Google Analytics Cookies Explained

Background information about Cookies

Q1. What is a Cookie?

Cookie is a text file which is used to:

• store information about users’s preferences, location and other details.
• protect users’ data from unauthorized access.
• maintain certain websites’ functionality
• serve personalize ads to users and to make advertising more effective.
• collect Google Analytics data and other tracking data.

Q2. What are the different types of cookies used?

There are two types of cookies:

1. First Party Cookies
2. Third Party Cookies

First party cookies are issued by the website being visited and only the website which issued the first party cookie can read the cookie. Third party cookies are issued by the website(s) other than the website being visited.

Q3. Where are the cookies stored?

Cookies are stored on users’ hard disk.

Q4. Can a visitor disable some or all types of cookies?

Yes.

Q5. Can cookies be set with or without expiration date?

Yes.

Q6. What is a temporary cookie?

Temporary cookies are cookies without expiration date. They expire as soon as you end the web session or close the browser window.

Q7. What is a persistent cookie?

Persistent cookies are the cookies with expiration date. They remain on your computer even when you have ended the web session or closed your browser window. They can be read by the website that created them on return visits.

Q8. Can you determine exact number of visitors who have cookies enabled or disabled?

No.

Q9. What happens if you try to create a cookie which already exists?

In that case the original cookie is overwritten.

Q10. What types of cookies are set by Google?

Google set different types of cookies for different purposes. Following are the type of cookies set by Google on a user’s hard disk:

• Preference cookie (called PREF) – used to store users’ preferences (like preferred language or any type of customization).
• Security cookies (like ‘SID’ and ‘HSID’) –  used to protect users’ data from unauthorized access.
• Process cookies (like ‘lbcs’) – used to maintain certain websites’ functionality
• Advertising cookies (like ‘id’) – used to serve personalize ads to users and to make advertising more effective
• Conversion cookies – used to track users’s interaction with ads.
• Analytics cookies (like _utma, _utmb, _ga etc) – used to collect Google Analytics data.

Google Analytics and Cookies

Q1. What types of cookies are set by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics mainly set first party cookies. But it can also set third party cookies (DoubleClick cookies), if a website is using Google Analytics’ display advertiser features, such as re-marketing.

Q2. How Google Analytics decides which cookies to use?

GA uses cookies based on the JavaScript library being used.

Google Analytics support three types of JavaScript libraries for tracking website usage data:

• urchin.js (oldest version of GA tracking code, now deprecated)
• ga.js (used in Classic Google Analytics)
• analytics.js (used in Universal Analytics)

Q3.Why Google Analytics need cookies?

GA needs cookies to store information about a visitors’ web session.

Q4.How Google Analytics uses cookies?

GA either creates or update a cookie to store the visitor’s information it has collected.

Note: GA does not store any personally identifiable information in its cookies.

Q5. Which first party cookies are set by Google Analytics on a visitor’s hard disk?

Google Analytics can set up to 5 first party cookies:

1. _utma (unique visitor cookie)
2. _utmb (session cookie)
3. _utmz (Campaign cookie)
4. _utmv (visitor segmentation cookie)
5. _utmx (Google Analytics Content Experiment cookie)

Note: There is one more cookie which Google Analytics set on a visitor’s hard disk. This cookie is known as _utmc cookie. Google Analytics doesn’t use this cookie any more for ga.js JavaScript library.

Q6. When the Google Analytics cookies expire?

Following cookies expire after 2 years from the last time your visitor visited the site: _utma , _utmv  and _utmx.

_utmb cookie expires after 30 minutes of inactivity on a website or  at the end of a day.

_utmc cookie expires as soon as you close the browser window.

_utmz  cookie expires after 6 months from the last time your visitor visited the site.

Q7. Which Google Analytics Cookies are persistent and which are temporary?

All of the Google Analytics cookies are persistent except the _utmc cookie which is a temporary cookie.

Q8. Does Google Analytics set different set of cookies when you return to a website via another web browser?

Yes. This is because all cookies are browser specific.

Q9. When cookies are created /set up by Google Analytics?

Cookies are created as soon as you visit a website on which Google Analytics tracking code is installed.

Q10. How you can view the various cookies set by Google Analytics when you visit a website?

Step-1: Click the Chrome menu button on the browser toolbar and then select Settings:

Scroll down the page and then click on the link ‘Show Advanced Settings:

Step-2: In the “Privacy” section, click on the ‘Content settings’ button:

Step-3: In the “Cookies” section, click on ‘All Cookies and site data’:

You will now see a dialogue box like the one below:

Step-4: Click on a website name to see all the cookies set by it:

You can now see the cookies set up by Google Analytics on your hard disk.

Note: You can use the above method to see all the cookies (not just Google Analytics cookies) set up by a website on your hard disk.

Q11. What is _utma cookie?

GA uses this cookie to identify unique visitors.

Q12. How you can interpret the _utma cookie?

Domain Hash => This number represents the domain which set up the cookies.  All Google Analytics cookies set by a particular domain have same domain hash.

Random Unique ID => This is the second number which is randomly generated.

