Quick Shutdown of Windows

It usually takes some time for windows to shut down..well there is an easy way to shut it down ...this usually takes <10 seconds ....and here's how u can do it..
1) Goto task manager. (ctrl+Alt+del usually opens it)
2) Goto Shutdown menu item.
3) Hold Ctrl key and select "Turn off".
cheers..

Search Engines!!

Well...the first thing that comes to mind is Google! ...couldn't agree more...
however, there are many other search engines offered by various companies..and the latest to join the bandwagon is Cuil ....now this caught few eyes as it was started by former google employee.. :) This search engine ranks results based on content present in the sites rather than using websites popularity(google's algo)...
About Cuil...well it looks pretty decent and the results displayed are quite close to ur query...it also displays an image with each result tryin to match the query ...and phrase complete suggestions too(obvious to expect this)....besides displaying other categories which might interest users...
but one wonders if one really want to c popular pages(which are also close to ur query) or the ones which are not so popular but matches ur query.:P
Funny thing i found out was : if u type "cuil" as search query, this search engine's website is not listed in first page of results ...

ixquick - this one is good...well its a metasearch engine but does a good job in grabbing results by using other SE's .. :) ... check it out...i occasionally use this and found it good..

one night @ call center

After reading "Five point someone" ....I couldn't resist reading Chetan bhagat's next work titled "one night @ call center" which is now being made into a bollywood movie...not sure how much that will click...but I must say it was equally enjoyable as the first one....the thing I like about his novels is that they look so real and especially one can identify with the characters and instances that occur in their lives...well it was worth spending time ..and looking forward to read his new book titled "3 mistakes of my life"....
cheers....

Google dictionary

Google dictionary....this is how u can use it..
just type "define:" followed by the word u want to know about...
ex : define: google
the first result is hilarious :)

MinGW and MSYS

Most of us know about MinGW(Minimalist GNU for windows) which uses MS windows runtime libraries to build,link and run C,Cpp programs on win32 platforms(also supports other languages too). It can be used via command prompt or can be integrated into an IDE. I use Eclipse as my IDE and occasionally use Cmd prompt. However, I recently started using MSYS which is a POSIX-like Command line Interpreter similar to Cmd prompt provided by MinGW. I fully liked it as it resembles the Unix type shell environment which was what I was mostly using back in school. It also helps in running different scripts and interprets makefiles too.I am still in process of exploring the tool completely...but u can read more about it on MinGW's site.

Online Dictionary

Time and again u run across words while browsing, reading an article or a book whose synonyms u wish u could know...and though there r lot of online dictionaries available, I found this one the best among them. Its called Definr. It also provides word completion. Its really very very fast in proving synonyms and also in word completion.Take a look...its really good...m sure ur gonna stick with it if ur looking for an online dictionary...

Useful Firefox Tips

If u are an avid firefox user like me...these tips r pretty useful ..
anyways found some on net and knew some ...here goes.....
1. Alt + D - Goes to your address bar
2. Ctrl + Enter - .com address
3. Shift + Enter - .net address
4. Ctrl + Shift + Enter - .org address
5. Ctrt + T - New Tab
6. Ctrl + Shift + T - Recently Closed Tab. (nice one)
7. Ctrl + Tab - Navigates among ur opened tabs
8. Ctrl + [1,2,3...] - Takes you to that corresponding particular tab

Restart..

hope to do some regular blogging from now on..