How To Access your Linux Partitions / Drives In Windows

If you dual boot to Linux and Windows Operating Systems regularly then you might have come across this Issue of not being able to access that Imp file you have saved on a Linux Partition from Windows.

Though Linux supports accessing of windows file systems like Fat 32 and NTFS the same is not true for Windows, Windows does not support accessing  Linux ext 2, ext 3 file systems natively but It’s possible to access Linux Partitions or Drives from Windows using other applications.

There are a lot of free software out there but the following three are the most prominently used ones and out of these three my vote goes for Ext2 Installable File system.

1.Ext2 Installable File System installs to the Operating system kernel giving windows the ability to read and write to it directly, you can access the Linux Partitions from with in Windows Explorer as you would access any other file on a windows partition unlike the other two software's below which use a separate interface to access the Linux Partitions and save files.

During the Installation it scans for all Linux partitions on your hard drives and asks you to assign a Drive letter to each of them, once you have assigned a drive letter you are good to go and use it.

It also provides access to Ext 3 file system but does not support journaling.

 

2.Explore2fs comes as a simple executable file in a zip folder, double click the executable and allow to Run the file whenever you need access to your Linux Drives, it launches a separate window with all the Linux partitions.

 

Right click on a file that you need access to and click on Export file option this launches a window from which you can select the location where you want to save the file to.

          

Note: It doesn’t have the capability to write to a Linux Partition.

3.DiskInternals Linux Reader Installs as a separate program on your computer , run the program whenever you need access to your Linux partitions.

It scans your Hard drives each time you launch the program and displays all the available partitions on your Hard drives.

 

 

You can also access Linux images by mounting them using the option Mount Image marked by the red arrow in the above pic.

To copy a file to your windows partitions right click on the file and click on save-> Next

Browse to the Location where you want to save the file to

Click on Next –> Finish and you are done.

Note: It doesn’t have the capability to write to a Linux Partition.

 

Know of any other good software's other than these, do let me know in the comments, I would love to try them all.

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4 Essential Thunderbird Extensions

Mozilla Thunderbird The Desktop Email client from the makers of Firefox comes with the same USP of Firefox, that's Customization.

You can customize the look and feel of thunderbird by adding themes and Icon packs and many extra features through extensions.

Let's look at some of those essential Thunderbird Extensions:

1. Minimize to Tray & Minimize to tray enhancer

2. Contacts Sidebar

3. Zindus

4.Lightning

Minimize to Tray:

This thunderbird extension does what it says, it minimizes thunderbird to the System tray freeing that precious Taskbar real estate every application in your machine fights for.

You need to use the key combo of Ctrl+Shift+M to use it or click on File -> Minimize to tray Or Get the minimize to tray enhancer add-on which adds a blue Icon to minimize to the tray and other useful configurable options like Always minimize to tray instead of to the taskbar, which can be accessed by going to Tools-> Add-ons->Options

Contacts Sidebar:

The Contacts Sidebar add-on moves the contacts to the sidebar providing easy access to the contacts.

You can compose an email by a simple double click on the name in the sidebar.

It also add’s some Pretty Useful search options to search with, by a word it contains or Begin’s with making it easy to locate that elusive email address you use regularly but can’t seem to remember.

Zindus :

Zindus is a add-on that let’s you Import and synchronize your Gmail contacts with your Thunderbird contacts list.

It has a few glitches under certain conditions when syncing with Gmail contacts but works well most of the time , if you come across any issues then checkout this FAQ for Thunderbird contact sync page at Zindus, it has very well written explanations with examples.

Lightning :

Lightning converts Thunderbird into a full fledged organizer by adding a Calendar application which makes it easy to organize and schedule your daily tasks.

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How To Login To Multiple Google Talk Accounts Simultaneously.

Do you have friends or colleagues on different Google Talk accounts that you need to chat simultaneously or you have different Accounts of Google Talk for Personal and Professional use and need to login to both of them simultaneously.

One way to do the above would be to use the Chat feature in Gmail for one account and Google Talk client for the other.

What if you need to login to more than two accounts or You have the chat feature in Gmail turned off and don't want to use it, in that case you can use the below methods to login to multiple accounts at once.

Method one:

Assuming that you have Google Talk installed under C drive in the below location,
Go to Start->Run and type "c:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex and click ok, repeat this to open any number of Instances that you may want.


Method two:

Create a shortcut of the Google Talk icon on your desktop if you don't have one.
To create a shortcut, right click on the Google Talk icon in your start menu and click on send to-->Desktop(shortcut).

Right click on the Google Talk messenger icon and select the Properties option.



Modify the text in Target location to "C:\Program Files\Google\Google Talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex (replace startmenu with nomutex) and click OK.

Now you can use that shortcut to launch multiple Instances of the Google Talk Client.

Let me know in the comments if you have any Issues implementing the above methods.

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How To Open Google Talk Gadget In Your Firefox Sidebar

A Cool Trick to open Google talk gadget in your Firefox sidebar.

You can use this trick to browse on the web and keep track of what your friends are saying simultaneously.





To get the gadget in your Firefox side bar bookmark the following link http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/client
and in the bookmark menu right click on the bookmark and select properties, check the option Load this bookmark in the sidebar and click ok, now click on that book mark to open it in your sidebar. Now you can enjoy chatting with your friends no matter which page you are in.

Thanks juberti

Separated and Updated this trick from a different post for better clarity.
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Google Talks Keyboard Shortcuts

The following are the Google Talks Shortcuts and tips that can be used to achieve a variety of tasks:



* F9: Open Gmail to send an email to the person you are chatting with.
* F11: Start a call.
* F12: Stop the current call.
* ESC: Close the current window
* ALT + ESC: Minimize the current window
* TAB: Switch between multiple chat windows.(gadget)
* SHIFT + TAB: Same as TAB but in reverse order.(gadget)
* CTRL + Mousewheel up/down: Change the font size in the chat window.
* CTRL + E: Center text
* CTRL + R: Right justify text
* CTRL + L or CTRL+J: Left justify text

Google Talk Tips:

Adding * or _ before and after a phrase will make it bold or italic.

Adding ^ before anything that you type would capitalize it, ^hi would result in HI.(will work only in Google talk gadget)

Adding ^ before and after a word or a sentence will capitalize,bold and color that text.(will work only in Google talk gadget)

Happy Browsing.

Edited and updated from another post for better clarity
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