in
emailmumbai.com	clubjyothika.com	imjustadreamer.in	ilovebhavans.in	leavemealone.in	Pindropsilence.co.in
delhirocks.in	clubjyothika.in	slipperysadhu.in	ilovebasketball.in	mememe.in	medco.co.in
metroonmove.in	clubkajol.com	trancemusiclovers.in	ilovebadminton.in	memyself.in	wicom.co.in
delhi4u.in	clubkajol.in	lover4life.co.in	vadapaavrocks.in	mogambokhushhua.com	pinacle.co.in
delhiden.mobi	clubkamal.com	jinxed4ever.net	appyfizz.in	pocketmaar.com	hellstuck.co.in
delhifevers.in	clubkamal.in	partyanimals.co.in	Footballfever.co.in	shri420.in	ringtring.co.in
unwinddelhi.in	clubkareena.com	ndanuts.co.in	stumped.co.in	thatswhoiam.in	Neversaydie.co.in
delhihaatrocks.in	clubkareena.in	ministryofsoundlovers.mobi	hittiewicket.co.in	wassup.co.in	bhaagambhag.co.in
salaamdelhi.in	clubpreity.com	Underpaid.co.in	onetuppie.co.in	freaknetwork.in	headsyatails.co.in
dillidilwaloki.co.in	clubpreity.in	Overworked.co.in	squarecut.co.in	dancefreak.in	mastblast.co.in
dillimanch.co.in	clubrajni.com	Bornleader.co.in	chauka.co.in	feelthebeat.in	iamwhatiam.in
saddidillibindas.mobi	clubrajni.in	Peoplesperson.co.in	pitchcontrol.co.in	coldsweat.in	ilovefuel.com
			rugbyrocks.in	berealistic.co.in	ilovefuel.in
					bhangrarocks.in
					studentzindabad
					shri420.in
					bhangrarocks.com
					gillidandagang.mobi

'Office Live Workspace' Announced

Hurrray... I was so much tired of Google's Online Spreadsheet.. that I stopped using it... at all..and now... here it comes.. just check it out.. you will have to wait for a while.. but yes.. you can pre-register...so go ahead... hit it hard...I am damn sure that UI is gonna be 1000 time better than the Google one...

Just check out the screenshots for registration and basic info.

Click here to go for Office Live Workspace.

How to prevent a user from launching multiple instances of an application - .Net C# Code

Recently one of my friend asked me to solve a simple problem. How to prevent an end user from launching multiple instances of your application. Instantly it came to my mind - A Mutex(Very expensive resource though...) can be used and I digged some of my old work and here it is. So enjoy... this is far more better than going into processes list and validating your application is running or not?
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms ;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace

Skynet.Apps.NetBuddy
{

static class Program
{

/// <summary>
/// Define the Mutex
/// </summary>
private static System.Threading. Mutex PreviousInstance;

/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application .EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false );
PreviousInstance = new System.Threading.Mutex(true , "NetBuddy");//Create a Mutex

if (PreviousInstance.WaitOne(0, false)) //Check for Existing Mutex
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles(); //Enable XP/Vista Visual Styles
Application.Run(new frmMain()); //Run Main Form
}
else
{
MessageBox .Show("You are trying to launch multiple Instance of NetBuddy." + Environment .NewLine + "This instance will terminate now.", "NetBuddy Warning", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);//Warn User that another instance is running
}

}

}

}

GWT - Google Web Toolkit comes out of Beta

Before you come to read the main topic that is just a link and a paragraph, please read the mail below

------------------

From: Chinmay Patel

Date: May 18, 2006 2:14 PM
Subject: Introducing GWT - Google Web Toolkit
To: Team ESS

Hi All,

As we all know and believe, AJAX has the power to make our Web Apps more dynamic and more user friendly and more likely to Win Apps. However AJAX development is often complicated, with much of the development time spent working around browser quirks (Well... we target the great IE so we've an advantage over here) and the fragility of AJAX components(MSXML, Scripting and the CodeBehind in our case). Trust me, I know the development of our own AJAX apps caused us no small amount of AJAX-induced frustration.

And now, after working a lot on Scripting part of AJAX as well as codebehinds that work with AJAX, Today I see

this in my mailbox, an exceptional toolkit for AJAX Developers - GWT ie Google Web Toolkit.

As they say on official GWT Page:

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don't speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your time working around subtle incompatibilities between web browsers and platforms, and JavaScript's lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile.

GWT lets you avoid many of these headaches while offering your users the same dynamic, standards-compliant experience. You write your front end in the Java programming language, and the GWT compiler converts your Java classes to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

I believe we all will benefit a lot from this toolkit, though its made for Java we've got the skills to make it work with .Net.

So here it is with all the best wishes and faster AJAX Development

Download GWT
--
Thanks,
Chinmay Patel

Free thyself from the past, free thyself from the future, free thyself from the present. Crossing to the farther shore of existence, with mind released everywhere, no more shalt thou come to birth and decay.

------------------

Almost after a year I am revisiting the topic, as last week GWT came out of Beta and now is a Release Product. They've gone through many updates since last year and presents a really nice tool for Java developers as I have not tried it for .Net I won't comment on that part. Any takers?

Here is the link for latest information on Official Google Blog on GWT.

