News

How to bypass Live Messenger (WLM/MSN) 2011 Update

20 June 2012 3:28 PM

As you may or may not know Microsoft yesterday started forcing upgrades to Windows Live Messenger (sometimes abbreviated WLM/MSN) 2011 on Windows 7. Unfortunately the 2011 (It’s 2012 where’s version 2012?) version drops several key features, adds several annoying features, and is not that impressive of an upgrade. Certainly many just prefer to use Live Messenger 2009 and now you can!

When you try and sign in to Messenger 2009 you will see one of theses;

“A newer version is available. You must install the newer version in order to continue. Would you like to do this now?”

or “A newer version has been downloaded and is available. You must install this newer version in order to continue. Would you like to do this now?”

Annoying right? Yes I think so we’ve two ways you can bypass this (I personally recommend option two)

Option 1
To bypass the forced upgrade for Windows Live Messenger 2009, you can download My Messenger Reviver utility however this isn’t recommend, unless they somehow patch option two.

Option 2
1 – Right Click on your “Windows Live Messenger” Icon (either from your desktop or start menu)
2 – Click/Select “Properties” you will see many such as tabs, Shortcut, Compatibility, General, Security, Details and Previous Version.
3 – Click on Compatibility Tab in This Tab you will see “Compatibility Mode”
4 – Check in front of Run this Program in compatibility mode for:

If you use Windows XP, Select Windows NT or 2000 (MSN+ can’t run on this mode) if you use Windows Vista or 7, Select Windows Server 2003(SP1) – MSN+ can run on this mode.

5 – Apply and OK this setting
6 – Restart Messenger (Task Manager) and end msnmesgr.exe
7 – You’re done – Enjoy!

Tried and tested on Windows Vista, 7 & Windows 8 only – please let us know in the comments below if it works on your OS, do you like Messenger 2011 or will you be using this to avoid it?

Note; We take no responsibility in this software or the guide (option o2), The software (“program”) wasn’t developed by us please use at your own risk, Thanks!

UPDATE 21 – 06 – 12
We have noticed doing option 2 in Windows 7 it will no longer show two windows in your task-bar and when you minimize WLM 2009 it will now go to ‘notifications’ area not taskbar it hasn’t closed click the “^” arrow in notifications.

Pirate Bay Blocked? Try 4 Free* VPN Services

4 May 2012 7:50 AM

As you may be aware more than four million subscribers were cut off from www.thepiratebay.se/.org on Wednesday evening. The Pirate Bay has been blocked for Virgin Media after they cut Pirate Bay access for millions of users, (and soon many other Internet service providers such as Sky, O2, Everything Everywhere and TalkTalk) Virgin Media has taken the step of being the first ISP ordered by the High Court to enact the block order placed upon it and the four other big UK providers. Despite this however, the news and publicity generated by the story has caused the torrent linking website to have its biggest ever surge in UK traffic.

The block of TPB looks likely to make little impact in the overall scheme. There are many sites running proxies that allow a simple bypass and anyone serious about accessing it can simply take out a very affordable VPN service, or begin using Tor software. We’ve listed the top 10 free VPN services.

More news on The Pirate Bay being blocked by VirginMedia and shortly by Sky, O2, Virgin Media, TalkTalk and other Internet service providers can be found by clicking here.

“The Pirate Bay’s founders said that users can set up anonymous connections using a virtual provate network (VPN). Alternatively, they can use a closed private network of computers, known as a darknet, or change their DNS settings with OpenDNS.” – Read more on The Pirate Bay’s blog [Proxy Link]

2. OpenDNS – Free VPN
OpenDNS.com – OpenDNS is probably the best and easiest option, by changing your DNS settings follow How do I use OpenDNS and Manage Internal Resources and Virtual Private Networks? for more details.

2. OpenVPN – Free VPN
OpenVPN.net is a SSL/TLS based VPN, it provides high security and privacy. The biggest difference between PPTP VPN and OpenVPN is you need install OpenVPN client software to use OpenVPN service, and OpenVPN DO NOT work on mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad, Windows Mobile and Android. But OpenVPN works on Windows and Mac.
5. CyberGhost – Free VPN service

3. CyberGhost – Free VPN
CyberGhost – is a free VPN service from Germany which helps you route you through a German IP. The free service is limited to 1GB traffic every month, which is more than enough for surfing on websites, chatting and email. The paid service is also affordable.

