The Indian governments Department of Telecom (DOT) recently notified ISPs to block several torrent and video websites such as Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent, KickAss Torrent, Vimeo, Pastebin and more to curb piracy. ISPs like Reliance and Airtel have already started blocking those websites.

In reply to those blocks, the famous group Anonymous has attacked several Indian government websites and taken them down. While the attacks continue, several users in India are still looking to access the websites but are seeing a message “This site has been blocked as per instructions from Department of Telecom (DOT)”.

If you are someone who is looking to access those torrent and video sites in India, you can still do it through several means. As I had stated earlier you can easily access blocked websites using proxy servers, you will find several proxy servers in our earlier guide on how to access blocked website.

Additionally, you can also access those websites using services like OpenDNS and Google DNS. See our guide on How to use Google Public DNS on Windows 7 and Windows XP or use a Google DNS helper to automatically change to Google DNS. If you are in India, you can use a DNS proxy website like http://dnetproxy.appspot.com/ as well.

If you are still not able to access those torrent websites, you could always try and use the site operator in Google search to directly search those websites and view their cached copies.

If you have any other means to access those websites, please feel free to leave a comment.

Google Chrome has several versions of their browser which includes the stable version, beta version and development version. However, users can only run one instance of them at any given time. Google does provide another cutting-edge version called the Canary build. The Canary build is a nightly build and contains untested code and features which will be introduced in other version of Chrome at a later stage.

I prefer to use Google Canary builds because they usually contain cutting edge technologies and newer features which are not yet available in other versions and gives me a chance to test them out. However, the one thing I have had a problem with the Canary version is that Google does not allow you to set it as the default browser.

The explanation they give for it is that it is a secondary installation of Chrome and cannot be set as the default browser. Well, that is a problem for me because some times the dev version (which I also used) was buggier than the Canary version and was not updated as frequently to address the reported bugs.

So I decided to find a way to set the Google Chrome Canary version as default and found a neat registry hack at this forum. All you have to do is download a simple registry file listed in the forum post and edit it to replace your username in the Registry.reg file. Once you have done that just double click and click on the “Yes” button when prompted to add the entries to your registry.

After you have inserted the registry entry, Chrome Canary will be set as your default browser. If you are looking to reverse that, just head to control panel and change the default application or use your browsers’ preference to set it back as the default browser. The forum in question requires you to register before you download the file as an alternative, you can download the file directly from here.

For Mac users all you need to do is run Safari and then head to preferences and change the “Default web browser” to Canary from the dropdown menu. You can visit this site to find visual instructions for doing that.

Instagram is one of the hottest apps for iOS and Android with more than 35 million users combined. The app which did not have any revenue was so popular that Facebook went ahead and purchased it for more than $1 billion. However, the purchase by Facebook has left many users wondering as to whether they should continue using the app or not?

If  you are one of those disgruntled users and are looking to stop using the app, here is a easy way to export and download all the Instagram photos you have uploaded till now and back them up to your computer. You can also download and move them to a free online storage service of your choice as well.

Export and Download Instagram Photos to Desktop PC

Instaport is a web service which allows you to export all your Instagram photos and download them to your local PC (they are working on social export soon). To download all your Instagram photos, visit the website at http://instaport.me/ and connect it to your Instagram account.

Once you have done that, you will be able to export and download all your Instagram photos to your computer. You can also select from to only download a smaller number of photos or select photos you have uploaded between certain dates. Additionally, you could also download photos which you have liked and photos with certain tags.

Export, Download or Backup Instagram Photos to Dropbox, Facebook or Flickr

If you are looking to download your Instagram photos to Dropbox, Facebook (ironic ) or Flickr, you can use a very useful service called If This Then That or ifttt for short, which provides you with recipes to automatically perform tasks based on certain triggers or action.

ifttt is a very simple service and users can find recipes which will allow them to backup their Instagram photos to Flickr or save them to Dropbox or upload them to Flickr or Tumblr among other places.

To setup a backup for your Instagram photos, sign up for the ifttt service and visit the recipe page for Instagram at http://ifttt.com/instagram. Once there,  you can select the recipe you want to use and setup the required parameters. Once you have done that, just click the “Create task” button to create it. ifttt will then periodically run the task and backup your Instagram photos to your selected service.