Timestamps => The next three numbers are timestamps which represent the time of initial visit, beginning of previous session and beginning of current session. All these three numbers also represent the number of seconds elapsed since Jan 1, 1970.

Session Counter => The last number is the session counter. It is incremented each time a visitor starts a new session.

Q13. How Google Analytics define visitor as unique?

Google analytics assign unique ID to each visitor on your website. This ID is called the visitor ID and it is made up of random unique ID and the first time stamp (also known as the time of initial visit).

 Note: If you look at the three timestamps above, you will notice that they all are same.

Q14. What does all the same timestamps in the _utma cookie tells you?

It tells you that this is your first visit to the website.

Q15. How you can reset your session counter in _utma cookie to 1?

You can do this by deleting all the Google Analytics cookies or by using a different web browser or computer to return to a website.

Q16. Can you change the expiration date of _utma cookie?

Yes through _setVisitorCookieTimeout() method.

This method is used to change the expiration date of _utma cookie. By default, _utma cookie expires after 2 years. But you can set it to expire after 1 week or any time you want to.

For example:

_gaq.push([‘_setVisitorCookieTimeout’, 604800000]);

Here _setVisitorCookieTimeout() method sets _utma cookie to expire after 604800000 milliseconds or 1 week.

Note: Use a search query like ‘1 week in milliseconds’ on Google to convert any time into milliseconds.

Q17. Can you set the _utma cookie to expire as soon as the browser window is closed?

Yes. For this set the expiration timeout of the _setVisitorCookieTimeout() method  to 0. For e.g.

_gaq.push([‘_setVisitorCookieTimeout’, 0]);

Q18. What is _utmb cookie?

GA uses this cookie to identify a web session and to store information about the session.

When your visitor loads a web page, the Google analytics tracking code check for _utmb cookie on the visitor’s hard disk. If this cookie is missing then Google Analytics treats the session as a new session and creates a new _utmb cookie. If the cookie is already present than Google Analytics update the cookie to expire in 30 minutes.

Note: Web session is also known as visit.

Q19. When _utmb cookie expires?

1. This cookie automatically expire after 30 minutes of its set-up provided a visitor does not navigate to other pages on the website. If the visitor navigates to other pages of the website within 30 minutes then the cookie is automatically updated to expire after another 30 minutes.

2. The _utmb cookie expires at the end of a day or when a visitor returns to the website via a different traffic source value (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term, utm_id or gclid) even within the 30 minutes time frame.

For example if a visitor come to your website via a PPC ad and then later return to the website via organic search listing then his second visit will start a new web session even if 30 minutes have not elapsed between the two page views/visits.

Note: _utmb cookie does not expire if the visitor closes the browser window or navigate to other websites within the 30 minutes time frame.

Q20. When Google Analytics end a web session?

when _utmb cookie has expired.

Q21. How a web session can be longer than 30 minutes when _utmb cookie expires after 30 minutes?

Whenever a visitor navigates to other page of a website, Google Analytics updates the _utmb cookie to expire after 30 minutes. So as long as the visitor doesn’t stay on a web page for more than 30 minutes and continue to navigate other pages of the website, the _utmb cookie will not expire and hence the web session will not terminate.

Q22. How you can interpret the _utmb cookie?

Q23. Can you change the session time out length (which is usually 30 minutes) to anything you want?

Yes you can. Use the _setSessionCookieTimeout() method in your Google Analytics tracking code.

This method is used to specify when the session should time out in milliseconds.

1 millisecond = 0.001 seconds

Syntax:  _gaq.push([‘_setSessionCookieTimeout’, 100000]);

Here you are telling Google Analytics to end a web session in 100000 milliseconds or 100 seconds.

Note:  Avoid using this method as it can considerably increase or decrease the number of visits reported by Google Analytics. It can also skew all those metrics which use visits in its calculations.

Q24. Can you set the _utmb cookie to expire as soon as the browser window is closed?

Yes. For this set the expiration timeout of the _setSessionCookieTimeout() method to 0. For e.g.

_gaq.push([‘_setSessionCookieTimeout’, 0]);

Q25. What is _utmz cookie?

It is a campaign cookie which is used by Google Analytics to store campaign information.

The campaign information is stored in campaign variables.Following are the campaign variables supported by Google Analytics:

• utm_source
• utm_medium
• utm_campaign
• utm_term
• utm_content

Q26. How you can interpret the _utmz cookie?

Domain Hash – The first number in the _utmz cookie is the domain hash which represents the website that set up the cookie on visitor’s hard disk.

Time stamp – The second number  in the _utmz cookie is a timestamp.

Session Number – The third number in the _utmz cookie  is the session number which is incremented every time a visitor starts a new session. For example: from the image above we can see that this is the 8th session of the visitor.

Note: For every new session the campaign cookie values gets overwritten with new value.

Campaign number – The fourth number in the _utmz cookie is the campaign number. This number is incremented every time a visitor arrives at your website via a different campaign even within the same session. From the image above we can see that the visitors arrived on my website via 6 different campaigns.

