Throttle Internet Bandwidth on Windows

Very Often certain Internet applications prove out to be Bandwidth hungry and often choke the internet connection. As an aftermath, the other apps struggle to steal bandwidth.

There’s an app called NetBalancer that let’s you throttle your internet connection (and even LAN connections) by limiting per-application bandwidth. You can choose to assign priorities to each one of them (just like CPU priority) and avoid the sluggish throughput. This application Shapes your bandwidth so as to fairly divide bandwidth among applications.

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bandwidth-throttling

So next time you run BitTorrent application like uTorrent, you don’t have to worry about how much it wants to eat, you can always restrict it.

You can, for example, designate priority to your web browser instead of your BitTorrent client. You can even specify download and upload priorities separately meaning a process can have a high download priority but a low upload priority.

However, the free version of NetBalancer limits you to setting upload and/or download priorities for 5 different processes and the main features include:

* Set download and upload network priority for any process. Currently supported priorities are:
o High priority
o Normal priority
o Low priority
o Block traffic
o Ignore traffic
o Limit traffic
* Set download and upload speed limits for a process
* Show all system processes with their in and out network traffic speed
* Show current connection for any process
* Show downloaded and uploaded traffic for any process since NetBlancer’s start
* View overall system traffic as a graph
* Show last 15 seconds traffic in system tray
* Fine tune priorities (see Level Severity setting).

NetBalanceris one of it’s kind Quality of Service (QoS) on Windows, avail it for free on Windows Platform: Windows 2003 32/64-bit, XP 32/64-bit, Vista 32-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, 64bit

20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life

11. Consolidate Multiple E-Mail Addresses With Gmail

Gmail account add; click to view full-size image.You have more e-mail addresses than you do pairs of socks--so it makes sense to keep them all in one drawer. If you have mail coming to your ISP's account, your work address, your school address, and your throwaway Yahoo account from 1998, and you're having difficulty juggling everything, it's time to consolidate all those messages into one inbox. Google's free Web-based Gmail service is both an e-mail host and an e-mail client. Use Gmail's built-in Mail Fetcher to retrieve messages from up to five external e-mail accounts using the POP3 standard. In Gmail's Settings area, visit the Accounts tab to set up your external e-mail addresses, and you'll then receive all your mail in one roomy inbox. You can even send mail from your non-Gmail addresses via Gmail's Compose screen, too.

More: Get Organized in Gmail

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12. Never Forget a Birthday, Teeth Cleaning, or Oil Change Again

E-mail reminders; click to view full-size image.When you're tired of scrambling to send Mom flowers at the last minute every year, set up a scheduled e-mail reminder for her birthday--and for any other long-term recurring tasks. Google Calendar can send upcoming-event alerts via SMS ("Pick up the dry cleaning at 3 p.m. today") or e-mail ("Schedule a hair appointment; it's been six weeks!"). Most Web-based calendars (like Google Calendar) and task managers (like Remember the Milk), as well as Web sites such as HassleMe and Sandy, support e-mail alerts.

More: 26 Tricks to Help You Tame Google Calendar
13. Never Forget a Password Again

KeePass; click to view full-size image.Your Web browser can save your user name and password for sites you log in to often, but you still have lots of other passwords to remember--Wi-Fi network names and passwords, computer log-ins, PINs and passphrases, even security questions and answers. Instead of writing everything down on a sticky note tacked onto your computer monitor, lock up your store of sensitive passwords in a secure, encrypted password database. The free KeePass works in Windows, Mac, and Linux, and assigns one master password to your database. Park your passwords, PINs, and software serial numbers in your personal secure database, and save yourself the hassle of having to call the IT department the umpteenth time to reset your password.

