Tech2 Touch

Author: Aniruddh

  • How to Use Samsung Galaxy Phone as modem to connect to Internet from PC

    Samsung has wide range of Galaxy smartphones such as Galaxy Star, Galaxy J Series, Galaxy On Series, Galaxy A series, Galaxy M Series and flagship Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note series. All these phones are running on Android operating system.

    All the Android smartphones running on Gingerbread or later versions support USB tethering and WiFi tethering feature. WiFi Tethering is nothing but sharing the internet connection with other WiFi enabled devices such as tablets, laptop etc. Similarly USB tethering is sharing the internet connection through USB cable. There is also Bluetooth tethering option.

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    In this post, I will show you how to use Samsung Galaxy Smartphones as modem through USB tethering as well as through WiFi tethering. This method of using the internet from PC through smartphone works on all the Samsung smartphones running on Android OS such as Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S3 Mini, Galaxy S advance, Galaxy S duos, Galaxy S Duos 2, Galaxy Y, Galaxy Y duos, Galaxy Core, Galaxy Quattro, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Grand Prime, Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy J5 etc to name few. Let is start learning on how to use tethering on Samsung Galaxy Phones.

    Use Samsung Galaxy Phone as modem

    Use Samsung Galaxy Smartphones as WiFi Hotspot

    As said earlier, Samsung mobiles can be used as modem to connect to internet from PC with WiFi adaptor or WiFi enabled devices. To make to use Samsung mobiles as wireless modem please follow the steps given below.

    1. To start with, enable the data connectivity on your phone by Going to setup->More Settings->Mobile Networks and enable Use Packet Data. Do note that, the internet charges from your network provider will be applies.
    2. Now goto  setup->More Settings once again. Tap on to Tethering and Portable hotspot.
    3. Move slider to right next to Portable Wi-Fi hotspot. This enable the WiFi hotspot on your Samsung Device.
    4. Tap on  Portable Wi-Fi hotspot  to configure the Network SSID and password for your WiFI hotspot.
    5. Now your device WiFi network will be accessible from the other WiFi enabled devices using the Network SSID and password you have chosen.

    Use Samsung Galaxy Smartphones as Modem using USB tethering

    For using Samsung mobiles as modem, you need to install Samsung  Drivers on your PC. Samsung does not provides standalone Driver for mobile. However, you need to install Samsung Kies PC suite to get the required Samsung Drivers. I have already written a post on the same. You can read that for that  from How to download free Samsung Kies PC suite.

    1. Once you have installed Samsung Kies, Connect the Samsung mobile to PC via USB cable. It will take few seconds to install and configure the required drivers for your device.
    2. Once it is done, follow the 1 and 2 steps mentioned above
    3. Enable USB tethering by selecting the check box.
    4. Now you will be able to access internet from your PC using your smartphone as modem.

    These are some of the ways to share smartphone internet with other devices such as Tablets, laptop etc.

  • Sony Xperia PC Suite Free Download Connecting Sony Smartphone to PC

    Sony PC Companion is PC suite for Sony Xperia Smartphones just like the PC suite for Samsung Mobile, Samsung Kies. It is a collection of apps or utilities bundled in a single package.  This help in connecting your Sony Xperia smartphones with PC effectively. It provide many apps such as Xperia Transfer which is a toll for moving content from an iPhone to Sony Xperia smartphone. Using PC companion PC suite you can back up and restore your phone content, manage your contacts and calenders.  There utility called Media Go which will be useful for transfer and managing the media files. We will have all the available Sony Xperia PC Suite.

    Sony Xperia PC Companion

    System Requirement for Sony Xperia PC suite PC Companion

    • Internet broadband connection.
    • Intel® Pentium® 4, 3.6 GHz or equivalent AMD processor.
    • 5GB free hard disk space.
    • 2 GB RAM.
    • 1 available USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port and USB cable.
    • Microsoft® Windows XP™ SP3 (32 bit), Vista (32/64 bit) or Windows 7 (32/64 bit) or Windows 8/8.1 (32/64 bit) and Windows 10.

    You can even download install Sony PC companion on Mac systems.

    Sony Xperia PC Suite-PC Companion Download for Windows

    1. You can download the Sony Xperia PC suite from clicking here. The size of Sony PC suite is 27 MB.
    2. Run the downloaded file and follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation.

