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Why it's a good idea to own a USB-to-SATA adapter The USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter the most indispensable tool in my PC repair kit. Just this weekend, it once again proved itself worthy of that title. In a nutshell, the adapter allows you to connect an internal hard drive to your PC-externally. What would an internal drive be doing outside your desktop or laptop? Funny you should ask. About a week ago, my media-center PC starting displaying this message during boot-up: "Hard drive failure imminent." And you know what? It was. In short order, the machine wouldn't boot at all. Long story short, I had to replace the drive, reinstall Windows, etc. But I wondered if I could salvage any/all of my recorded TV shows. To find out, I connected the old, non-booting drive (now "naked" outside the system) to a USB port via my adapter. Huzzah! The machine was able to read the drive and copy over the recordings. Except for the hassles (and expense) of actually replacing the drive, no harm done. There's another reason to keep one of these adapters on hand, and that's if you're planning to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD). Unless you buy a kit that comes with an adapter, you'll need one so you can image (i.e. clone) your existing drive to the new SSD. Then you'll remove the old drive, install the new one, and presto, you're back in business. (Much faster business: SSDs rock.) Unless you have a pretty old desktop or laptop, you can skip buying a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter and just go for USB-to-SATA. At the same time, I recommend one that supports USB 3.0. You may not need it now, but it's a good bet your next PC will have USB 3.0 ports -- and that'll make for much faster copying between drives. Trust me: When the time comes that you need to upgrade or replace a hard drive, you'll be glad to have a USB-to-SATA adapter on hand. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com

In springtime, people's fancies may turn to love, but their to-do list turns to cleaning. Make this the year that you finally recycle all the ancient MP3 players, toner cartridges, ethernet cables, and bulky monitors out of the closets, garages, and spare rooms where they've been lurking. Your home will feel more modern, and you'll be doing your part to boost the 27 percent electronics recycling rate. Just in time for another spring constant, Earth Day. Before you get rid of any of your electronics The first step on your recycling journey: Make sure that none of your personal data will be leaving the house along with your soon-to-be-discarded electronics. If you're using Apple's iTunes to manage your digital music and video, be sure you deauthorize any device you're recycling. "But that computer is dead" is no excuse: Apple expects you to simply deauthorize all your devices via the iTunes app, then reauthorize the ones that are still alive If you're recycling a smartphone, do a complete reset of your phone to wipe out its data and restore it to its factory settings. Before you do this, however, make sure that you've got your data backed up someplace else If you're recycling a computer or a hard drive, don't just assume that deleting files will wipe the data off your system, because it won't. All it does is reformat the space on the drive, and the data can be snagged using tools designed for disaster recovery. Now, on to recycling Broadly speaking, you have three recycling options: You can drop off your unwanted stuff in person somewhere; you can ship it away; or you can donate it to a willing organization. Drop it off in person. The advantage to dropping off your gear is that you don't need to really plan ahead and print out prepaid labels (as you would if you were shipping things away); you just toss your stuff in the car and go Another option that's cropping up across the U.S. is the electronics recyc

While it becomes impossible to live without your iPhone 4S, you must be a bit worried about the habit of the gadget eating up all the battery at inopportune times.there are still some vital tips and tricks you can follow to improve your Smartphones battery life. Low Down The Screen Brightness Just as it goes for your laptop devices, you need to lower down the brightness of your iPhone screen, which will enhance the battery life. Adjust the screen brightness under the Settings tab. Make Use of Wi-Fi When You Can Instead of making Voice calls, downloading apps or browsing the Web over your iPhone 3G or cellular connection, it is recommended to always find a Wifi hotspot or make use of your home network. This will help you keep away not only from data charges but also will aid you have a better battery life as your device will not be searching for the data signals. Remember, if you are in an area where there is no Wi-Fi hotspot, it is better to turn off the search and it will help save the battery life of your iPhone 4S. Do Not Use The GPS Tracking Feature If you are using apps that support the feature of Automatic GPS tagging and location such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, your iPhone is working overtime to determine your location. If you do not want to be Geo-tag your updates and posts, must keep the GPS function off. Do Not Use The 'Fetch' & 'Push' feature If you have your iPhone 4S set to 'fetch' the data after every 30 minutes time along with numerous apps to push new alerts and messages as they happen, then you need to turn off this feature on your device. This feature is going to drain your battery. Only use the facility when you really need it otherwise keep it off. Keep Your Notifications In Check To enhance your iPhone 4S battery time, you need to limit your app notifications to just the apps you make use of more often. This actually means that you have to say 'no' to the requests for all kinds of notifications you ge

