Sometimes when creating a PDF you wish the PDF’s file size is small. Small PDF file can be easily shared via Email or can be uploaded to some file sharing sites or on the cloud. In this article, you’ll learn how to easily compress PDF files.

Images in the PDF play a vital role in increasing the file size, therefore a good idea is to remove unnecessary images or shrink/downsample the images. The images used should be first compressed. If you’re using Adobe Photoshop for this task, then press Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S to save the image for web and devices. In the next window, select JPEF and set quality at 60 or 70 percent. And if Photoshop seems to be a too complicated task, then you can also compress images with a right click by using a windows based application. Now you can use these images when creating a PDF.

How to Reduce PDF File Size

The above tip is only useful when you’re creating a PDF from scratch. Suppose you have a PDF which is around 55MB in size and you want to reduce the size of this PDF. In such a case, you can use PrimoPDF which is a PDF converter/printer. By using PrimoPDF, you can re-create the PDF in reduced size, this is also known as re-frying the PDF.

PrimoPDF is a freeware. Download and install it. Open the PDF which you want to reduce the size and press “Ctrl+P” which is a shortcut for printing the document. From the printer name, select “PrimoPDF” as your printer and click on OK. (Don’t worry, you’re not going to print the PDF)

A small progress bar will be displayed and then you can see a PrimoPDF window. Select eBook from here and then click on Create PDF button.

Next you’ll be prompted to select a location to save the file and you can also edit the name from here. A new PDF file will be created at your selected location.

Upon testing a PDF file which was originally 15.5MB in size, the same file is reduced to 7.09MB. This application can work wonders when you want to compress a large PDF file. The plus point of using this method is that PrimoPDF is free and you don’t need to shell out even a penny for this.

This post How to Compress and Reduce Size of PDF File is written on Technostarry.

USB drive is now becoming the most common storage media. It seems that the age of CDs and DVDs is coming to an end. When is the last time you have used any optical media to install a program, or for storage needs. Sometimes when you try to eject your USB drive, by right clicking the icon on the system tray, you get an error message that the drive is in use by some program. You may have closed all processes and programs that are running from the drive, but still you can get such an error.

This message comes for our own good and it prevents us from ejecting the drive when the drive is in use by some program. For example, if there is a data transfer going on between your USB drive and hard drive and if you eject the USB drive at that time then it is possible that data gets corrupted. Therefore this message warns the user that drive is being used by some process. But the problem is that Windows cannot recognize exactly which program is using the drive, so that you can close that program or process.

It is also possible that a program is not accessing the drive, but its a process that is running in the background. Such processes are hard to identify and close. How would you know which process is blocking the USB drive from ejecting?

Solution for “USB Device is in Use” Problem

Enter Dev Eject, a free windows based tool that lists all the removable devices and identifies applications that have locked down your drive from ejecting. It clearly lists all the program that are open from the drive and which process has them open. The interface of this program is clean and straightforward, no complicated stuff here.

The plus point or the main feature of this program is that it lists out the processes running from the drive, so that you can close the associated programs running that process. After closing that program, you can safely eject your drive.

Upon starting Dev Eject, it will present a list of all the connected devices via USB interface and also via SATA interface. Click on individual device from this list and you can then do tasks like eject the drive or you can click on “Locks” to know which process has locked the drive and is preventing from ejecting.

Once you know the program, just close it manually and if it is running in background then close it from “Task Manager”. You can also locate that process from Task Manager and clicking on “Processes” tab.

From “settings” section you can set Dev Eject to start with Windows, specify default click action on tray and device list, add tray integration and can configure more such options.

Download Dev Eject

This post How to Find Out Which Program or Process is Blocking USB Drive When Ejecting is written on Technostarry.

A true gamer always keeps a track of how many levels or stages he has completed. The most annoying thing that can happen to a gamer would be format that gaming computer, thereby losing all the saved games and game profiles. Some gamers would like to start over again and some may also dump that game forever, they may think that they have spent countless hours playing that game and to reach that level and now all is gone. Start that game again and make effort to reach that level again, but is it wise to do so? How about backing up that saved game, so that when disaster strikes, you’re armed and ready with your game progress saved. Read on this article to know how to save Windows games online and offline.

There are some games that offer a method to backup and restore saved game. Some games offer this feature, but most still lack this feature. Most games don’t offer convenient way to backup the game. You can find saved games in My Documents folder. For e.g. Need for Speed, Battlefield 3 and more. However this path may not be the same, depending on the game. Manual way would be to copy this complete folder and store it a safe place, and after formatting the computer, you can again copy and paste this folder to its original location.

