Softwares download links

1. For PC to Phone:
a> Media Ring Talk for PC: This software offers free PC to Phone to 8 countries currently. http://www.mediaringtalk.com/mediaringtalk-for-pc/index.php?lang=en-us
Click on "Sign up now" button below 8 countries flags.
b> Other similar type of dialer s/w from different vendor (This is not free) http://www.iconnecthere.com/

2. File transfers using FTP protocol: Download filezilla software from http://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client

3. Download free IP Messenger: http://www.ipmsg.org/index.html.en

4. Notepad++ can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=95717&package_id=102072

5. DokuWiki is a great utility to create web based documentation library for your enterprise... It can be downloaded from http://www.splitbrain.org/projects/dokuwiki

6. This one is for s/w application developers in .Net technologies http://www.asp.net/downloads/archived/web-matrix/ [Web Matrix is a free alternative of Visual Studio.Net]

7. Again for s/w application developers in .Net technologies http://www.programmersheaven.com/download/22501/download.aspx [VS.Net 2008 Trial Edition for free for 6 months]

8. One of the leading database backend product by Microsft. http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/download/ [SQL Server 2008 express edition for free]

9. Well you bet, this will never replace those tiny yellow sticky notes but still a cool thing to have its digital version as it allows setting alarm along with each yellow note.... Get free copy of Post-it notes software from http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Business/StickyNotes/postit-notes-download.html

10. SQL Server 2005 installation has pre-requirements. Only after installing .Net framework 2.0 & windows installer 3.1, SQL Server 2005's installation starts. Windows installer 3.1 can be downloaded from http://www.filewatcher.com/m/WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe.2584848.0.0.html and .Net framework 2.0 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displaylang=en or from http://microsoft-net-framework.en.softonic.com/

11. HTML Help Workshop is a software which gets used to create *.chm files (i.e. compiled HTML files). These files can be linked with HelpProvider control in .Net application. This software can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=00535334-c8a6-452f-9aa0-d597d16580cc&displaylang=en

Books Review

1. You can win - This one by Shiv Khera describes strategies to achieve success in different dimensions of life. It has chapters on attitude, succes, motivation, self esteem, interpersonal skills, Subconscious mind & habits, Goal setting & lastly on Values & Vision. I liked the way principles are explained by giving examples.

2. Celebrating Love - This one by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (founder of Art of Living group) is kind of archive of the speeches given by him on various topics surrounding human senses, desires, various emotions, feelings, spiritual values etc. Its more kind of introvert & leads to the root on every subject. Its one of the best book which I've come across.

3. The Power of Positive Thinking - This one by Norman Vincent Peale has really small fonts but lists big principles to cultivate brain with positivity & channelise brain's positive energy towards bringing happiness & success in life.

4. Seven habits of highly successful people- This one by Stephen Covey is one of the best selling book & I personally liked all the principles described there. It made lots of sense to me & principles worked for me in practical life.

5. First Things first - Again by Stephen Covey & one of the best book on time management. Check out my posted article on same subject: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/shah.html

6. Rich Dad Poor Dad - Good book on money management... Can be downloaded from http://www.middleastpost.com/87/rich-dad-poor-dad-pdf-download/

7. Millionaire next door - Good book on money management

8. The book of understanding - By Osho

9. Blink - By Malcolm Gladwell (Its about capturing what comes in mind spontaneously when you come across new person/situaion... I've applied its principle once while bidding for a project & got saved from dealing with fraud party..)

10. Tough times never last but tough people do! -by Robert Schuller

11. How to win friends & influence people - by Dale Carnegie http://www.dalecarnegie.com/
Extracts of this book can be found at http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/win-friends.html
Extracts of his other books can be found at http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/carnegie.html

12. Inside your mind - by Louise Snyder Johnson

13. Think & Grow Rich -

14. Brain building for achievement -

15. Optimizing the Organization - by Subhash Khare - This one is on unleashing the potential of practices, processes & people in organization to increase productivity. I guess the author works for Wipro. This one is really pretty cool book & meant for implementing principles practically. Author seems very genius who has put up all his practical learning of n no. of years in this book.

16. Business the Bill Gates Way - by Des Dearlove -

17. Black holes & baby universes - by Stephen Hawking - Despite of his disability, Professor Hawking has contributed best books on universe & time. His book on "A brief history of time" was one of the best seller & this one covers some interesting areas of origin of universe, black holes , Quantum mechanics of black holes & future of universe.