Yahoo! punches back to the spammers

Few days back, as usual I was tired... bored and thought of killing time so I fired up Y! Messenger and logged in and straightway went to chat rooms...and voila... I was shocked... each and every category I saw... Computer and Internet, Gujarat Global Chat, Gaming, etc was flooded with users. Each room was running on top of its capacity. Instantly I came to know that some massive and pretty smart Bot-Net was in action and was playing Havoc on Y!'s network. Infact there were some funny side effect(This is an assumption, I am not sure about it though), I was getting random users in my Y! popped up and some other random users were seeing me signing in ie even though I was not in their list, they got the notification when I logged in and logged out. It was funny... and not-so-funny for Y!. However within few days this got fixed and I was relaxed. I really don't like strangers asking me question how I popped up on their screen..and for that matter you also will not really like that. So actually I had to log out as it was virtually impossible to locate the room with real people... everywhere there were BOTS and I sighed.. and signed off...

And today... right now I logged in again to the Y! chat and I see one new one-inch punch from Y! for all the spammers and BOTs. No it is not some kind of Digital Martial Art, its a technology that is in use from quite a time and very popular among Web 2.0 outcomes - CAPTCHA. Y! has introduced CAPTCHA for Chat Rooms so whenever you try to go to any of the Chat Room it gives you a link to open when you open this link it presents you a nice interface to enter CAPTCHA information and once you do it successfully it allows you to enter and I must tell you it is working really fine now I see rooms much cleaner then they were ever used to be. And though it looks pretty lame to go to a web browser window before you actually can sign into a Windows based application but for what it is worth, I must say it works like a charm. Though I was wondering maybe this browser based authentication is meant to provide support to non-Y! Messenger chat clients like Trillian(Oh! Only I know how much eager I am for Trillian Astra!), YahELite, Pidgin(formerly known as Gaim) etc.Lets hope that soon they will have some built-in mechanism so atleast you can enter CAPTCHA in the chat client itself and enjoy Y! Chat Rooms.

A bug in Gmail

I have been using Gmail since its launch and I am really happy with the service they provide and the best part.. its free. Except some really nasty incidents Gmail has been almost bug free. However when you spend a lot of time with something eventually you will start seeing stuff that you might not notice otherwise. So here is a UI related bug and I've reported it two times and still there is no action that they've taken from their side so I thought I must publish it. Steps to reproduce this bug - Open your Inbox. - Check title, it will say Gmail - Inbox(Number of Unread Emails in the Inbox) - Now click on Settings click on the top-right side navigation - It will load Settings Page in the main list pane but now see the title... oops...:P

Microsoft launches Tafiti

A brand new concept based on Microsoft Technologies(Live Search and Silverlight) http://www.tafiti.com has been launched. Though it is similar to a mashup, GUI is amazing and search is also pretty quick. Please wait while we get more info on this.

What is Tafiti?
Tafiti, which means "do research" in Swahili, is an experimental search front-end from Microsoft, designed to help people use the Web for research projects that span multiple search queries and sessions by helping visualize, store, and share research results. Tafiti uses both Microsoft Silverlight and Live Search to explore the intersection of richer experiences on the Web and the increasing specialization of search.

A snapshot is attached of the tree-view mode. :P

Check out new Y! Messenger built on nextgen Windows Presentation Foundation

I was roaming around (As usual) and I found this : http://messenger.yahoo.com/windowsvista.php . It seems WPF will make a huge change the way our application UIs are designed today. Let's hope for the best from big giants like MS, Y!, Google, IBM and wait for other rocking implementation of WPF. I am also in process of compiling some nice applications built on WPF\E ie Silverlight. Once I get a good number of applications I will put it in a page.

Boot.INI Options A to Z

I will not give the names, but many of my friends have asked me some times questions regarding Boot.ini and I have answered them most of the times. Today I found a nice article about Boot.ini which seems to have a lot of content from http://www.sysinternals.com and almost all the answers possibly known to us.

There are number of BOOT.INI switches that are useful for driver developers that wish to test their drivers under a variety of different system configurations without having to have a separate machine for every one. For example, limiting the amount of memory NT sees can be useful for stressing memory loads, and limiting the number of processors for testing scalability. I've compiled a complete list of the options that BOOT.INI currently supports. This list is reproduced in the Startup, Shutdown and Crashes chapter of Windows Internals, where you'll find more information about the boot process. Entries in red were introduced in Windows 2000 and those in blue introduced in Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.

Note: to see what options your system has booted with examine HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Control/SystemStartOptions.

/3GB
Increases the size of the user process address space from 2 GB to 3 GB (and therefore reduces the size of system space from 2 GB to 1 GB). Giving virtual-memory- intensive applications such as database servers a larger address space can improve their performance. For an application to take advantage of this feature, however, two additional conditions must be met: the system must be running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows NT 4 Enterprise Edition, Windows 2000 Advanced Server or Datacenter Server and the application .exe must be flagged as a 3-GB-aware application. Applies to 32-bit systems only.

/BASEVIDEO
Causes Windows to use the standard VGA display driver for GUI-mode operations.

/BAUDRATE=
Enables kernel-mode debugging and specifies an override for the default baud rate (19200) at which a remote kernel debugger host will connect. Example: /BAUDRATE=115200.

/BOOTLOG
Causes Windows to write a log of the boot to the file %SystemRoot%Ntbtlog.txt.

/BOOTLOGO
Use this switch to have Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 display an installable splash screen instead of the standard splash screen. First, create a 16-color (any 16 colors) 640x480 bitmap and save it in the Windows directory with the name Boot.bmp. Then add "/bootlogo /noguiboot" to the boot.ini selection.

/BREAK
Causes the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) to stop at a breakpoint at HAL initialization. The first thing the Windows kernel does when it initializes is to initialize the HAL, so this breakpoint is the earliest one possible. The HAL will wait indefinitely at the breakpoint until a kernel-debugger connection is made. If the switch is used without the /DEBUG switch, the system will Blue Screen with a STOP code of 0x00000078 (PHASE0_ EXCEPTION).

