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Spend a little time learning Skype and you'll soon discover it's much more than a one-trick pony. Sure, Skype's bread and butter is still its ability to let users make phone calls using their broadband connection, but there's so much more you can do with this versatile app.

There are the basics, like sending and receiving instant messages with other Skype users. But did you ever think to use Skype as a make-shift home surveillance system while you're away at work? By following a few simple steps, you can see if Fido's chewing on the couch again, and if so, issue a stern warning to cut it out.

You can also use Skype to record your own Podcast, weekly rant and all. We'll show you how, but that's not all. We're also going to walk you through an assortment of tweaks and hacks to get the most out of this Swiss-army utility. Consider this your go-to guide for making the most out of Skype.

Properly Set up Your Headset

Because Skype is first and foremost a VoIP client, the first thing you'll want to do is spend a litte time getting your headset and microphone working properly. To start with, click on Tools, expand the General tab in the left-hand column, and select Audio settings.

This is where you'll configure Skype to use the proper devices. Under the Microphone pull-down menu, select the mic you want to use. If you're using a notebook with a built-in webcam or have a webcam attached to your desktop, it probably has an integrated mic. In our experience, these are usually low quality and pick up a ton of background noise. Use your headset's mic instead, or consider investing in a standalone microphone.

Now turn your attention to the speakers pull-down the menu, and once again, select the appropriate speakers settings. Ideally, Skype will switch to your PC's speakers when you unplug your headset, but if you're not hearing any sound, open up the sound options and adjust it manually.

We typically adjust both the microphone and speaker sliders to about 90 percent in Skype and disable the automatic adjustments for each by unchecking the appropriate boxes. Instead, we'll adjust these manually within Windows sound properties. To get there, right-click the sound icon in the systray and select Recording. Double-click on Microphone and select the Levels tab. Adjust the microphone volume to anywhere between 75 to 90, depending on how sensitive your mic is. If it's still not loud enough, adjust the Microphone Boost setting.

To test out your settings, you can phone a friend, or buzz Skype Test Call, which will allow you to record a message and play it back to test your audio settings.

Stop Accidentally Calling Your Contacts

If you're like us, you're constantly ringing your contacts when you meant to send them a quick IM instead. Should you quickly hang up and hope they realize it was a mistake, or let it ring through and play it off like you had something urgent to discuss? Better yet, let's prevent these situations from occurring in the first place.

Click on Tools>Options>General Settings. At the very top, uncheck the 'When I double-click on a contact start a call' checkbox and click save. Wasn't that easy?

Set up an Answering Machine

With an unlimited subscription plan, voicemail comes standard, and it only runs about $3/month. Or you can buy voicemail service separately as a 3 month subscription for $6, or 12 months for $20. These are pretty reasonable rates if you're a heavy Skype user, but it's still an out-of- pocket expense.

Enter SAM, which stands for Skype Answering Machine. This handy add-on lives up to its name and should be the first app you attach to any Skype installation. When your status changes to 'Away,' SAM will intercept phone calls (you can configure how many rings until SAM kicks in) and plays a standard answer machine message followed by a beep. If the caller decides to leave a message, you'll be able to play it back when you return to your PC.

Just like a real answering machine, SAM lets you record your own greeting and can auto-reject call waiting.

Free, www.kishkish.com

Discover Hidden Emoticons

By default, Skype includes one-click access to no less than 72 emoticons running the gamut from putting lipstick on to sending a rain cloud, and everything in between. But guess what? Skyp'e's holding out on you. What if you're in the mood to moon somebody? Or maybe the person you're talking with has driven you to bang your head on the wall. There's an emoticon for that.

You can find an expanded list of emoticons right here, along with each one's keyboard shortcut. But wait, there's still more! In addition to the multitude of smileys, Skype also includes emoticons for nearly every country under the sun, even Canada. Get your scroll wheel ready and spy an expanded cheat sheet here.

If nothing else, memorize these ten mostly self- explanatory emoticon shortcuts and you'll be prepared for just about any situation:

1. (puke)
2. (party)
3. (finger)
4. (swear)
5. (banghead)
6. (tmi)
7. (drunk)
8. (punch)
9. (y)
10. (n)

Organize Your Contacts

Finding a single contact out of 10 or 15 is a piece of cake. But what about sifting through dozens, or even hundreds of Skype users? That's a bit more time consuming, especially when you're wading through a mix of real names and pseudonyms all clumped together in a massive, scrollable list. Take control of your contact list by employing a few simple strategies.

Rename Your Contacts

Remember using a Rolodex? For the younger generation, a Rolodex is like your iPhone's address book, except it's made out of trees (Family Guy fans will get that reference). Either way, it's a lot easier to sort through your social network by organizing everyone based on their birth name, not their Internet nick. Would you really think to look for Jeff Reece under 'X' for 'XCaptainCrunchX'?

Like any instant messaging app worth it's salt, Skype lets you rename your contacts. All you have to do is right-click on a contact and select 'Rename.' If you want, you can put the person's nickname in parenthesis, like this: Jeff Reece (XCaptainCrunchX).

Create Groups

Even though you may have dozens of contacts, you probably find yourself chatting with the same groups of people on a consistent basis. For example, do you play poker or any other online game with same handful of friends? Creating a group will save you time by not having to click on each one individually every time you want to start up a chat or voice conference.

To set up a group, click on Contacts>Create New Group. Add contacts by dragging and dropping them to the designated area (right-click and select 'remove person from this group' if you accidentally add someone you didn't intend), and when you're finished, click the 'Save group in Contacts' button and give your group a name. The group you just created will now show up in your contacts list.

Whittle Down with Categories

By setting up categories, you can clump your family, friends, co-workers, and anyone else into handy containers that make it much easier to narrow down your contacts and find who it is you want to talk with.

Start by navigating to Contacts>Contact Categories>Create New Category. At the top of your contacts list, it will say New Category. If you want to create one for your co-workers, drag and drop the names of everyone you work with to the designated area. When you're finished, right-click 'New Category' to rename it. Now whenever you want to sort by categories, just click on the arrow.

Hide Offline Contacts

By default, Skype drops offline contacts to the bottom of the list, but the OCD in us still wants a cleaner layout. To hide offline friends from view, click on Contacts>Hide Contacts Who>Are Offline. You can also hide contacts who haven't yet shared their contact information with you, or just those who are offline with call forwarding.