    Sony Xperia PC Suite-PC Companion Download for Mac

    For Mac systems, you need to download the bridge file. Sony Bridge for Mac is a PC suite for Xperia smartphones on Mac systems.  Using this, you can update your smartphone Android firmware,  transfer media between your phone and iTunes, iPhoto or a custom folder on your Mac. Separate files can also be transferred between your phone and Mac by using drag and drop in a file browser. You can also backup and restore your phone content (availability depending on phone model). If you’re new to Sony devices, and your previous phone was an iPhone, you can use Xperia Transfer to move your content from the iPhone to your new Sony device.
    System Requirements for Sony Bridge Pc suite for Mac Systems

    • MacOS version 10.6 or later.
    • 1 GHz Intel processor (64 bit processor required for phone software update).
    • 512 MB RAM.
    • 60 MB hard-disk space for program installation.
    • iTunes 7.0 or later (recommended).
    • iPhoto version 08 or later (recommended).
    • Java SE 6 required for phone software update.

    Sony Bridge PC Suite download and installation instruction for Mac System

    • Download the application to your Macintosh computer by clicking here. Make a note of which folder you download it to. The size of download is 9.8MB.
    • When download is complete, installation may start automatically. If not, locate and double-click the “Sony Bridge for Mac.dmg” file.
    • When prompted, drag the Sony Bridge for Mac icon into your Applications folder.
    • Eject the disk image. It is not needed once the application is installed.
    • Sony Bridge for Mac is now found in your Applications folder. Double-click to start.
    • The application will start with the same language settings as your computer. To change language settings, see the computer manual.
    • Please read the End-User Licence Agreement carefully. Click Agree to continue.

    Sony PC Companion compatible devices:
    Most of the Xperia smartphones are compatible with Sony PC Companion PC suite. To name few, Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia L, Xperia M, Sony Xperia C, Xperia C4 Dual, Xperia C5 Dual, Xperia M5, Xperia Z5 etc.

  • Simple Home Remedies for Cold And Cough

    During the winter season, the cold and cough is a common everywhere. At times it gives lot of trouble such as cough during nights. The cold and cough are nothing but the reaction of our body to the external particles. Some do have higher resistance and some have low resistance.  Here is the quick list of common causes for Cold and Cough.

    Causes for Cold And Cough

    There are many reasons for a cold and cough. Here is some of the most common causes.
    1. Change of weather condition which intern results or favors the growth of viruses
    2.Exposure to dust which is gives allergic cough and cold
    3. Infection through un purified water
    4. Restlessness. Working till late night and getting up early which will intern reduces the sleeping ours.
    5. Infection through the neighbours or friends colleagues
    These are some of the points just to point out, There are many other reasons too. Let us look into the simple remedies to get relief from the cold and cough. It is always better to consult a doctor to get proper prescription. Below are few remedies which are commonly used to get relief.

    Remedies for Cold and Cough

    1. Drink lot of water. This will help in preventing the dehydration and keep your throat moisturized. It will ideal to drink hot water rather than cold water. It is always good to drink at least 8-10 ounces glass of water daily
    2.  Steam Inhaling:  Inhaling the steam will help in easing your congestion and drippy nose. To do this, just breath in steam of a boiling water from your nose. Add bit of salt to the boiling water to get better relief during sinusitis.
    3. Honey, Lemon and Sugar: This is the one which my grand father was telling during heavy cough. Just extract one full lemon. Dont add water. Add same quantity of  Honey, Add 5-8 spoon of sugar and mix it. It takes around 10-15 minutes to mix well.  Then take this mixture slowly. This stops cough almost immediately.
    4. Nasal Irrigation:  It also called as nasal lavage or nasal douche or Neti  is the personal hygiene practice in which the nasal cavity is washed to flush out excess mucus and debris from the nose and sinuses. The practice is generally well-tolerated and reported to be beneficial with only minor side effects. Nasal irrigation in a wider sense can also refer to the use of saline nasal spray or nebulizers to moisten the mucous membranes.According to its advocates, nasal irrigation promotes good sinus and nasal health. Patients with chronic sinusitis including symptoms of facial pain, headache, halitosis, cough, anterior rhinorrhea (watery discharge) and nasal congestion are reported to often find nasal irrigation to provide relief. In published studies, “daily hyper tonic saline nasal irrigation improves sinus-related quality of life, decreases symptoms, and decreases medication use in patients with frequent sinusitis”, and irrigation is recommended as an adjunctive treatment for chronic sinonasal symptoms
    5. Practice Pranayama: Regular practicing of pranayama helps in strengthening the lungs. This will help you to protect from the cold.
    6. Taking Ayurvedic Health Substitutes: The Ayurvedic health substitutes such as  Chyavana Prasha, Septiline are known for increasing the immunity power of our body. Taking these will help in preventing the cold and cough, Do remember to take your doctor consultation before taking any medicines.
    7. Avoid Smoking: Smoking is not good for health. During cough and cold, try to avoid smoking of cigarettes it increases the cough.
    8. Take Ginger tea or turmeric milk: This will give relief during heavy cold.