18. Beginning ASP.Net 1.1 E-Commerce: From Novice to Professional- by Cristian Darie - Its good book to start with learning e-commerce implementation using .Net technologies. (ASP.Net) with SQL Server. Take sample codes from http://www.apress.com/ (visit downloads section for this book) . It has stored procedure code for retrieving page wise records.

19. EXAM CRAM2 series for Developing & Implementing windows-based applications with VB.Net & VS.Net - by Kalani (Red cover book) - Unlike other .Net books, I found this to be very much to the point kinda book. If you want to learn many things in short span of time then this book can help you. Its for user level: intermediate to advanced. This one is for exam 70-306 of MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer). Again this book is more like a quick reference. For detailed study, use other books. One of them is Prep Logic series Training Guides.

20. Peter Drucker's different management books in audio form - http://www.learnoutloud.com/Results/Author/Peter-F.-Drucker/564#play426

21. On the Profession of Management - by Peter Drucker - This book is the first one I read from this author & found pretty interesting. It covers theory of business, decision making, how to approach in filtering & executing ideas, on innovation, importance of focusing on basic functions, managing unexpected successes & failures etc.

22. The Essential Drucker - by Peter Drucker - This one covers the introduction of management & all the essential writings by Peter Drucker. Its amazing. First section "Management" covers a lot on entrepreneurship too along with introduction to management. Especially I liked chapter 12 on "Entrepreneurial Strategies". Its 2nd section "Individual" addresses effectiveness, focus on contribution, identifying & capitalising on strengths, time management, decision making, communications, leadership, innovation & leading life. I recommend all to read this book.

23. How to stop worrying & start living - by Dale Carnegie - Extracts from this book can be found at http://www.westegg.com/unmaintained/carnegie/stop-worry.html

Useful web sites

India
http://www.jaindharmonline.com/more/jweb.htm [List of around 67 sites on Jainism]
http://www.way2sms.com/ [To send free SMS in India.. Main thing is typing on keyboard is much easy than cell phone keys.. Pretty reliable site]
http://www.indialaugh.blogspot.com/
http://www.indiabook.com/jokes/
http://www.timesofindia.com/
http://www.economictimes.com/
http://www.mid-day.com/
http://www.gujaratsamachar.com/
http://www.moneycontrol.com/
http://www.rediff.com/
http://www.jainuniversity.org/
http://www.bseindia.com/
http://bigb.bigadda.com/ [Amitabh Bachchan's blogs]
http://mumbai.mtnl.net.in/
http://register.mtnl.net.in/
http://www.mapsofindia.com/citibank/branches/index.html
http://www.carwale.com/
http://www.online.citibank.co.in/
http://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/default.htm
http://www.icicibank.com/
https://www.rakshatpa.com/raksha/
http://www.nasscom.org/
http://www.epfindia.com/indiaepf/Loginnew.aspx [To check PF claims status]
http://www.pinnacleindia.org/
http://www.naukri.com/
http://www.a2zyoga.com/yoga-poses/asanas.php [For Yoga Poses (Asanas) ]
http://www.a2zyoga.com/yoga-poses/pranayamas.php [For Yoga Breathing Techniques ]
http://www.jainuniversity.org/ayruvedic-upchar.aspx [Ayurvedic medicines]
http://www.artofliving.org/
http://mumbai.usconsulate.gov/ [Consulate General of U.S. in Mumbai, India]
http://mumbai.usconsulate.gov/airc.html [The American library - phone: 22624590 ext. 2211/2212]
http://americanlibrary.in.library.net/ [The American library]
http://www.irctc.co.in/ [For long distance trains reservation]
http://www.makemytrip.com/
http://www.spicejet.com/
http://www.merucabs.com/ [phone: 44224422]
http://compareindia.in.com/
http://www.ghatkopar.com/
http://www.indianredcross.org/
http://www.scdl.net/ [Symbiosis Centre for distance learning]
http://www.tsec.edu/ [Thadomal Shahani Engineering College]
http://www.vakeel.com/

U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://money.cnn.com/
http://www.mapsonus.com/
http://www.carfax.com/ [To do the lemon check of car before buying based on VIN no.]
http://www.kbb.com/ [Kelley blue book - while buying car]
http://www.carmax.com/ [To sell car immediately]
http://www.aaa.com/ [American Automobiles Association]
http://www.craigslist.com/ [Classified ads to buy & sell different things area wise in U.S.]
https://www.usafcu-onlineusa.org/
http://www.delta-air.com/
http://www.Geicodirect.com/ [Insurance]
http://www.aig.com/ [Insurance]
http://www.progressive.com/ [Insurance]
http://www.cigna.com/ [Insurance]
http://www.libertymutual.com/ [Insurance]
http://www.statefarm.com/ [Insurance]
http://www.uscis.gov/ [U.S. citizenship & immigration services]
http://www.ssa.gov/ [Social Security Administration Online]
http://www.disney.com/
http://www.seaworld.com/
http://www.universalstudios.com/
http://www.toastmasters.org/

