Choosing an Anti virus may not be the easiest thing to do but it certainly is inevitable. Panda’s Cloud Anti-virus is free and worth a try. Although introduced sometime back it lacked support for Windows 7 then. Now it has received the official Windows certification for both 32 as well as 64 bit versions. The Anti-virus itself is light and installs in a flash, occupying a mere 22 MB of  space.

The Cloud version of the Anti-virus is made for small and medium sized companies. This reduces their overall costs by obviating the need for expensive hardware, software and IT personnel. It is easy to use and maintain and provides good protection against viruses etc. Also included is E-mail spam filtering.

It has a very good detection rate and it uses online checks for enhanced protection. It does not use the PCs resources, but sends data about potential threats to the Panda’s servers for detailed analysis. This obviates the need for frequent threat signature updates. The app can be downloaded from the Cnet or Panda website. A must try!

It has been a little over a week since Nokia’s Ovi maps (free) was launched. The word “free” is enticing in many ways, it is attractive, inviting and conjures up curiosity in almost everyone. So now there have been over 1.4 million downloads of this application in this small period. By the way Ovi Maps offers free walk as well as drive navigation.

From next month onwards all Nokia devices with GPS will come with Ovi Maps pre-installed sparing users the trouble of downloading and installing the app themselves. Also included will be local country maps, drive and walk navigation, access to Lonely Planet and  Michelion Travel guide.

Supported devices include Nokia X6, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97, E72, E55, E52, Nokia 6730 classic, Nokia 6710 Navigator, Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition, Nokia 5230. Support for other devices can be found at the Nokia website. The app can be downloaded from the same page and is available in over 70 countries.

A cluttered Desktop is what we usually have, in Windows I mean. Organizing it is difficult if not impossible. I can tell by experience that most of place files, folders and frequently used app shortcuts on the Desktop. It is easier this way to access them instead of looking deep in to the hard drive or even the Programs Menu. A utility called “Fences” makes it easy to organize those innumerous icons on your desktop. The idea is simple, put fences around folders, icons or whatever and organize the dreaded Desktop.

This makes it easy to access them since they are organized better, besides it gives a good look to the whole setup. The Fences can be customized and given names according to one’s choosing. The utility is free for personal use and works with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The Pro version costs $ 20.

Both 32 bit and 64 bit versions are supported on Windows 7 and Vista. The application has been developed by Stardock, a company that specializes in Windows experience software and games. The app can be downloaded from download.com. Check out the screenshot below.

A Desktop Organized with Fences

It’s a busy world we are living in. Technology was supposed to make it more easy for us, but now its getting more complicated, we spend more time with gadgets just to make our lives easier and end up wasting more time. But there’s nor escaping it now, either go to the stone ages or do the techie thing. All right enough of this rambling, lets get to the point. Today we talk about online reminders, how do they work, are they useful and finally which ones to use?

Ok first things first, What is an online reminder?. An online reminder is simply an utility that is available via the web for reminding oneself about any upcoming event like a birthday, meeting, anniversary or whatever.

How does it work? Quite simple, you register via web, you are sent an email for verification purposes and you verify it, finally you start getting reminders in your mail box. (Some services also offer reminders via SMS)

Are they useful?  Obviously, that’s why there are so many of them. In order to use them you have to check your mail on daily basis at least, because otherwise it won’t make much sense. Given that most of us have an E-mail address and we check our mails more than once a day so an online reminder is a very useful service and more importantly because it comes for free. Check out some of these, they will do you good.

Sometime back I wrote about 5 useful add-ons for Mozilla Firefox, the we also talked about creating a Persona for FF besides some easy and free tools for the world’s most loved browser. Firefox is gaining ground. I have now made a list of some useful add-ons for sharing with you guys, gals included The vary in category from getting updates on weather to finding a websites original location etc. Read on for some rich web surfing experience.

 1-Click YouTube Video Download. This add-on does exactly what its name says, it downloads the YouTube video that you are viewing with a single click in FLV, 3GP modes and saves it to the desired location on PC. The best part is its simplicity and ease of use. Upon installation a small button will appear on the left bottom window of the YouTube video screen, all one has to do is click it and Presto! Try it out, it is available here oh and watch the screenshot below.