Save Games Online or Offline with SaveGameBackup.net

SaveGameBackup.net is a portable tool that can help you to save games and then restore those game saves with a couple of clicks. Yes, this tool can simplify this complicated process. When writing this article, this tool supports up to 1,401 games (database 68). The developer will keep on updating the database of this tool, so that more and more games can be saved. Check the games list from here.

Using SaveGameBackup.net to backup a game is very easy. Download the program, extract the zip and run sgbnet.exe. The first thing you need to do is to specify a backup folder, so that this tool backups all the saved games in this location. The program will automatically detect all the games that are installed on your computer and then it will show the result in the interface. Check mark all the games that you want to backup and then click on “Backup” button. The process will be completed in a second and then it will create .sgbzip file which contains saved game. This file will be stored in backup location that you have specified earlier. With this step done, backup process is complete.

Next comes the process when we have to restore saved games. Firstly, make sure that you install the game. Now, to restore the backup, go to the “restore” tab and select the backup path, where the .sgbzip file is saved. Click on refresh button to refresh the interface. Now click on “Restore” button to restore saved games. With this step completed, your saved game is now restored.

You can also share the saved games with your friends. Just send them the .sgbzip file of that game and show them how to restore it using this tool.

To save games online, you can use Dropbox, SugarSync or any other such tool. When specifying backup location, just make sure that you provide the Dropbox folder location. As soon as the game is saved here, your file will be uploaded online, and then you can share it with friends also.

You may be wondering what if an installed game doesn’t gets detected by this program. If the game is not detected, then can add and edit custom game entries that are not officially supported by the standard database. Once a custom entry is added, it will appear along with all of your other detected games. However, this custom entries option is not that easy to use.

The options tab provides additional options to check for updates, overwrite old backups, add datestamp to filename, detection methods and option to switch to a different language.

SaveGameBackup.net is compatible with Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It also requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4.

Download SaveGameBackup.net

This post How to Backup and Restore Saved Games with SaveGameBackup.net is written on Technostarry.

Wireless Network, also called as Wi-Fi should be always secured. It is very important to check if someone is using or stealing from your Wireless network (Wi-Fi). This is important because of security risks associated with it. You definitely don’t want someone to hack into your computer or steal your personal information. The person may also be doing illegal activities by using your internet and you can be in deep trouble for those activities. Also if other person is using the internet, then speed will be divided between both of you and ultimately you’ll get slow internet speed. That person is using internet for free and you’re paying for it, this is not fair and can also be considered as stealing from the internet service provider (ISP).

Check If Someone Is Stealing your Wi-Fi

Therefore its a good idea to keep a check on your wireless network. The process may be different depending on your router’s manufacturer, but you’ll get a fair idea of how to achieve this.

Now there are two methods to try out out to know if someone is using your wireless network. The first method involves checking router logs. This can be done by logging in to your router’s web interface by typing the IP address in a browser window. Next you’ll be prompted to enter login credentials. Your login details can be referred from router’s user manual. But its recommended that you change the login as soon as you get into the router’s console.

All router’s web interface are different, depending on the manufacturer. You need to find something called “Attached Devices” for Netgear routers, for D-Link you need to go to Status > Wireless, for Linksys router’s you can find this in DHCP Clients table, for Tomato firmware you can find this in “Device List”. This should provide a list of IP addresses, Mac addresses and device names. You can compare these results with your own.

To compare, you need to know IP address of your computer. To do this, an easy solution is to do this from command prompt. Go to Start and type CMD (Windows XP users need to type CMD in Start > Run). Type ipconfig in the command prompt. Next, you’ll be presented by results, you need to find IP v4 address field. That is your LAN IP address that we’re interested in. Now check this IP address to the results that you got by checking “Attached Devices” in the above step. This should give you an idea of which devices are accessing the internet.

Check DHCP Clients List

The second method is to check the DHCP clients table. On some routers, you’ll need to enable this option and on some routers this option is enabled by default. Login to the router interface and find something like “DHCP Client List”. The screenshot in this article is taken from iBall Baton 150M router interface.

This table offers useful information like client name (computers name), MAC address, assigned IP and lease time. But note that this DHCP list is not much helpful, as it displays devices that have got IP address automatically from the router. A more experienced user can get into your network by using static IP address. Thus, this type of user won’t be displayed in DHCP list.

Wireless Network Watcher

Another method is to use network scanner. Wireless Network Watcher is a small useful utility that scans your wireless network and displays the list of all computers and devices that are currently connected to your network. For every device that is connected to your network, this utility displays information like: IP address, device name, MAC address, the company that manufactured the network card, and optionally the computer name.