Campaign Tracking values –  The last number in the _utmz cookie contains information about the campaign which resulted in the current visit.

utmcsr = >It represents campaign source and stores the value of utm_source variable. For example, from the image above we can see that the campaign source for the current visit is Google.

utmccn = >It represents campaign name and stores the value of utm_campaign variable. For example, from the image above we can see that the campaign name for the current visit is organic.

utmcmd = >It represents campaign medium and stores the value of utm_medium variable. For example, from the image above we can see that the campaign medium for the current visit is organic.

utmctr = >It represents campaign term (keyword) and stores the value of utm_term variable. For example, from the image above we can see that the campaign term for the current visit is seotakeaways.

utmcct = >It represents campaign content and stores the value of utm_content variable.

So in short the visitor clicked on my search engine listing for the keyword ‘seotakeaways’ via Google Organic search.

Note: once Google Analytics read the _utmz cookie it sends the campaign information to the Google Analytics server which then sends the data to analytics reports.

Q27. How the content of the campaign cookie _utmz will look like if you visit the following URL:

http://idigitalorbis.blogspot.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=ppc&utm_term=web-analytics&utm_content=st-brand-1&utm_campaign=brand

The campaign cookie will look like this:

Q28. How you can see the campaign information collected by _utmz cookie in your Google Analytics reports?

Check the  ‘campaigns’ report under ‘Acquisition’ menu (not the Google Adwords campaigns report) in your Google Analytics account.

Q29. The _utmz cookie has a 6 months time out. What does that means?

It means Google Analytics attribute visit to a campaign for up to 6 months or until the campaign cookie value is overwritten with another value.

Q30. Can you change the campaign cookie time out length?

Yes you can. Use the _setCampaignCookieTimeout() method in your Google Analytics tracking code. This method is used to specify when campaign cookie expiration should time out in milliseconds.

1 millisecond = 0.001 seconds

Syntax:  _gaq.push([‘_setCampaignCookieTimeout’, 100000]);

Here you are telling Google Analytics to delete the campaign cookie (_utmz) after 100 seconds.

Q31. Can you set the _utmz cookie to expire as soon as the browser window is closed?

Yes. For this set the expiration timeout of the _setCampaignCookieTimeout’ () method to 0. For e.g.

_ gaq.push([‘_setCampaignCookieTimeout’, 0]);

Q32. What is _utmv cookie and how can you set it on a visitor’s hard disk?

This is a visitor segmentation cookie which is used by Google Analytics to identify a visitor  as male, female, member, non member, signed in or signed out visitors, pro-member, pro++ member, employee, non-employee etc.

To set this cookie you need to use the _setCustomVar() method in your Google Analytics tracking code.

Syntax: _setCustomVar(index, name, value, opt_scope)

Example: _gaq.push([‘_setCustomVar’, 1, ‘visitor-type’, ‘pro-member’, 3]);

Q33. How you can interpret _utmv cookie?

From the cookie above we can determine that the visitor is a pro member.

Q34. When _utmv cookie is set up by Google Analytics on a visitor’s hard disk?

This cookie is set up only when Google Analytics tracking code call the _setCustomVar() method and the javascript library used is ga.js.

Q35. What is _utmx cookie?

It is Google Analytics Content Experiment cookie which is used for A/B testing of different versions of a web page.

Universal Analytics and Cookies

Q1. What types of cookies are set by universal analytics?

Universal Analytics set a single first party cookie called ‘_ga’

Q2. Why universal analytics need cookie?

Universal Analytics (UA) does not really need any cookie to collect data. It can collect data even without any cookie through analytics.js JavaScript library and through the measurement protocol.

Q3. Why analytics.js uses only one cookie?

In order to significantly reduce the number and size of cookies that are sent.

Q4. What is _ga cookie?

It is the only cookie used by UA to store information about visitors, sessions and campaigns.

Q5. When _ga cookie is created?

As soon as you visit a website on which Universal Analytics tracking code is installed.

Q6. How you can create _ga cookie?

By creating a tracking object through ‘create’ command.

Syntax: ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’);

Q7. What are the various attributes of _ga cookie?

_ga cookie has got following attributes:

1. Cookie name – which is obviously ‘_ga’ by default.
2. Cookie domain – it is the domain at which the cookie is set up. By default the _ga cookie is set on the top level domain. So if you have set cookie at top level domain like www.example.com then the cookie domain would be ‘example.com’.  (without ‘www.’ Prefix)
3. Cookie Path – it is the path at which the cookie is set up. By default the _ga cookie is set on the top level domain with the root level (/) path.
4. Cookie Expires – It is the time in seconds after which the _ga cookie will expire. By default _ga cookie expires after 2 years from the data it was last refreshed.

Q8. In case of the domains www.example.com, fun.example.com, more.fun.example.com which is the highest domain level (or top level domain)?

 It is ‘example.com’

‘www.example.com’ and ‘fun.example.com’ are the second highest domain levels and ‘more.fun.example.com’ is the third highest domain level.

Note: analytics.js cannot set up cookie at ‘.com’ level.

Q9. How you can modify _ga cookie?

By changing the attributes of _ga cookie.

For example by changing the cookie name, by changing the cookie domain, cookie path and/or cookie expiry date.

