Get your Facebook URL

Now you can get your own URL on famous social website, Facebook.com. All you need to do is hit facebook.com/usernames and you will be directed to login and upon doing so you will be given some initial options for Facebook user names. If the initial selections aren't what you want, just click on "More" to reveal a field where you can enter your own username and check its availability. If it is available, that's it, just accept it to save your changes.

Remember once you accept the user name then you can not change it. Within seven minutes of the service being available, last weekend users grabbed their favorite user names.

How to speed up your computer..

My PC has been terribly slow since few weeks. After googling I found some ways to boost the performance of the PC.

• Stop programs from starting when Windows XP starts. The more programs that are running in the background, the slower Windows XP will be running. To stop the programs from running when Windows starts, click "Start->Run" and then type "msconfig.exe" in the Run dialog. Click the "Startup" tab at the top, then uncheck any programs that you don't want to start. If you change your mind, then you can simply re-check the checkbox and the programs will once again start with Windows. Once you have deselected the programs, click "OK" and then the "Restart" button to restart your computer.
• Modify the Windows XP performance settings. Windows XP allows you to modify certain settings to help increase performance. To access these settings, click "Start->Control Panel->System." Click the "Advanced" tab, and then under the "Performance" section, click the "Settings" button. Within the "Visual Effects" tab, select the "Adjust for best performance" option. Click the "OK" button to close the window, and then "OK" again to close the "System Properties."

Why there is delay in adding beneficiary to HDFC Net banking?

Recently HDFC has introduced delay in adding beneficiary to the
third party transfer. Before it just used to take few minutes to
transfer the amount to other persons account. I feel this change has
been made for the account holders safety.

Few months back there was fishing site which cloned HDFC website
looks. They looked very similar to HDFC bank website, but they were not.
What hackers used to do is, they used to send the link to random people,
and people who had HDFC net banking, if he/she enters the customer id
and password, then they are gone. Fishers get these information and they
immediately add their account to user's third party transfer or as
beneficiary and transfer amount to their accounts.

After this incident HDFC has took some firm steps to avoid such incidents.
1. As soon as you enter customer id and HDFC website you will need to
confirm your image.
2. After adding third party beneficiary, account holder will get update
about this to his cell/E-mail and new beneficiary will only be added
after a day. So account holder will enough time to get if there is any
foul play.

The new brand 'endorser' for Vodafone

No, they aren’t animated characters. They are human beings who were made to wear body suits. “The design of the characters is such that one gets fooled into thinking it is animation,” shrugs Rao, which was indeed the very illusion that had to be created. “In a sense, it is ‘live’ animation!” he quips, referring to the fact that it was all shot live.


Prakash Varma, ad filmmaker, Nirvana Films, has directed the commercials, and reveals that the Zoozoos were a big challenge to create. The practical aspects of how they will move, talk, gesticulate and emote were very important. Essentially, costume design and artwork were crucial elements.

“It took me three weeks of pre-production to understand how it will work,” says Varma. There were two fabrics that were considered for the body suits, and one was rejected for it had too many wrinkles and was shiny. The wrinkles would have shown when the characters moved, thereby shattering the illusion of animation. “So we chose the more practical, thicker fabric,” Varma explains.

The production team divided the outfit into two parts: the body and the head. The body part of the outfit was stuffed with foam in some places, while the head was attached separately. To make it look bigger than a human head, a harder material called Perspex was used, which in turn was stuffed with foam (with scope for ventilation).

How To Prevent Swine Flu

If you have been following the news from across the world lately, you have probably heard the words ‘swine fever' or ‘swine flu' or ‘swine influenza' several times over the last few days.

As of last week, a high degree alert has been sounded by the World Health Organization

(WHO), which has escalated the threat level of this virus to that of a pandemic - in other words, the outbreak of swine flu is now prevalent across many parts of the world.

As you may know by now, swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease causing acute distress, usually caused by a variant of swine influenza ‘A' virus. Until now, this virus was localized among pigs, but it has begun to affect human beings, sometimes in a fatal manner across parts of the United States, North America, South America, Europe, Africa, China, Japan and some other parts of Eastern Asia.

Quite alarming, but swine flu is definitely preventable. Learning how to prevent swine flu from spreading among human beings and how to take precautions against the virus will be of help. Here are some steps to prevent swine flu:

If you are a healthy person, then -

• Avoid contact with anyone that appears to be suffering from symptoms akin to common influenza or fever.

• Avoid remaining in closed environments for long periods of time, or within closed groups of people, especially if any one or more of them appear to be ill, tired, fatigued, etc.

• To the best extent possible, avoid traveling to any of the regions mentioned above that have already had an outbreak of swine flu. If you have recently returned from a trip to these regions or anywhere nearby, then get a general check-up done by your physician, including some tests done to rule out the possibility of the swine fever virus affecting you.

• If you need to head into an area with a swine influenza outbreak, consider wearing a surgical face mask as you may have seen people wearing for the SARS or avian flu outbreaks.

It may be helpful to know that physicians and health authorities in the United States are recommending measured dosages of the anti-virals Oseltamivir or Zanamivir for the treatment of swine flu.

If you are in regular contact with pigs, or live in areas where the population of pigs is high, then watch your animals for sick pigs, separate them from the healthy ones, and report them to your local health authorities. On your own part, minimize contact with sick pigs.

In general, it is highly advisable to maintain the highest levels of hygiene and general health possible:

• Eat fresh cut vegetables and fruits after washing them thoroughly, and only consume nutritious food.
• Wash hands regularly with soap.
• Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. But it is always good practice to ensure that meat is freshly procured, or if stored, it should be stored in frozen compartments.  In any case use it immediately -- cooking it well and at temperatures high enough to kill any virus -- for example, swine fever virus is killed if pork is cooked at 160 degrees Fahrenheit - of course, this does not mean you can eat contaminated pork, but cooking healthy meat at that temperature is advised.

If you suffer from any symptoms akin to common flu, including fever, then consult your physician immediately. As with any medical condition, prevention of swine flu is preferable to treatment.

Source: Howtodothings.com