Please note: While using ifttt, your older photos may not be backed up. You might have to use the first method to download all your photos and then upload it to  your choice of service.

Just like the new Facebook timeline, Gmail also recently forced their new theme on users and apparently many people are not happy with this decision. While Gmail earlier provided a simple way to revert back the Gmail interface, that option is no longer available. This has definitely not gone down too well with Gmail users.

So is there any way in which you could revert back to the old Gmail interface? Well, not officially, but you can still do it thanks to a Stylish script.

The Return of Old Gmail Stylish script is one which resembles the “Old Gmail” interface the most. Although the overall interface is not as neat (see screenshot above), it definitely is one of the best options if you despise the new Gmail interface. The script in question reverts back some of the Gmail styles to the older one and also reverts back the top navigation in Gmail.

You will also find several other Stylish scripts for Gmail, however, the one listed here seems to be the best alternative to get back the old Gmail interface. You can also try out several other themes for Gmail by using this Stylish search.

Please note that Firefox users will have to install the Stylish add-on before using the scripts. Google Chrome users can also install the Stylish extension or install the Stylish script as a Greasemonkey script and run it as an extension.

Do you ever get emails from business associates that have really nice signatures at the bottom? They will often include a logo that will take you out to business’ website when you click it. You don’t have to be green with envy over these cool signatures. Creating a signature line in Outlook 2010 is extremely easy. In this post, I will show you how you can accomplish this in a few easy steps!

The first thing we need to do is click on the “File” tab in the upper left corner of Outlook. Once you are there, click the button labeled “Options”. See the arrow pointing in the picture below.

When you click the “Options” button you will get a dialog box like the one pictured below. On the left side of the dialog box you need to click on the option that says “Mail”. Once you have clicked the “Mail” option, click the button on the right side of the page that says “Signatures”.

You should now see a dialog that allows you to create a new signature. Take a moment to look at the picture below. Let’s explore some of the options available to us. Notice that you can have multiple signatures. In this example, I created the Techie Buzz signature by clicking the button labeled “New”. To the right of that signature you have the option to assign that signature to an account. Remember Outlook has the ability to handle multiple email accounts. It also gives you the ability to assign separate signatures to those accounts as well.

At the bottom of the window, you will notice a blank area. This is where you type the information you would like included in your signature. I decided to include my name, email address, and our company logo. To add a logo, you first need to have an image file saved on your computer. In the picture below, you will see highlighted in red the image button. Click this button.

You will get the dialog box pictured below. Navigate to the folder on your computer that contains the image you want to include in your signature. Then click the picture and click the “Insert” button to insert it into your signature line.

Now that you have your logo inserted, you can add a hyperlink to it so that when someone clicks it, they are directed to your website. To do this, find the “Hyperlink” button highlighted in red in the picture below.

You will now see the following dialog box, pictured below. At the top you will see the “Text to display” box. What this means is when people put their mouse over the logo, they will get a little description. You can make this say pretty much anything you want. At the bottom of the window, you will see the “Address” box. Type the website address you want the link to go to, then click OK.

Now that you have your information typed and your logo inserted, I would like to warn you about one more pitfall. By default, the font color is set to “Automatic”. Most of the time this will appear black. The problem however, is if you want your signature font to stay a consistent color, you have to set it because the “Automatic” setting will use the default font of any email you reply to. Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you hit reply on an email that your words are typed in blue? The same will happen to your signature unless you specify something other than “Automatic”. Picture below, I have highlighted my name and clicked the “Font Color” dropdown menu. This is where you need to go to set your signature’s color.

Once you have followed all these steps, you need to specify on the right side of the window whether you want to use your new signature just for new messages or whether you want to include them in replies as well. Click “OK” at the bottom and you’re all set. When you open a new message to send to someone you will have a nice ready made signature at the bottom of your message. Good luck and if you have any questions about this tutorial feel free to comment.

Sometimes, when you get your mac, there will be apps you never use. For many people, like me, there’s an annoying voice at the back of their head going “Don’t let that thing sit on that computer hogging precious space! Delete it!”. The only problem is you can’t delete it. I will be covering on how to delete those apps.