/BURNMEMORY=
Specifies an amount of memory Windows can't use (similar to the /MAXMEM switch). The value is specified in megabytes. Example: /BURNMEMORY=128 would indicate that Windows can't use 128 MB of the total physical memory on the machine.

/CHANNEL=
Used on conjunction with /DEBUGPORT=1394 to specify the IEEE 1394 channel through which kernel debugging communications will flow. This can be any number between 0 and 62 and defaults to 0 if not set.

/CLKLVL
Causes the standard x86 multiprocessor HAL (Halmps.dll) to configure itself for a level-sensitive system clock rather then an edge-triggered clock. Level-sensitive and edge-triggered are terms used to describe hardware interrupt types.

/CMDCONS
Passed when booting with into the Recovery Console.

/CRASHDEBUG
Causes the kernel debugger to be loaded when the system boots, but to remain inactive unless a crash occurs. This allows the serial port that the kernel debugger would use to be available for use by the system until the system crashes (vs. /DEBUG, which causes the kernel debugger to use the serial port for the life of the system session).

/DEBUG
Enables kernel-mode debugging.

/DEBUGPORT=
Enables kernel-mode debugging and specifies an override for the default serial (usually COM2 on systems with at least two serial ports) to which a remote kernel-debugger host is connected. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 also support debugging through accept IEEE 1394 ports. Examples: /DEBUGPORT=COM2, /DEBUGPORT=1394.

/EXECUTE
This option disables no-execute protection. See the /NOEXECUTE switch for more information.

/FASTDETECT
Default boot option for Windows. Replaces the Windows NT 4 switch /NOSERIALMICE. The reason the qualifier exists (vs. just having NTDETECT perform this operation by default) is so that NTDETECT can support booting Windows NT 4. Windows Plug and Play device drivers perform detection of parallel and serial devices, but Windows NT 4 expects NTDETECT to perform the detection. Thus, specifying /FASTDETECT causes NTDETECT to skip parallel and serial device enumeration (actions that are not required when booting Windows), whereas omitting the switch causes NTDETECT to perform this enumeration (which is required for booting Windows NT 4).

/INTAFFINITY
Directs the standard x86 multiprocessor HAL (Halmps.dll) to set interrupt affinities such that only the highest numbered processor will receive interrupts. Without the switch, the HAL defaults to its normal behavior of letting all processors receive interrupts.
/KERNEL=
/HAL=
Enable you to override Ntldr's default filename for the kernel image (Ntoskrnl.exe) and/or the HAL (Hal.dll). These options are useful for alternating between a checked kernel environment and a free (retail) kernel environment or even to manually select a different HAL. If you want to boot a checked environment that consists solely of the checked kernel and HAL, which is typically all that is needed to test drivers, follow these steps on a system installed with the free build:
Copy the checked versions of the kernel images from the checked build CD to your WindowsSystem32 directory, giving the images different names than the default. For example, if you're on a uniprocessor, copy Ntoskrnl.exe to Ntoschk.exe and Ntkrnlpa.exe to Ntoschkpa.exe. If you're on a multiprocessor, copy Ntkrnlmp.exe to Ntoschk.exe and Ntkrpamp.exe to Ntoschkpa.exe. The kernel filename must be an 8.3-style short name.
Copy the checked version of the appropriate HAL needed for your system from I386Driver.cab on the checked build CD to your WindowsSystem32 directory, naming it Halchk.dll. To determine which HAL to copy, open WindowsRepairSetup.log and search for Hal.dll; you'll find a line like WINDOWSsystem32 hal.dll="halacpi.dll","1d8a1". The name immediately to the right of the equals sign is the name of the HAL you should copy. The HAL filename must be an 8.3-style short name.
Make a copy of the default line in the system's Boot.ini file.
In the string description of the boot selection, add something that indicates that the new selection will be for a checked build environment (for example, "Windows XP Professional Checked").
Add the following to the end of the new selection's line: /KERNEL= NTOSCHK.EXE /HAL= HALCHK.DLL
Now when the selection menu appears during the boot process you can select the new entry to boot a checked environment or select the entry you were using to boot the free build.

/LASTKNOWNGOOD
Causes the system to boot as if the LastKnownGood boot option was selected.

/MAXMEM=
Limits Windows to ignore (not use) physical memory beyond the amount indicated. The number is interpreted in megabytes. Example: /MAXMEM=32 would limit the system to using the first 32 MB of physical memory even if more were present.
For the standard x86 multiprocessor HAL (Halmps.dll), forces cluster-mode Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) addressing (not supported on systems with an 82489DX external APIC interrupt controller).

/MININT
This option is used by Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment) and causes the Configuration Manager to load the Registry SYSTEM hive as a volatile hive such that changes made to it in memory are not saved back to the hive image.

/NODEBUG
Prevents kernel-mode debugging from being initialized. Overrides the specification of any of the three debug-related switches, /DEBUG, /DEBUGPORT, and /BAUDRATE.

/NOEXECUTE
This option is only available on 32-bit versions of Windows when running on processors supporting no-execute protection. It enables no-execute protection (also known as Data Execution Protection - DEP), which results in the Memory Manager marking pages containing data as no-execute so that they cannot be executed as code. This can be useful for preventing malicious code from exploiting buffer overflow bugs with unexpected program input in order to execute arbitrary code. No-execute protection is always enabled on 64-bit versions of Windows on processors that support no-execute protection. There are several options you can specify with this switch:
/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN Enables DEP for core system images and those specified in the DEP configuration dialog.
/NOEXECUTE=OPTOUT Enables DEP for all images except those specified in the DEP configuration dialog.
/NOEXECUTE=ALWAYSON Enables DEP on all images.
/NOEXECUTE=ALWAYSOFF Disables DEP.
/NOGUIBOOT
Instructs Windows not to initialize the VGA video driver responsible for presenting bitmapped graphics during the boot process. The driver is used to display boot progress information, so disabling it will disable the ability of Windows to show this information.

