Whether you are deciding how much money to spend on hiring subcontractors or which suppliers will give you the most value for the materials you are going to use in your projects.

If you still do not know what CRM stands for or why you need it for your construction business, do not worry since you are not alone. However, once you get the idea of what a CRM is, you might think of other ways to use it to improve your construction business and eventually boost your profits significantly. 

What is CRM?

The short answer is that CRM is the acronym for Customer Relationship Management. It is essential to discuss what CRM does and why a business needs to have CRM in place. 

CRM is a system to efficiently manage your business’s leads so that you can make the most profit. Leads refer to all the people who can become your potential customers, which also includes your existing customer base. More specifically, construction CRM refers to the software that your business can use to manage your clients’s information, analyze their interactions and measure data throughout a client’s lifecycle. 

The main goal of CRM software is to improve the business relationships that you have with your clients. If you have an efficient and effective CRM, your leads will be converted to new paying clients; your existing clients will become your loyal advocates who then, in turn, can refer you to more leads. Research has shown that businesses that use CRM software to nurture their prospective customers resulted in a 451 percent increase in getting qualified leads. 

So Why Do You Need a Construction CRM?

A lot of small-to-medium-sized home construction firms rely on the satisfaction of their clients to generate new businesses. When their clients appreciate the work quality of a construction company, these clients will spread their satisfaction by word-of-mouth. However, relying only on work quality is not enough. Construction companies need to manage customer relationships, as well. 

Giving More Value to Your Clients

One benefit of having a construction CRM is that it will help your company give more value to your customers by streamlining all the necessary documents that go along with a construction job. These documents include all the paper works starting from getting the information from the potential clients, the initial estimate on the project cost, contract signing, the scheduling of the tasks, contingency costs, all the way through the final invoice. With efficient CRM software, you will need to enter information once, and the construction CRM software will input and convert the data into the necessary paper works. An efficient CRM will significantly lessen the amount of time to process relevant documents. 

Streamlining Processes

CRM software will also allow you to streamline all processes involved in engaging your clients, such as managing contacts, setting appointments, handling client queries, and monitoring email campaigns. 

Keeping Track of Qualified Leads

Although most CRM software may have project management capabilities, the true essence of a construct CRM must be on keeping track of the relationships between your construction firm and your clients. One main benefit that you can get from an efficient CRM is to be able to categorize your leads based on your specifications. For example, your CRM software can get all the necessary information from your leads, which will then allow you to choose which leads are worth pursuing.

To sum things up, a construction CRM should be able to give your firm a detailed perspective of all your potential leads, all the projects that you are currently bidding on, and all your current clients.

The post Why You Need a Construction CRM appeared first on Blogsolute.

A person identifies himself with his own created stamp and sign- This is the same case goes with Self-Signed Certificate. Yes, this kind of certificate is generated by the owner to identify himself/herself. Instead of choosing trusted certificates issued by the CA (certificate authority), many organizations still prefer Self- Signed certificate that does not follow certain rules and regulation laid by the CA.

Self-Signed Certificates are in Danger Zone of Browser Authorities

However,  Self-Signed certificates do lack of trust among browsers and at present, browser authorities show disinterest in such certificates. Whether you visit a website in Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or any browser, Self-Signed certificates have no place in their trusted certificate list. So, if you want a perfect solution for your website security that your customer will also like, then there are trusted SSL certificates offered by many certificate authorities, for example, Comodo, RapidSSL, Thawte, GlobalSign, Sectigo, etc. Even, browsers have also implemented their root certificates in their list which does update on a regular base.

Impact on Business:

Browsers always show a warning like The connection is not private. Attackers might steal your information, which you can see in the below image.

Due to rising malware and online theft environment, instances of multiple credit card scams and password theft have been in news around us since long time. Customers have been started to take care of their data and other important credentials. They now want surety of their payment especially made over the web. In this critical scenario, if any website has no SSL or Self-Signed certificate then it may reduce company’s business as well cause reduce in credibility of a business. It is advisable to buy SSL certificate from a trusted certificate authority as customers/visitors will move away from your website when they see self-signed certificate warning.

Ignore Warning: A Risky Behaviour

Organizations always advise their employees to avoid warning popup on internal sites as they use Self-Signed certificate. It gradually converts in the tendency to avoid a warning on the browser and this habit could invite malware or vulnerability in organizations’ server or IT system as employees’ lack of awareness can bring heavy loss to organizations and their valuable data or information.

Chances of Self-Signed Certificate Deployment:

Despite of warning, if the organization is testing an application in the internal environment, developers tend to use Self-Signed certificate. In another case when clients want to pass through a local intranet to reach to the server and there are no chance of malware interference then clients may opt for Self-Signed Certificates.

Disadvantages of Self-Signed Certificate:

Below are some disadvantages that could stop you from thinking of Self-Signed certificate and you may end up with an opting 3^rd party SSL certificate.

• Websites will have less business volume as customers will avoid to visit your website further.
• Attackers may take advantage of such a vulnerable website and penetrate such insecure website to gain advantages. According to 2018 report from OTA, cyber incidents got doubled in year 2017.
• Business will have lowest online credibility and may lose trust of their future visitors and customers. The brand will have irreparably loss in long term.
• However, such certificate are available at low price but it will turn into higher cost when attackers steal information from your website.
• It is also difficult to monitor certificate management like its renewal and expiry. There is no PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) it means there is no online revocation list update.
• Self-Signed certificates do not have warranty amount which is given by authenticate certificate authorities in case of misissuance of a certificate.