Xbox owns your TV Voice commands will be a big part of interacting with the One. While we can assume youll still be able to navigate via your controller or Smart Glass app, Yusef Mehdi, Microsoft's senior vice president of interactive entertainment, demonstrated how to navigate the One using voice commands and gesture control with the updated Kinect sensor. Xbox One Users can instantly activate the One by uttering "Xbox On." The Xbox will be able to differentiate the user's voice and automatically remember where that particular user last left off in the dashboard. One of the most impressive features demonstrated Tuesday was Xbox One's Instant Switching, which moves between functions with little latency. Like the current Xbox Kinect, users can switch between functions with voice commands such as "Xbox go to music" and "Xbox go to game," but the One is able to do it with the ease of switching between television channels. One of the biggest additions is the introduction of live television streams into the Xbox experience. Users can instantly switch to live TV via a prompt of "Xbox Live TV." The One even features a TV Guide-like "Xbox One Guide," which shows what television is available right now alongside on-demand content. Additionally, users will be able to organize media content by "favorites" as well as by what content is currently trending in popularity. Borrowing a trick from Windows 8, the One's new Snap Mode will allow users to multitask between different apps and functions on the same screen. For example, if youre watching a live sporting event, you can prompt the One to access your updated fantasy league stats or search the Web for using Explorer-all in one screen. One will also offer Skype integration and allow users to video chat using the network directly through the Kinect sensor. In effect, Xbox will make any TV it is attached to a smart TV-smarter and more functional than almost any TV we've see

"iPhone 5 Called ""Gadget off the Year"" by Time Magazine, Apple's iPhone 5 (from $199 on 2-year AT&T, Sprint or Verizon plan) is a serious piece of hardware. Along with its powerful new A6 chip, iPhone 5 works on 4G/Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks for wireless speeds that rivals your home's broadband connection. iPhone 5 also has improved cameras: an eight-megapixel iSight rear-facing camera (3264 x 2448 pixels) and front-facing FaceTime camera with 720p HD quality for video calling. Samsung Galaxy S III The Samsung Galaxy S III (from $149 on 2-year plan with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon) is a true smartphone in every sense of the word -- and we're not even referring to its stunning 4.8-inch display, fast LTE speeds or versatile Android operating system. the Galaxy S III's front-facing camera knows when you're looking at the screen, so it'll give you the bright display you seek, but if your eyes look away it'll dim itself to preserve its battery. It also knows when you want to talk: if you're messaging with someone and want to call them, simply lift the smartphone to your ear and it'll dial for you. Nokia Lumia 920 As the flagship Windows Phone 8 device, Nokia's Lumia 920 (from $99.99 on 2-year AT&T plan), has a lot to offer, including a colorful Start screen with ""live tiles""; familiar Microsoft apps like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote; and a People hub that aggregates all your contacts into one page per person (so you don't need to close, say Outlook, to see what that friend is up to on Facebook or Twitter). HTC Droid DNA and HTC One X+ A pair of Android-powered HTC devices are also worthy of ""best of 2012"" nods: the HTC Droid DNA ($149.99 on 2-year Verizon Wireless plan) and HTC One X+ ($199.99 on 2-year AT&T plan). Protected by Corning's uber-durable Gorilla Glass 2 technology, the Droid DNA's 5-inch 1080p HD screen was built for video, games, ebooks and web browsing. Integrated Beats Audio - an

Here's one of those sad facts of life that you just can't avoid: Like cars, clothing, and people, batteries wear out. You can't stop this process, but with proper care you can slow it down. What wears down a battery? Charging and discharging. Obviously, you can't avoid either of those acts entirely (although if you could, you wouldn't have to worry about wearing out your battery). The trick, of course, is to do as little charging and discharging as possible. And one way to avoid charging and discharging is to remove the battery when you don't need it. Ideally, you would remove the battery (with the laptop shut down, of course) before plugging in the AC adapter and working at your desk. Then, before you take your PC on the road, you would shut it down, insert the battery, and let it charge for a few hours. In reality, that's not always practical. Shutting down and rebooting your PC every time you go from portable to deskbound quickly becomes a nuisance. Worse, you have to remember to recharge before leaving home. A more practical solution would be to shut down the laptop and remove the battery when you expect it will stay plugged in for a week or more. And don't intentionally discharge the battery before removing it. After all, the whole point is to charge and recharge as little as possible. Some of the charge will be lost while the battery sits unused, so it's still a good idea to recharge it before taking it on the road--even though that requires some planning ahead of time. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=140300136155835&set=o.172245722918618&type=1&theater

"Looking for a pair of wireless headphones to complement your super tight jeans? JayBird's SB2 Sportsband headphones should serve as the perfect tech-cessory for your 80′s inspired hipster wardrobe thanks to their wide headband and small collection of colors ranging from subtle to almost neon. But what's that you say? You embrace the 80′s except when it comes to technology? Well you'll be happy to know that in addition to Bluetooth A2DP support, the headphones also support the newer apt-X Bluetooth audio codec, which is apparently included in Apple's new Mac Mini. However, if you wanted to take advantage of its CD-quality wireless sound with other gear like the iPhone. The iSport (pictured above) which is compatible with the iPhone and other iDevices, or the uSport which connects to the headphone jack of pretty much any other audio source. like with most Bluetooth headphones they include buttons on the side for controlling your music, as well as an integrated mic for making calls." By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/techvedicinc https://twitter.com/techvedicinc http://pinterest.com/techvedic1 http://techvedicinc.tumblr.com/ https://plus.google.com/u/0/110467075169904075419/

Microsoft has added a wonderful Windows repair tool to find a quick way out of Windows problems. This is actually a reverse gear, which you can use to alter any changes that might have incurred to the operating system due to faulty software or driver update, virus or malware attack, incompatible driver, or more. So don't forget to create Restore Point within a reasonable timeframe-say, the last couple of months to stay safe.