/NOLOWMEM
Requires that the /PAE switch be present and that the system have more than 4 GB of physical memory. If these conditions are met, the PAE-enabled version of the Windows kernel, Ntkrnlpa.exe , won't use the first 4 GB of physical memory. Instead, it will load all applications and device drivers, and allocate all memory pools, from above that boundary. This switch is useful only to test device driver compatibility with large memory systems.

/NOPAE
Forces Ntldr to load the non-Physical Address Extension (PAE) version of the Windows kernel, even if the system is detected as supporting x86 PAEs and has more than 4 GB of physical memory.

/NOSERIALMICE=[COMx COMx,y,z...]
Obsolete Windows NT 4 qualifier—replaced by the absence of the /FASTDETECT switch. Disables serial mouse detection of the specified COM ports. This switch was used if you had a device other than a mouse attached to a serial port during the startup sequence. Using /NOSERIALMICE without specifying a COM port disables serial mouse detection on all COM ports. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q131976 for more information.

/NUMPROC=
Specifies the number of CPUs that can be used on a multiprocessor system. Example: /NUMPROC=2 on a four-way system will prevent Windows from using two of the four processors.

/ONECPU
Causes Windows to use only one CPU on a multiprocessor system.

/PAE
Causes Ntldr to load Ntkrnlpa.exe, which is the version of the x86 kernel that is able to take advantage of x86 PAEs. The PAE version of the kernel presents 64-bit physical addresses to device drivers, so this switch is helpful for testing device driver support for large memory systems.

/PCILOCK
Stops Windows from dynamically assigning IO/IRQ resources to PCI devices and leaves the devices configured by the BIOS. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q148501 for more information.

/RDPATH=
Specifies the path to a System Disk Image (SDI) file, which can be on the network, that the system will use to boot from. Often used in conjunction with the /RDIMAGEOFFSET= flag to indicate to NTLDR where in the file the system image starts.

/REDIRECT
Introduced with Windows XP. Used to cause Windows to enable Emergency Management Services (EMS) that reports boot information and accepts system management commands through a serial port. Specify serial port and baudrate used in conjunction with EMS with redirect= and redirectbaudrate= lines in the [boot loader] section of the Boot.ini file.

/SAFEBOOT:
Specifies options for a safe boot. You should never have to specify this option manually, since Ntldr specifies it for you when you use the F8 menu to perform a safe boot. (A safe boot is a boot in which Windows only loads drivers and services that are specified by name or group under the Minimal or Network registry keys under HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSafeBoot.) Following the colon in the option you must specify one of three additional switches: MINIMAL, NETWORK, or DSREPAIR. The MINIMAL and NETWORK flags correspond to safe boot with no network and safe boot with network support, respectively. The DSREPAIR (Directory Services Repair) switch causes Windows to boot into a mode in which it restores the Active Directory directory service from a backup medium you present. An additional option you can append is (ALTERNATESHELL), which tells Windows to use the program specified by the HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSet SafeBootAlternateShell value as the graphical shell rather than to use the default, which is Windows Explorer.

/SCSIORDINAL:
Directs Windows to the SCSI ID of the controller. (Adding a new SCSI device to a system with an on-board SCSI controller can cause the controller's SCSI ID to change.) See Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q103625 for more information.

/SDIBOOT=
Used in Windows XP Embedded systems to have Windows boot from a RAM disk image stored in the specified System Disk Image (SDI) file.

/SOS
Causes Windows to list the device drivers marked to load at boot time and then to display the system version number (including the build number), amount of physical memory, and number of processors.

/TIMERES=
Sets the resolution of the system timer on the standard x86 multiprocessor HAL (Halmps.dll). The argument is a number interpreted in hundreds of nanoseconds, but the rate is set to the closest resolution the HAL supports that isn't larger than the one requested. The HAL supports the following resolutions:

Hundreds of nanoseconds Milliseconds (ms)
9766 0.98
19532 2.00
39063 3.90
78125 7.80

The default resolution is 7.8 ms. The system timer resolution affects the resolution of waitable timers. Example: /TIMERES=21000 would set the timer to a resolution of 2.0 ms.

/USERVA=
This switch is only supported on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Like the /3GB switch, this switch gives applications a larger address space. Specify the amount in MB between 2048 and 3072. This switch has the same application requirements as the /3GB switch and requires that the /3GB switch be present. Applies to 32-bit systems only.

/WIN95
Directs Ntldr to boot the Consumer Windows boot sector stored in Bootsect.w40. This switch is pertinent only on a triple-boot system that has MS-DOS, Consumer Windows, and Windows installed. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q157992 for more information.

/WIN95DOS
Directs Ntldr to boot the MS-DOS boot sector stored in Bootsect.dos. This switch is pertinent only on a triple-boot system that has MS-DOS, Consumer Windows, and Windows installed. See Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q157992 for more information.

/YEAR=
Instructs the Windows core time function to ignore the year that the computer's real-time clock reports and instead use the one indicated. Thus, the year used in the switch affects every piece of software on the system, including the Windows kernel. Example: /YEAR=2001. (This switch was created to assist in Y2K testing.)

Thanks to Jonas Fischer for pointing out the PCILOCK and NOSERIALMICE switches. Thanks to Rob Green for information on the FASTDETECT switch.