This utility can only scan a wireless network that you’re currently connected to. It cannot scan other wireless networks. Download and run this portable tool. It will automatically start scanning and then it will output the results. From “advanced options”, you can also select which network adapter to use to scan. This is useful in rare cases when the this tool doesn’t detect the correct wireless network adapter.

This utility works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

Download Wireless Network Watcher

Security Tips for Wi-Fi

Now that you’re aware about how to track someone using your W-Fi, here are some important security tips to always keep in mind. These tips will help you to secure your Wi-Fi network.

Change Router’s Password
First things first. Change your routers default password. Every router comes with a default username and password. A person can easily find the default password by searching on the web. For example, many of Netgear routers have password as “password” by default. This default password can be easily found out, depending on the routers manufacturer. Therefore don’t commit the mistake to leave this default password unchanged. Go ahead, login to your router and change that default login credentials.

Use Network Encryption (WPA2 Preferred)
If you’ve purchased the router withing last 3-4 years, chances are that the router should be supporting more secure authentication protocol such as WPA2 (short for Wi-Fi Protected Access version 2). For now, this is the most strict security protocol that you can use. WPA2 encryption is very hard to crack and most secure, therefore this is the most recommended protocol. To check which encryption you are using, login to your routers interface again and navigate to Wireless security settings area.

Notice the security mode and authentication mode options. Click on the drop down box and select WPA2. Its also possible that some of the connecting devices on your network are not compatible with WPA2, therefore you can also select WPA+WPA2 option. This will ensure that your router is compatible with almost all of the devices on your network. In the Pre-shared key (PSK), you need to enter a strong password. A suggestion here would be to enter a password that is at least 15 characters long, include lower case and upper case letters, numbers and punctuations. Finally click on “Apply Changes” button.

Now whenever you want to connect any device with your Wireless network (router), you’ll need to enter this Pre-shared key (PSK), also known as password. This should make your network private and more secure.

Filter Devices Based on MAC Address
One more method to secure your network is to allow or deny access to the wireless network depending on the devices MAC address. There is one setting in many routers named as “MAC Address Control”. Basically this is a powerful security feature that allows you to specify which computers are allowed on the wireless network. You will need to enter MAC address of all the devices that you’re thinking to connect to your network. Any other device which is not in this filter list will be denied access.

This post How to Know If Someone is Using your Wireless Network (Wi-Fi) is written on Technostarry.

USB drives are a carrier of autorun viruses. It may be possible that your computer is not infected with any virus and also your USB drive is clean. But what if your friend brings a USB drive and inserts that drive in your computer? Chances are that drive may be infected. A possible solution in this case is to always scan the USB flash drive first before opening, so that if there is any threat found, that antivirus program can take care of.

Many antiviruses have this scan on plug feature, that prompts you to scan the drive, as soon as the drive is inserted. But here’s another smart solution that can protect your USB drive from such autorun virus threats.

How to Protect USB Drives from Autorun Virus

BiDefender, a leading company developing products to protect users from internet threats like viruses, trojans, spywares, phishers, etc. have launched a new tool known as USB Immunizer. This small tool can help protect your USB flash drives, SD card or any other portable media against USB autorun virus.

This small utility has two advantages:

Firstly, it protects your USB storage device or SD card against infections with autorun based malwares. Thus, even if your drive has been plugged into an infected computer, the malware won’t be able to create its autorun.inf file. USB Immunizer will only list and immunize drives that are detected as removable media.

Secondly, this program can also immunize the computer. The immunize computer slider helps you to toggle the autorun feature On or Off for any removable media (except for CD/DVD-ROM devices). If this option is set to On, then the infected USB drive cannot harm the computer, as it will not auto-execute the malware located on the USB drive.

How USB Immunizer Works:

1. Download USB Immunizer and run
2. Plug in the USB drive, and it will auto-detect the drive
3. Select the USB drive from the drop down menu and click on “Immunize” button
4. That’s it, now your drive is protected from autorun.inf viruses.

You can also toggle that “Computer Immunization” to ON. This way, your computer will be protected from these nasty autorun virus threats.

When you insert a USB drive for the first time, this utility will auto-detect it and will present an option to immunize the drive. Click on “Yes, Immunize” button.

Basically, this tool creates an autorun.inf which is harmless and places that file in the root of the drive. Also the file is created with special permission, so that it prevent the user or malware from altering the autorun.inf file. If in future you want to delete this autorun.inf file, then you’ll need to use Linux live CD or Mac OS, as the file cannot be deleted from Windows based PC.