Note: Do not delete Safari or any other core apps.

Using The Terminal

Open up a new terminal window and go to your application folder by typing “cd / Applications/”.
Now type “sudo rm -rf name-of-app.app/” change name-of-app to the name of the app you want to delete.
It will probably ask for your password, if it does, enter it.
You’re done.

Using The Finder

Open up the finder and right click the app you want to remove.

Click on “Get Info”.
In the window click on the lock at the bottom.
In the pop-up enter your password, if it asks.
Change all privileges to “Read and Write”.
Click on the lock icon again.
Drag to trash.
You’re done.

If you’re new to the terminal use the finder method instead, as if you enter something wrong in the terminal, it could mess up your computer. However, if you know your way around the terminal use that instead.

==== About the Author ====
Caio DosAnjos writes lots of stuff like this on his blog at http://www.applemonster.co

Websites are constantly changing the way that they function and interact with the user. Although updates to most sites go largely unnoticed, Facebook updates often hold a controversial spot in the public eye.

Facebook has been slowly easing the world into its most recent update, Facebook Timeline.

Following up on a previous Techie Buzz post, Facebook Finalizes Timeline, Rolling Out to all Facebook Users Now, we’re going to show you 5 ways to secure your new Facebook Timeline. As always, with a Facebook update there’s an uproar from the community about privacy settings. If you haven’t made the switch quite yet, you will be automatically switched soon, or you can enable Facebook Timeline yourself.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Old Status Updates: One new feature of Facebook Timeline is that it makes all of your Facebook content readily available. With Facebook’s update, it’s much easier for anyone to access your old information. To regulate the visibility of your old information, go to Privacy Settings, select Past Post Visibility and change the settings for all of your posts in one fell swoop.

2. Photo Albums: While many users believe their photos are hidden, they often neglect their mobile uploads, wall photos and profile pictures. As your profile is updated to Facebook Timeline, give your photo albums a quick look to make sure that they are all appropriate. If not, turn off their visibility.

3. Apps: With more and more apps clamoring to sink their teeth into Facebook and your status updates, you need to monitor your app visibility. The new policy called “frictionless sharing” requires an app to ask only once before it accesses your info and posts through your account whenever it wants. Go to “Apps and Websites” on the privacy settings page to monitor who can see your app activity or to hide an app altogether. Keep an eye on the apps that you’ve granted access, and be sure that no unruly apps are taking those liberties a bit too far.

4. Profile Search: For most people, their account settings allow people to search for their profile by name and contact info. To change this, go to “How You Connect” in your privacy settings. Along with this option make sure that only your friends can post on your Timeline and see the posts of others.

5. Location Tags: Remember that tagging a location not only tells your followers where you are, but also, and perhaps more importantly, where you are not. With the new Facebook update, make sure to turn on Tag Review in your privacy settings. This means that anytime one of your friends tags you, you have to review it before it’s posted to your timeline. Be mindful as well of checking the location icon on the lower left corner of your update box before you post updates to your timeline.

==== About the Author =====

This is a guest post from Daniel Levine, a writer at Grovo.com, where users can learn about everything from Facebook Timeline to how to use Pinterest.

As reported earlier, Microsoft is killing off the Start button with Windows 8. Windows 8 Consumer Preview replaces the Start button with a hotspot towards the bottom left corner of the screen.

The Start button is one of the most iconic aspects of Windows, and has been emulated widely since its introduction in Windows 95. It’s impossible to not feel a tinge of sadness as we bid adieu to the Start button. However, to be honest, I don’t really miss the Start button in the new Windows 8 build. The Metro interface, which features a full screen application launcher, is intuitive and efficient, irrespective of the form factor you are using. Nevertheless, if you still want to get the Start button back, there is a simple trick that will serve your purpose. Here’s what you need to do.

• Download MetroStart8 from here. This tiny app is available in five different flavors – each having a different Start icon.
• Extract the zip file to any location on your hard drive.
• Right click on the Start.exe file, and select “Pin to Taskbar” from the context menu.
• Drag the icon to the left as shown in the screenshot below.

The button simply simulates a Win key press, and mimics the functionality of the Start button. It’s largely redundant, but is a quick and simple fix for anyone missing the Start button.