Note: Google recommends not to directly access the _ga cookie as the cookie format might change without warning which could lead to script errors and incorrect data.

Q10. How you can rename the _ga cookie to say ‘Amit’?

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieName’: ‘Amit’,});

Q11. How you can set the _ga cookie at sub domain level like sub.example.com?

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieDomain’: ‘sub.example.com’,});

Q12. How you can end up setting an incorrect value for ‘cookie domain’?

By using a cookie domain which is not the ancestor of the current domain.

For example, if the current domain is ‘sub.example.com’ then you can set the cookie at ‘example.com’ as ‘example.com’ can be considered as an ancestor of ‘sub.example.com’. But you can’t set cookie on some other website say example.com.

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieDomain’: ‘example.com’,}); // correct

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieDomain’: ‘newexample.com’,}); // incorrect

Q13. What happens when you set an incorrect value for ‘cookie domain’?

The _ga cookie will not set.

Q14. How you can modify the _ga cookie path from the default ‘/’ to say ‘/lib’?

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookiePath’: ‘/lib/’});

Note: Google does not recommend changing the cookie path.

Q15. How you can set the _ga cookie to expire after 1 second?

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieExpires’: 1});

Q16. What happens when you set the _ga cookie to expire after 0 second?

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieExpires’: 0});

In this case the cookie turns into a session based cookie and expires once the current browser session ends.

Q17. How you can set _ga cookie on a local host?

By setting the value of ‘cookie domain’ to ‘none’. For example:

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, ‘none’);

Q18. When you should disable _ga cookie?

When you want to send data directly to Universal Analytics servers without using any cookie.

Q19. How you can disable _ga cookie?

By disabling the cookie storage.

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘storage’: ‘none’,’clientId’: ‘35009a79-1a05-49d7-b876-2b884d0f825b’

});

Note: you have to supply your own clientId

Q20. How you can retrieve the clientId value?

Through ‘get’ command. For example:

ga(function(tracker) {var clientId = tracker.get(‘clientId’);});

Q21. Does deleting _ga cookie and then returning to your website means, you will be labelled as a new visitor by Universal Analytics?

There is no guarantee because UA does not need to rely only on ‘_ga’ cookie for collecting data and can collect visitor information through other methods like measurement protocol.

Q22. How you can track traffic across all sub domains in case of Universal Analytics?

By default you can track traffic across all sub domains in Universal Analytics. This is accomplished by configuring tracking objects to set cookies at the highest domain possible (which is a default setting anyways).

For example, if you have a website with 3 subdomains: one.example.com, two.example.com and three.example.com, you would configure their tracking objects as follows:

// Configuration for one.example.com

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieDomain’: ‘example.com’});



// Configuration for two.example.com

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieDomain’: ‘example.com’});



// Configuration for three.example.com

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’, {‘cookieDomain’: ‘example.com’});

Q23. How you can configure tracking objects to automatically set cookies at the highest domain possible (top level domain)?

By using the auto parameter.

For example, if you have a website with 3 subdomains: one.example.com, two.example.com and three.example.com, you could configure their tracking objects as follows:

// Configuration for one.example.com

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’,’auto’);



// Configuration for two.example.com

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’,’auto’);



// Configuration for three.example.com

ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXX-Y’,’auto’);

Q24. How _ga cookie is able to work for all sub domains of your website?

This is because by default _ga cookie is set at the top level domain.

Q25. How Universal Analytics define visitor as unique?

UA assign unique ID to each visitor on your website. This ID is called the ‘user ID’ (or client ID). The user id is made up of random unique ID and the first time stamp.

Q26. What is the biggest drawback of _ga cookie?

You can’t dig out session or campaign specific data from _ga cookie as all of these calculations happen in the backend on UA servers.

Q27. How you can view the _ga cookie set by Universal Analytics when you visit a website and how you can interpret it?

The process of viewing the cookie is same as it is in case of GA. You can view the cookies through chrome advanced settings:

_ga cookie is made up of 4 fields:

First field is version number (GA1). It seems to be fixed at the moment and may change if the cookies format changes in the future

The second field is number of components at the domain separated by dot. By default the _ga cookie is set on the top level domain with the root level (/) path.



The third field is random unique ID (randomly generated number).

The fourth field is first time stamp i.e. the time when the cookie was first for the user.


That's all about Google Analytics Cookies. You know more? Share in the comments! :)

Continue Reading...

[How To] Add Apps to Startup in Windows 10

How to manage startup apps

To manage startup apps, you need to review all of them so you can turn off the ones you don't want. This can be done via Task Manager in Windows 10. All you need to do is to open the Task Manager app and go to the Startup tab:

Start Up Tab

Tip: You open the Startup tab of Task Manager directly in Windows 10 by running the following command:

taskmgr /0 /startup

Press Win + R shortcut keys together on the keyboard and type the command mentioned above in the Run box.

On the Startup tab you will see the full list of apps which start with Windows.

Using the Startup tab of Task Manager, you can easily prevent an app from starting with your OS. It is very easy - just right click the desired app and pick "Disable" from the context menu.

 Disable Startup Software Windows 10

To enable the disabled app, you just need to right click it again and choose the "Enable" command from the context menu.