Checking Self-Signed Certificate:

You can check in browser by clicking red cross or use SSL checker tool that will reveal the details of the certificate. For example, In Chrome, you can press F12 >> Click on to view Certificate. In Firefox, you can click on padlock in browser and check the status of a certificate. Even most browsers display warnings of unsafe websites on the page.

Third Party SSL Certificates:

To make your customers worry from Self-Signed certificate warnings, a website owner should think of 3^rd party SSL certificates. There are multiple certificate categories like domain validation, organization validation and extended validation certificate.

• Domain Validation Certificate: Domain Validation certificate is a primary level of certificate that is issued to a single or multiple domain names. It does not require further business related proofs or verification of business authenticity.
• Organization Validation: Organization Validation is second level of certificate where authenticity of a business needs to be verified with valid legal business proof along with domain validation.
• Extended Validation: Extended Validation is highest level of authentication and can only be issued to organizations. It helps to boost the image of business across the web as it gets green address bar that shows business name with country code. Visitors when see green bar they gain trust in website legitimacy.

At Glance:

With rising competition and cyber incidents, Ecommerce companies, banking, finance and other online  businesses have to look for legitimate SSL certificate instead of Self-Signed certificate. There is HSTS feature that every website should prefer for secure connection where it declares that servers are allowed to deal with via browsers over HTTPS only and thus helps against downgrad protocol attack and cookie hijacking.

The post Risk and Disadvantages of Using a Self-Signed Certificate appeared first on Blogsolute.

In short it is the platform to distribute video content, but because of the sheer number of videos out there – competition is definitely high.

If you want to prepare awesome videos that are going to get noticed when you upload them to YouTube, it is going to take more than just blind luck. While it is easy enough to record videos nowadays using the digital cameras, camcorders or even the cameras on smartphones – the tricky part is taking that footage and turning it into a polished and awesome-looking video. That will require video editing, and as you’ll soon see Movavi Video Editor is the perfect tool for the task.

Processing Raw Footage

When you initially record video footage, odds are it will be far from perfect. Some parts may be shaky or blurry, or may even deviate from the script or plan that you had in mind. Because of that the first step in preparing any video is to process the raw footage, and that normally entails several different areas:

• Improve the quality and fix any issues

The quality of video footage can be affected by multiple factors, such as the lighting, focus, movement of the camera, and so on. Within Movavi Video Editor you can directly manipulate the color settings and improve the quality of your videos, or fix most common issues such as blurry, interlaced, or shaky footage.

• Split videos into segments to trim out any unwanted parts

Some of the raw footage that you record may be completely unusable, in which case it would be best to trim it out completely. To do that you can use Movavi Video Editor and split your video into segments and then just select and delete any parts of your video that you don’t need.

• Merge videos clips and arrange the sequence that they appear in

Most videos are rarely shot in a single take, and generally involve multiple shorter clips being stitched together. That can be done quite easily in Movavi Video Editor, as all you need to do is add videos and then arrange the sequence in which they appear by dragging them into place. It is worth noting that this can also be used to re-record certain segments that you may have trimmed because they were unusable, and re-insert them into the video.

By the time you’re done processing your video in this fashion, you should have a ‘final cut’ of sorts that has the shape and form of the video that you require. While technically you could upload it to YouTube, if you want it to really stand out you should use Movavi Video Editor to edit it a bit more.

Polishing and Adding Flair to a Video

To help your video get attention, you should give it some flair and make it as polished as possible. As you can probably imagine there are a number of ways that this can be done, such as by:

• Adding audio tracks containing background music or a voiceover narration

By adding audio tracks to your video, you can include background music as well as a voiceover to narrate the video. While you may have recorded a voiceover as part of your original video, recording it separately in high quality and adding it later is often a good idea. In Movavi Video Editor you can add any audio file into your audio track, or use one of the built-in tracks as background music. While you’re at it you could also adjust the audio levels, normalize the sound, and remove background noises too.

• Applying filters and special effects

If you want to stylize your video and alter its visual appearance then your best bet is to make use of filters and special effects. There are numerous types of filters and effects in Movavi Video Editor, ranging from simple filters that will give your video a unique atmosphere to more advanced effects such as ‘green screen’, or slow motion video effects. Additionally it has a wide selection of animated transitions that you can place between scenes to connect them to one another more seamlessly.

• Inserting captions and text elements

It is easy to underestimate the value of captions and other text elements, but something as simple as adding subtitles will often give your video a professional sheen. With Movavi Video Editor you can insert text elements and fully customize their style and appearance so that they can act as captions, titles, watermarks, subtitles or anything else you require.

Needless to say there are a number of other improvements that you could perform on your videos with Movavi Video Editor but that should cover most of the bases and allow you to give it the kind of flair and polish that is perfect for YouTube. It is worth remembering that as much as flair can help a video attract attention, it should be tasteful – otherwise it might repel viewers instead.