Copyright © 1996-2004 Mark Russinovich from www.sysinternals.com

Microsoft Popfly

Microsoft has launched Popfly and I got an early invitation to play around it last month but due to a busy schedule I could not post this article. This article was supposed to be posted alongside with the article on silverlight.

Let's see how MS defines Popfly first...

"Popfly is a tool that provides a fun and easy way to build and share mash-ups, gadgets, Silverlight experiences, and Web pages using pre-built "Blocks" that connect to online services. Popfly consists of Popfly Creator, which is a set of online visual tools for building Web pages and mashups, and Popfly Space, which is an online community of creators where you can host, share, rate, comment and even remix creations from other Popfly users."

Well... It sounds good... and looks good.. the UI rocks... but after looking at Flash UI available in market I think this one is no big deal. Anywayz, we have to give the credit as Silverlight is in early stage of development. We can definitely expect a strong contender for Flash when it reaches to Release candidate.
I spent almost entire day around its UI and I have got some interesting stuff. We'll see them one by one...

UI
As I mentioned UI is really cool and nitch, only question that came to my mind is usability or ease of use. I had hard time figuring out what exactly is going on in here. Anywayz it is still fun to play with it.

Accessbility
Not much I could see here, maybe because I didnt pay attention or maybe it was not being taken care of.

Performance
During the test, it made my IE Cry... and eventually my CPU and RAM Usage. I was really feeling bad about this. As we all know, Flash is always described as light-weight(I am not talking about http://www.neostream.com/), Silverlight application that powers Popfly.com was an overkill for my decently configured laptop. I believe if I was not running it with 2Gigs of RAM. it would have been difficult to use the application.

What More?
As of now, I have not much information to share as it will take more time to get into the application and check out things. But you can definitely expect more in near future... till then... bbye...:)

Microsoft SilverLight - Light Up the Web and Adobe Flash Comparison

Microsoft launched Silverlight formerly known as WPF/E(WPF/E Stands for WPF Everywhere) on 30th April, 2007. By definition, Silverlight is, as per the official website of Silverlight - http://www.microsoft.com/Silverlight , is :
Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of Microsoft .NET–based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.
On fine morning of 30th April, I was in St. Pete, Florida when one of my colleague told me that MS has released SilverLight and after looking at its definition I was bit worried, worried for my till-this-date HOT Adobe Flash(formerly known as Macromedia Flash) browser Plugin. Silverlight by its definition gives an entire new meaning to this dimension of Web. In this article we'll see how these two technologies differ from each other.

Till this date Flash is famous for its stunning vector graphics, light weight, streaming media support, extensive script library and scripting support, Browser Compatibility and the most important one in my eyes, is Audience. Today as per Market research, Flash reaches 98% of the Internet users in one way or other. Let it be small advertisements, Flash based games, Video Streaming, Rich Internet Applications and much more. Silverlight, after I used it for a day or two in Microsoft Popfly, I believe Silverlight has a potential to do much more than Flash however there are some other factors too. We'll discuss about them at the end of this article.

What I found interesting in Silverlight is

- Backed by Microsoft

- DLR - Dynamic Language Runtime

- Huge Developer community

- Cross-browser compatibility

- Target audience and future plans

As we all know, Microsoft is proposing .Net at large and is literally taking out competitors due to its robustness, architecture, security, ease of use, support and development features. Silverlight is one more step to this strategy as well as to reach the audience which is rather difficult to reach due to diversity in OSes used. I have recently used a site based on Silverlight ie Microsoft Popfly. As of now it is in Alpha Release and you can only access it once you get an invitation. Go ahead and register your any .Net Passport Id so that when next set of invitations are sent you get one. Now coming back to the topic, I saw following things when I was playing with Popfly.

- Extreme memory and CPU usage

- Difficult to use implementation

- 2MB Installation

- Higher bandwidth usage

As such Silverlight is still going through the production cycle so some of the above said cons will be ripped off in the final release, however when I compare it to Flash I see many things as a plus point in Flash.

- Backed by Adobe, one of the largest player in GFX and Multimedia segment

- Powerful scripting support and a matured authoring environment

- Developer and Designer community

- Almost 100% browser compatibility

- Reaches to 98% Internet-aware audience

- Streaming Video Support and industry acceptance

- Security and Mobile Device Support

I would have taken my time and listed cons from Flash's end too, however I would like if someone from the readers can point to cons of Flash and we can discuss it to get the better idea.

Chinmay

PS : This blog post was not copied from anywhere ;)

Microsoft launches the new way to interact with the digital world - Microsoft Surface

I just got this news and I am so excited about this. All SciFi Hit Matrix Triology lovers would have remembered, in the last movie, when they are opening gates to the last city of Xion, a lady was moving her hands to move certain objects on a transparent screen. That scene left me wondering... oh my god when I will see this in action.. in real life...and today... I cant believe my dream coming true so fast Microsoft has announced Microsoft Surface.

According to Microsoft
"Microsoft Surface represents a fundamental change in the way we interact with digital content.

With surface, we can actually grab data with our hands, and move information between objects with natural gestures and touch.

Surface features a 30-inch tabletop display whose unique abilities allow for several people to work independently or simltaneously. All without using a mouse or a keyboar."

Check out : http://www.microsoft.com/surface for exciting video clips and other information on surface.

The magic of unmaintainable code

This notorious and famous article was suggested to me by an intelligent colleague of mine during a recent project. Trust me guys its worth reading and also beware of the sarcastic style of writing, this one is full of rather disturbing humor. Here is the link : How To Write Unmaintainable Code by Roedy Green and the original was published on The original was published on Roedy Green's Mindproducts site.

