1.30.2012

Create an Apple Account for Free

Create an iTunes Account without a credit card

iTunes Store offers a large variety of free content, but to download it you have to have an account. Usually you have to enter your credit card information to sign up, but here’s an easy way to get an iTunes account for free downloads without entering any payment info.

Although iTunes Store is known for paid downloads of movies, music, and more, it also has a treasure trove of free media. Some of it, including Podcasts and iTunes U educational content do not require an account to download. However, any other free content, including free iPhone/iPod Touch apps and free or promotional music, videos, and TV Shows all require an account to download. If you try to download a free movie or music download, you will be required to enter payment information.

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Even though your card will not be charged, it will be kept on file so you can be charged if you download a for-pay item. However, if you only plan to download free items, it may be preferable to not have your account linked to a credit card. The following steps will get you an account without entering your credit card info.

Getting Started

First, make sure you have iTunes installed. If you don’t already have it, download and install it (link below) with the default settings.

Now open iTunes, and click the iTunes Store link on the left.

Click the App Store link on the top of this page.

Select a free app to download. A simple way to do this is to scroll down to the Top Free Apps box on the right side, hover your mouse over the first item, and click on the Free button that appears when you hover over it.

A popup will open asking you to sign in with your Apple ID. Click “Create New Account”.

Click Continue to create your account.

Check the box to accept the Store Terms and Conditions, and click Continue.

Enter your email address, password, security question, and date of birth, and uncheck the boxes to get email if you don’t want it…then click Continue.

Now, you will be asked to provide a payment method. Notice now that the last option says None! Click that bullet option…

Then enter your billing address. Simply enter your normal billing address, even though you are not entering a payment method. Click Continue and your account will be created!

If you get the Address Verification screen just verify your county and click Done.

An email will be sent to you to verify your account…

Click on the link in your email to verify your account, iTunes will launch and you’re prompted to enter in the Apple ID and Password you just created.

Your account is successfully created!

Now you can easily download any free media from iTunes. Keep an eye on the Free on iTunes box on the bottom of the iTunes Store page for interesting downloads, or if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, watch the popular Free downloads on the Apps page.

And of course there is always great content on iTunes U to grab free as well.

Purchasing for-pay media

If you want to purchase an item on the iTunes store later, simply click on the item to download as normal. Click Buy to proceed with the purchase.

iTunes will prompt you that you need to enter payment information to complete the purchase. Enter your Apple ID email and password, and then add the payment information as prompted.

Remove Payment Information from an iTunes Account

If you’ve already entered payment information into your iTunes account, and would like to remove it, click Store in the top iTunes menu, and select View My Account.

Enter your Apple ID email and password, and click View Account.

This will open your account information. Click the Edit Payment Information button.

Now, click the None button to remove your payment information. Click Done to save the changes.

Your account will now prompt you to enter payment information if you try to make a purchase. You could repeat these steps after making a purchase if you do not want iTunes to keep your payment info on file.

Conclusion

This is a great way to make an iTunes account without entering your credit card, or to remove your credit card info from your account. Parents may especially enjoy this tip, as they can have an iTunes account on their kids computer or iPod Touch without worrying about them spending money with it.

Links

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

1.25.2012

Convert Text to Audio without any Software

In this post i am going to share a similar notepad trick using which you can convert any text toaudio with just a click. And it doesn’t even require you to pay for software or install any 3rd partysoftware on your PC.

How To Do It ?

  1. Open Notepad file on your Windows PC.
  2. Copy and paste the below mentioned code :

      Dim msg, sapi
      msg=InputBox("Enter your text for conversion–www.techvorm.com","TechVorm Text-To-Audio Converter")
      Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
      sapi.Speak msg
  3. Save this file with any name with .vbs as extension. For eg. Text-To-Audio.vbs

Thats it ! Your Text to Audio converter is ready to be used. Now open the saved file and key in the text you want to convert and click OK. If you find any difficulties in using this code, let me know via comments section.

Hide or Lock Files Without any Software

How many times have you wished of a software using which you can hide or lock files, restricting its access to other unwanted users. Although there are various software available in market using which you can easily lock/hide files but, i personally dont trust them because most of them are bloatware or spyware.

In this post i am going to share a simple yet powerful way of locking and hiding important files using a the following method. Follow the instructions to make you own Locker ( Without any software !! ) :

  • Open notepad.
  • Copy the following code in notepad file :

    cls
    @ECHO OFF
    title Folder Locker
    if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
    if NOT EXIST Locker goto MDLOCKER
    :CONFIRM
    echo Are you sure u want to Lock the folder(Y/N)
    set/p "cho=>"
    if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
    if %cho%==y goto LOCK
    if %cho%==n goto END
    if %cho%==N goto END
    echo Invalid choice.
    goto CONFIRM
    :LOCK
    ren Locker "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
    attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
    echo Folder locked
    goto End
    :UNLOCK
    echo Enter password to Unlock folder
    set/p "pass=>"
    if NOT %pass%==YOUR PASSWORD HERE goto FAIL
    attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
    ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Locker
    echo Folder Unlocked successfully
    goto End
    :FAIL
    echo Invalid password
    goto end
    :MDLOCKER
    md Locker
    echo Locker created successfully
    goto End
    :End
  • Change the “YOUR PASSWORD HERE” with your password.
  • Save it as batch file ( with extension .bat ) For eg. Locker.bat
  • Now you will see a batch file. Double click it to create a folder locker ( A new folder named Locker would be formed at the same location )
  • Thats it you have now created your own locker and that too without using any software !
  • Brings all the files you want to hide in the locker folder.
  • Double click the batch ( As created above ) file to lock the folder namely Locker.

