Malayalam Fonts in Google Chrome

Its not usual to end up having all garbled letters when you browse Malayalam Language Pages esp www.malayalamanoram.com. The main reason being the absence of Malayalam Font in the Windows Fonts directory.

The fix I have got for you is simple:

Download the Malayalam font from here.

Copy this .ttf file into your Windows Font directory. (Run-C:\WINDOWS\Fonts)

Close the Chrome browser and restart ( or reopen) the Chrome once again.

The font problem is sorted out....

How to Connect 2 Home PC

Tonight, I was very busy. I wanted to acess the Songs and the printer in my PC Desktop using my Wireless Laptop. The situation is :

1. Desktop PC was running on XP and
2. Laptop was running on Vista and
3. I had a 3Com 11g Router used for ADSL AND
4. I had NO idea on what Networking was.

But all I knew was that, if I can access Internet using the same Router / ADSL Modem, I should be able to logon to the Desktop and vice versa. After hours of research, my work is presented to all those who wanted to do so and when you find that all Internet searches returned blank.

To begin with:

STEP 1:

Open your Routers browser. Its typically http://192.16x.x.x. Login and under the LAN button , click the DHCP Client list. In here you can see the machines that your router is handling. Here you will get the IP address of both your PC and the laptop. Note those numbers. They ideally look like : 192.16x.x.x etc

STEP 2:

Goto START>RUN and type CMD in the box. The command prompt comes up. In the Command Prompt window type PING 192.16x.x.x ( ie the other machines IP address) If the pinging works on both the machines (with the other machines number), be assured that the machines are communicating with each other.

STEP 3:

Goto the desktop of your PC.Open "My Network Places". On the left hand pane of the window, Open > Setup a small office or home Network. Then:

Welcome to Setup Network Wizard > Next > Next> Other

I chose "Others" because the Laptop was loggin on to the router directly and I wanted to create a network. This is the MOST USUAL situation at most of the homes.

In the next window I chose option 2 : This computer connects directly to the internet. I do not have a network yet. In the next window, the names of my PC were given. No changes were done here. And in the last section I gave the Workgroup a "NAME". This name is very very important.

After setting the name of the workgroup, I was able to share the Printer as well as the Documents from the C drive. In the event you need to share any other files, you may go to the respective folder, right click, Properties> Sharing > Share this folder on the network ( to be selected)

Now go to your Laptops desktop and right click on the Computer logo. In the window that comes up, goto the third section- Computer Name, domain and workgroup settings. Check the workgroup name. If it does not match the one you made in the PC Desktop, click the change settings and change the workgroup name to match with the Desktop. Soon you will receive the message, "welcome to the XXX group". Restart the Laptop.

Step 4:

To acess the PC from the Laptop, Click Start > Network.

In a few seconds you will see the name of the PC Desktop. Double click the icon and you will see all the files and printer that you wanted to share.

END.

The steps above worked well with me and so I decided to share. Any suggestions and criticisms are always welcome. Hope you find the above information good.

MSXML NOT REGISTERED..what a pain!!

Microsoft errors can at times wreck your happiness. Added to it if its HP that is involved in the error, then your problems are doubled.

Recently my All in One HP stuff F380 ran out of steam. The error message was

"DESTCOMP-MSXML not registered"

I tried a million tricks but after 48 hrs found a solution which I want to share with all. In the event you run into this difficulty,

1. Go to the command prompt : HOW? START > RUN > COMMAND
2. Here you might find the C:\DOCUME~1\NAME>
3. At the end of "Name"> Type " CD.. ". You will now see: C:\DOCUME~1>, at the end of this line type " CD.. ". Now you will get the C:\
4. At this point copy : regsvr32 MSXML3.dll and
5. Paste or type it to the C:\ and press ENTER.

You will get a message that the Registration has been successful. The screen shot below will give you a better idea ( click for the larger view) .

Hope this blog helps to serve many. BBye and happy registration.

Whats in a movie??

It seems that Slumdog Millionaire keeps coming back to me. The last week saw many at work criticizing the movie for having received the Oscars. There was also a tone of discrimination...

This is not what I expect from people. Slumdog Millionaire is a creative movie and if it has portrayed something very real, whats the problem. My country has poverty, politicians and other criminal minded lot from the country do make money out of poverty. But the movie at least gives a happy ending. Added to it some good artists have contributed their talents to make this movie what it is now. Why doesn't people look at this angle and start appreciating the movie as a art form. 

