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This brief guide will tell you how to restore your Dell computer to Factory state, which includes all drivers, applications and settings.

If you own a fairly recent model of Dell desktop or laptop computer, most likely you have a Dell Recovery partition. It is usually hidden from the user and is not visible in the Windows Explorer, but can be found in the Disk Manager. This operation works on Dell Vostro, Inspiron, Optiplex, XPz, Latitude and other Dell computers.

1 - make a backup of your system. Even if it is infeted with a virus, not booting, has no files you care about - MAKE A BACKUP! It is often the case that only hours, days or a week later you will need something from the old installation. So make yourself a huge favor, buy a copy of Acronis True Image software a USB hard drive and make a full backup of the system.

2 - Once the backup is made (you did read the point #1 above and listened to the advise of a seasoned professional, right?), disconnect the backup drive and restart the computer.

3 - During restart, you will see Dell logo appear - start pressing F8 as the computer boots and you will be presented with a list of Advanced Boot Options.

4 - Select Repair Computer. You will see Windows recovery environment booting.

5 - Once presented with keyboard choice - select yoru keyboard layout and press Next

6 - Once presented with user and password screen, select your user, enter password and press Next

7 - On the next screen you will see various recovery and repair options and the last one will be - Dell Backup and Recovery manager. Click on it.

8 - in the drop down field you should see Dell Factory Image preselected for you, so all you need to do is press Next and wait about 5-15 minutes for recovery to take place.

9 - Enjoy your clean system!

As many hikers know, hauling a lot of weight in a backpack is not much fun. Which is the reason driving the innovations behind much of the lightweight gear and clothing. In the last few years there have been major advances in production of lightweight tents, backpacks, jackets, sleeping bags and more.
Most of the weight savings come from better designs, but a good share also comes from new materials and philosophy of “less is more”.
Since I subscribe to the idea of lightweight hiking being more enjoyable, I’ve done some research in order to buy two light tents: a one person tent for when I’m hiking on my own and a two person tent when I’m with someone else.
So what else besides weight did I take into account? Price! I don’t have much money in the bank, so the tents needed to be reasonably priced. They also had to be double wall type to help with  condensation,  warmth during cold nights and bugs during warm ones.
After much searching around I’ve found two tents that I liked and eventually purchased.

One person tent: MSR Hubba
The weight clocks at 3 lbs. 4 oz but it can be reduced further by removing some of the stuff sacks and replacing aluminum stakes with titanium ones. The tent has a ver clever design that minimizes the number of poles, yet provides very rigid structure.  The tent two vertical sides (left and right) and two very steeply sloped front and back. Due to these steep walls, the tent feels much roomier than most others. In fact with my height of 6’3” – I can sit inside and have a light attached above my head shining down during the evening.  Such roominess in a single person tent is invaluable as it allows one to change clothes easier while inside, stretch and simply have more air inside the tent.
When lying down, my head and bottom of the foot do not touch the sides of the tent unless I really try to stretch and point feet down. The last thing you want is to touch a wet wall while sleeping in a down bag, as it will absorb the water and become less effective.

    I’ve just received Rab Summit 500 sleeping bag that I’ve bought for review. This is a minimalistic, high quality bag hand packed with down in England. It is rated at 15*F and -10*C
    As you can see here in the PDF file here Summit Alpine line is last “ultralight, all use” product line before serious expedition grade bags made for some extreme temperatures.

First the specs:
Material:[shell] Pertex Endurance; [lining] Pertex Microlight (polyurethane)
Insulation:(top) EU750-fill down (US 850+), (bottom) EU560-fill down (US 750+)
Shape: mummy
Draft Collar :yes
Stuff Size:12 x 6 in
Stuff Sack: yes, compression
Storage Sack: yes
Bag Length:82 in
Degree:15 F
European Norm Comfort Rating:-10C 15F
Weight:2 lb 1 oz
Recommended Use: mountaineering, backpacking, camping
Manufacturer Warranty: lifetime
Price: $235

    The outer shell is one of the best on the market – Pertex Endurance! It allows for water vapors to exit the bag, yet it repels water from the surface. This material ensures that if you have condensation in your tent or if you have slight drizzle while sleeping without a shelter – you will remain dry. This doesn’t mean that the bag will not get wet in a serious rain, but it will repel some water instead of absorbing it.