My day to day tasks involves a lot of Web Services ;) sometimes, I encounter strange things, I've recently found some cool things to share in the team, but I am just waiting for team to provide some inputs. Once I see some more articles from you guyz, I'll put them online. As of now read some tips for Web Services Interoperability
Look at this:
10. Watch out for Empty Arrays
Sending empty arrays over Web Services can create issues – some toolkits recognize an empty array as a single null value. If you are sending arrays of objects over a Web Service, always ensure that the array contains valid data.
9. Use Package and Type Name Options when Generating Client Proxies
Many Java based tools have the option of specifying a unique package and type name when generating client proxies (for example, BEA WebLogic uses clientgen parameters to do this). This is essential when you are creating proxies for Web Services that share the same data type.
8. Testing Generated Java Beans for Null
When using tools or an IDE to generate Java Beans from an XSD file, always make sure that you know how to test to see if the object is null. In some instances this is done using the isNil() method on the bean itself.

7. Null Dates and Times are recognized by Java, but not by .NET

In Java, java.util.Date and java.util.Calendar are classed as reference types. In .NET, System.DateTime is considered a value type. Reference types can be null, whereas value types cannot. If you are planning to send null date values across a Web Service, always send the value in a complex type, and set the value of the complex type to null. This will help prevent the null date value being interpreted incorrectly (and raising an exception).

6. Always use compareTo() when comparing dates/times

If sending dates and times over a Web Service between .NET and Java, always use the appropriate compareTo() method in Java to compare dates (as opposed to date == value). This will help ensure accuracy for date comparisons between the platforms, especially when trying to compare those milliseconds values.

5. Use Trace Tool to Investigate

A Trace Tool can be invaluable for investigating SOAP requests and responses between Web Services. It can help validate data types and the construct of the message, and also report SOAP faults that you may miss in a browser. Using one that intercepts the request is more difficult to setup, but easier to use than looking through trace files

4. Add Option to Change Host and Port

When designing your Web Service client, consider adding a helper method to change the host and port values of the Web Service location. This makes it easy if the location of the Web Service changes in the future or you want to redirect the output to a trace tool.

3. Ensure Document/Literal when generating Web Services

Many toolkits have the option of choosing either RPC/Encoding or Document/Literal as the default format when generating Web Services. To help ensure compliance with the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0, select Document/Literal as the default encoding mechanism for all of your Web Services.

2. Use Unit Tests to Test Interoperability

Unit tests (using NUnit for .NET and JUnit for Java) are invaluable for testing interoperability of multiple data types over a Web Service. Re-running the tests if data types change (or if you change versions of Web Services toolkits!) will give you the confidence that the Web Services that you design are fully interoperable.

1. Use XSD First

When designing for interoperability, always start with defining the data first. Deciding on what data will be sent, creating the data type in XSD first, and then using tools to generate classes from the XSD file will help guarantee data type interoperability on the wire.

Source URL : http://blogs.msdn.com/smguest/archive/2004/08/12/213659.aspx

A brand new(and efficient) way to implement Paging

Here is a link I bumped into while doing some R&D. As usual, couldn't stop my self... and posted it here. http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/01/01/434314.aspx

A low-level Look at the ASP.NET Architecture

Two years back, when Chirag and DJ were used to work closely with Team ESS, once Chirag was having some issues regarding ASP.Net Architecture and we had a hot discussion on that at that time, afterwards, in response, I came up with this link that clearly explains how ASP.Net works. Also this will answer the query that Footpatti had when I was coming to HYD. I hope you all find your answers regarding ASP.Net Architecture
http://www.west-wind.com/presentations/howaspnetworks/howaspnetworks.asp
Discussion on this post is most welcome, infact I hope there are going to be some questions. :)

The begining of the Matrix?

Mostly, I do not put anything on this blog that is directly related to any NON-Tech news, but this one, I couldn't stop myself, this news is something, that reminds me of the great movie, the matrix. IBM's Second Life initiative is headed somewhere.... now let's see... where it goes....
http://news.com.com/2008-1023_3-6144122.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

Online Resources I use...

As you all know, now I've got what I always wanted, I am kindda free now, so I've decided I'll answer most of the queries you guyz had when I was there. As a part of that, here are the online resources I use a lot :
Non-Microsoft Subscriptions I Use
SDTimes.com
Redmondmag.com
101Communications.com(For Free Subscriptions)
MCPMag.com
ENTOnline.com
Tcpmag.com
Microsoft Subscriptions I Use
MS Architecure Journal - Hard Copy as well as Soft Copy:D
MSDN Flash India and International
MCP Flash
Microsfot Security bulletin and Notifications
TechNet Flash
Mobile PC
Sites I Use
TechTree.com
Experts-Exchange.com
CodeProject.com
bytemycode.com
PCQuest.com
msdn.microsoft.com
geekinterview.com
google.com

Hosting JSP, PHP or any other Server Side Architecture(CGI) on IIS

Here I am writing my first important .. naah very very important blog entry from my desk. If you are a seasoned web developer you know how tough it is to work with various Hypertext Processors or Server Technologies. It was almost impossible to host cross-server side technologies on given web server. Like to host JSP/PHP you'll go and find some third party ISAPIs or will try to develop your own ISAPI that maps to given web technology. Now, As we see the things from different perspective and the world is going towards more and more flexibility, Microsoft has come up with a new tool/technology called FastCGI that empowers web developers to host various web technology extensions on IIS.

On IIS.Net FastCGI was described as:
The IIS FastCGI component enables popular application frameworks like PHP be hosted on the IIS web server in a high-performance and reliable way.