Anyway I have graduated to such levels that I keep myself out from such topics...At least I feel at peace these days...

Snow fall in Austria to Mountain Dew in Oman...

I am back after a short visit to Austria and Germany. It was the ski season in Austria and since I was in Tirol province, where Ski was the main business, I had a nice time watching at the snow covered Alpen peaks with hundreds of skiers busy with their skis. 

The travel was even fun. Lie flat seats took me to Vienna with 19 inch screens to entertain me. It was awesome watching a movie just the way I would have done if I were to be at home. One noticeable thing was the movie most of the passengers were viewing. It was Slumdog Millionaire. Yes, I had my 66 year old Austrian co-passenger watch the movie with subtitles. And there were 10 others of various nationalities watching the same. Being Indian myself I was feeling good that an India based movie has attracted the attention of so many. But the images in the movie also made me mature enough to answer people who asked me..Is the slum scenes real in India. Yes was my answer and also I added that India is a diversified nation with poverty at one end and Big IT companies on the other. But the society is so well woven that the rich and the poor co exist. 

But most of Indians have found the reference slum"DOG" to be offensive. Not me though. It is just a reference on the worse situations that the character in THE MOVIE faced and how he utilized those difficulties to be a winner. The name reference is fine and in fact makes us wonder what is there in the movie, before we even see it. But for the others who really wanted to make an issue, well the name is a sitting duck. 

Anyway I am back and after the Millionaire and the Alps, I was drawn to the reality on prices when I landed in Oman. And that is " MOUNTAIN DEW" prices have gone up by 50 PERCENT. For God Sake WHY???

With summer round the corner, I am sure the American giant Pepsi has decided to make some more money from the market and maybe make up for the global losses it might incur due to recession. But 50 percent?? Its too much. The prices of the commodities are falling and the ingredients are just plain water and some additives. Fuel prices are low in Oman!! And Mountain Dew is locally made. Why did they have to do it. When car distributors increased prices by 15 percent, the residents decided not to purchase. So this 50 percent rise...wassup people? :) :)

Well this is one big blog. Let me stop for the time and take a nap. The travel has taken a little toll on me and added to it the Mountain Dew price ...Ummmm...!!!

Car Prices in Oman....

With the recent fallout in the world markets, the word recession is high in every ones mind and to a lot of them, it means prices of commodities would reduce drastically.

Yes, I agree the prices of commodities must reduce. But has anyone wondered what happens to their own job or business when the prices come crashing down?

I work for the automotive sector here in Muscat, Oman and it is not unusual for me to answer the same question " When will car prices fall" every ten minutes in a day!!! Never will a customer understand the strengthening of the Yen and the decline of US Dollars....that we have to pay more Rials to buy a Yen. Never will he understand that the stocks we have are bought  at a higher price!! And then there are people out there in GCC who have decided to boycott the purchase of cars!!!Hmmmm...

Recession is a malice that is most to do with the people mindset. Prices falling is not healthy. And let me come back to my earlier paragraph about its affect on job and business. When prices fall the fall is expected everywhere. Example- A dealership is expected to drop prices, fair they will do that, but when the dealership places an order for a service, they would ask the service provider for a drop in prices and then its a chain reaction. And it would lead to job reductions else salary cuts.

What I want to say is...Price drop will accelerate recession. Try spending more...buy at reasonable prices...don't quit buying. Buy and beat recession!!!!

Hello...or was it Hell o?? Anyways I feel that I keep coming "back" to my blog after months of Hibernation. Not that I am running short of time or of contents..but its just the sheer habit of been lazy!!! Everyday something or the other happens which is worth mentioning but well...neah..its better to be lazy than to type a few words...hummmm.....Family is FINALLLY back and my lil daughter ( 3 months and counting) is definitely entertaining. What a pleasure its to have her around and time just flies. Added to it good food is back on the table considering what a bad cook I am....

So now driving carefully is the in thing!!! Not until yesterday when a Nissan TIIDA was tail gating me. I hate Nissan vehicles and added to it...it was tail gating me....I was quiet upset on that driver, let him go and then was tail gating him back...Just to give him a taste of his own medicine. 2 mins into the stunt is when I remembered about my family and thats when I took my nose from the hopeless Tiida tail. God bless such drivers and I vowed never to Tail gate...