BlackBerry Z10 is the touchscreen version which is very similar to the other smartphones available in the market. Display with 4.2inch screen gives a resolution of 1268 x 768 pixels i.e. 768 pixels per inch. The BlackBerry Z10 is easier to use than Android and more powerful, giving faster access to e-mails, tweets, facebook updates and messages. The Z10 has 16GB on inbuilt memory. Unlike the iPhone, the BlackBerry Z10 will allow user to extend the storage with microSD card slot. It sports a chip letting the phone act as a credit card at few payment terminals and share data wirelessly when tapped against some other phones. BlackBerry Z10 comes with handsome cameras with 8MP on back and 2MP on the front. The rear camera can record is a 1080p high definition camera while the front has 720p resolution. One more good thing about the BlackBerry Z10 is its battery life. The talk time is upto 10hrs on 3G. Upto 60 hours of audio playback and 11 hours of video playback. The BlackBerry messenger (BBM) in BlackBerry Z10 includes voice calling and video chatting and allows user to share its screen with another. Another distinguishing feature is the BlackBerry Balance which allows two personas on the same device still keeping the individual data secure. One can set Work mode and personal mode and can switch between them easily. The Time shift is a camera feature that lets you capture a group shot where everyone is smiling with their eyes wide open. BlackBerry Z10 introduces new browser which includes HTML5 support which has a reader mode. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com https://www.facebook.com/techvedicinc https://twitter.com/techvedicinc http://pinterest.com/techvedic1 http://techvedicinc.tumblr.com/

Windows Updates, as you know is a legitimate software update from Microsoft to make the operating system stable and secure for improved performance. By default the feature remains enabled, however, you have the option to configure it further. Set Windows to automatically install updates or get your permission prior to it. Generally, after Windows Update the system automatically shuts down due to the replacement of the Shut Down option in the Start menu with the "Install Updates and Shut Down" button. This phenomenon is sometime irritating.

Want to transfer all your good pictures from camera to computer? Then go through this tutorial. Nowadays, there are many cameras which have the facility to connect to a wireless network and perform the task of uploading.

Technical innovations are advancing day by day. But, along with this irritating and sometimes destructive pop-up ads are also there. To avoid this hindrance, you need to turn-off your pop-up so as to experience ultimate web-surfing. Here is this tutorial to let you know the way of blocking these pop-ups.

Most of the times you need to take the print out of the web pages. But, when the printed web pages come out too small then it is really irritating. This is generally due to "Shrink to Fit" option. According to this option, Internet Explorer squeezes all the elements of a web page by default onto a sheet of paper. Thus, go through this tutorial and fix it.

A desktop email client is a better place to keep a backup of your emails as you can use them offline as well as type and save emails to send later. There is a case where you may use few extra IDs to register at forums, websites, etc. But, what happen if you will forget one of your IDs which you have used long time back. Well, in that case you need to recover your password.

As a Windows user, you love to install new software or games? Well, everyone does. But, have you suffered from the problems like PC slow down or random error messages while installing such stuff. These error messages are sometimes due to a missing or corrupt system. Also, incorrect Registry value can be another reason. Here we are to resolve the issue. With the help of this tutorial, you can become aware about the built-in feature of Windows 8 which can help you to reinstall or repair Windows quickly.

Just clicked a picture and want to take its print-out? Well, for this you must need a PC attached with the printer or you need to mail that photograph to yourself. Don't you think there should be an easy solution for this? No need to worry anymore as Techvedic is here with the solution. Now, printing directly from your mobiles and tablets is possible.

Computing is no longer confined to the walls. Today you want to stay connected with world that matters from anywhere anytime. Sensing the demand, manufactures like Dell, HP, Samsung and Lenovo to name a few have come with slimmest architecture with extra-long battery life. However, computing at high altitudes say at 33, 000 feet is still a challenge. Reckoning the responsibility, Techvedic, a leading tech support vendor, has come up with must-to-follow tips while you are on the verge of exploring the challenges of nature.

Whether you love to play DOS games or want to use DOS for some other reason, you need to download the latest version as it supports both old and new DOS commands. Here is this tutorial for you to install DOS operating system.

Do you have a collection of movies in your DVD? Then it's time to put your DVD library in the cloud. After converting your movie library to digital files, you can store those files on a server and stream them anytime, from anywhere. Well, a DVD to digital conversion will cost you a few bucks. But, you can accomplish the same thing by yourself.

Now, it's time to offload your iTunes library to an external drive or a separate internal drive. This tutorial contains step-by-step instructions to move iTunes library.