Beef Up Your Contacts (by Importing from Email)

You can quickly and easily import contacts from your email address book into Skype, and you may even discover that some of your contacts are already using Skype. This is also a great way to invite your network of friends, family, and co-workers to register for a Skype account.

To do this, navigate to Contacts>Import Contacts... This will bring up a window with different email options: Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, AOL, and Other. Mashing the Other button displays a pretty extensive pull-down menu with a bunch of other email services and clients, including Microsoft Outlook. Choose whichever email client you want to import contacts from, type in your username and password (if applicable), and press Import.

In the next step, you'll be given an opportunity to select as many or as few of the contacts Skype digs up. And then yet another chance to change your mind when you're prompted to enter a personalized message with your contact request.

Deliver a One-Two Combo to Spam

We're not sure there's any rhyme or reason for it, but it seems as though we'll go weeks without any rogue IMs, and then all of a sudden be bombarded with spam messages through the course of a few days. Or at least that's what used to happen before we took matters into our own hands.

The easiest way to send spammers packing is by refusing to receive messages from anyone not in your contact list. By default, anyone is allowed to contact you. To change this, navigate to Tools>Options>Privacy. Click the 'Only allow people in my Contact list to contact me' radio button and mash the Save button.

For more fine grain control over your privacy settings, click the 'Show Advanced Options' button. This will allow you to setup Skype so that only your contacts can send you a message, but anyone can call you, or vice versa. There's also a few other self-explanatory options you can configure to fit your needs.

Random spammers pushing their wares and scams aren't the only nuisances you'll encounter. Out of the box, Skype will hit you between the eyes with fairly frequent (and annoying) pop-up messages.To disable these, navigate to Tools>Options>Notifications. Click on 'Alerts & Messages' and uncheck both options.

Send an SMS Message

Sending a text message through Skype is easy, but it isn't free. The cost to send an SMS in the United States runs around $.013 (see rates here), which is a tough pill to swallow considering you probably have an unlimited text message plan through your mobile carrier.

So why even bother sending an SMS via Skype? Convenience, for one. While we're not going to send a ton of texts through Skype, it can come in handy if you left your smartphone in another room or at home. In a pinch, a little bit of loose change is a fair trade off for the occasional urgent message. It's also nice being able to type out our texts with a full sized keyboard rather than resorting to shorthand on your virtual and/or slide-out plank.

To send an SMS, you first need to associate a mobile number with one of your contacts. To do this, select a name from your contact list and hit the 'Add a telephone number' button on the right-hand side. Punch in the mobile number and press the checkmark. To send an SMS to the mobile number, just right-click on the contact and select 'Send an SMS message.'

When you send an SMS this way, you'll be identified by your Skype name and recipients will not be able to reply. Skype lets you change this so that you're identified by your mobile number instead, and this also makes it possible for recipients to send a reply. To set it up like this, click on Tools>Options>IM & SMS>SMS settings. Click on the 'Verify your mobile phone number' link and enter in your phone number (note that you'll be charged Skype's text messaging fee to verify your number).

Here's where Skype can get a little fussy. In this next step, you're supposed to enter in your mobile number and mash the Send button, at which point Skype will text you a verification code. But what do you do if the Send button remains grayed out? It's doesn't mean your phone is incompatible, it's just quirk with Skype. Click on the flag icon and change it to another country (it doesn't matter which one), and then change it back to the U.S. flag. Now when you type in your mobile number, the Send button will come alive.

In a few seconds, you'll receive a verification code. Punch this into the second text box and hit Submit. Once your number has been verified, hit Save and exit.

Play Music Through Your Speakers While Chatting with Your Headset

In order to listen to background music while placing a Skype call, you either have to pipe your conversation through your computer speakers along with your groovy tunes, or play music through your headset, which can make it hard to hear the person on the other end of the line. Fortunately, there's a way to separate the two.

If you haven't already configured Skype to use your headset, go to Tools>Options>Audio Settings and select the appropriate device in the Speakers pull-down menu.

Next we need to setup our PC to blast our tunes through the speakers. Right-click the Sound icon in the Systray (alternately, you can type Sound in the Start menu and click on Sound under the Control Panel) and select Playback devices. Right-click the Speakers icon and select 'Set as default device.' After you do this, there should be two green checkmarks, one next to the Headphones icon and another next to Speakers.

By default, whenever you make a call, your speakers will automatically adjust the volume of all other sounds by 80 percent. As a courtesy to the person on the other end of the line, it isn't a bad idea to leave it this way so they're not forced to listen to your music (some people just aren't into Bluegrass). But if you want to retain full control of your speakers' volume, select the Communications tab in the Sound properties windows and click the Do nothing radio button.

Create Your Own Podcast

Using Skype, you can create your own professional sounding Podcasts that rival the sound quality of those using much more expensive equipment. And provided no one is using a $0.25 microphone picked up from Walmart's clearance bin, you may find that your Podcast sounds better than most radio interviews where it's clear the guest is speaking through a telephone rather than sitting in the studio next to the DJ.

Image Credit: Razer

Don't get us wrong, you don't need an ultra-expensive microphone, but we suggest using one with noise canceling capabilities so you don't end up broadcasting sounds from the background. And generally speaking, you should avoid using the mic that comes built into most webcams and notebooks, as these tend to be pretty low quality. Headsets with built-in microphones typically work well.

The next order of business is to shut down any programs you're not using, particularly any app that taps into your Internet bandwidth. Is Outlook running? Shut it down. Downloading a torrent? Pause it and close uTorrent. You don't want anything running that could potentially degrade the sound quality of Skype, especially if you plan on including multiple recipients in your podcast.

Next, download the latest version of Audacity from here. If you're running Windows 7, we suggest installing the latest beta release, which is currently version 1.3.9. We ran into some quirks running the latest stable build on our Windows Home Professional 64-bit testbed, but the beta release ran without a hitch.

Due to the murky legal waters surrounding software patents, Audacity opts not to bundle and distribute an MP3 encoder with its recording software. And that's just fine, because it's easy enough add an encoder ourselves. To do so, download the LAME (Lame Ain't an Mp3 Encoder) from here and install to the default directory.

When it's finished installing, fire up Audacity and navigate to Edit>Preferences>Libraries. Click the Locate button and then press Okay.