More: 15 Great, Free Privacy Downloads
14. Encrypt Your Private Files

TrueCrypt; click to view full-size image.Everyone has a folder or two of private files that thieves, children, competitors, coworkers, or casual passersby should never see. Whether you want to secure your stealth startup's business plan or some personal photos, the free, cross-platform TrueCrypt encryption software (review; download) is ideal for storing sensitive files in a password-protected virtual container. Only someone with the master password can open that container and read or write the files within; to everyone else, it's a nondescript single file full of jumbled-up junk. TrueCrypt can secure a single folder on your hard drive, or an entire disk--it's great for a thumb drive carrying precious data that could be exposed if the drive is lost or stolen.
15. Stream Content From Your PC to Your Tivo, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or Wii

You don't need yet another box under your TV in the living room to enjoy your digital music and videos. If you own a game console or TiVo box, you're ready to start streaming media from your PC today--no Apple TV or set-top media box needed. Find out how to get started.

Microsoft also recently announced that, by this holiday season, Xbox 360 owners who are also Netflix subscribers will be able to stream "thousands of movies" using just their game console. In the meantime, you can stream Netflix movies from your PC to your Xbox 360 with the vmcNetFlix plug-in.

20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life

6. Get Your Cables Under Control

Pilot ID labels; click to view full-size image.When you have a tangled mess of dust-coated cords knotted into a bundle under your desk, disconnecting a laptop or setting up a new printer can be impossible. The cords for power, USB, speakers, and FireWire all look the same. Simple labels can help you avoid accidentally killing your entire rig by pulling one wrong plug. Print out your own with a label maker, or buy a prefab pack of Pilot ID labels to stick on your home-office or living-room plugs. When the cat knocks one out or it's time to rearrange, you'll be glad you did. Then, get cords up off the dusty floor with an under-the-desk cable tray such as this $10 Ikea model. To keep gadget and laptop cords from falling off the back of your desk when they're not plugged in, affix a simple cable catcher (or a binder clip) to the edge of your desk to hold them. Finally, plug your workstation and your collection of peripherals into a single power strip or UPS to shut down the energy hogs with a single switch when you're not using them.

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7. Stay on Task With the Right To-Do List

Remember the Milk; click to view full-size image.The key to staying on track with the stuff you need to get done is writing it down and checking it off--whether you do so online, on your desktop, on your smart phone, or in a plain text file. PC World has tried a number of online task manager sites, and our pick is Remember the Milk. It provides all the bells and whistles you'll ever need in a to-do list online, on your desktop, and on your phone. RTM offers task categories (such as Work and Home), file attachments, notes, priorities, tags, due dates, and even "honey do" items (you can send tasks to other RTM users, such as your spouse or assistant). RTM also offers a Firefox extension that integrates the service with your Gmail inbox, so you can turn e-mail into tasks. Of course, no matter how good your software is, nothing can replace the visceral satisfaction of crossing off a line on your paper to-do list with the stroke of a regular old ballpoint pen.
8. Replace Your Laptop With a Thumb Drive or iPod

MojoPac; click to view full-size image.Instead of lugging a laptop on your next trip, save your aching back by taking your computer's desktop with you on a thumb drive or iPod. Portable Windows software offerings such as MojoPac and U3 put a full desktop on your USB thumb drive (or disk-use-enabled iPod), letting you run applications like Microsoft Outlook and save documents all on that drive. All you need is a host computer: You can plug the MojoPac drive into your in-laws' PC or a coffee-shop workstation, for instance, to access your documents and applications without leaving a trace behind. Alternatively, you can save and run free portable applications--like the Firefox browser, Pidgin IM client, and Sumatra PDF reader--from your thumb drive. Download those and other programs for free at PortableApps.com.

