'Eklavya' misses out on Oscar glory

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - "Eklavya: The Royal Guard", India's official entry for the Oscars, has failed to make it to the shortlist in the best foreign film category.
The period film, about an old palace guard who carries a secret, was not among the nine movies listed on the official Oscar web site on Tuesday.
The shortlisted films are "The Counterfeiters" (Austria), "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" (Brazil), "Days of Darkness" (Canada), "Beaufort" (Israel), "The Unknown Woman"(Italy), "Mongol" (Kazakhstan), "Katyn" (Poland), "12" (Russia) and "The Trap" (Serbia).
The selected entries, chosen from 63 eligible films, advance to the next round of voting and the five nominees in the Foreign Language Film category will be announced on January 22, the web site said.
"Eklavya" had run into a legal tangle in September after the director of "Dharm", a film that came a close second during selection, took India's Oscar selection committee to court claiming some of its members were known to producer and director Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
The 80th Academy Awards will be presented at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre on February 24.

Windows XP Step-by-Step Installation Instructions

These steps are for a clean install of XP. Read this article for steps on upgrading your current system to XP.

First, you're going to need to change your BIOS boot order to boot from CD-ROM.

Once you do this you'll then be able to boot your computer from the Installation CD.

After changing the boot order in BIOS, save the changes, and then reboot your computer.
Make sure your Installation CD is in your CD-ROM.

If it is you'll be prompted to press your space bar to directly boot from CD-ROM emulation. Press your space bar as soon as you see this message.

Wait a few minutes while the installation begins to copy the preliminary setup files to your computer.

After this completes you'll be ready to start directing the install process.

You will be asked if you want to perform a new installation, repair an existing installation, or quit. In this case, you will be performing a new install. Press the correct key to perform a new installation.

Read the terms of the end user license agreement, and press F8 to agree.

The next phase of the installation is real similar to that of Windows 2000. So, if you're familiar with the Windows 2000 installation process this should be a cinch. Basically, you need to decide which partition of your hard drive you will install Windows XP on. You will have the opportunity to create and/or delete partitions or just allocate the available disk space to one partition.

However, try to keep your partitions within reasonable size.

We recommend using multiple partitions of 4-8GB, preferably on more than one hard drive. This will help you back up your data and optimize system performance later on down the road. Once you have figured out which partition XP will be installed on it's time to format it.

Choose to format the partition to either FAT32 or NTFS (recommended for single OS install). You'll also see two additional choices to perform a quick format of each option. Stick with doing a full format of either option instead. After you've determined which option is right for you, press the correct key to format the partition.

This would be a good time to take a break and come back in a few minutes. The setup program will automatically start copying files after the partition is formatted. From this point on, you're going to see each and every file name that's being copied over to your hard drive appear in the lower left corner. As the file names go from A to Z, the installation completion percentage will increase.

Choose the region and language.
Type in your name and organization.
Enter your product license key.

Name the computer, and enter an Admin password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password. After the installation is complete it would be extremely wise to create a password restore disk in the event you forget your Administrator password someday.

Enter the correct date and time.
Choose your network settings. Leave on automatic if you use a dhcp server to assign IP addresses. If you have static IP address for broadband access, enter the settings that your ISP has provided you.

Choose workgroup or domain name.
Register this copy of Windows XP if you've installed all the current hardware on your machine. Otherwise, wait until you've finished installing any additional hardware so you don't have to activate your copy of XP again.

Add users that will sign on to this computer.
Log in, and update drivers.
Driver install
XP found drivers for all of the hardware in our test machines, with the exception of a wireless network adapter that was added. Update all drivers that had updates available for download.

It takes about 30 minutes to perform this installation. After that, you will be a few personalized settings away from getting started on your XP-experience. With a little use, the GUI even starts to grow on you.

XP File Sharing and Permissions

File sharing and permissions in Windows XP seem complicated.

Microsoft provides a Knowledge Base article, but reading it is like walking through molasses: It describes in infinite detail a file security system based on a 1-to-5 scale. However, if you look for this 1-to-5 scale anywhere in your security-settings interface, you may come away a little confused. These numbers are nowhere to be found.

Microsoft's 1-to-5 scale means nothing to the individual user and relates in no way to the actual practice of setting your security protocols. Enter the Screen Savers. We are here to explain it to you.

The security settings the user actually sets relate to read access, write access, shared folders, and password protection. These features are available in both Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional, however the features only work if the operating system is installed with NTFS. FAT32 does not support the file permissions described here.

You can choose to install Windows XP Home using NTFS, but you should use a FAT32 file system if you are dual booting and want to see the contents of your Windows 95, 98, or Me partition from your XP partition. Your file system is not set in stone when you install Windows XP. You always can change your file system from FAT32 to NTFS without losing any of your data; however, the transition is one-way only.

There is no going back to FAT32 from NTFS unless you grab a copy of Partition Magic. Microsoft recommends you install Windows XP Home with FAT32 if you intend to install more than one OS on your computer or if your hard drive is less than 32GB.