Enable Startup App Windows 10

Now you know how to enable or disable startup apps. Let's see how to add a new app to load at startup or remove an existing one.

How to add or remove startup apps for the current user

Startup items for the current user are stored usually at two locations: the Registry and the special "Startup" folder. The Startup folder is an easier way to manage apps. To add or remove an app from the Startup folder, you need to do the following:

Press Win + R shortcut keys together and type the following into the Run box:

shell:Startup

The text above is a special shell command which will open the Startup folder for you directly.

 Startup Folder in Windows 10

The Startup folder is located here:

C:\Users\Your user name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Just copy and paste a shortcut in this folder so that the app loads when Windows boots. To remove the application from the Startup folder, delete the appropriate shortcut.


That's it!

Share your views in the comments! :)

Continue Reading...

Goo.gl & Bit.ly Public Analytics

URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web in which a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) may be made substantially shorter in length and still direct to the required page. This is achieved by using a redirect on a domain name that is short, which links to the web page that has a long URL.
Goo.gl & Bit.ly are the two most famous URL shortening techniques that are being used by the millions of people every day.
This technique is especially convenient for tracking link activities(total clicks, times shared on social media, analytics by country) messaging technologies that limit the number of characters that may be used in a message, such as Twitter, and for reducing the amount of typing required if the reader is copying a URL from a print source. In November 2009, the shortened links of the URL shortening service Bit.ly were accessed 2.1 billion times.
Generating short URLs are quite easy. We just put long URL of website and URL shortening sites generate short URL for that long URL. Most of the URL shortening websites give us facility to track and analyze the link statics on web e.g Goo.gl, Bit.ly.

bit.ly URL shortening

goo.gl URL shortening

Goo.gl & Bit.ly Public Anaytics:

To know all anaytics about your short URL generated with Goo.gl or Bit.ly. You can know it just by knowing the short URL. You have to put a + after your shorten URL and you will get all the details about that short URL. It is the quite common technique but it is known by few peoples only.
For e.g. if my short URL is goo.gl/fb/hiy1hg then anaytics for this short URL can be viewed by goo.gl/fb/hiy1hg+ same thing works for bit.ly short URLs.

bit.ly analytics

I found this thing so cool that's why I thought to share it with you all. So, please let me know how do you like it! Share your comments and views! will meet you in next post. Till then b.bye! take care! :)

Continue Reading...

[How To] do Reverse Google Image Search on Your Mobile Phone

The Reverse Google Image Search option is the best way to discover related images on web. It works very well on desktop but, Google has not made available this option for mobile phones. As approx 23% of Google searches have been done on mobile phones, Google should made Reverse Google Image Search option available on mobile phones too.
But, happiness is here as a well known Indian professional blogger Amit Agarwal (Labnol) has added a web app in his project library website. This tool helps you to access the Reverse Google Image Search on mobile phones and tablets too.

Steps to use it:

1.  For use it, you just have to head over to ctrlq.org/google/images on your mobile phone.
2. Click the “Select Image” button and choose an image from the photo gallery of your phone.
3. Next click “Search” and it will upload your photo to Google Images much like the desktop version.

How it works?

It uses the standard HTML5 File System APIs. Internally, it takes your image file, converts it to Base64 (data URI) and submit the encoded image as HTTP POST request to Google Image. The browser then automatically redirects to the search page.

Compatibility

He has tested the search app on Chrome for Android and Safari for iPad but it should work on most other devices since it uses the standard HTML5 File System APIs. So, every browser which supports HTML5 will be able to run this web app.

Screenshots

Courtesy: Labnol.org

I'm only sharer of this web app. It was developed by Amit Agarwal (Labnol) and published by him.

Share your comments and views on this web app below. :)

Continue Reading...

Best Tricks To Speed Up Internet

Hello everyone! Today I'm gonna share some best methods and tricks to speed up your slow speed internet. Everyone hates to surf internet with a turtle-like internet connection. Yes! you can buy some costly internet plans but if you can't afford that then what you can do. That's what I am going to share with you. These tricks can't help you to get SUPERSONIC speed. But, yeah it can tweak you internet speed than you have at present. So, let's go to straight to the topic.

Best Tricks To Speed Up Internet:

1. Browser Optimization:

Browsers play a vital role between you and internet. Web browser helps to serve you information by fetching it through internet. It depends on browser that with what speed it is gonna serve you that information. In my opinion, Google Chrome Web Browser is the fastest and the most user-friendly web browser than others. As it consumes much less memory and bandwidth than other web browsers.
So, the first thing that you can apply for speeding up you internet speed is switching to Google Chrome.


2. Configuring DNS:

DNS server also plays an important role in increasing the internet speed. This can be achieved by using public DNS servers. There are plenty of public DNS servers but most popular and high speed public DNS servers are listed below:

(i).Google: This DNS server is my favorite DNS server as it is serviced by Google and almost everything that Google provides is the best in its filed.

Google DNS Servers:
Preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

(ii).OpenDNS: OpenDNS also offers DNS resolution like Google as an alternative to using Internet service providers' DNS servers or locally installed DNS servers.