More: 23 Things to Do With a Thumb Drive
9. Use Your Camera Phone as Your Digital Photographic Memory

Qipit; click to view full-size image.Almost every cell phone model now includes a built-in camera, and they're good for more than just snapping pics of your buddies' bar shenanigans to blackmail them with later. Use your phone's camera and memory card to capture the spot where you parked, the label on a bottle of wine your spouse loved, the price on a new gadget to look up online, or an amazing meal you'd like to try to cook at home. A new crop of Web services can turn digital photos of whiteboards and documents into searchable PDF documents, too. E-mail your camera-phone shot of a whiteboard or document to Qipit, and the service will recognize the text and e-mail you the resulting searchable PDF.

More: Six Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do
10. Create Your Own Price-Protection System

Amazon Price Watch; click to view full-size image.Deal search engines such as RetailMeNot.com or SearchAllDeals.com and social sites like BeatThat are great at finding the best prices before you buy, but PriceProtectr.com and similar services will save you money afterward by monitoring over 130 stores that have price-protection policies. If the price goes down after your purchase, that store might owe you money, but knowing whether the price went down is the trick. You can take advantage of price guarantees by going to RefundPlease.com, or track items on your wish list by using the free Amazon Price Watch software. Travel sites like Farecast and Orbitz also have price-protection systems and e-mail alerts for when prices reach a certain low point.

The five best Android calendar apps

My numerous calendars (editorial calendars, client calendars, personal calendars, etc.) dictate the ebb and flow of my life. So when I found the built-in calendar app for my Android device insufficient and lacking certain desired features, I searched for alternatives. Here are five of the better calendaring apps for the Android OS. Each of these apps works with Google calendars, and some even work with Exchange.

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1. Touch Calendar (beta) is one of the more interesting of all the Android calendar apps. Touch Calendar includes plenty of features that take advantage of the Android 2.0 interfaces, such as pinch zooming and long tap. Other features include: double tap to enter events (if you’re not a fan of long tap), horizontal and vertical scrolling, jump to any date from menu, search calendar from either the phone search button or from menu, and much more. A widget would place Touch Calendar above all other calendar apps for the Android phone; the good news on this front is that the developer is planning a home screen widget, as well as the ability to change the background colors of the calendars. If you are looking for a calendar application that has an active and responsive developer, Touch Calendar might be the perfect calendar application for you.
2. Cal Widget isn’t so much a stand-alone calendar as it is a widget for the built-in calendar. But Cal Widget is one of the best widgets for the calendar you will find. Not only does it offer a size configuration to fit just about any free spot on a home screen, but it also allows you to control the transparency of the background colors of nearly all aspects of the widget. When you click on the Cal Widget, three buttons open up: Refresh, Google, and Config. If you want to actually interact with the calendar, you have to click the Google button, which will then open up the built-in calendar app where you can add, remove, and edit appointments. The only drawbacks of Cal Widget are: It currently cannot work with Sense UI devices, and it is not interactive.
3. Smooth Calendar is a simple to use, clean, highly configurable screen widget for the built-in calendar application. Smooth Calendar sets itself apart from widget-only apps by allowing you to select only the calendars you want to display and allowing you to very granularly configure the display. The biggest drawback of Smooth Calendar is that it has only one size - 4×2. At the 4×2 size, your calendar widget will display in one of two modes: Simple (only three calendar items with just the event names) or Detailed (one event with details). This size is fine if you aren’t terribly busy, but if you are, Smooth Calendar might not be the best app for you.
4. Agenda Widget is one of the “best of breed” calendar widgets. It earns this title because it is one of the few widgets that allow you to directly input events into your calendar. Agenda Widget works with the built-in calendar application, but it does not require the opening of the built-in application in order to add an event. This application will also interact with Exchange via the third-party TouchDown application. With Agenda Widget, you can also set it up to have separate widgets for each calendar.
5. Fliq Calendar is a calendar application that works in conjunction with Missing Sync to connect your Android phone with your desktop Outlook. This calendar is perfect for those who do not have an Exchange server but still want to keep in sync with their Outlook calendar. The interface is simple to use (a flick of the finger will move between calendar months), and it is about the closest look and feel to an Outlook calendar you will find on Android.