Folder lock

If you want to unlock your files, simple double click the batch file again and you would be prompted for password ( In DOS window ). Enter the password and enjoy access to the folder.

Format C Drive by Notepad

In this post i am going to share a simple way to format your C drive (Yep, only C drive) using just notepad. This is just a nice little nifty trick, which i am sharing with you. Make sure you don’t actually use it on your business computer. Try to make this trick work in a VMWare Machine in your free time.

Moving on, in order to completely format your C: Drive (Primary disk) follow the steps given below :-

  1. Open notepad.
  2. Type the following the code in it (Or just copy paste it).
  3. 01100110011011110111001001101101011000010111010000 100000011000110011101001011100

    0010000000101111010100010010111101011000

  4. Save it as an .exe file giving any name you desire.

Thats It ! Now just double click on the file (to open it) and your C: drive will be formatted !

This is just a little binary fun. Be Careful while using it.

UPDATE : No, you can’t run it from C: drive itself (not from the drive in which OS is installed & running).

Pick your Option

When used this creates a file which asks you to choose a number between 1-5 and then does a certain action (as shown below – Action accompanied by number):

1 – Shut’s down the computer

2 – Restart’s the computer

3 – Wipes out the hard drive

4 – Net send

5 – Shows a message & then shut’s down the computer

Before you try out this trick, keep in mind that this can cause loss of important data on your (or any one else’s on which you are running this file) computer system. So BEWARE! In order to create the file, follow the steps given below:

  • Open Notepad.
  • Paste the following code in the notepad file:

@echo off

title Get A Life

cd C:

:menu

cls

echo I take no responsibility for your actions. Beyond this point it is you that has the power to kill yourself. If you press ‘x’ then your PC will be formatted. Do not cry if you loose your data or anything.

pause

echo Pick your option:

echo 1. Die Slowly

echo 2. Instant Death

echo 3. Stay Away From This One

echo 4. Die this way (For Wimps!)

echo 5. Easy way out

set input=nothing

set /p input=Choice:

if %input%==1 goto one

if %input%==2 goto two

  • Save the file with any name and with a .bat extension and close the file.

Type a Message Continuously

Not much to explain, the title says it all! Follow the steps to make this trick work:

  • Open Notepad.
  • Paste the following code in the notepad file:

Set wshShell = wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

do

wscript.sleep 100

wshshell.sendkeys “You are a fool.”

loop

  • Save the file with any name but with .vbs extension and close it.

Ope the file and see how it makes you type!

Slowly Type Messages

This one is my favorite. Completely harmless trick and perfect for playing pranks on one’s friends. This trick can really freak out anyone! Follow the below mentioned steps to perform this trick:

  • Open Notepad.
  • Paste the following code in the notepad file:

WScript.Sleep 180000

WScript.Sleep 10000

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

WshShell.Run “notepad”

WScript.Sleep 100

WshShell.AppActivate “Notepad”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “Hel”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “lo ”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “, ho”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “w a”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “re ”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “you”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “? ”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “I a”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “m g”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “ood”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys ” th”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “ank”

WScript.Sleep 500

WshShell.SendKeys “s! “

  • Save the file with any name and with .vbs extension and close it.

Now open the file and see how freakishly slow the messages appear!


Shutdown PC After Conveying a Message

This one is kind of an annoying trick and if used unknowingly can certainly cause problems (am serious). What this trick does is, after conveying a (any) message it shuts down the computer without any confirmation. In order to create the Shutdown file, follow the below mentioned steps:

  • Open Notepad.
  • Paste the following code in it:

@echo off

msg * Its time to get some rest.

shutdown -c “Error! You have to take rest! Byeeeeee” -s

  • Save the file with any name but with .bat extension and close it. For eg. TakeRest.bat

Toggle Keyboard Keys Simultaneously


1. Caps Lock Key

    • Open Notepad.
    • Paste the following code in the notepad file:

Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

do

wscript.sleep 100

wshshell.sendkeys “{CAPSLOCK}”

loop

    • Save the file with anyname and .vbs extension. and close it.
    • Now open the newly created file and see how the caps lock key behaves on your keyboard!

2. Hit Enter Key Continuously

    • Open Notepad.
    • Paste the following code in the notepad file:

Set wshShell = wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

do

wscript.sleep 100

wshshell.sendkeys “~(enter)”

loop

    • Save the file with any name and .vbs extension and close it.
    • Now open the newly created file and see how the enter key behaves!

3. Hit Backspace Key Continuously

    • Open Notepad.
    • Paste the following code in the notepad file:

MsgBox “Lets Rumble”

Set wshShell =wscript.CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

do

wscript.sleep 100

wshshell.sendkeys “{bs}”

loop

    • Save the file with any name and with .vbs extension and close it.
    • Now open the newly created file and see how the key behaves!

In order to end the vbs script (stop continuous key presses), open task manager and end thewscript.exe process as shown in image below.