Simply Click the Red Download button

This is happening for this first time in Pakistan I guess. It is officially the first Corporate Gaming Tournament in Pakistan courtesy of Wiredup Gaming. The event is being organized by Wiredup with Dawn News and CityFM 89 are the media partners. Preliminaries are from Feb 5th to 13th and finals are scheduled for Feb the 14th. By the way Wiredup Gaming is located in Zamzama, Karachi. Aspiring contestants can register at the Wiredup website.

Facebook has it covered at it page. So if you happen to be a Games: Counter Strike (5vs5) or a FIFA10 (2vs2) player now is a chance to rub your shoulders with your boss. Give it a try! What’s your game?

The Mozilla Firefox RC2 is now available for download. As usual it is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in over 70 languages. The release notes can be accessed here and known issues are documented here. Some of the features of Firefox 3.6 RC2 are:

• Support for WOFF font format.
• Support for latest web technologies like DOM, CSS and HTML5.
• They say the browser performance has improved considerably at startup.
• Automatic alerts for out of date plug-ins.
• Off course Personas come supported and are just a click away.
• A lot of bug fixes and improvements in stability, security and performance.
• The usual add-ons are also supported.

By the way Mozilla Firefox just recently made available the release candidate of Firefox for Maemo. All those in possession of a Nokia N900 or N810 can also get it from the Mozilla website for Mobile devices.

If there is one E-mail service that competes with Google that is Yahoo and one search engine that dares to stare at Google well its Yahoo too. Yahoo has recently added a few applications that be used form within one’s mail box. Yahoo was previously offering a number of goodies in My Yahoo like a Calendar, weather forecast etc etc. But this thing is way ahead. this is something new and worth a try.

.io is an application that has been developed by drop.io. This lets users attach files up to 100 MB in size. But before you click the Allow just read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy which says that your email or files might be stored by the drop.io team! Anyways privacy issues aside it’s a nice utility to have.

Automatic Organizer is an application that scans one’s email inbox and after that organizes, prioritizes and summarizes the emails stored. This helps users prioritize their emails from real people thus making users lives easier. In order to use this service you will have to Agree to the sign in permissions. After that the system will scan your inbox for real emails, coupons, receipts, shipping notices etc and will send you an email giving the details.

If you are going abroad there exist a number of options for getting mobile access in the intended country. You can either get roaming activated on your existing GSM number (only if your operator has a roaming agreement with an operator in the visiting country) or you can get a new (temporary) connection on reaching that country. There still exists a third option of having a SIM that works in over 170 countries! Welcome to TravelSIM.

This is indeed a new and innovative concept. This is basically an international SIM card, that comes in prepaid and postpaid versions both. The company claims that its services are cheaper as compared to other operators.

Some important features are:

• Savings up to 85 % on international calls.
• Free incoming calls for most of Europe.
• Coverage in over 170 countries.
• Calls and SMS to and from all over the world.
• Ability to add airtime as and when required.
• GPRS

What more can I say? Just check out the TravelSIM website for more info.

Not a day passes by when I am not amazed and dazed at how technology is evolving and innovation is shaping things. I blogged about the Airnergy Wi-Fi signals harvesting device a couple of days back, and just now happened to chance upon some very impressive gadgets that are totally out of this world, they really are impressive. I won’t bore you with more adjectives just read on…

SLIMDATA is a USB 2.0 storage device that is easy to carry around. It is not fat and ugly, in fact it is the size of a Credit card and can therefore sit in one’s wallet. To use it simply fold one side to reveal the USB port and insert in your laptop/PC. Currently it is available in 4 GB capacity and comes in five colors. Works with Windows, Linux and Mac. If you place a big order the company will print a customized message or logo. Check out the website for more info.

Washable Mice, Keyboards and TV Remotes. Now eat this, keyboards, mice and remotes that are washable! But why, I mean why not just use a vacuum cleaner instead or may be use a lint free cloth with some liquid? Well the developers of these smart products say that it is good for the health since the product they are made of repels bacteria. Moreover, since these things can be washed just like clothes in a dishwasher, kitchen sink or whatever so there are lesser chances of people infecting each other. This brings us to another problem, when can we see a keyboard, mouse or TV remote washing machine? Just kidding, check out the company’s website.

Mobile TV. This is a portable device that lets users view TV via a Notebook, Netbook and  smart-phone. It can be charged from Mini USB port, has WLAN and weighs just 71 grams. It will work with Symbian, Android and Windows Mobile based devices. Check out the website for more in depth information.