    Disclaimer: This article is just for the knowledge purpose only. As mentioned in the post, it is  always recommended to meet a doctor as soon as you are suffering from any illness. Self medication is always dangerous. Yoga or pranayama should be performed under guidance of a expert trainer.

  • VLOOKUP in Excel Tips and Tricks

    We already learned on how to use VLOOKUP in Excel.  In my earlier different posts, i have shown, the different ways you can use vlookup functions. This post is the summarisation all the things which we have already discussed.

    VLOOKUP in Excel Tips and Tricks

    Here is the list of few VLOOKUP in Excel tips to use the excel worksheet function more effectively.

    1. Use named Ranges:  the vlookup function with normal range variables looks very complicated. To avoid this, use named ranges.  With named ranges, you can do dynamic ranges which saves lot of memory and by that, the time. You can read more dynamic ranges in excel here.
    2. 2 way or conditional vlookup: The default vlookup accepts only single criteria lookup. But using the match function, you use vlookup function which looks for the given value in row as well as in columns. The syntax is same as the normal vlookup apart from inserting match function instead of index number. The match function returns the reference number of the column. To learn more on this read my post on conditional vlookup.
    3. Handling error values in Excel: When the lookup value is not found, vlookup returns, #na. You can remove this by using iferror function. This will make your excel template more clean and easy to perform calculations
    =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(B16,A2:C6,2,FALSE),0)
    4. Use Wildcard characters for related lookup: You can use related lookup using the last argument as TRUE. but, it has a downside. The range should be in ascending order. The wildcard character will help in these situations. Below are the few examples.
    =VLOOKUP(“Galaxy*”,A2:C8,3,FALSE)- returns the value from the range which starts with Galaxy. If there are multiple Galaxy are there, then it will take the first one.
    =VLOOKUP(“????”,A2:C8,3,FALSE) this look for a value with the lookup value length is 4.
    Similarly you can use most of the wildcard characters in vlookup also.

    If you find these tips on VLOOKUP in Excel, or have any queries, feel free to leave feedback in the comment section below.

  • Creating conditional drop down list in Excel

    In my earlier post, I have shown you how to create a simple drop down list in Excel. That meets most of our day to day requirements. However, when we create a dashboard or a template, we need to create a dependent drop down list or a conditional drop down list in Excel. That second drop down content should be changed based first dropdown content. It is very is to implement. So let us explore the way to create conditional drop down list in EXCEL.

    Steps to Create conditional drop down list in Excel

    To create a conditional or a dependent drop down list you need to use basic HLOOKUP function if your lists are organised vertically or vlookup function if your list is organised horizontally.

    Let me you show you how to create a dependent or conditional drop down list with a simple example.

    We have three different mobile manufacturers name in the top and list of model names down the list in sheet1 as shown in the sample table below.

    First you define the lists with the name of the manufacturer. In this example, I have created the name ‘Samsung’ for the range A2: A10, ‘Nokia’ to the range B2:B10, ‘Sony’ to  C2:C10. Like this you can create any number of lists.  You create these named ranges by going to ‘Formulas->Define Name’.

    Now we need to create the first drop down list in sheet2 where we want to create the dependent conditional drop down.

    • The first drop down list is the simple one. Just go to Data->Data Validation->Data Validation.Under validation criteria, select list under ‘Allow’ and select the source as the headings of your lists. That is Sheet1, range A1:C1. Your first drop down list is ready.
    • Now the second drop down list is dependent list. To achieve this we use, INDIRECT function and HLOOKUP function.
    • Go to  Data->Data Validation->Data Validation. Select list and the source enter the formula as mentioned below and click Ok.
    • =INDIRECT(HLOOKUP($A$2,Sheet1!$A$1:$C$1,1,FALSE))
    • Your dependent drop down list shows now. As you change the first drop down, second drop down list changes.

    How this works

    The INDIRECT functions, tells the excel that, the source is a reference and not a value or text. HLOOKUP function returns the name of the group based on the first drop down. Similarly you can do it with VLOOKUP if your lists are organised in vertical lists.