Austria
http://www.wien.gv.at/english/ [Vienna web service]
http://www.iaea.org/
http://www.tour-europe.org/austria/vienna/vienna-tour.html
http://www.viennachristiancenter.at/ [Address: Rennwegg 74, 1030 Wien; Phone: 01/796 91 76 ]
http://www.travlang.com/GermanEnglish/ [German-English & English-German Dictionary]
http://germandictionary.com/ [Germany Times News Paper]

Australia
http://www.vfs-au-in.com/wheretoapply.aspx [Applying Australia Visa via VFS]
http://www.australianexplorer.com/ [For tourists to Australia]
http://www.weather.com.au/
http://www.streetdirectory.com.au/
http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/ [Train, bus & tram services in Melbourne, phone no. 131638]
http://www.silvertop.com.au/ [taxi phone no. 131008]
http://www.optus.com.au/
http://www.mibp.com.au/
http://www.nab.com.au/
http://www.studyplaces.com/australia [for students wanting to go to Australia for studies]

General
http://www.selfgrowth.com/
http://www.oanda.com/ [To Check Currency rates]
http://www.eweek.com/ [To check news on Enterprise Developments]
http://www.ehow.com/
http://www.commoncraft.com/
http://www.logmein.com/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/magazine/cc135865(en-us).aspx
http://www.googlemaps.com/
http://www.hotmail.com/
http://mail.yahoo.com/
http://kids.apl.org/fun/fun.html [Fun Portal site for kids]
http://www.abyznewslinks.com/ [This is a must see News Portal site. It has links to world's leading news papers & magazines. Allows drilling down country wise]
http://www.politicalresources.net/ [Portal site for politics... Allows drilling down country wise]

Software Developer's Stuffs
http://www.dofactory.com/Patterns/Patterns.aspx [Explains different Creational, Structural & Behavioral design patterns]
http://www.asp.net/downloads/archived/web-matrix/ [Web Matrix is a free alternative of Visual Studio.Net]
http://www.programmersheaven.com/download/22501/download.aspx [VS.Net 2008 Trial Edition for free for 6 months]
http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/download/ [SQL Server 2008 express edition for free]
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ [gotdotnet.com was shifted here]
http://www.asp.net/learn/ [Check out the videos & tutorials]
http://www.dnrtv.com/archives.aspx [weekly 1 hour video shows on .Net technologies]
http://www.dotnetrocks.com/archives.aspx [Check out more than 400 Talk Shows on .Net technologies]
http://www.polymorphicpodcast.com/
http://www.runasradio.com/archives.aspx [Talk Shows mainly on Backend Technology]
http://quickstarts.asp.net/QuickStartv20/default.aspx
http://www.asp.net/Downloads/starter-kits/ [Starter kits & projects in .Net]
http://script.wareseeker.com/download/ibuyspy-portal.rar/3424 [ibuyspy Portal has been renamed to The Commerce Starter Kit. You can download it at http://www.asp.net/downloads/archived/starter-kits/commerce/ ]
http://www.dotnetjunkies.com/
http://www.dotnetjedi.com/
http://www.codango.com/
http://www.dotnetcharting.com/
http://www.quickwebsoft.com/
http://www.intersoftpt.com/
http://www.infragistics.com/
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/default.aspx
http://www.datadynamics.com/ [Check out Active Reports for .Net]
http://aspalliance.com/ [Check out Learning links on left bar under .Net Tutorials]
http://www.connectionstrings.com/ [To find connection string syntax to be used in .Net programs for different databases]

eBooks
http://www.free-ebooks-download.org/free-ebook/dotnet/ [.Net related eBooks can be downloaded from here for free... No need to create user account]
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/20-best-websites-to-download-free-e-books/ [20 web sites to download free eBooks]
http://www.free-ebooks.net/ [Registration required... Books on various subjects can be downloaded for free.]
http://www.apress.com/ [check out books on E-Commerce]
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/
http://www.freebookspot.org/
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/library
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library [MS Official site for online help]
http://mcpmag.com/backissues/ [MCP Magazines Archive]
http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/magazine/cc135865(en-us).aspx [MSDN Magazines Archive]
http://archive.devx.com/premier/archives/default.asp?pubid=11 [Code Magazines Archive]
http://www.code-magazine.com/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/bb219085.aspx [Architecture Journal]
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/bb201656.aspx [Download Architecture Journal]