So you heard about Magnet Links and were terrified? What Are Magnet Links? How Are They Different From Torrents? How to Download files using Magnet Links. Are Magnet Links Safe?

In a world of peer-to-peer sharing, Torrents have come along a long way along. However, Torrents are being deemed as less safer these days because of people being able to easily track them. This has led several websites including "The Pirate Bay" from changing the way they allow users to download files.

Also Read: 6 Tools to Download Torrents Anonymously

The Pirate Bay recently switched from torrents to magnet links marking a big change in how it operates. In a nutshell, magnet links change how users download content. We’ll take a look at what has changed and what you will need to change in order to download files using Magnet links.

What are Magnet Links? What’s the Difference Between Magnet Links and Torrents?

Magnet Links change the fundamental way in which we download from peer-to-peer networks. Unlike Torrents, which needed a centralized server for tracking purposes, magnet links directly download content from other peers thus getting rid of the centralized server for tracking seeds and peers.

Also Read: What Are Web Seeds? 

Magnet links make use of DHT, which is a form of decentralized distribution which allows a group of users to share a file faster amongst themselves without having to rely on a server. There is not much difference between how a file is downloaded from a torrent vs how it is downloaded from a magnet link.

Do I Have to Change How I Download Using Magnet Links?

No. Magnet links are similar to torrent files and if you have a P2P torrent software installed, you will be able to download the content using magnet links without having to change anything. However, you might have to upgrade your P2P software to the latest versions so that the browsers are aware that they should handle those links.

How to Download Files Using Magnet Links?

There are couple of ways in which you can download content using magnet links. The first is pretty straightforward. Just click on the link that is provided and it will launch your default torrent software as shown below. You might want to check the checkbox next to "Remember my choice for all links of this type" or "Always use this software to open such links" so that it will automatically open magnet links in your favorite torrent client.

Clicking on the "Get This Torrent" link in Pirate Bay will automatically launch your Bittorrent application.

Once you open the magnet link, your torrent client will start downloading the content just like a regular torrent. Alternatively, you can also copy the magnet link and add it directly to your torrent client just like you used to do for regular torrents.

Are Magnet Links Safe?

Downloading through magnet links is as safe as downloading a torrent file. However, make sure to download legitimate content and you will be safe. There have been several cases of infected torrents so the files you download through magnet links could be unsafe as well.

A short while back, Microsoft released Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which features more than 100,000 changes. Go ahead and grab the download link and product key, if you haven’t already. Windows 8 is available as a simple installer, as well as an ISO image. The installer is simpler to use, and it automatically downloads the right version for your system. However, it also requires constant high speed internet connectivity on the system on which you wish to deploy Windows 8. If you want to use the ISO image, but don’t want to go through the hassle of burning it to a DVD, here’s a quick guide for installing Windows 8 from USB media. You will require an USB device with at least 4 GB free space and NTFS file system. Formatting it before proceeding with the creation of a bootable device is recommended, but is generally not necessary.

• Mount the image using a freeware like SlySoft Virtual CloneDrive or extract it using WinRAR (or other similar software).
• Open Command Prompt as Administrator. You can do this by typing cmd in the Run dialogue box (Win+R) and pressing Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
• Type the following commands:
   
  diskpart
list volume
• From the list that is displayed, note the volume assigned to your usb device, and select it as shown in the screenshot.
   
  select volume 5
• Next, we need to mark it as the active volume.
   
  active

• Now the disk is ready, and we can proceed with the creation of the boot sector. Exit diskpart.
   
  exit
• Browse to the location where you extracted/mounted the ISO, and open the boot directory, as shown in the screenshot below.

• Execute the following command. In my example, D: is the drive letter of my USB device. Replace it with the appropriate value.

 
bootsect /nt60 d:

Finally, the USB device is ready to be used as a bootable media. All that remains to be done is to copy the contents of the Windows 8 setup directory into your usb device. Once this is completed, reboot the system and enter the BIOS. Change the boot priority to assign highest priority to Removable Device/USB Device. Save changes and restart again to proceed with Windows 8 installation. Don’t forget to reset boot priority settings after Windows 8 installation is completed.