OpenDNS Servers:
Preferred DNS Server: 208.67.222.222
Alternate DNS Server: 208.67.220.220

(iii).Level 3 DNS: Level 3 is the company that provides a lot of ISPs their connection to the Internet backbone, so they are huge, reliable and secure.

Level 3 DNS Servers:

• 209.244.0.3
• 209.244.0.4
• 4.2.2.1
• 4.2.2.2
• 4.2.2.3
• 4.2.2.4

Now, when you've got the DNS Servers list. You should try to configure it on your system. To configure the manual DNS Servers follow the steps below:

Control Panel  > Networking and Sharing Center > Click on your current internet connection ( WiFi in my case) > Properties > Networking tab > Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) >  Use the following DNS server addresses > Choose your DNS servers from above and put it here.

> OK

Finally, you've configured your DNS severs successfully. Feel the speed.

3. Commands Tweaks:

Some bunch of command lines can also help you out to reach to a good internet speed. To trigger your speed mode ON using commands follow the steps below:

Step 1:  Open Command Prompt (cmd.exe) with Administrator Mode.

Step 2:  Type following commands one by one in Command Prompt and hit Enter button.

netsh int tcp show global

netsh int tcp set global chimney=enabled

netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

netsch int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp 


And, you're done!
Now, Surf the internet with a better speed than before. Got any killer trick or tweak to speed up internet? Share in the comments. :)

Continue Reading...

[How To] See GIF Animations Moving in Google Image Search in Chrome

It's been a long time since my last post. But, my this post is worth the wait. In this post, I've shared about seeing the GIF animations moving in Google Image Search.

If you like to share GIFs with friends and family to better convey your thoughts or feelings, then you've probably searched for them on Google at least once. The main issue with using Google is that none of the GIFs in the results show animations until you click to enlarge them. This makes the process of finding the right GIF much more tedious than necessary. Services like Giphy have stepped in to help you find the right GIF at the right moment, but sometimes you need the searching power offered by Google.

As a solution, TechCrunch shared a useful Chrome extension called GoogleGIFs that will display animated images in the search results, so you don't need to do any extra clicking.

To use it, you'll just need to install a copy of GoogleGIFs for your Chrome Web browser. Next, head to Google Images and search for "[subject] gif." You'll see the results load in all of their animated glory.

What do you think of this extension in comparison to Giphy? Share your thoughts in the comments.



[Source: CNET]

Continue Reading...

[How To] Make An Inaccessible, Undeletable & Unrenamable Folder

Make An Inaccessible, Undeletable & Unrenamable Folder

Basic Concept

The basic concept behind this trick is the use of Keywords. Keywords are reserved words in any programming language that cannot be used as names of variables. Windows also uses certain keywords in its programming. Some of them are: con, aux, lpt1, lpt2, lpt3, lpt4, lpt5, lpt6, lpt7, lpt8, lpt9.

Testing
To test this concept, make a new folder in Windows and try to give it a name same as any keyword mentioned above.

Inaccessible Folder Created Using CMD

Result
Windows will not rename your folder to any of the keyword given above.

Trick
So the question arises, how can we make a folder with a keyword as its name? The solution to this problem is included in Windows itself. As we know that Windows has evolved from DOS, its commands can be used in Windows. You can use DOS Programming in Windows to create a folder with a keyword as its name using the steps given below:

Step 1: Click on Start.

Step 2: Click on Run. Type in cmd.

Step 3: In the Command Prompt Window, type the name of the drive you wish to create your folder in the format : and press  e.g. If you wish to create the undeletable folder in D drive, type "D:" without the quotes. Note that the folder cannot be created in the root of C: drive (if C: is your system drive).
Step 4: Type this command:

md con\ 

(where, con\  is the keyword used for folder name) and press . You can choose any of the keywords given above as the name of your folder.

Step 5: Now Windows will create an undeletable, unrenamable & inaccessible folder in the drive you entered in Step 3. However, the folder can be renamed to another keyword using Windows Explorer.


Post You May Like: [Tool] Who Is The Owner Of A Blogger Blog/Website?


Deleting the Folder
Although, it is not possible to delete the folder using Windows GUI, you can delete the folder by typing

rd con\

(where, con\  is the keyword used for folder name)

Windows Compatibility: Windows XP and higher versions.

Try it yourself to create one such folder which can neither be deleted, accessed nor be renamed & share your experience in the comments.

Continue Reading...

[Tool] Who Is The Owner Of A Blogger Blog/Website?

This simple online tool helps you to know the author of a blogger blog/website. As this tool uses Google Data API. So, you can retrieve the author details of a blogger blog (blogspot.com) or website hosted in blogger ONLY. You have to just type his blog/website main URL below and you'll get author's name with his/her picture. Any suggestions would be appreciable.


So, Don't wait! Because, here is the thing. Check this awesome Tool & share your comments :)

↓

Continue Reading...

[How To] Save Web Pages As PDF Using Chrome Easily

There are plenty of software and plugins available for your web browser that help you to save a web page as a PDF file. But, what if I tell you that you can save a web page with some few clicks on your Google Chrome Browser? Yeah! I know, it would be great. As PDF file format is quite famous since it is used for sharing documents and known for its manner of being independent of application software, hardware and operating systems.