    The inner and outer shells are also very light – contributing to a pretty light bag all around. The 2lb total weight comes in big part from the down fill instead of the synthetic. Down is lighter and warmer per unit of weight. In this case the bag is filled with 750 fill on top and 560 fill on the bottom. However, these are European ratings which are more conservative to those used in the United States. In US these are equal to 850+ and 750+ fill rating respectively. This kind of high quality down is expensive and is only used in top of the line products by such companies are Marmot, North Face, Western Mounteneering, GoLite, Sea To Summit, MontBell, Exped, Valandre, etc.

I love tinkering and working with my hands, which, when combined with fascination for multiple-use items, sometimes produces interesting results. Recently I’ve found a write-up on homemade camping stove from an Ikea utensil holder. Trying to learn the ways of the Ultra-Light backpacking while combining it with frugality made this project even more appealing and it sounded like something I would enjoy doing myself. So I got all the parts for this project:

1 Person camping kitchen:
Ikea utensil holder      - $3.99
Imusa 12cm mug        - $1.99
2 titanium stakes       - $4.00
-----------------------------------------
Total:                        - $9.98

The Ikea utensil holder is the smaller of the two available at the store. I’ve cut the top rim off and cut-off a row of holes to make a stand for the stove. Then I’ve cut the holder itself to make room for the handle on the mug and a few large openings to increase airflow to feed the fire. You can use metal shears to cut the holder.
It came out pretty nice and fairly clean.  The stove also works as a holder for the mug and everything fits together snugly. The stand goes inside the mug during periods of non-use.

For a while I have been using ZoneEdit as my DNS hosting service for name resolution. To those of you who have no idea what DNS is all about here is a very short intro: DNS (domain name system) is a Yellow Book of the internet – it matches names (such as www.google.com) to internet addresses such as (8.8.8.8) . Without DNS we would have no user friendly names for websites sites.

So, this perform this basic but very important function I have been using ZoneEdit – a company providing reliable DNS service. However a while back it announced that they have been acquired by DynDNS ( a competitor providing paid services) and will be moving to paid services for majority of its users. You see, DynDNS with their ridiculous prices could not grow while companies like ZoneEdit provided the same quality of service for free. So to remove the threat – they started buying them one by one.

Everyone is familiar with flashlights, but not many people own or have used a lantern. Flashlights are a lot more common and many people think of lanterns as strictly an accessory for camping trips. However, this little guy can actually pull off the double duty. You see, this is a dual mode lantern with a single LED.
CampChef CREE LED Lantern

•  LED lantern itself
•  4x AA Duracel batteries
•  Aluminum carabiner
•  Leash

In normal operation mode a super-white LED shines towards a convex reflective surface which disperses the light all 360 degrees around. This is a standard operating mode for the lantern as expected. However, with a turn of a knob on the side of the unit - the LED turns from pointing down into the upward position where it shines through a slightly mate clear plastic. This way, you can use the lantern as a flashlight for more directional light. Pretty clever solution, wouldn't you say?

I didn't think I would be writing a review for a cup on this site, but here it is. Just a week ago I've received a Sof-t tumbler cup by Loquid Solutions. So why the excitement? Well, the this tumbler is an inexpensive, neat tumbler what has a few properties that I would like to point out.

Sof-gel exterior with marine-grade stainless steel liner

When Liquid Solutions said it was soft they were right - the rubber has a very pleasant soft feel to it. But here is something you will not know even if you own the cup - the rubber is not smooth on the inside. It has quite a few little stubs pointing towards the metal. This does two things, first -  it helps to maintain the temperature in the metal cup by creating an air pocket and lowering heat transfer rate. Second is that it makes rubber give slightly under your fingers when you hold it, improving the feel and creating an illusion of very soft rubber. The rubber exterior makes for an excellent grip on the cup and it won't sleep from your hand - dry or wet.