4. ProXPN – Free VPN
ProXPN – A free VPN service designed for use with Windows and Mac computers. ProXPN works by downloading a small free application from which to connect. The service is also compatible with the iPhone and other mobile phones that support VPN. Interestingly you can use the iPhone setup instructions to make a connection from your PC, useful if you’re a Linux user.

5. It’s Hidden – Free VPN
Its Hidden – Originally established as a safeguard for filesharers, Its Hidden offers a competitive free service as well as paid solutions offering better contention (less users per server), professional support and dedicated IP addresses. Registration is required, and once you’ve signed up you can connect to the service directly through your operating system by following the set-up guide, with no additional software required. The service is compatible with any operating system you happen to be using that supports VPN.

Free things are great, but they’re also subject to a lot of use by the community. If you’re encountering problems with any of the above then you’re just better off moving on and trying another.
If you’re really serious about security (and accessing your home PCs from anywhere) then you’ll probably want to invest in a paid VPN service.

Do you use VPN? Had any luck with free services, or have you gone paid? Let us know in the comments below!.

SOPA: Wikipedia Goes Dark

18 January 2012 4:55 AM

If you need to use Wikipedia for any urgent research, make sure you do it today – come tomorrow, you’ll be clean out of luck (for 24 hours)

The company announced today that in protest over SOPA, it will join Reddit and others on Wednesday for an all-day web “blackout” – which means that participating sites will be effectively off-line and inaccessible. The move comes as the firestorm over a highly controversial internet piracy bill in Washington gathers pace.

Wikimedia Foundation – English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout:
“Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.”

Full Story – Wikimedia Foundation.

UPDATE 05:25 AM GMT;

Isn’t SOPA dead? Wasn’t the bill shelved, and didn’t the White House declare that it won’t sign anything that resembles the current bill?
No, SOPA and PIPA are not dead. On January 17th, SOPA’s sponsor said the bill will be discussed in early February. There are signs PIPA may be debated on the Senate floor next week. The threat of SOPA and PIPA remains, and the English Wikipedia community wants to send a strong message that such attacks on the free and open web are not welcome.

Is it still possible to access Wikipedia in any way?
The Wikipedia community, as part of their request to the Wikimedia Foundation to carry out this protest, asked us to ensure that we make English Wikipedia accessible in some way during an emergency. The English Wikipedia will be accessible on mobile devices and smart phones. Because the protest message is powered by JavaScript, it’s also possible to view Wikipedia by completely disabling JavaScript in your browser.

Flipboard Introduces an iPhone App

7 December 2011 11:54 PM

Today the popular iPad app called Flipboard has now made its way to the iPhone. Flipboard, if you aren’t familiar, is an app for browsing news in a beautiful layout.

You can browse through their news source, your own rss feeds, as well as your Twitter and Facebook streams. Since Filpboard for iPhone was such a high demand their servers have been taking a hit and they are currently not allow you to create an account or for me, use the app at all. I would expect it to be fully working by tomorrow. If you want to download it, the link inside the post!

Flip has always been one of the best reader apps, a great app to fire up in a waiting room (or, with the iPhone version, the Starbucks line) to catch up on news and articles. The iPhone version is fast, too, so you won’t finish your whole coffee waiting for it to load up (I’m looking at you, New York Times app).

The iPad version is still more attractive, which is not surprising since its extra real estate makes it a much better platform for reading.

Thanks to the Flipboard account feature, your subscriptions on one iDevice are synced to another. I loaded the app up on the iPhone and logged in, and all the sources I had subscribed to on my iPad appeared right away. There’s still no Web-based management for Flipboard accounts, though, which I see as an inconvenience. There’s also no Android version.

That said, get this app on your iPhone. Especially if you already use it on the iPad. It really makes short work of powering through your main content feeds, and it looks good and works well enough to vanish into the background as you use it.