Here's where things get a little tricky. Starting with Vista, the ability to record sounds from your PC's audio channels have been stripped away, or at least it would appear that way at first glance. It's widely believed this was done to prevent end users from recording streaming audio, such as songs from an online radio station (isn't DRM grand?). Unfortunately, this also prevents us from recording other Skype users.

To get around this, we need to re-enable the Stereo Mix option as a recording device. Right-click the sound icon in the Systray and select Recording devices. Next, right-click any of the devices and check the option to 'Show Disabled Devices.' If your soundcard supports Stereo Mix, you should now the see the option lightly grayed out. Right-click and select Enable.

If you don't see the Stereo Mix option, it's possible your sound solution doesn't support the option, either at the hardware level or by restricting access at the driver level. Either way, there's no easy remedy short of investing in a discrete soundcard that supports Stereo Mix, such as Razer's Barracuda AC-1 or Creative's X-Fi series (Creative calls Stereo Mix 'What U Hear').

We're almost ready to start recording. Fire up Audacity again if you previously closed it down, then navigate to Edit>Preferences>Audio I/O (depending on which version of Audacity you have, Audio I/O might also be labeled Devices). In the Device pull-down menu under Recording, select Stereo Mix (or What U Hear).

Jump over to the Quality section in Audacity's Preferences tree on the left-hand side. Change the Default Sample Rate to 16000Hz. This will strike a good balance between sound quality and file size, but if you truly need a higher quality recording, play around with higher sample rates.

Now you're ready to start recording! Once you and your guest(s) are ready, just hit the record button. If everything is set up correctly, you'll see the audio track updated in real-time. If not, you need to retrace your steps to see where you might have went wrong, or adjust your microphone's volume.

Spend some time playing around with Audacity to learn the program's intricacies. When you're finished recording, you can delete awkward moments of silence or other undesirable parts of the recording you don't want included in the final product. You can also add in background music and sound effects by recording additional streams. We're not going to cover all the tricks you can do with Audacity (at least not in this guide), but as you play around, you'll soon discover it's a pretty powerful recording program that belies its free price tag.

The last order of business is to save your finished recording as an MP3 file. Click File>Export and fill in the Metadata form (track title, track number, and so forth). After you've tagged your Podcast, mash the OK button and select MP3 from the Save as type pull-down menu.

Make Skype Calls with Your Smartphone

It took a little while for Skype to get with the times, but it's finally possible to integrate the VoIP service with your smartphone and call other Skype users from your handset. It's still a little bit rocky, but serviceable for the most part.

If you own a G1 or other Android-based handset, hit up the Google Market and search for Skype Lite Beta. After you install the app, you'll be prompted for your username, password, and phone number. We had mixed results getting the beta to work properly, but when it does work, the cool thing is you don't need a 3G or Wi-Fi connection. Calls to other Skype users are free, minus any local rates and minutes charges through your wireless carrier. Receiving calls, however, is not free, though you have the option of disabling this function.

Image Credit: gadgetell.com

Alternately, Android owners can also give iSkoot a spin. This app works pretty much the same way Skype Lite Beta does, so if you've having trouble getting one to work, try the other.

So what happens if you want to make a Skype call through your iPhone? There's an app for that (see what we did there?). You can download the Skype app for the iPhone and iPod touch here, and unlike Android owners, the iPhone/iPod touch version sports a slicker interface with a few more options.

For a full list of compatible handsets, rate information, and other FAQs, see here.

Have Skype Send You a Wake Up Call

Don't trust hotel management to send you a wake up call in the morning? If you need a wake up call, Skype can oblige.

This hack takes a bit of preparation in order to work properly. On your home PC, or whichever system you're configuring to make the wake up call, you'll need to disable UAC. Click on Start and type UAC. Drag the slider down to Never notify and hit OK.

Next, open up Skype and navigate to Tools>Options>Advanced. Check that box that reads 'Use Skype to call callto: links on the web.'

The ability to place wake up calls isn't integrated into Skype, so we're going to tap into Windows to get the job done. To do this, we need to create a scheduled task. Click on the Start menu, type Task Scheduler, and then click on the Task Scheduler link. In the right-hand pane under Actions, click on Create Basic Task...

This opens up the Basic Task Wizard, which will walk you through process creating an automated task. In the first step, you'll give your task a name. In this case, go ahead and name it Skype Wake Up Call. Add a description in the designated area if desired, otherwise click on Next.

On the next screen, you'll choose when you want this task to start. For a one-time wake up call, select the One time radio button. Alternately, you can configure your wake up call to occur daily, weekly, or monthly. Click Next.

The next screen is where you'll choose a time and date. Be sure to pay attention the AM and PM setting so you don't accidentally set a wake up call 12 hours too late or too early! Click Next.

This brings up the Action menu. Click the Start a program radio button and press Next.

In this next step, we're going to direct the Task Scheduler to the Skype executable. Click on the Browse button and find Skype.exe. By default, this should be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone. In the Add arguments (optional) field, type /callto:+1xxxxxxxxxx and input your mobile phone number, including area code, in place of each 'x.' So for example if your mobile phone number is 555-555-1234, you would type /callto: +15555551234.

There's one more step we need to take to make sure the wake up call goes through without a hitch. In the main Task Scheduler window, click on Task Scheduler Library. In the pane immediately to the right, find the Task you created (Skype Wake Up Call). If you don't see it, you may need to exit and restart the Task Scheduler. Right-click the task and select Run. If you followed the above steps correctly, Skype should now open automatically and try to call your mobile phone, but the process gets halted by a pop-up window alerting you that you're about to call a number (duh). Click the 'Do not ask me again' checkbox and hit OK.

That's it! The next time this task runs (at the designated time), your PC should fire up Skype and call your mobile phone. Just be aware that this taps into your Skype credit, so make sure you have enough in your account for a wake up call.

Backup Skype Configuration and Chat History

Whether switching to another computer or reinstalling Windows (and thus Skype), you needn't lose your instant messaging history, nor do you need to start over from scratch and re-configure all your settings.

To backup your chat history and configuration in Vista and Windows 7, navigate to C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Skype. If you're running Windows XP, go to C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\ApplicationData\Skype. Find a folder in the directory with your Skype username and copy this to a USB stick or CD/DVD. When you reinstall Skype, transfer this folder into the same directory.