Once you are satisfied with your video, all that remains is to save it in a format of your choosing and upload it to YouTube. It may surprise you but Movavi Video Editor can help in that regard as well, as it has a library of presets that will automatically optimize your videos for specific devices or platforms – including those that cater to YouTube. As such, all you really need to do is pick the YouTube preset that applies to your video and let it handle the rest.

As you can see it is easy to prepare videos for YouTube with the help of Movavi Video Editor, and if you’re interested you should certainly check it out at their official site. Now that you know the approach to use, you should be able to quickly familiarize yourself with its features and use them to good effect.

The post How to Prepare Awesome Videos for YouTube Upload appeared first on Blogsolute.

This software package has always had a hefty price tag, but it also offered the opportunity to pay once and own it outright. For the last several years, a new payment system requires customers to essentially rent the package. It’s true that basic applications like Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC only cost $9.99US per month, but still, requires a one year commitment. The change has spurred other providers to jump in with affordable alternatives that offer many or most of what’s available in Photoshop. Here are some of the better choices that worth checking out.

1. GIMP

Gimp is recognized as a valuable alternative to Photoshop in terms of its capabilities that include image filters, color adjustment tools, layers, and the indispensable alpha channel. It’s also popular because its price tag is exactly zero. Be aware that learning how to utilize its features will take a bit more time than it would for Photoshop, although you could simplify things with an add-on that gives it a Photoshop-like interface. Both Gimp and Photoshop download on the computer for offline use, but Photoshop shuts off if a payment is missed. As open source software, Gimp doesn’t have the support offered by Photoshop, but it does provide a means of creating scripts to perform repetitive chores and there are plenty online that have been created by Gimp enthusiasts.

2. Pixlr

This software is the product of AutoDesk and comes in two popular versions. Pixlr Editor is a free online suite that does the usual image manipulation work like cropping, color level adjustment, and noise. It also performs more sophisticated operations like layers and masks. The tools are laid out in an intuitive manner that makes work easy even for amateur designers. If you prefer a less sophisticated interface, Pixlr Express allows users to carry out basic photo alteration jobs with single commands. Both online packages are provided free by including an advertisement as part of the layout.

3. Lunapic

Lunapic is a free online site that focuses on image editing. It features basic retouching tools like color adjustment, red eye reduction, contrast, and even dehazing. You can also play with filters, effects, and even artistic rendering styles for images, a basic drawing tool is available. One of the more interesting additions to Lunapic is the ability to add animations to both pictures and video.

4. Paint.Net

This free program is built using Microsoft’s .NET framework, which means it’s only available for Windows OS. Beyond that restriction, Paint.NET has many features, such as filters and layers. Also, a plugin is available to provide alpha channel masking to its toolkit. While Paint.NET doesn’t have an array of filters and effects as extensive as that of Photoshop, it does offer Photoshop-like non-destructive layers that retain the original information for an image. The latest version has been praised for its intuitive new interface. Once it’s loaded into a computer, it’s ready to use offline and it works quickly.

5. SumoPaint

Sumopaint is capable of all the normal image editing functions like a selection tool, color enhancement, and sharpening. It also has more advanced features like layers that can be mixed and blended. SumoPaint also includes design features like adjustable brushes and a huge variety of symbols that can be stamped on the image. An upscale version is also available that emphasizes design capabilities like adding a reflection to a piece of digital artwork. While the free introductory software can only be used online with a browser equipped with Flash, the high-end package, SumoPaint Pro, is downloadable for offline use with an annual subscription of $19US.

6. Affinity

Affinity ranks as one of the most powerful challengers to Photoshop. Along with features like layers, filters, and channels found in Gimp and other rivals, Affinity matches Photoshop in its power to directly handle RAW files used by professional photographers while Gimp cannot. The package lacks the cataloging features of Lightroom CC, but it can handle high-dynamic range or HDR images. Affinity, available for Mac and Windows, also contains an easy-to-understand user interface similar to Photoshop. The Affinity package currently sells for $49.99US but new upgrades are provided for free.

7. PaintShopPro

Another heavy duty editor designed to run only on Windows 7 through Windows 10 operating systems is Corel PaintShop Pro. Like Affinity, this package offers some design capabilities similar to Illustrator. There’s also the ability to work with RAW files much like Photoshop does. In addition, PaintShop Pro can handle depth aware photos that allow the operator to single out individual elements in a picture without resorting to masks or the cutting tool. For a one-time purchase of $79.99US, it’s still well below the roughly $120 for a year’s usage of basic Photoshop.

8. PhotoPosPro

There are two flavors of Photo Pos Pro with both versions designed as standalone programs for Windows OS. The free basic offering includes the usual tools for sharpening, brightening, adjusting colors, and airbrushing away unwanted components. It also provides layers, masks, filters, brushes, and assorted effects. Photo Pos Pro Premium sells for $24.90US and offers features like RAW file handling along with batch processing.

9. Pixelmator

Exclusively for the Mac OS, Pixelmator is another of the more powerful programs for photo editing that includes everything from retouching to blending layers. It also incorporates a clone stamp tool along with vector-based icons that can be scaled without any distortions. Additionally, it includes text capabilities like those found in most of these alternatives along with brush tools for design work. Selling for $29.99US, Pixelmator can even perform operations usually found only on Photoshop like import RAW files and do CMYK color proofing for printing jobs.