Continue Reading...

[How To] Remove Shortcut (.lnk) Virus On Windows Using Command Prompt

Steps to remove shortcut virus on Windows:

Step 1: First of all, find out in what drive of your computer the viruses/shortcuts are located. Go to My Computer (for Windows 7 or below) or This PC; you'll notice the C, D, E etc drives.

[Note: This method is the best for removable storage devices]

Step 2: Open the Command Prompt.

Step 3: Type the following commands in Command Prompt & press ENTER

For example, the virus is located in "F" drive, then just type

f:

attrib -h -r -s /s /d f:

del /s *.lnk


f: -> beside the /d is your drive, simply change it to where drive the virus is located.
-h -> to unhide all files on drive (in our case f:).
-r -> create the files on drive is free of read-only attribute.
-s -> to remove the system files attribute from files created by virus.
/s -> to apply attributes on sub-directories also.
/d -> process folders as well.
*.lnk -> delete all files with extension .lnk

Step 4: Check your drive again. All hidden files & folders are now retrieved.
Remove unnecessary files, the shortcut files that are not supposed to be there.
You might find autorun.inf or desktop.ini; simply delete them.

Step 5:  You may also scan your computer/drive with Windows Defender or any other good anti-virus(like Avast!), too. Make sure that the software is updated.

Continue Reading...

[Download] Pre-Rooted BlueStacks App Player Pro v1.1.11.8004 Rooted+MOD [Offline] [Latest Version]

BlueStacks App Player

BlueStacks HD App Player Pro is a plateform that allows you to run applications, including games written for OS Android – on desktops, laptops and tablets and also this package contains all files to install it offline. This is a special program that uses a technology called LayerCake, which provides the correct environment for running applications for ARM-Android on a computer running Windows. Get Root (right super – user).

After you install BlueStacks on your Windows PC, you can download directly from the program needed Android-app, without having to use the Android-based smartphone. BlueStacks looks pretty neat and fits naturally into the interface Windows.




Features List

1. Run Android applications in full-screen and not only.
2. Through the cloud download your application from the phone to Windows.
3. In 16 player preinstalled applications and you can play them if there is no number.
4. Ability to set an unlimited number of applications.
5. Ability to play 3D games (cache).
6. You can set a home screen (Launcher) to replace the standard, etc.
7. Sync with your Android device will allow you to make calls, send SMS, take pictures and more.
8. Has a lot of settings and system settings Android (Although they are slightly trimmed)
9. Knows how to install applications from a computer at the touch of them
10. Ability to obtain Root (full access to the file system, etc.)
11. You can set Google Play, simply speaking market.
12. BlueStacks great friends with ADB is a very big plus, if you really want, you can change the firmware.
13. Ability to turn in FastBoot and Recovery.
14. BluesStacks has virtual disk, such as SD Card, Data, and a few others. Which again gives you the opportunity to do a lot of “body” motions with it and enjoy all its charms.
15. Ability to obtain Root (full access to the file system)

What’s New ?

• Bug fixed and improved performance
• Older Cracked Version Info
• Simple Launcher Interface
• SuperUser Support
• SuperSu Support
• Import Windows Files directly from your PC to bluestacks
• Root Explorer Support
• Advanced Calculator Support
• Clock, Camera, and other accessories support
• Root Checker Support
• Build in Media Player which run mp3, mp4 and many other formats easily
• Many more…

How to Install?

1. Extract winrar files and run given app as an administrator
2. Just wait and follow the instructions during installation of setup into your PC
3. After Completing the installation; Bluestacks will automatically launch; just select some options which will appear on screen
4. That’s it. Now run your all apps which supports the Android 4.4.2 and earlier. :)

How to Run Speed Up BlueStacks ?

• Press Start Button with “R” Key
• Enter "Regedit"
• Click on HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE >>> SOFTWARE
• Then select Bluestacks >>> Android >>> Hit enter on Memory and replace 300 to 600; then click on decimal and click “OK”
• That’s it; you will have successfully speed up your bluestacks

Requirements

• To run 3D games need support virtualization technology Intel® VT-x or AMD-V ™
• To install the BlueStacks need a video card that supports OpenGL 2.0 or later
• To start BlueStacks need about 1GB of RAM, otherwise you run the risk of “infinite loading”.
• For optimum performance, BlueStacks is highly desirable to update your graphics card drivers
• NVIDIA – (WHQL – certified, stable drivers. Beta – unstable, but can increase in speed)
• AMD RADEON – (Download drivers – Category components: Desktop / Notebook Graphics)
• INTEL – (family of products: graphics adapters)

Click here to download the file (Mediafire Link)

Click here to download the file (Dropbox Link)

Sharing is caring. If you think this post helped you, Share this post to every one. :)

↓

Continue Reading...

[How To] Run Android Apps Through Chrome Browser On Any OS

A minor revolution in the apps world, Google’s new ARC Welder software allows users to run Android mobile apps through the Chrome browser on any operating system: Windows, Mac OS, Linux, or of course Chrome OS.