Sync Skype on Multiple PCs

You can think of Dropbox as chocolate syrup. Why? Because it makes everything sweeter, and Skype is no exception. We just showed you how to backup your Skype configuration files and chat history for importing to another machine, but what if you wanted to sync your Skype install on multiple PCs? With a little bit of tweaking -- and some help from Dropbox -- you can do just that. Here's how.

First, download Dropbox from here and install it on every machine you plan to sync. Close down Skype. If you're using Windows 7 or Vista, navigate to C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\ (Windows XP users will navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name\]Application Data Folder). Move (don't copy) the Skype folder to your Dropbox location. The easiest way to do this is to right-click the folder, select the Cut command, and then paste it into Dropbox (right-click, Paste).

Now that we've moved the folder out of its default location, we need to trick Skype into thinking it's still there. To do this, we need to create what's called a symbolic link in the original directory that appears to be the real deal, but really just redirects to the new location in our Dropbox folder. As far as Skype is concerned, the folder will appear to still be in its original location, even though it's not.

Click on Start and type CMD (in Windows XP, click Start>Run>CMD and hit enter). Right-click the CMD executable and select Run as Administrator. To create a symbolic link, type the following command:

mklink "C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Roaming\Skype" "C:\Users\Paul\Desktop\My Dropbox \Skype"

Notice the quotation marks that enclose both the original and new location of our Skype folder. Also be sure to alter the above command depending on where your Dropbox folder is located, as well as the original folder location.

Repeat the above steps on your work PC, laptop, or wherever else you have Skype installed and your conversations will remain synced.

Ditch Skype's 4.0 Interface in Windows 7

Skype's developers not only added a bunch of new features in version 4, they also gave the app a major face lift. Some have praised the new layout and UI, while others believe Skype took a major step backwards. If you fall into the latter camp, you've probably been chugging along with version 3.8.0.188, the latest 3.x release before 4.0

That's all fine and dandy, except that it doesn't play particularly nice with 64- bit versions of Windows 7. Many have reported that the older version installs just fine, but when you try to fire up the app, it crashes before you have a chance to log in. We've run into this issue ourselves and set out to find a solution. Well guess what? We found one.

If you're having trouble getting an version 3.8 to run, revert back to version 3.6, which you can find over at FileHippo.com or OldVersion.com. Skype 3.6.0.248, the latest release before 3.8, doesn't appear to suffer the same setback in Windows 7. Just be warned that by going back so far, you'll be running a dated app that's several versions behind the latest release, which means you're missing out on added features and potentially leaving yourself open to unpatched bugs and security risks.

Set up a Home Surveillance System

Do you really know what your pets are up to when you leave for work? Want to catch the underwear gnomes red handed? A surveillance system is just what you need, but these tend to be pricey and sometimes difficult to set up and maintain. Not so with Skype.

For this to work, you'll need a second account. Once you've registered an alternate alias, sign in to Skype using the new credentials. Click on Tools>Options>Privacy and click all of the 'people in my Contact list only'' radio button (there should be four). This will ensure that spammers don't end up tying up your home surveillance account. Click the same radio button option under Calls>Call settings and IM & SMS>IM settings.

Next, navigate to Tools>Options>Video Setting and select both radio buttons that read 'people in my Contact list only.'

Now head over to Tools>Options>Calls and mash the 'Show advanced options' button. Check both the 'Answer incoming calls' and 'Start my video automatically when I am in a call' checkboxes.

That's all there is to it! Leave your home PC running while you're away at work or on vacation and call up your secondary account whenever you want to check in. Keep yours speakers turned on if you want to talk to your pets.

Interrogate Your Callers

Feel like you're being a fed a line of bull? Maybe that's because you are! But don't torture yourself by replaying the sketchy conversation in your head all day long, and instead let KishKish's Lie Detector give you a hand.

Once installed, this free 'Skype Extra' sits in the background and analyzes your caller's voice. Stress levels are updated in real-time, so in theory, you should be able to tell right away when someone's trying to pull a fast one. In practice? Consider this a fun parlor trick and not a polygraph replacement.

Grab the download by navigating to Tools>EXtras>Get Extras and search for KishKish Lie Detector. Keep in mind that a message will be played letting callers know what you're up to, so you're not going to catch anyone off guard.

Free, Skype Extras (KishKish Lie Detector)

Play a Song for Your Caller

Her's a great add-on that comes in handy when you want to share a groovy tune with a friend, maybe even one you created yourself. Call Player comes with a handful of built-in sounds, including a Happy Birthday jingle, but you can add as many sounds and songs as you want. Play them during a Skype session by mashing the 'Play in Call now!!!' button.

This isn't the slickest app out there -- songs have to first be converted to WAV, which is handled automatically but takes a little bit to finish, and you can only add one file at a time -- but for a one-trick pony, it's a neat utility to add to your arsenal.

Free, Sype Extras (Call Player)

Collaborate with Sketch Pad

Our guess is you can probably use Sketch Pad for actual productivity purposes, like collaborating on a project and brainstorming with others. But in reality, you'll find yourself drawing inappropriate pictures, playing Hangman, talking smack (with pictures), and just goofing off in general. In other words, we really like this time waster.

Record Calls to Gmail

Skype automatically keeps a history of all your IM conversations, but G-Recorder one-ups the built-in functionality by keeping a log of IM conversations and voice chats.. They're both automatically sent to your Gmail account where they're labeled and archived by type (Skype Calls, Skype Chats) for easy viewing or listening. You can also have G-Recorder store a copy of your phone call session on your PC as an MP3 file.

Because of the way Skype handles its Extras features, you won't know that this isn't a free application until after you install it. The trial's good for 14 days, and while the program normally sells for $25, G-Recorder has been sending out coupon codes to new users for 30 percent off, bringing the total down to $17.50. In our opinion, it's worth it.

$25 ($17.50 after coupon code), Skype Extras (G-Recorder)

Integrate Skype with Pidgin

Not a lot of IM clients support Skype, and that's just frustrating. But if you use Pidgin, you're in luck. The Skype API Plugin allows you to setup your Skype account with the multiprotocol client, though there's a catch. For it to work, you still need to have Skype running in the background (the plugin forces it to run silent). The upshot is you'll have access to all of your contacts within Pidgin's interface. Is the trade off worth it? We'll let you decide that one for yourself.