While there are others to choose from, this group stands out for their combination of capabilities and affordability. Some might be more complex than others, but all of them succeed by concentrating on what the user really needs without loading up on the rarely used tools found in Photoshop. With many available online for free, it should easy to take them out for a test run.

Paul is an experienced web designer with a passion for UX/UI and an editor at Versuswebhosting. He tends to be very picky when it comes to web hosting services. Paul prefers web companies that provide reliable and safe web hosting services, without pointless features and eye-catching options.

The post 9 Best Cheap Alternatives for Photoshop appeared first on Blogsolute.

In this post, we’re going to be discussing Wondershare’s PDFelement program. It’s a PDF editor that goes way further in features than your standard PDF viewer and even has the added bonus of being available on both Mac and PC.

What is a PDF?

Let’s clear the air around PDFs first before we dive into how PDFelement can help you. So PDF stands for ‘Portable Document Format’ and although it would eventually become synonymous with Adobe, it was actually created by a few computer IT specialists a few years before Adobe came around and took it in.

In 2008 Adobe released the PDF filetype as an open standard – free to work with, and many other companies came rushing in with programs designed to work with PDFs and give them more functionality.

PDFs are a file format that attempt to capture all of the pieces of a physical printed document, that you can view, print, or forward along to other people.

This is where Wondershare comes in, they were originally founded in 2003 and released PDFelement around 2012. It’s been gathering steam since then as it gets more and more features!

What does PDFelement offer?

It’s not hard to find a free PDF viewer online, but the most they will offer is the ability to view the PDF and maybe if you’re lucky, add a digital signature.

PDFelement goes way further than that, offering features that standard PDF viewers can’t even dream of. Some of the best ones include:

• Text Editing: You can use PDFelement like you would a word processor, you can edit existing text and move text boxes around.
• OCR (optical character recognition): You can take a PDF and make it editable in over 20 different languages with OCR. Received a pdf you want to amend? No problem, scan it with OCR then edit it right in the same program.
• PDF Conversion: You can convert PDF files into Microsoft Word documents instead. There are a few additional handy features like turning several PDFs into one document or selecting only certain pages to convert.
• Forms: You can create fillable forms on PDFelement by simply moving text boxes around. You can even change the font and colors!

Historically, PDFs haven’t been nearly as flexible as other file types. You generally scanned a document, passed it around, and if you needed to, printed it out to have it signed. It was more like a picture than a document.

With those features, it essentially turns a PDF document into a regular text doc, sometimes literally! Instead of just viewing the PDFs now you get to interact with them and modify them.

This is especially handy if you deal with any kind of contracts. You don’t need to reject the contract and send it back to your client, just make the modifications yourself and then send the version 2.0 back!

Additional Features

While not as mind-blowing as the ability to edit PDFs, Wondershare PDFelement does have a few other useful features up their sleeve they list on their website :

• Add Password Protection: You can attach passwords to your PDFs, and use them to restrict opening the document, editing it, copying it or printing.
• Insert Your Signature: You can add your own digital signature to PDFs, made from your own handwriting.
• Merge and Split Files: You can combine several document types including PDFs and Microsoft Office files into one large PDF, or do the opposite and take a PDF but split it into smaller parts!
• Redact: A newer feature, it permanently removes any images or text you want from a PDF file, deleting them for good.
• Add Comments: Similar to some online document editors, you can annotate PDFs with PDFelement as well – you can add notes, highlight, underline text and more.
• Watermarking: are the files you’re sending classified? No problem, you can easily add your own watermark to the PDF files and mark them as your own! One word of warning though, getting rid of a watermark is not nearly as easy!
• Compression: If you’re concerned that a PDF might be a little too large to email over to a client, you can compress it down to a smaller size.

Although they’ve been around for quite a while now, PDFs are only getting more and more important as time goes by.  Recently, many larger firms have started using PDF to gather digital signatures, so it’s a great investment in the future to pick up a product like PDFelement! For other reviews of other products you can visit Hot Rate site online, when you can see many different reviews of all kind of products.

The post Wondershare PDFelement Review appeared first on Blogsolute.

Blog article on Dealarious suggest that security starts right from building your Computer. Starting from hardware components I mean. Here is a 8 step checklist list published on how to secure PC completely:

1. Install Windows 8 as operating system

It is the latest version from Microsoft and will have a benefit of continued support and updates. This include regular patches and fixes to the vulnerabilities found in the system architecture.

2. Use Motherboard that supports SecureBoot

SecureBoot is a component of Windows 8 operating system to help prevent malicious software applications and “unauthorized” operating systems from loading during the system start-up process.

There are concerns that you won’t be able to install Linux as dual OS with SecureBoot. But then, it is a step taken to restrict malware from loading not Linux.

3. Do not Use Admin user regularly

When you are logged in as administrator, you have escalated privileges to make changes to system files. So, it is recommended to use another user with standard privileges so that even if malware tries to attack, it will be locked down due to lack of administrator privileges.

Learn how to sign in as different user on Windows 8

4. Keep Software programs which are required

Uninstall all the crap and unused stuff from your Computer. Not only this will save space but also prevent infection from spreading through them if any. Check out these 6 tools to clean up Windows and uninstall unused.