Use this utility and stay safe. What’s more, you can also immunize your friends USB drive, so that both computers remain protected from such threats.

This post BitDefender USB Immunizer Protects USB Drives From Autorun Virus is written on Technostarry.

Searching for Wi-Fi network is normally done by pressing that Wi-Fi key from the keyboard. How about a free windows application that finds the best Wi-Fi hotspots, not just around you but from around the globe. WeFi automatically detects all Wi-Fi access points available within range and connects you to the spot with the best internet connection. If a new access point is detected, it allows you to be the first to map it, so that it can also benefit others. This helps in creating a community for those who want to find free Wi-Fi connectivity worldwide.

Find Best Available Public Wi-Fi Near Your Location

Basically WeFi helps in extending the functionality of your native Wi-Fi management in Windows. It’s much more than a normal Wi-Fi client that helps in finding nearby hotspots. The application can automatically connect to the Wi-Fi hotspot or user can connect to a particular one as per his/her wish. The first time WeFi finds a new access point, there comes an option to “Claim as WeSpot”. This means that you’re adding this point to WeFi’s database so that other users can also easily connect to this new Wi-Fi hotspot. This way, we can map the global Wi-Fi network.

After starting WeFi, it searches and displays all available wireless networks that can be accessed. There are 4 connection modes in WeFi – Approved WeSpots, My favorites, Any Wi-Fi and OFF. One can easily switch between all these different modes.

Now let’s say you are heading to an area about which you don’t have any idea whether there would be any Wi-Fi hotspot available in that area or not, what to do in such a situation. A solution would be to check out “Wi-Fi Maps”. Click on it, search for that address and you’ll be presented with a clean Google map and places with available wireless connections would also be marked in that map. This is useful especially when you don’t know much about that area where you’re heading to.

The settings tab provides option to automatically start the application with Windows, check for updates, ask for confirmation before connecting to a new spot, auto detect spots that require web page sign-in and more.

WeFi can be said as an ultimate tool for those on the go. The community already consists of many members, more and more people join and map different Wi-Fi points. Ultimately, this helps everyone in finding free Wi-Fi more easily and without wasting much time.

WeFi client is available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Mobile client is also available for Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android.

Download WeFi

This post WeFi Helps in Finding Best Public WiFi Hotspots Near You is written on Technostarry.

Rescue CDs are a great way to disinfect the computer from viruses. Many different antivirus companies offer free rescue disks which can help disinfect the computer from outside the operating system, by booting from CD/USB flash disk. This is useful especially when you’re dealing with a PC that is completely infected with viruses. Let’s see how to create a bootable Kaspersky Rescue Disk, containing latest antivirus definitions.

Some viruses are so smart they can disable task manager, folder options and they won’t remove even after many efforts. Problems increase when the computer is so damaged that the operating system or antivirus software fails to launch. To remove such threats by logging on to Windows is very difficult or almost impossible in many cases, thus this is where we can use the rescue disk (live CD/DVD/USB flash drive).

Kaspersky is a very popular name among virus removal tools and it offers a feature to create “Kaspersky Rescue Disk”. Using this feature we can create a bootable CD or USB flash drive which contains tools for efficiently detecting and eliminating threats.

Creating a Bootable Kaspersky Rescue Disk

The first thing we’ll need to create a rescue disk is “Kaspersky Internet Security”. If you’re not already using this suite, then you can download the trial version from here.

1. After installing, start this security suite and from the main interface click on “Tools”.
2. You’ll see a list of various tools. Click on the “Create” button to start creating rescue disk.



3. You’ll see an overview about what Kaspersky rescue disk is and how is it useful. Click on “Next”.



4. From this screen, click on “Download ISO image from Kaspersky Lab server”. This will download the ISO image from Kaspersky server. Wait for the process to finish.



5. In this “updating disk image”, click the “Next” button. This will update antivirus definitions/database.



6. From this screen select an action. Select your preferred media to create the rescue disk.
   

   Record to CD/DVD: Burn the ISO to a CD/DVD
   Record to USB flash drive: Create a bootable USB flash drive
   Save the disk image to file on local or network drive: Save the ISO image in your computer. Later on you can burn this ISO to any media.

7. Follow the wizard from here on and this will complete the process.

The plus point of using this wizard to create the rescue disk is that it will download the ISO image and then update that image with latest definitions, so that you’re protected from the latest threats.

Kaspersky rescue disk can help you when the computer refuses to boot. Now whenever the disaster strikes, just boot from this rescue disk, and scan your full computer.

This post How to Create Bootable Kaspersky Rescue Disk with Latest Updates is written on Technostarry.