Free, Skype API Plugin

Things you can do from here:

• Install Skype n Apply Above Tricks

 4 Days of TED India

Shruti Rajkumar of CNBC-TV18 has done a nice video recap of the TED India conference that happened in Mysore earlier this month. Do hit the HQ button inside the YouTube player for better quality video.

The (official) video recordings of TED India sessions aren’t available yet (except that of Pranav Mistry) but you can subscribe to this page and get notified as soon as new TED videos are posted online.

You should also check the lively TED India photoset on Flickr that has captured nearly every amazing moment of TED.

Watch 4 Days of TED India in 4 Minutes [Video]

Have you ever deleted a file (or folder) from the desktop and emptied the recycle bin only to realize, seconds later, that you deleted the wrong one? Or have you ever edited a document or photograph, saved the file, and then wanted to undo those changes?

Luckily, both Windows Vista and Windows 7 include a build-in feature called Shadow Copy that can solve this exact problem without you having to do anything. As you work with the files, Shadow Copy will automatically save incremental backups of your files in the background so if you accidently delete or change a file, you can easily revert to the previous version with a simple right-click.

"Restore Previous Versions" for Vista Home

The Shadow Copy feature is available in all Windows 7 editions but only in the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista. However, if your computer is running Vista Home Basic or Home Premium editions, you can still enjoy the Shadow Copy feature without upgrading your OS.

In that case, all you need is Shadow Explorer – a free (and tiny) utility that makes it easy for users of Vista Home Basic and Home Premium edition to view the Shadow Copies of files that Windows is already saving on to their systems.

When you run the Shadow Explorer utility, you are presented with a Windows Explorer like dual-pane view as shown in the screenshot.

From the drop-down menu, you can select how far back in time you wish to restore files (or folders) from. The right pane has a list of all files and folders that were on your computer at that date and time.

You can browse through the folders just like you do on Windows Explorer and if you need to restore the previous version of any file or folder, simply right-click on the file or folder and click “Export.”  This will allow you to save the file in the location of your choice so you don’t have to replace the most-recent version.

The feature may also come handy if document get damaged (say due to improper shutdown) or you want to bring back the files that were deleted by some virus.

Shadow Explorer for Windows 7 and Vista

ShadowExplorer will run just fine on all editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7; however, only Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium users will need this tool as they don’t have any other mechanism to access shadow copies of files that have changed with time.

The Shadow Copy functionality was first added to Windows 2003 so the ShadowExplorer utility will work on that OS as well provided the shadow copy service is enabled.  However, ShadowExplorer will not work on any version of Windows XP, 2000, or any earlier version of Windows, as they do not have the shadow copy service that ShadowExplorer relies on.

Undelete Files & Folders in Windows Vista Home

Originally published at Digital Inspiration

Things you can do from here:

• Get Started to Delete All Files

To be a Pro at Photography is to Know abt Camera

Photography Kick-start Guide: Adjusting Your Camera’s Settings for the Photo You Want

Cameras vary in terms of functions offered. There are differences from one brand to the next and even from one model to another of the same brand. By necessity, this tutorial will have to generalize but let’s try to de-mystify some of the more common settings found on cameras today, what they mean (to the camera) and how to use them.

Let’s start with the core shooting modes, then we’ll move on to the more common preset scene modes and finally to some other general information about camera functions.

If you come across terminology or concepts here that are unfamiliar to you, it may be best to refer to part 1 of this series which uncovers how your camera work and what terms like ‘Aperture’ and ‘ISO’ mean.

Automatic

This is the default, all-purpose setting most people use 90% of the time. On simpler cameras, it may be the only mode, or one of the few available. It is generally indicated by the word AUTO, a green outlined box or an icon of a camera.

In this mode, you can just quickly grab your shots while the camera makes all the decisions for things like:

• What aperture to use
• What shutter speed to use
• The ISO sensitivity
• Whether or not to fire the flash
• White balance

The only things the photographer controls are where to point the camera, whether to hold it in portrait (tall) or landscape (wide) orientation and when to press the shutter button.

Program and Program-Shift

Usually indicated by the letter P or sometimes Ps. Some photographers disdain Program mode because they say it’s too much like Auto but think of program mode as “auto on steroids”. For users who are still primarily using Auto, Program mode is a relatively easy step-up toward exercising more control over your camera’s settings. For the record, there are some professional photographers who use Program mode on a regular basis.

Like Auto, Program will make all the exposure decisions for you. But there are a few important differences:

• Exposure is skewed based on the zoom or focal length of the lens in use. This is true both with built-in lenses that zoom and with interchangeable lenses. At shorter, wide-angle focal lengths the camera favors a small aperture for greater depth of field. At telephoto focal lengths the camera favors a fast shutter speed to reduce camera shake.
• The camera’s recommended settings can be quickly and easily overridden, usually by either a thumbwheel or a pair of arrow keys. Different brands and models may have different mechanisms but they all provide an easy way to tweak the settings. To use this feature of Program mode, press the shutter button halfway. This will cause the camera to make all its exposure decisions and display those in the viewfinder or LCD screen. Then you can decide to accept the camera’s recommended settings or adjust them.
• The settings are not permanent. When you use some of the other semi-manual modes such as aperture priority and shutter priority, the camera saves your settings and keeps using them until you change them. This can actually be a bad feature for occasional snapshooters. Let’s say you photograph your child’s birthday party indoors and set the camera up for that. Then you put the camera away until a week or so later when you take it to photograph the kids playing at the park. Then two weeks later you take it to your daughter’s ballet recital. Then two days go by and you are photographing your son’s soccer practice. If, during any one of those times, you forget to adjust your settings for the new lighting situation, you may end up with ruined pictures. Program mode does not remember settings. Each time you turn off the camera and turn it back on, it will recalculate the exposure based on the new conditions and then give you the opportunity to override it.

Aperture Priority

Indicated by a letter A or Av. In Aperture Priority mode, users set the aperture they want to use. The camera will adjust the shutter speed to get a proper exposure.

Aperture Priority is most useful when you want to control the depth of field, or zone of apparent sharp focus. For this reason, it’s the most popular mode among advanced amateurs.

When closed down to a very small opening (larger f-number), much more of the scene appears to be in focus.

When opened wide (smaller f-number) the zone of sharp focus can be very narrow. Portions of the image become progressively more blurry as they get farther away from the focal plane (plane of perfect focus). This works in both directions.