5. Stay up-to-date on all Software programs

Keep track of outdated software programs installed for they maybe more vulnerable to attacks.

6. Keep User Account Control to always Active

Whenever a program tries to modify system files, User Account Control makes sure these changes are made only with approval from the administrator. So, you get a popup notification whether it should be allowed or not.

If you think that the application asking for permission is not legit, it wont be given further access to make any sort of changes.

7. Stop Using Duplicate and Simple Passwords

I know it is difficult to remember unique passwords for each and every site you register. So, I personally recommend using LastPass to do this task for you. Also, you may opt for using a secure password generator website if you want to remember them by yourself.

8. Use Antivirus

Well, you already know why you need this

The post Stop Relying on Antivirus Software, it isn’t Enough appeared first on Blogsolute.

Imagine a complete stranger rifling through your purse, glove box, pockets and phone. You’re not comfortable with that, are you?

Nowadays, home PCs hold a myriad of personal files and information that most people wouldn’t be comfortable sharing. Search history, emails, instant messages, bank usernames and passwords, tax details and a host of other sensitive data can now be found on your home PC – and without adequate protection from cybercrime, this information could fall into the wrong hands.

Identity thieves and hackers target home computers because they know families often do not maintain adequate security protection on their PCs. This makes these family users easy, lucrative marks. Many hackers access your personal information in order to steal your money and your identity. Others might want to use your home computer as a shield to mask their identity as they steal from others.

But it won’t happen to me!

Identity theft is more common than you think – and the advent of the Internet has simplified the process for would-be thieves. It’s estimated that a quarter of all cases of identity theft originate on the Internet. More specifically, according to the Internet Fraud Complaint Centre, email and web pages dominate the fraud methodology, and the vast majority of victims actually have email contact with the perpetrator.

How can identity theft occur?

Anyone can fall victim to identity theft. Here’s how:

• Accessing the Internet from an unsecured PC—Without a security layer between your computer and the Internet, you invite hackers to steal your identity, destroy your files, or use your PC to attack others

• Obtaining potentially unwanted programs like spyware or adware on your PC—Malicious software programs may monitor your keystrokes, track your Internet logins, transmit your confidential information, or redirect your browser to fake web sites

• Sending personal information over the Internet—Hackers can easily retrieve sensitive data that is sent over an unsecured Internet connection

• Downloading files from friends and family or accepting unknown emails—You can obtain a virus, worm, or Trojan simply by accepting files from your friends, family, or others

• Not recognizing phishing scams or spam— Ever received a dodgy looking email claiming you’ve won big? All you have to do is send over your bank account details… Phishing scams use fraudulent emails and web sites to lure unsuspecting users into revealing private account or login information.

• Leaving your wireless network unsecured—Since your wireless network’s radio waves travel through walls, a hacker with a simple antenna could attack you from miles away to steal your information or to launch attacks from your PC

How you can fight identity theft

Common sense dictates some very obvious measures to protect yourself, your family and your computer. Make sure to set up parental controls to keep the kids from accidentally clicking on untrusted ads and websites. This includes not downloading files or clicking on hyperlinks sent by strangers, avoid storing financial information on your computer and using a secure browser.

Over-sharing on social media has desensitised our notion of online privacy, and it can be very easy to fall into complacency when sharing your personal information online. There are a number of ways that hackers can compromise your home PC and access information, most of which can be avoided with adequate security protection and a little online vigilance.

How do you keep your Home PC protected from Hackers?

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The post You are Over Confident that your Home PC Won’t get Hacked appeared first on Blogsolute.

TuneUp comes from the makers of AVG Antivirus and is regularly Updated. Every year they come up with new version with drastic improvements and new features as compared to their previous versions. Not only yearly updates, regular updates and bug fixes are also there. It has won over 400 International Awards.

TuneUp Utilities 2014 Price & Download

TuneUp Utilities is a paid software. It costs $49.95 and $29.95 (if you are upgrading from any previous version). The latest version is TuneUp Utilities 2014 and it is compatible with – Windows XP/7/8/8.1 Variants. You can head over the trial version but it only comes with One Click Maintenance Feature. To unlock all features, you have to buy it. Installation method for Trial Users and Full version Users is almost same.

[sws_ui_toggle title=”Win Free TuneUp Utilities 2014 Serial Key in Giveaway” closed=”false” jui_theme=”ui-smoothness” duration=”500″] Winners announced on 25 Mar 2014

1. Rodney
2. Noel
3. Eleonora [/sws_ui_toggle]

Download TuneUp Utilities from official website link given below.

[sws_button_icon_ui label=”TuneUp Utilities 2014 ” href=”http://www.tune-up.com/” ui_theme=”ui-smoothness” icon=”ui-icon-circle-arrow-s” target=”_blank”] [/sws_button_icon_ui]

[sws_yellow_box box_size=”600″] Note: There is only one Installer for 32 & 64 Bit Windows. [/sws_yellow_box]

 TuneUp Utilities 2014 Installation

The installation process is almost same as installing any other software. You can perform a full installation which is completely automated. All you need to do is “Accept Terms & Conditions” and click on “Next“. Optionally you can do a custom installation.