FastCGI provides a high-performance alternative to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), a standard way of interfacing external applications with Web servers that has been supported as part of the IIS feature-set since the very first release.
CGI programs are executable launched by the web server for each request in order to process the request and generate dynamic responses that are sent back to the client. Because many of these frameworks do not support multi-threaded execution, CGI enables them to execute reliably on IIS by executing exactly one request per process. Unfortunately, it provides poor performance due to the high cost of starting and shutting down a process for each request.

If you are interested in, here is a link to a FastCGI whitepaper :

http://www.fastcgi.com/devkit/doc/fastcgi-whitepaper/fastcgi.htm

The source for this entry: http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=1000051

Windows File System : Archive Bit

Recently I got a a mail clearly asking information regarding Archive Bit that is available on FAT32, NTFS and its implications from Developer's perspective. So here is an article that will try to throw some light on this topic.

According to PCMAG : A file classification that indicates whether the file has been updated since the last backup. A bit is set in the file directory to indicate the archive status. When a file is created or saved, the bit is turned on. When it is backed up, the bit is turned off.
and technically its a file attribute controlled by the high-order bit of the t3 byte (FCB + 11) in a directory element. This attribute is set if the file has been archived.
Here is a VBScript code sample that shows how to access File Attributes.
http://sallisawok.org/caspdoc/html/vbscript_file_object_attributes_property.htm

Google launches Google Code Search

Google has launched yet another Developer friendly service yesterday ie Google CodeSearch(http://www.google.com/codesearch).
It's a search engine developed for developers and it provides an interface to use RegEx to search code snippets they are looking for. I didn't try it much as now I am headed to some other things... I felt it will be extremely useful to you people.
Google Code Search helps you find function definitions and sample code by giving you one place to search publicly accessible source code hosted on the Internet. With Google Code Search, you can:
- Use regular expressions to search more precisely
- Restrict your search by language, license or filename
- View the source file with links back to the entire package and the webpage where it came from

Visual Studio 2020

I was looking at the newsletter from CodeProject and got my eyes on this kewl article. Have a look at this tiny (aaaargh) article.

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/Visual_Studio_2020.asp

I became MCP

Hey hey.... it's been a long long time... I agree... yes.... its been a long time... had gone through many things in last 6 months, got VNS Series of projects, took part in MS Security Shootout 2006(http://www.securityshootout.com) also decided what I will be doing next few years...of course its Software Development but now I can see it, define it and then it comes to my mind that going on that path I'll need something on my side, some credential/certification and what in this world is better than MS Certifications if you are a .Net Developer? So today was a big day, I went to Crystal Arcade at CG Road, Ahmedabad and I got my first MS Certification i.e. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation C# (70-536). The exam was tough but the MSDN2, Virtual Labs and Visual Studio Express/Beta editions I used was sufficient enough to crack it. And I got it done, it took time, but it was done. And now I am heading towards the Final Destination for a Developer lets see how does it rolls out....

How to display an assembly in the Add Reference dialog box

Many of my friends recently asked me about GAC and the Side by Side Versioning support .Net provides. After doing a lot of R&D, one of them came up with a question like this : How to use two different versions of an assembly by using a GAC. He knew how to add Assemblies to GAC so that was not at all a problem, infact, if you refer to HOW TO: Install an Assembly into the Global Assembly Cache in Visual Studio .NET its pretty simple. However, after you add it to GAC, the .Net IDE doesnt show you those assemblies, listed in Add Reference Dialog Box.

After searching MS KB, I got an easy way to do that, here it follows :
Open Registry Editor and add the following Key to it.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders\ESSAssemblies]@="C:\\ESSAssemblies"

Here, ESSAssemblies is the name of the Folder where your Assemblies reside.

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

The People’s Almanac, pp. 1358–9. (Originally published in The New York Sun in 1897.)

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, may 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

http://beebo.org/smackerels/yes-virginia.html

I got a Nokia 6630 :)

Well... Nokia 6630 was on my wish list since it came out... the fastest S60 mobile in market.
It looks real sleek n sexy...and is packed with tones of features that any techie would love to have....

Dimensions: 110x60x21mm — that's considerably smaller than the 3650. It'll fit in regular pants with no need for funny smiles from strangers. ;)

CPU: 220mhz ARM9 / RAM: 7MB free — that's more than twice the speed of the 3650 (107mhz) and almost three times the amount of RAM available (2.7MB)! You feel the speed instantly when working with the applications, games or even just opening Message Boxes.

Camera: 1.23 megapixel (1280x960) with 3.7mm lens — this takes much, much better pictures than both the 3650 and the 6600 (This is my personal openion) in daylight. Evening shots are still so-so. And there's almost no lag on the shutter. Click and the picture is taken thanks to the faster CPU.
Stereo audio and decent headphones — it's actually possible to enjoy listening to MP3's on the phone now.

3G! — This one is a real 3G phone with Excellent Network support and extremely fast download speed as compared to oldies.

The DoomsDay Launch

I was more than happy when we were about to launch a Project, we'll call it Project X, everything was fine, it's very well tested in Testing environment, but we never know when things can go wrong. At the day of launching we deployed that Project X to the Servers and it broke within matter of seconds. Well! we stayed till late night and we fixed it and came home, however, what I saw at that time was : Lack Of Communication between counterparts of the organization. The actual story that came out was we were configuring a test setup instead of the real one, so whatever changes we made were done on test setup only 'cause we were not informed that it was a test setup. When an enterpise grows, people have to learn effective communication methods that keeps everyone involved on a same page. I am not saying that we were not wrong, no we were not informed. Without adequate information it'll be difficult for anyone to go ahead and deploy projects like this. but afterall we learned new things, things that will help us in future when we deploy projects. Moral of the story is : When you are gonna do something, DOCUMENT it, inform concerned people about the things you are going to do. DO NOT make Assumptions or it'll come back to you.