A-Dep

A-Dep is a specialized mode that is available only on certain Canon cameras. In a nutshell, this mode tries to calculate the nearest and farthest elements in a scene and then calculates the optimum aperture and point of focus to use to get them both in sharp focus in your picture. With some models, you may have to “tell” the camera which are the nearest and farthest points you care about.

Shutter Priority

Indicated by the letter S or Tv (time value). Users set the shutter speed they want to use. The camera will adjust the aperture for proper exposure.

Typical shutter speeds are: 60sec, 30sec, 15sec, 8sec, 4sec, 2sec, 1sec, 1/2sec, 1/4sec, 1/8sec, 1/15sec, 1/30sec, 1/60sec, 1/125sec, 1/250sec, 1/500sec, 1/1,000sec, 1/2,000sec, 1/4,000sec.

These are full stop increments. As with all other photographic measurements, each stop represents half as much time as the one before it and twice as much as the one that follows.

More advanced cameras may allow intermediate shutter speeds in 1/2 or 1/3 stop increments. When the camera controls the shutter speed, it does so in infinitely variable increments so EXIF data (see later in this tutorial) may show strange speeds like 1/128sec.

When using flash, maximum shutter speed is limited by the camera to the fastest speed at which both shutter curtains are completely open at the same time. On older film cameras where the only mode was shutter priority and the dial was used to select the shutter speed, the flash synch speed was highlighted on the dial with a different color.

Manual

Indicated by the letter M, this is full do-it-yourself mode. Users select all the settings manually. The camera’s light meter still works. The camera will provide guidance and may even warn you if it believes your settings will result in over or under exposure, but it will not interfere with whatever settings you choose.

There is a special shutter speed, Bulb, that is available only in Manual mode. (On older cameras, it sometimes had its own mode on the dial.) With Bulb, the shutter stays open as long as you hold down the button. Since the camera has no idea how long the exposure will be, metering will not be accurate when using it. Similar to, but less common than Bulb, is Time mode. With this you press the button once to open the shutter and again to close it. Holding the button is not necessary.

Preset Scene Modes

Preset scene modes are very convenient. Many people use them without truly understanding exactly what they do in terms of changing how your pictures are taken. Some scene modes have their own dial settings on some cameras while almost all cameras have at least some of them accessible only by menus. You get to the menu-selected scene modes by selecting “SCENE” or “SCN” on your camera dial. This will activate a menu, showing you all the modes available.

What all those preset scene modes really do is cluster groups of camera settings together. With one menu or dial selection you are instantly telling the camera how to adjust a dozen or more diffrerent things: white balance, focus range, metering, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, whether or not to use flash, whether or not to use noise reduction, and so on. Let’s look at some of the most common ones.

Portrait

Most often indicated by an icon that looks like a person’s head. Some camera models get sophisticated and try to make the little stick figure icon look stylish. This mode is really characterized by the number of subjects and how much of the frame they fill.

Generally speaking, there are just one or two main subjects that dominate most of the frame. If there is more than one subject, they are assumed to be about the same distance away. Focusing starts at the mid range; 6′-20′ or ~2m-7m away. (Some lenses have very long focus ranges so having a focus limiter to tell the camera how far away the subject likely is helps to make focusing faster, versus having to hunt through the entire range.)

The camera will also do its best to give you a fairly narrow depth of field so that the background is pleasingly out of focus, as in the example below. This may not always be possible but, to the extent that it’s able, that is the kind of effect the camera will try to create.

White balance and flash will both be set to automatic. ISO will generally be set to the camera’s baseline value, usually ISO100 or ISO200. Metering is usually matrix (see later in this tutorial.) If available, image stabilization (see later in this tutorial) will usually be turned on.

Don’t get too hung up on the idea of people; Portrait mode can be used for pets, zoo animals or furniture. It’s all about a single main subject at a moderate distance away and a background you want out of focus.

Landscape or Scenic

Generally indicated by an icon that looks like two mountain peaks. The defining characteristic of landscape mode is that no one object dominates the frame. It’s really an overall view.

As far as your camera knows, you may have a bush that’s 6′ (~1.8m) away and a mountain that’s 30 miles (~48.3km) away so focusing usually starts at infinity and the aperture is usually closed down to get maximum depth of field. Focus-free cameras are almost always stuck on landscape mode.

White balance will usually be set to direct sun. Flash will be turned off. ISO will generally be set to the camera’s baseline value, usually ISO100 or ISO200. Metering is usually matrix.

Sports, Action, Children or Pets

On the dial, this is usually indicated by a running stick figure or sometimes a golfer. This setting is best for fast moving subjects. Because it favors faster shutter speeds, this setting works best in bright light. Generally, the subject should be prominent in the frame.

The camera will turn on continuous autofocus (see later in this tutorial). White balance will be set to direct sun. Flash will be set to automatic. ISO will generally be set to automatic but will rarely go above ISO400. Metering is usually matrix. Sequential shooting mode, if available, will be turned on. (This will allow you to shoot a burst of several shots in rapid succession.)

Close-up or Macro

Most often indicated by a single flower. Macro mode may be its own setting or sometimes it can be a supplemental setting that can be used in conjunction with almost any other setting. When it’s a supplemental setting, it will have its own button, rather than being on the same dial as all the other preset scene modes.

Macro mode is really characterized by how close the subjects are and how much of the frame they fill. Generally speaking, there is only one subject (or a tight cluster of subjects) which fills most of the frame and is 0′-6′ (0m-2m) away. For that reason, focusing starts at the closest end of the lens’ focus range.

Cameras and lenses vary in their close focusing ability. Some can focus just inches away while others may not do well with subjects closer than two arm lengths. The latter is especially true with focus-free cameras.

White balance will be set to automatic. Flash will be turned off with many cameras, though some newer and more advanced ones may use flash with reduced intensity. This helps to freeze camera shake and subject movement, both big issues when shooting close-up. Flash can make backgrounds appear darker than they really are, even in daylight.

ISO will generally be set to the camera’s baseline value, usually ISO100 or ISO200. Metering is usually matrix.

Night, Night Portrait and Night Landscape or Night Scenic

Night is most often indicated by a crescent moon and a star; Night Portrait has a moon and star over the shoulder of a little stick figure; Night Landscape usually has a crescent moon and star over two mountain peaks or some kind of cityscape.