In this method you will get the choice to change installation directory and select Context Menu entries made by TuneUp. Once done, proceed with the installation.

Once installation is completed. Two shortcut icons will be created on your desktop. Start TuneUp Utilities and it will ask you to Check for updates.

TuneUp Utilities 2014 Features

TuneUp Utilities 2014 bundles tons of features which will help you to keep your Windows PC get going. I will be showing you each and every feature, so that you people can make use of it effectively. Also, I will be sharing my experience with you.

Starting with, TuneUp 1 Click Maintenance. After installation you will see an icon on your desktop. Double click it to start quick maintenance. One Click Maintenance, will perform all tasks of TuneUp Utilities in just one click.

TuneUp One Click Maintenance just performs quick optimization. For deep optimization and advanced results you can use other features of TuneUp Utilities 2014. Just start the TuneUp Utilities and you are ready to go.

Clean up

When TuneUp Utilities 2014 is started, you will be taken to the clean-up tab. Clean up optimizes Windows Files and Programs which is helpful to gain more disk space and fasten your computer’s performance. In this section we will go through each aspect of cleaning TuneUp provides.

[sws_ui_toggle title=”Quick Reading (Click to open)” closed=”true” jui_theme=”ui-smoothness” duration=”500″] This Module allows you to quickly clean junk files and residues. Optionally you can find and remove duplicate files. Review large files that are hogging hardisk space. [/sws_ui_toggle]

• Clean up Windows and programs option helps gaining more disk space. Click “open” to start optimizing Windows Files and Programs. Tick all areas where you want the optimization to be done. Click Clean button and TuneUp will start the optimization process.

• Clean up browser option helps you to optimize installed browsers. This will remove browser’s history, saved passwords, cookies, auto-fill data and browser’s cache also. It is recommended to uncheck Saved passwords field. This will prevent TuneUp from deleting your saved passwords in installed browsers. You may uncheck other fields if you want.

• Remove broken shortcuts feature removes all broken shortcuts on your computer. Using this feature all leftover broken shortcuts will be removed from your computer permanently.

• Disable Windows functions can be used to disable all unused Windows functions. Functions, which takes a lot of disk space, so disabling them is always a good option.

• Find and remove duplicate files used to remove duplicate files on your computer. Duplicate files are not good for your computer’s health. Finding and deleting duplicate files is always a pain but this feature does it very well. Some duplicate files maybe important for you. So make sure, you take a look at – What you are deleting?

For example- You have Dropbox installed on your computer. You have a file named Future Plans.doc in your computer and on Dropbox also. It will show you those files also. So make sure, to take a look before deleting. TuneUp scans all areas of your computer and finds all duplicate files. Remove the duplicate files accordingly.

• Find and delete large amount of data is used to find large files on your computer and delete them permanently. Helps in gaining more disk space and create a room for new files. Large files on your computer can be your movies, TV shows, data backup and other important things. Use this feature carefully. In case you mess up with this feature, you may delete your important files.

Select drive you want to analyze for large files and data. Click Next to start the process.  As you can see, most of the large files are movies. You can analyze and delete files from here.

• Securely Delete data – When you delete any file from your computer, it goes to recycle bin. Even, if you have used Shift + Del. Still, that file is recoverable. To permanently throw away files from your computer, use this feature. Files deleted by this program are not recoverable. It is particularly helpful when you want to destroy an amount of information which is private.

Once you click “Next.” TuneUp will start deleting files from your selected location. Now, that is all about Clean up options in TuneUp Utilities 2014.

Fix Problems

Fix Problems option in TuneUp Utilities helps in fixing common problems which can occur while using Windows.

[sws_ui_toggle title=”Quick Reading (Click to Open)” closed=”true” jui_theme=”ui-smoothness” duration=”500″] Primary functionality of this module is to provide fixes to commonly faced problems. You can also check for Hardisk Errors, restore deleted files, manage running processes and view System information. [/sws_ui_toggle]

• Fix common problems like- Icons are displayed incorrectly, Recycle Bin icon is no longer displayed, Taskbar cannot be displayed etc. You can easily fix these problems with this feature of TuneUp Utilities.

Select the problem which you are facing. Click “Next” and your problem is resolved. These are the problems which most of the users face most of the time. You may not find all problems, because you never know – Which problem occurs suddenly at a given point of time.

• Check Hard disk for errors is a very useful option. It prevents bad sectors on your Hard Drive. Do this optimization, thrice a month can prevent your hard disk from bad sectors and failure. TuneUp says my hard drive don’t have any errors. But if you drive has then select Normal Analysis and optimize your drives. TuneUp will remove all the errors in one go.

• Restore Deleted Files – As the name suggests, it is used to restore/recover permanently deleted files. Which are deleted using Shift + Del or from recycle bin?

Use restoring search criteria to filter your search. You can give extension of the file. For example – .TXT, .DOC, .MKV etc. You can also search for 0 byte files by selecting the option Search for 0 byte size files. You can also refine your search by file’s condition.

Once, the search is completed. TuneUp will show you all deleted files from your specified location.

Select the file you want to restore and click on Restore button. TuneUp will ask you – if you want to restore the file at its original location or you want to specify an alternate location.