Hi All,
Yesterday, I came across a real world RIA... naah... not a girl... but a Rich Internet Application called goowy it was a featured site on my favourite macromedia.com so I visited it .. and i was stunned by what I saw at goowy.com.

What They say :
goowy (re) is a rich experience service that offers you a new way of expressing yourself and interacting with your friends and family. We leverage the best web technologies to provide you with a fun, unique environment for managing your web mail, contacts, calendar, widgets, games and more.

What I would say...? Well...its a Web Based Desktop Solution, yes No Kidding... a Web based Desktop Solution (see below) its 100% Customizable as if its my Windows Desktop.... infact you can change your desktop theme too...

You can add necessary Widgets as per your requirements by using Manage Widgets Extension and for those, who loves to have the power of Windows Based Desktop, goowy comes as a Window based solution, a separate download is available for Windows and a Mac version is coming soon.


It gives you a 2 GB Mail Box, a RICH UI to explore, Calender, Contacts and Games :) I found its mailbox a real magic, notifiers, quick search and everything accessible at just one click.You can import your contacts from Outlook and alike mail clients.

Lets look at Mail Box first.
Its lil bit heavy for dial up users at first I suggest to use Lite version, and all those who are blessed with so-called Broad band, Goowy grooves... rocks... and wateverz..... its a 2 GB Mailbox with a nice Layout. Apart from traditional Mailbox features this one Comes packed with Audio-Visual notifiers for new mails, Manageable Folders, and a Fast Search Engine built into the mailbox itself.

Widgets allows you to customize your desktop by adding popular web services like Search Engines, Quotes, Stocks, News etc

Contacts Its a comprehensive contact manager, I would like to add I find it better than the one that comes with GMail. Its like the one that you see with Outlook. It has a useful feature : Import Contacts and for me it worked like a charm I added all of my GMail contacts to it by just clicking in the Wizard.

Games
Hiyaa... I wont say about Games here.... ;)

Calender Its well-structured and works fine, but I am not that good with scheduling my tasks so I didn't explore it much.

Goowy is not a Big Budget Adventure, it was started as a PoC, and now it has 25K registered users. Its a development effort, I request all of the developers out there or who ever reads this mail to register with goowy not just to maintain another mail box but to support the efforts.

Regards,
Chinmay

Kewl.... MS Office 12 Screen Shots - PDC 2005

I got some screen shots from Microsoft Web Site ... I was impressed.... I would like to share them wtih you.... :)

Powerpoint

Access

Excel

Word

I am goin for MCA :)

Hi All,

Today, I got ready early in the morning, it was raining out there, sometimes I wonder, is there something I've to do with monsoon? it drives me crazy when I see its raining... anywayz! I reached RCC at 1, and than I waited till 3 to get in to the process, it was funny, but I forgot to
carry a pen... so had to borrow all the times I needed to fill/sign the form. but at last I got it.
I was lookin towards LD...and yeah... I got it... Now I'll be doin my MCA from LD.

well! thats enough for today... see ya tomorrow...

A good Article on AJAX

Hi Guyz,

Here follows an article that will change your world of web application.
How you code them, how you use them, how you persive them... Everything
that you have seen so far in Web Applications is gonna go nuts once you
see this. This is something that will help us to go beyond the
Edge(That's ESS Style...) of Web Apps... so here we go... say welcome
to the NextGen technology - AJAX

Regards,
Chinmay

I m back! :)

Hi Guyz!

I m back after such a long period..... I got some time to take a breath... huh... man! I m telling you... those were days... toooo busy....I cant beleive that I can
work so hard ;)

btw, I'll be posting some cool pics and clips which I recently took during this
rainy season

ASP.Net - Trace Viewer

ASP.NET introduces new functionality that allows you to view diagnostic information about a single request for an ASP.NET page simply by enabling it for your page or application. Called tracing, this feature also allows you to write debug statements directly in your code without having to remove them from your application when it is deployed to production servers. You can write variables or structures in a page, assert whether a condition is met, or simply trace through the execution path of your page or application.

One interesting feature comes built in with .Net Framework is : Trace Viewer.
To Test this functinoality you have to enable tracing in your application. Change <Trace> element in the Web.Config as follows :
<trace enabled="true" requestLimit="10" pageOutput="false" traceMode="SortByTime" localOnly="true" />

Once you have enabled tracing for your application, each page in the application will execute any trace statements that it contains when it is requested. You can view these statements and the additional trace information in the trace viewer by requesting Trace.axd from the root of your application directory.

Note When you enable tracing for an application, you can view the trace statements, and additional information, in any page in the application by setting the pageOutput attribute to true in the Web.config file.The trace viewer allows you to choose a specific request from the pages that have been requested from your application.

Well, if you are still using Classic ASP, than here is a similar utility for you. Click Here download.

Norton Ghost 2003 Quick Walkthrough

So Friendz, here is a Quick Walkthrough to create an Image using Norton Ghost 2003...(This one was requested by my friend.... DJ)

1. Click on Backup
2. Select Physical Disk
3. Select Partition, you can use CTRL to select Multiple Partitions
4. Select Destination - File
5. Browse to the location where you want to save the Image, you can't store it on the same partition of which you are making Ghost Image.
6. Now, you can configure Advanced Settings(They are beyong the scope of this walkthrough)
7. Now it will show you task summary. click on Run Now.
8. it will reboot your computer and then you'll be provided option to perform Ghost Image Operation or cancel it.
9. if you select to perform Ghost Image operation, it'll create a ghost Image of selected partition/s.