If you have Windows XP Home or Professional running NTFS, you can hide files and entire folders from prying eyes. When you set up multiple user accounts on one machine, any user with administrator access can view the documents in another's My Documents folders. To protect a folder, right-click it, choose Properties, the Share tab, and select "make this folder private." No one, not even a fellow system administrator, can access these most secret files.

Every file or folder contained within whichever folder you choose to make private will take on the settings of the parent folder. If the administrator does not have a password to the account, Windows XP will prompt the user to make a password or risk subjecting his or her private work to public scrutiny. No Windows password means no protected files.

A person who logs in as a guest or as a user without administrator privileges cannot see the contents of any other user's My Documents folder, even if the folder has not been explicitly made private. The user with limited privileges can, however, set a password and protect his or her documents from the prying eyes of the administrators. Windows XP is all about privacy.
It is a nice feeling to keep your personal tax documents secure from the passing lookey-loo. It's about time Microsoft made snooping your computer more difficult than snooping your medicine cabinet.

Make older programs run in Windows XP

If you're having trouble running older programs originally developed for previous versions of Windows, you're not out of luck. Luckily for consumers, Microsoft built Compatibility Mode into XP. Compatibility Mode allows you to run a program using the shell of the original program it was developed for.
Here's how to access a program's Compatibility Mode in XP
Find the executable or program shortcut icon you'd like to run. Right-click the icon and select Properties. Click the Compatibility tab and place a checkmark next to the text labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode." Select the operating system that the program was originally intended to run on. You may need to fine-tune the three fields under "Display Settings" if an older program requires 640x480 resolution or 256 colors. Click Apply.

Try starting the program after making these changes. If it still gives you trouble, try a different operating system. If the program was written for Win95 and worked fine in Win98, there's nothing that says it still won't work fine with Win98.

How to Install Windows Xp

Install Windows XP Professional - New Installation

There are three reasons why you may need to install a new copy of Windows XP:

1. Your current operating system doesn’t support an upgrade to Windows XP Professional.


2. Your current operating system supports an upgrade to Windows XP Professional, but you don’t want to keep your existing files and personalized settings.


3. Your computer does not have an operating system

Your computer does not have an operating system

IMPORTANT

A new installation deletes all programs or system files from a previous installation.

Special Options
Under Special Options, you have the choice to change Language, Advanced, and Accessibility settings during the setup process

Note: If you are in a country that has recently adopted the euro as its currency, you may have to modify the currency settings to display monetary amounts correctly.

First Select Language : Choose the primary language and regions for Windows XP, which affects the default settings for date, time, currency, numbers, character sets, and keyboard layout.

Choose additional language groups and character sets to use with the programs you are running on Windows XP.

Advanced Options : Change the default location of the Setup files
Store system files in a folder other than the Default (Windows) folder
Copy the installation files from the CD to the hard disk.

Accessibility: Use Narrator or Magnifier during Setup.

IMPORTANT

Unless you're an advanced user, it's recommended that you use the default settings.

Choosing a File System

During a new installation of Windows XP, you may have to choose which file system your computer should use. Windows XP Professional supports:
FAT32: An enhanced version of the file allocation table (FAT) system that is standard on all Windows operating systems starting with later (32-bit) versions of Windows 95. The FAT32 system can be used on large hard disks, from 512 megabytes (MB) to 32 gigabytes (GB).

NTFS: The NT file system (NTFS) is used with the Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP operating systems. NTFS provides enhanced reliability, stability, and security, and supports large hard disks of up to 2 terabytes (TB).

IMPORTANT

You can convert your file system any time, even after you install Windows XP, without losing any of your data. The conversion to NTFS is one–way only; if you convert your FAT or FAT32 file system to NTFS you can’t convert your hard disk back to FAT later.

If you’re not sure which file system to use, keep the one your computer defaults to during Setup. If you want to change your file system, here are a few recommendations:
Use FAT32 if your hard disk is smaller than 32 GB.

Use FAT32 if you want to install more than one operating system on your computer.
Use NTFS if your hard drive is larger than 32 GB and you are running only one operating system on your computer.

Use NTFS if you want enhanced file security.

Use NTFS if you need better disk compression.

Disk Partitions
You can create partitions to organize information—for example, to back up data—or to install more than one operating system on your computer. A hard disk can contain up to four partitions.

If you’re performing a new installation, the appropriate disk partition is selected automatically during Windows XP Setup unless you click Advanced Options and specify your own requirements

For more information about configuring, sizing, reformatting, or converting disk partitions, see your current online Help before you install or upgrade to Windows XP Professional.

How to make your Desktop Icons Transparent

Go to ontrol Panel > System, > Advanced > Performance area > Settings button Visual Effects tab "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the Desktop"

newly discovered Cobra

A Naja Ashei, a newly discovered giant spitting cobra measuring nearly nine feet and carrying enough venom to kill at least 15 people, is seen in this picture released by WildlifeDirect December 7, 2007. WildlifeDirect, a conservation group, said the cobras were the world's largest and had been identified as unique. The species has been named Naja Ashei after James Ashe, who founded Bio-Ken snake farm on Kenya's tropical coast where the gigantic serpents are found