• Display and close running process – Close running process and save memory for other programs. This feature will let you display and close programs without opening the Windows default Task Manager.

• Show system information is used to display complete information of your computer like- Hardware in use, Software information etc.

Personalize

[sws_ui_toggle title=”Quick Reading (Click to Open)” closed=”true” jui_theme=”ui-smoothness” duration=”500″] This module allows you to personalize Windows appearance and behavior. It plays an Important role where you have the option to customize application behavior. Additionally TuneUp Styler helps you to modify Windows appearance.     [/sws_ui_toggle]

Personalize option helps you to personalize Windows experience. It helps users to apply various themes and icon sets. You can use default themes comes with TuneUp Utilities. And you can also download themes from TuneUp website.

• Personalize options and behaviors – You can change Windows animation effects, menu appearance and other visual things with this feature. This is a DIY feature because every person has its own taste of themes and animation.

• Personalize the appearance of Windows – With this feature you can apply icon sets, themes, animations and modify the look of whole Windows. You can also download themes from TuneUp Website and use them inside TuneUp Styler.

 Optimize

[sws_ui_toggle title=”Quick Reading (Click to read)” closed=”true” jui_theme=”ui-smoothness” duration=”500″] In this module, you can optimize Windows speed and get maximum system power to the task at hand. Disable unused resource hungry applications and disable unnecessary startup applications.  [/sws_ui_toggle]

This is most powerful feature of TuneUp Utilities. You can disable installed programs, disable start-up programs, uninstall installed programs, configure automatic optimization, clean registry, defragment registry, optimize system start-up and shutdown and defragment hard disk.

• Disable programs – You can disable those programs which are not frequently used. It helps in faster performance of your computer. Whenever, you want to use any disabled program you can easily enable it.

• Disable Startup program – It helps in reducing boot time of your Windows PC. You can disable startup programs which will help in reducing boot time. Disabled startup program will load after system startup or whenever you want.

• Uninstall programs – You can uninstall installed programs with this feature. Not so different from default windows uninstaller.

• Configure Live Optimization – You can configure Live Optimization for automatic 1 click maintenance at specified intervals. It is enabled by default. You just have to specify the optimization time.

• Clean Registry – Clean orphan registry files with this feature of TuneUp Utilities. It optimizes Windows Registry for better performance.

Once you click Start Cleaning button. TuneUp will start optimizing the registry files.

• Defragment Registry – Helps you to defragment windows registry files. It fixes Windows Database gaps and prevents error.

• Optimize system startup and shutdown – Want to improve startup and shutdown time. This feature of TuneUp Utilities can help you. Just start it and accept all recommendations from TuneUp Utilities and that’s about it.

I take very good care of my PC. That’s why TuneUp is not showing any recommendations. But, your case can be different. If, TuneUp shows you any recommendations then accept it for better optimizations and results.

• Defragment Hard Disk – Far better as compared to default Windows Drive Defragmenter. Rearranges data blocks on Hard Disk and helps in faster loading of programs and documents.

 Dashboard

From Dashboard you can check optimization reports. Switch between various modes and configure them for maximum results. Dashboard also has Flight Mode. It switches off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi of your PC. Dashboard also shows Recommendations. You can accept recommendations for more optimization.

You can switch between Economy, Standard and Turbo mode. These modes are configured by default. You can configure them according to your requirements. These settings may vary from user to user depending on factors like System Specifications and Internet speed.

All Functions

You can control All Functions of TuneUp Utilities from this tab. I have shown you each and every option. For ease of access, you can directly go to All Functions tab.

My Experience with TuneUp Utilities 2014

The best thing about TuneUp is that it is totally automated. All I had to do is, setup the functionality according to my needs. It provides all the necessary recommendations and changes needed. The UI was very simple and it is a great improvement over the previous versions. It covers all aspects of Windows Pc maintenance. After using Tuneup Utilities I can feel the difference in my Pc’s performance. Now its faster and more responsive.

In my opinion TuneUp Utilities should include Driver Updater tool and Game Booster in future versions. Well, it will be nice to have it because updated drivers do make a lot of difference when performance is in spot light. TuneUp already provides live optimization and Turbo mode but a Game booster with recommendations will be of great help for gamers struggling to get the peak performance.

TuneUp Utilities 2014 is one of the best Windows Software, I have ever used. It’s worth spending $49.95 on TuneUp Utilities 2014 if you are frustrated with your slow system. Share your thoughts via Comments.

About Aakash Rohilla (Author): Geek by nature, Blogger at TechQub and Movie Freak. An Engineering Student. Batman worshiper having a relationship with Internet. Programmer, Hacker & Workaholic.

The post TuneUp Utilities 2014 Review. Chance to Win Free Serial Keys appeared first on Blogsolute.

It hardly matter what lies beneath because my work related things are mostly online accessed from Firefox web browser. So I thought of sharing only those few addons which really matter and I cannot work without.

• Which Browser should I use: Firefox or Chrome?

#1. Buffer

Post social status updates or share links without distraction.

No matter what website you are browsing or which kind of article you are reading, you may feel like sharing it with friends on social network. Opening application or website in other tab and then posting about it would be a lengthy task (and distracting too!). Instead, Buffer can be used in such situation which lets you share article / page you are reading or any quote or almost anything from any page.