Jainism
http://www.jainuniversity.org/
http://www.jainism.org/
http://www.jainworld.com/
http://www.jaininformation.com/
http://www.jainheritagecentres.com/
http://www.jaindharmonline.com/more/jweb.htm [List of 67 more sites on Jainism]

Taxation
http://incometaxindia.gov.in/
http://www.taxindiaonline.com/
http://www.tax4india.com/
http://www.tax4india.com/wealth-tax-india/wealth-tax-india.html
http://www.indiataxes.com/
http://www.laws4india.com/itl.asp

Small Businesses
http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/default.htm
http://www.nase.org/
http://www.nfib.com/
http://www.sba.gov/
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/ Check out link Learning Centre -> Business Articles & Insight
http://www.MrAllBiz.com/

Other Friends' Web sites/Blogs
http://www.shitalshah.com/

Great Ocean Road Picture

Places Stayed & Visited

These are the places where I've stayed for more than a month:

India
Mumbai

U.S.
Fortlee, NJ
Jersey City, NJ
NYC downtown
Raleigh, North Carolina
Phoenix, Arizona
Houston, Texas

Austria
Vienna

Australia
Melbourne

These are the places which I've visited:

India
Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Lonavla, Matheran, Mahabaleshwar, Pune, Nasik, Shirdi [Maharashtra]

Panjim, Old Goa [Goa]

Ahmedabad, Baroda, Mahudi, Palitana, Junagarh, Rajkot, Saputara [Gujarat]

Ujjain, Indore [Madhya Pradesh]

Delhi [U.P.]

Nageshwar [Rajasthan]

U.S.
Atlantic City, New port mall, Journal square [New Jersey]
Statue of Liberty, Manhattan downtown, Empire States building, World Trade Center, Times Square, xmas tree at Rockefeller Center, Manhattan mall, Lincoln tunnel, Titanic ship arriving port, UN buildings, Colgate clock, Washington bridge, Brooklyn bridge, Niagra falls [New York]
White house, capital building, monument, smithsonian museum [Washington D.C.]
Durham, Cherlotte, Wilmington beach, N.C. zoo [North Carolina]
Boston [Massachusetts]
Virginia beach [Virginia]
Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]
CNN building, Coco Cola museum, Olympic stadium, Stone mountain, Ruby water fall [Atlanta, Georgia]
San Diego Sea World, LA-Universal Studio, LA- Disneyland [California]
Flagstaff, South mountain, Lowell Observatory, Squa Peak Hill, Mexico border[Arizona]
Las Vegas [Nevada]
Grand Canyon [Nevada]
Galleria mall of Houston [Texas]

Austria
Donau river, U.N. buildings, Nazi death camps, palaces, botanical garden, zoo [Vienna]
Mozart's birth place, palaces, forts [Salzberg]

Australia
Great Ocean Road
Royal Botanical Garden, Shrines of remembrance, Melbourne Museum, State Library, National gallery of Victoria, St. Kilda beach, ISKCON temple, Melbourne Cricket Ground Stadium, Federation square's photography & video center, Melbourne Arts & Exhibition center, Yarra river [Melbourne, Victoria]

.Net, SQL Server web sites

.Net related web sites

http://www.asp.net/learn/

http://www.gotdotnet.com/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/magazine/cc135865(en-us).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/07/MustHaveTools/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/

http://www.microsoft.com/express/

Download the Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition All-in-One DVD from -->http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/

(take the last one visual studio express. It has VB.Net, C#)

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SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx

Running Setup to Install AdventureWorks Sample Databases and Samples http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E719ECF7-9F46-4312-AF89-6AD8702E4E6E&displaylang=en

ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v9/MS.SQLSVR.v9.en/instsql9/html/8c4c2af8-f2ed-4559-b5d2-984a9f7ce5ca.htm

---------------------

Microsoft's Official Web Site for SQL srvr 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/default.aspx

Download of SQL Server 2008 free express edition: http://www.microsoft.com/express/sql/register/default.aspx

Download 180 days Enterprise edition: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6B10C7C1-4F97-42C4-9362-58D4D088CD38&displaylang=en

Books Online: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms130214.aspx

Community & Samples: http://www.codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples

Blogs: http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlexpress/default.aspx