Waterfox: The 64-bit version of firefox

Many of us love using Firefox. Its an open source browser with tons of add-ons and high compatibility. I myself am a very big fan. It also provides a sync feature that enables to maintain the same bookmarks/saved history/passwords etc. across all our devices.

What most of us don't know is that apart from the normal version of Firefox(what most of us use) there are several other versions available that are not advertised anywhere. There is a reason behind it...these builds are not stable and may have some crashing issues. But these are too slight for general everyday users like us and surely we must give them a try.

We all know about 64-bit software these days...Photoshop has a 64-bit version, WinRAR has a 64-bit version and even flash has a 64-bit edition. These versions utilize the full capacity of your processors and give you improved speed and efficiency.

SO WHY NOT WITH A BROWSER?

We use Chrome, IE and Firefox...but all of them are 32-bit versions...if you run the Task Manager of Windows then too the chromes process is named as "chrome*32.exe"
Similar is the case with Firefox.

THANKFULLY, being an open source software developers have released a 64-bit flavor of the browser as well.
It is known as "WATERFOX".

You can download it from here and believe me you will notice the change in speed.

DOWNLOAD LINK.

Don't worry it uses the same profile as the firefox browser and none of your data will be lost. :-)

For even enthusiastic readers, here are few more releases of firefox...

Download Firefox beta

Download Aurora

Download Nightly.

Mind you..these all are 32-bit builds..

Enable .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 8 in offline mode

If you open CMD.EXE with Administrative Privileges i.e. at elevated level & run the this DISM command dism /online /get-features you will see that from the State that .NET Framework is not part of the Operating System.





So the first thing you need to do is to copy the required package to local machine before you run the command to install .NET Framework. To do that use Windows 8 ISO/DVD/USB Media. You need to copy SXS folder to local machine located at D:\sources\sxs (In this case D: your drive letter on which you have loaded Windows 8 Media)



You can also use the following command to copy this folder locally. xcopy d:\sxs\*.* c:\sxs /s
Once completed, in order to install this feature you can run the following command dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /SourceC:\sxs /LimitAccess  and hit Enter



After completing the installation of .NET Framework 3.5 you can see that the feature is enabled in the Control Panel –> Program and Features



Bingo. Now you can enable .NET Framework feature on Windows 8 without needing of an internet connection.

Enjoy

Change folder colors in windows

With the changing versions of windows, we have seen changing themes and styles but one thing remains pretty much the same. The color of your folder icons. You get the same boring yellow color in all versions of windows, whether it be Windows 95 or the latest Windows 8.
Searching for a specific folder when you know you need to access it again and again can be a pain.
Luckily, there is a free tool that allows you to change your folder colors as per your desires. Here is a look about what the software can do for you...

Changing the color of the folder icon could help you spot and differentiate folders easily, rather than just depend on the folder name.

Step 1.> DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL

Download and install this free tool Folder Colorizer. Install the software to your desired location and also make sure that you have .NET frameword 4.0 or higher installed. If not, the software will itself prompt you to download it. Just click yes.

Step 2.> CHANGING COLORS

To start differentiating your folder, select any folder icon you want to change the color of, right click on it, select ‘Colorize!’ and then pick any preset color.

 Step 3.>CHANGED COLORS

Once you have selected a color for your folder, your folder icon color will change automatically from the standard yellow to the color you picked.

Step 4.> CHANGE COLOR

If you need to use custom colors, right click again, select ‘Colorize!’ and select ‘Custom…’

 Step 5.> CREATE CUSTOM COLOR

From the window, pick any color you want to use, then click on ‘Add Color’. This custom color will be saved as a preset color, so the next time you want to use it, you can select it straight from the list.

Step 6.> RESTORE ORIGINAL COLOR

Should you decide to restore the original color of your folder icon, right click on the folder, select ‘Colorize!’ and pick ‘Restore original color’. The changes will be made immediately, and you will see that the color of your folder icon has returned to the original yellow.

Please do share the feedback and problems if any.