I use it because I want t avoid distraction of logging and seeing timeline. But Buffer is more than that it can schedule posting updates too in such a way that your friends don’t feel spammed. Get Buffer for Firefox.

#2. Flashgot

How many times you wanted to download YouTube video or any streaming content?

This is an essential task and at some point, everyone feels the need for it. Flashgot is an awesome addon which can capture any streaming media on page. It automatically detects if there is audio, video or flash media on page and then lets you download it.

To access and choose media to download, click on Flashgot icon on right bottom of Firefox window.

[appbox firefoxaddon flashgot]

#3. LastPass

Can you remember username and password for 52 sites to login your account?

OK, Can you at least list down the sites you have registered account for yourself?

NO ( at least not me).

To avoid stressing the memory, most people will keep same username and password for every site but that’s wrong and threat to security.

How about keeping all these password and login details in safety vault and take out when needed. LastPass is one such addon. It can store passwords in cloud in encrypted form and automatically fills login details when required.

In addition, it can generate unique passwords which are hard to crack. Another good thing is that it can remember and auto fill usual form details like Name, Address, Email ID which are generally required while signing up. Great time saver indeed!

• Steal Stored Passwords from Firefox

[appbox firefoxaddon lastpass-password-manager]

#4. Pocket

Bookmark from Web browser and read it later from any device anywhere even without Internet.

During work time, you may come across an interesting article but it is 3 page long and you cannot afford spending so much time. Pocket comes in handy in such situation which can bookmark the page for reading later.

It is more than just a bookmark. I have installed Pocket app on my Android smartphone which is in sync with desktop. This facilitates reading those articles anywhere in my spare time. Additionally, reading is pleasure on phone app as Pocket strips down unnecessary things and presents in a nice format.

[appbox firefoxaddon read-it-later]

#5. Lazarus

Recover deleted text or lost form details in one click.

You spend 20 minutes filling every detail on this registration form but suddenly something goes wrong.

Either internet connection went off while submitting or browser stopped responding or computer system crashed.

To avoid filling up every detail again or writing manually, it is possible to recover text and form data in Firefox.

All these situations are unpredictable and losing form data or long written email paragraphs is a high risk so, I keep installed Lazarus on Firefox.

Life saver indeed!

[appbox firefoxaddon lazarus-form-recovery]

Finishing up

Being a webmaster, I use some more addons which are related to SEO and Web development. Among them two most important are Firebug and SEO Quake.

• Speed Up Firefox like Chrome

Is there anything else essential task done on regular basis you can think of?

Share the addon you cannot live without if it is not on the list.

The post 5 Firefox Addons I cannot Live without. Especially #3 is Must Install appeared first on Blogsolute.

Most media players available can play all popular formats. Even the default Windows media player can do so if there are required codecs available.

User expects more than just playback compatibility and that’s where VLC lacks.

1. Difficult Keyboard Control

Out of the box, hot keys for VLC are very confusing or uncomfortable I will say. I prefer jumping forward by pressing “Right Arrow” which is obvious to many of you. VLC is totally different in this case, you need to press combination of keys.
Though they are customizable but it why it isn’t default?

2. Boring Interface

This is the reason why many users do not prefer Media Player Classic which takes you back to the era of Windows 98. VLC has recently did some work on appearance and brought Skin feature but lacks modernity.

Take a look at GOM Player or Daum PotPlayer‘s interface to know the difference.

3. No external Codec support

VLC has inbuilt codec support and doesn’t support any codec or filters outside their library. If something cannot be decoded by its own codec library, it cannot be played on VLC. That’s a rare possibility but what about performance?

There are some audio streams like AC3 which can be decoded by some codec to give better sound quality than the one inbuilt in VLC. Also, problem can be noticed while seek positioning HD videos. VLC lags or do not properly positions in case of forwarding or moving backward. This is because, though the codec has capability to decode but it is not the best choice.

GOM Player on other side lets you choose codec of your choice. If you do not understand, it finds the one compatible and best for playback on web and downloads it.

This might be the reason GOM installer size is 30% lesser than VLC.

4. Subtitle Editor

Though subtitles are supported, but you cannot edit them in anyway in VLC.

Also, if you like to customize the speed or the size of subtitles, option isn’t available right away. One has to enter Tools and Preferences to do it if you do not remember the Hotkey. In GOM Player however, these options are readily available on right click context menu during video playback.

5. Remote Control app for Android

I like to watch movies sitting away from Computer screen so definitely need control remotely. VLC has no official remote control application and the ones available aren’t as sophisticated as GOM Remote control for Android.

Lastly, watch this video which explains why VLC Media Player sucks

Which Media Player should I use?

If you have read the article completely, it is clear that I recommend GOM Player. Go for it, you will feel better.

[sws_button class=”” size=”sws_btn_medium” align=”sws_btn_align_center” href=”http://player.gomlab.com/eng/” target=”_blank” label=”Download GOM Media Player” template=”” textcolor=”” fontweight=”normal” bgcolor=”008000″ bgcolorhover=”” glow=”sws_btn_glow” btnwidth=”” textalign=”center”] [/sws_button]

The post VLC is NOT Best Video Player, Here’s Why it Sucks appeared first on Blogsolute.