All of these settings keep the shutter open for a relatively long time; too long for hand-held shots. For that reason, image stabilization will be turned on if it is available. All of them will probably also turn on noise reduction, if it is available. Night Portrait adds flash. Night Landscape suppresses flash.

The real purpose of these settings is to capture the ambient light (which is presumed to be low, since it’s nighttime.) Night Portrait supplements the ambient light with flash to illuminate the main subject but otherwise is more or less the same as Portrait mode.

White balance may be set to automatic or tungsten. ISO will generally be set to ISO400 or higher. Metering is usually matrix. Aperture will almost always be the widest available on the lens being used.

The example I like to give for these modes is of a lit up city skyline in the distance. (Simulated here by candles inside glass lanterns.) If you use regular automatic mode or something like it, the camera will fire the flash but the distance makes it useless. Only by suppressing the flash and keeping the shutter open longer can the camera gather enough light to get a proper exposure.

Taking that same scene and putting a person or other subject about two arm lengths away, the camera will fire the flash. Be warned that it will almost always fire the flash more than once. First it will meter the flash and ambient light to calculate a proper exposure. When it fires, the flash will fire with reduced intensity. The camera will try to somewhat match the brightness of the background so that the foreground and background come out balanced in terms of brightness.

Fireworks

Equally useful for capturing either fireworks or flashes of lightning. The shutter will remain open for a very long time. Noise reduction will be turned on so, after exposure, the camera will commonly perform some exposure adjustments internally. This may cause the camera to be “busy” for a long time. Shooting the next exposure will not be possible while the camera is processing.

Let’s take a moment to look at how noise reduction works. With long digital exposures, you may get random blue and red dots scattered throughout your image. With noise reduction on, after you finish an exposure (let’s just say it was 15 seconds) your camera will make a second exposure of the same length (also 15 seconds, in this example.) This second exposure is taken with the shutter closed and is never saved. It is only used by the camera for processing.

Since the shutter was closed, your camera knows that this second exposure should be perfectly black. So it analyzes every pixel, looking for ones that are not perfectly black. When it finds one, it notes the location then goes back to the previous picture and finds the pixel in the same location. It will then recolor the offending pixel based on the pixels immediately surrounding it.

High Key, Beach, Snow or “Beach & Snow”

Cameras assume that all the light in a scene averages out to more or less an “average” level of brightness. This group of settings tell the camera that the scene is brighter than normal and that it should not overcompensate. This basically overexposes the image so that brightness comes out bright.

Low Key

The exact opposite of High Key. This setting tells the camera that the scene is relatively dark and to allow that character to come through by underexposing from what it thinks is the proper exposure.

Candle, Dawn, and Sunset

These aren’t really completely interchangeable settings but I’ve grouped them together for one simple reason: they all change the white balance of the image in similar ways. They capture and preserve more red, orange and yellow tones than would be normal, making colors in this range appear more vivid.

Other General Functions

Beyond the various shooting modes, there are some other general camera functions that it can be very useful to understand. Again, not all of these will be found on every camera and yours may have some additional functions not listed here but this is intended to provide a good starting point.

Anti-Shock

This menu option delays the shutter opening for some preset time (usually 2-5 seconds) after the shutter button is pressed. This is different from the self-timer function. With SLR cameras, there is a mirror which swings up out of the way while the exposure is being made. The anti-shock delay is to allow vibrations from that movement to dampen before the exposure is made.

Anti-shock is not available on point-and-shoot, rangefinder or other types of cameras without a mirror.

Although it can be used at any time, Anti-shock is only effective when the camera is on a tripod or other support.

Image Stabilization

This may be called Image Stabilization, Vibration Reduction, Anti-Shake, Anti-Blur or something similar. There are three main types of image stabilization.

• In-camera stabilization actually moves the CCD or CMOS array (the digital chip that records the image) in response to small movements and camera shake in an effort to counter those and capture a sharper image.
• In-lens stabilization performs a similar function within the lens, moving one of the groups of elements. In-lens stabilization is available only on select (usually expensive) lenses for SLR camera systems.
• Software stabilization attempts to interpret and clean up blurriness using software in the camera.

In all cases, image stabilization works only when shooting handheld and can actually make your pictures worse when using a tripod or other solid support.

Exposure Compensation

More advanced cameras may have a function which allows fine-tuning the overall exposure. This may be found on a menu or by using a dedicated button like the one above.

Exposure compensation allows you to increase or decrease exposure from what the camera thinks is optimal in small, often 1/2 or 1/3 stop, increments. Exposure compensation forces the camera to overexpose or underexpose the image from what it considers normal. (High Key and Low Key are preset settings available on some cameras to perform the same function, though with less control over the degree of the effect.)

Histograms

Many digital cameras and most photo editing software will allow you to see a histogram of an image. A histogram is a graph showing the distribution of light, medium and dark tones throughout the image. Very often, the histogram on your camera will be superimposed over the image it represents.

The far left edge of the graph shows the darkest tones while the right edge shows the brightest. The range of the graph represents the broadest range of brightness that the camera is capable of recording. This is referred to as the camera’s dynamic range. As a rule, for most scenes you want a histogram which shows a full dynamic range with the tones more or less evenly distributed and none running off either edge.

Note that it is possible for the tones in the actual scene (and thus the peaks of the graph) to extend beyond the limits of the camera’s dynamic range in one or both directions.

When the brightest parts of a scene are too bright for the camera to accurately record them, this is known as “blown highlights”. Most photographers, given a choice of preserving only highlight or shadow detail, consider highlights the more important of the two. They will use exposure compensation or some other technique to underexpose bright scenes to try to prevent the brightest parts from falling outside the dynamic range of the camera.

Many cameras have a special mode when reviewing pictures you’ve already taken which will highlight any portions of the image which fall outside the brightest end of the histogram with a blinking outline. The idea being that it makes it easier for you to see which parts of the scene are blown out. For example, if you were shooting a night scene with beautiful tones but saw that streetlights in the scene were blown out and the area was limited to the lights themselves, you might choose to ignore it. If large, important portions of your scene were blown out, you might choose to reshoot the scene.

Metering Modes

Metering is the term for measuring the light used to record an image and determining settings to use for proper exposure. Some cameras may offer several different metering modes. Here are the most common:

Matrix (also called Pattern, Zone, Intelligent or ESP) Metering. The camera samples specific points from all over the image. Depending on the camera, anywhere from a handful to more than 50 points may be sampled. The light intensity at each of these points is fed into a complex algorithm which is used to set exposure.