To bring your favorite Android apps to a PC or Mac, simply install the Chrome browser and a program called ARC Welder. Once opened, the latter program requests access to an APK file that corresponds to the app you wish to run.

Initially accessible only to developers, ARC Welder is now available to the general public through the Chrome Web Store. Still in the beta phase, the program is not entirely stable yet and can only run one app at a time. So far, Google has only made a few Android apps compatible with the program.

In the long run, however, Google’s goal is to make all of its Android apps available across multiple platforms (smartphones, tablets and desktop/laptop computers), a little like Microsoft’s idea with its forthcoming OS, Windows 10, and its dedicated multi-platform app store.

Try out ARC Welder to run Android apps on a PC or Mac.

Continue Reading...

[How To] See If Your Emails Are Being Tracked

You might not realize it, but there are now email-tracking tools that make it easy for people to see when you open an email, what you click, and where you're located.

"Emails appear no different to your contacts, but you get data when, where, and how a contact interacts with your message," says a cheery video advertising Bananatag, an email-tracking service for Gmail designed for job seekers, advertisers, and those working in public relations. 

In response, a handy new tool called Ugly Email shows you when your emails in Gmail are being tracked, and it starts working before you click anything. 


When Ugly Email is installed, a tiny little eye symbol appears next to any email in an inbox that is being tracked by tools like Bananatag, Streak, or Yesware. 

Installing Ugly Email is easy. First, you'll need to make sure you're using Google Chrome as your web browser. 

Next, click this link to take you to Ugly Email on the Chrome Web Store, click the "Add to Chrome" button, and you're all set. 

Any email arriving in your Gmail inbox will then be vetted for tracking tools, and the Ugly Email team promises that it is "actively working on adding more" email-tracking services to its list. 

Ugly Email just showed up on Product Hunt, so if you're looking for a similar email-alert service that has been around for a while longer, you can always try out PixelBlock, which does the same thing.

Source: TOI

Continue Reading...

[How To] Download Files To Dropbox, Google Drive, Box or Microsoft OneDrive Directly

Cloud storage is becoming increasingly popular nowadays and as most of you might have already known, Google drive is now offering 15GB of free cloud storage space to everyone. Apart from the ones who are aware of these, most other users never make any use of this free storage. So lets know more about an interesting way to make the best use of this free cloud storage.

You can make very efficient use of this free storage by uploading all your important files from your PC to any of the cloud storage listed above, Or you can even use these free storages to download and save files directly from the Internet. This method can be very useful when you are browsing the internet from a device which has very limited storage space.

So by downloading files directly from the internet to your Cloud storage, you would be transferring files within the cloud, which will help you save the bandwidth that would otherwise be wasted by downloading it.

Developed by well-known Indian Blogger Amit Agarwal (that's not me BTW :p), Save Web Files is a very useful web tool that can help you with downloading files directly to Google drive or other services like dropbox, Skydrive or Box. Using the service is very simple, simply head over to the site and enter the download link of any file in the input box provided.Next you need to click on any of the web services to which which you need to download the file and follow the instructions.


This web app works flawlessly on both PC’s, smartphones and other hand held devices as well. So, just head over to Save Web Files and enjoy! ;)

Continue Reading...

Keyboard Shortcuts in Facebook

Facebook too have some keyboard shortcut keys just like the ones for the system and browsers. Some keys depends on the type of Operating System and the Browser are you using ,so the modifier keys are to be used accordingly. Thus, before using Facebook keyboard shortcuts, determine the modifier keys for your computer, which is based on what browser and operating system you are using.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Facebook

MODIFIER KEYS

For Windows Operating System:
Google Chrome           Alt
Mozilla Firefox            Alt + shift
Internet Explorer        Alt

For MAC OS X:
Firefox             Function + Ctrl
All others         Option + Ctrl


Once you have determined the modifier for your operating system and browser use the above key combination with any of the below 10 keys to perform the desired shortcut. For example, if you are using Firefox in Windows and want to go to the Facebook Home Page you could press Alt + Shift + 1.

SHORTCUT KEYS

M Open a new message

---

? Go to the Facebook Search

---

1 Home (News Feed)

---

2 Profile page

---

3 Friend requests

---

4 Messages

---

5 Notifications

---

6 Account Settings

---

7 Privacy Settings

---

8 Go to the Facebook page

---

9 View Facebook Statements and Rights agreement

---

0 Open Facebook help center

---

TIP: 
If you are using Internet Explorer, after pressing Alt + # let go of both keys and press Enter for the shortcut to work. For example, press Alt + 1 (let go) and then press Enter to open the Facebook home page. * Also, the M to open a new message in Internet Explorer does not work, since it is the home shortcut.

NOTE:
All the shortcut keys works on the numbers that are placed on the top of the keyboard and NOT from the numberpad on the right side of the keyboard

There are also some other Keyboard shortcuts for Facebook Chat and it does not require any combo keys.

ESC  – Closes the current chat window
SHIFT + Down Arrow – Hides the current chat window if no text is entered
TAB - Jumps to the next chat window
SHIFT + TAB - Jumps to the previous chat window

Continue Reading...