Center-Weighted. This is the same as above except that an area in the very center of the image frame representing ~30% of the total area is given disproportionate weight in the calculations.

Spot.Only a tiny spot, representing from 1%-5% of the total image frame is used for metering. Spot metering is fairly specialized and should generally be used only when the light falling on your subject is vastly different from its surroundings. Examples might include a spotlit performer on stage in a darkened auditorium or a skier wearing dark clothing but surrounded by bright snow.

The basic goal of the camera is to come up with a correct exposure. To use an analogy, if the scene were converted to a black-and-white picture, the camera wants a scene where all of the tones mixed together come out to a nice medium grey.

White Balance Presets

All but the simplest of digital cameras have preset white balance settings. These are usually found on one of the menus and are often identified by pictograms. There may or may not be explanations or other information displayed when you select one of the pictograms.

Auto

The automatic setting is default and is found on all digital cameras. Those without selectable settings have only the automatic white balance. With this, the camera attempts to interpret the color cast of the dominant light source(s) in the scene and correct for them so that, if a white object were in the image, it would come out properly white.

Automatic white balance is generally pretty decent. The problem with it is that the camera must guess. It has no way of knowing for certain the kind of subject being photographed nor the kind of light shining on the scene.

Sunny

The sunny preset, sometimes called Direct Sun, Bright Sun or some other variation, tells the camera that the primary light source is unmodified sunlight.

Cloudy

This preset may also be called Overcast. It assumes a slightly blue tint to the light source and warms the color balance of the image to compensate.

Shade

If your camera has a Shade or Shadow setting, it tells the camera that the light is even more blue than with Cloudy. The camera warms the color balance even more.

Tungsten

This setting, also sometimes called Incandescent, is usually indicated by a lightbulb. An ordinary incandescent light bulb has a much warmer color tone than the photographic reference point of sunlight. With the camera set on this setting, it will compensate by making the color balance of the captured image much cooler (more blue) than “normal”.

Flourescent

Some cameras, especially more advanced models, may have multiple variations on the setting for fluorescent lights. Those that don’t will assume cool white fluorescents. There are also warm white fluorescents and daylight-balanced fluorescents.

Custom White Balance

Some cameras may have custom white balance settings in which you can specify the color temperature of the light source in degrees Kelvin or can “photograph” a white surface that is being lit by your primary light source. In that case, the camera would read the color of the light and figure out on its own what adjustments to make to bring back true color fidelity.

It’s very important to note that, in all cases, you are telling your camera what kind of light is falling on the subject you are photographing. If you are standing under the shade of a tree but photographing a subject in direct sun, set your white balance for Sunny because that’s where the subject is. Likewise, if you were inside your house under tungsten lights but shooting out the window to get a picture of a bird under overcast skies, set your white balance for Cloudy because that’s the kind of light falling on your subject.

Using Autofocus

Many cameras have two types of autofocus:

• Single autofocus (S-AF) focuses when the shutter button is pressed halfway. Once focus is achieved and locked, as long as the button is held halfway down, focus stays locked even if you recompose or the subject moves.
• Continuous autofocus (C-AF) begins focusing when the shutter button is pressed halfway and will continue adjusting focus until the picture is taken.
• Shooting with these two modes requires completely different techniques. With S-AF, it is highly desirable to press the shutter halfway then adjust your composition before making the exposure. With C-AF, pressing the shutter halfway will only waste battery life and lead to more out of focus shots by causing the camera to hunt for focus more. It’s better simply to take the picture.

One thing to note about subjects moving toward or away from you when using C-AF is camera-to-subject distance. Subjects that are physically farther away, even if you are zoomed in so that they appear close in the image frame, are easier to focus on. To understand this, let’s assume you are taking a picture of a runner coming directly toward you. With a short lens, let’s say the runner is 10′ (3m) away when you start to focus and moves 1′ (0.3m) closer while you are making the exposure. That is a 10% change in camera-to-subject distance.

Now let’s suppose you photograph the same runner with a longer telephoto or zoom lens. Say the runner is now 50′ (15.2m) away and still moves 1′ (0.3m) closer while you make the exposure. That movement represents only 2% of the camera-to-subject distance. Relatively speaking, your camera has to make a much smaller adjustment to compensate for the same amount of subject movement. (Note that zooming in on distant subjects introduces the potential issue of camera shake.)

Cameras which offer C-AF will also offer some type of focus priority feature. This prevents the exposure from being made unless the camera has gotten sharp focus. This feature can usually be turned on or off.

Autofocus cameras which do not offer a choice most often use S-AF. You may be able to ‘trick’ cameras by using the preset shooting modes; Action and Children modes will typically use C-AF while most other modes, especially Close-up, Portrait and Landscape will use S-AF.

There are also manual focus and focus-free cameras. Manual focus is self-explanatory. Focus-free uses such a great depth of field that the camera doesn’t bother with changing focus at all. These are very limited in the effects you can produce and are rarely good at focusing closely.

EXIF Data

All digital cameras automatically record information pertaining to each image they take. This additional information is embedded in the image file itself. (Note that some image processing software may strip out this data.)

EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File. Camera makers vary in exactly what EXIF data they record – some even let you customize certain fields – but, in general, you will find the following (all information is specific to the image it is attached to):

• Camera make and model
• Shutter speed
• Aperture
• Lens Focal Length (or zoom length)
• ISO sensitivity
• Exposure Compensation
• Whether or not the flash fired & flash mode
• Orientation of the camera
• Physical Image Size
• Image Resolution
• Date and Time Stamp
• White Balance
• Metering Mode
• Exposure Mode (Scene Mode)

Reviewing EXIF data may be the single most powerful tool at your disposal for photographic self improvement. Study the settings used for shots that came out great so you can use them again in similar situations. Also study the settings for less successful shots and see if you can figure out what to do differently next time.

To see EXIF data after your pictures have been downloaded, right-click (or Ctrl-click) an image and select Properties from the menu. On the Summary tab (in WindowsXP; or the Details tab in Windows Vista; or the Info tab on Macintosh), click the Advanced button and all your most useful, most commonly referenced data will be displayed. (There is a lot more data embedded in the file but much of the rest is highly technical or arcane. What you will see here will serve your needs 99% of the time.)

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