Friendly Computers Computer Tips

How To Fix and Avoid Printer Paper Jams

2011-05-27T09:36:00.001-07:00

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Printer jams occur when the paper feeding through the printer goes awry. Sometimes the printer ignores the problem, soldiers onward, and extrudes a crumpled mess into the output tray; on other occasions, the printer stops in midjob, and the crumpled mess--or part of it--remains trapped somewhere inside the machine.

When a paper jam occurs, some printers flash lights at you and scream for help. Others sense where the jam is and provide guidance on clearing the blockage. If your printer offers diagnostic advice, follow it. Also, take time to check the printer's documentation for help in clearing jams. Here are the basic steps you'll follow to correct the problem:

Turn off the printer. If you're going to be working inside the printer, you don't want any trouble with electricity or moving parts. And if you're dealing with a laser printer, you also don't want the fuser to generate additional heat. If the paper is jammed in or near the fuser unit (you'll feel the heat as you come near it), you'll have to wait for the fuser to cool off before clearing the jam.

Open all doors leading to the paper path. If you can't tell which door leads to the paper jam, start by removing or opening the input tray and following the paper path all the way to the output tray, opening every door or panel that you can find along the way.

Carefully pull out paper sheets and scraps. Check for paper sheets that are stuck or askew, as well as for paper scraps. Pull paper out of the path firmly but very carefully and slowly. When possible, pull paper in the direction it is supposed to go in under normal conditions--not backward, which could strain the printer's mechanics.Take care to remove all of the paper: As any scraps that remain could cause further jamming. If you have the misfortune of breaking a mechanical piece in the printer, stop what you're doing and call for service.

Close all doors and turn on the printer. Once switched on, the printer should reset itself automatically. If the printer reports that it is still jammed, double-check for stray paper scraps, and then close all the doors again. If the printer continues to complain, try turning it off and then back on. If the complaints continue, you'll have to call for service--and hope that a deep-seated piece of paper--rather than a broken mechanical part--is the source of the problem.

To avoid a jam next time:

Use only one kind of paper at a time in your input tray.

Whether you have a single input tray in your printer's driver or many input trays, tell the printer what kind of paper you have in the tray: Most printer controls include a section or drop-down list where you can pick a paper by name, type, thickness, or other quality.

If you aren't sure whether your printer takes a certain kind of paper, check its documentation.

When you reload your input tray, pay attention to the tray's needs, such as how the paper should be loaded and whether the length or width guides need adjusting.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/227252/how_to_fix_and_avoid_printer_paper_jams.html

How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware

2011-05-25T09:37:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to help you to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware.

Summary

A recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender "anti-virus" software to solve the issue.
This “anti-virus” software is malware (i.e. malicious software). Its ultimate goal is to get the user's credit card information which may be used for fraudulent purposes.
The most common names for this malware are MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity.
In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.
In the meantime, the Resolution section below provides step-by-step instructions on how to avoid or manually remove this malware.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.4, Mac OS X 10.6, Mac OS X 10.5

Resolution

How to avoid installing this malware

If any notifications about viruses or security software appear, quit Safari or any other browser that you are using. If a normal attempt at quitting the browser doesn’t work, then Force Quit the browser.

In some cases, your browser may automatically download and launch the installer for this malicious software. If this happens, cancel the installation process; do not enter your administrator password. Delete the installer immediately using the steps below.

Go into the Downloads folder or your preferred download location.

Drag the installer to the Trash.

Empty the Trash.

How to remove this malware

If the malware has been installed, we recommend the following actions:

Do not provide your credit card information under any circumstances.

Use the Removal Steps below.

Removal steps

Move or close the Scan Window

Go to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and launch Activity Monitor

Choose All Processes from the pop up menu in the upper right corner of the window

Under the Process Name column, look for the name of the app and click to select it; common app names include: MacDefender, MacSecurity or MacProtector

Click the Quit Process button in the upper left corner of the window and select Quit

Quit Activity Monitor application

Open the Applications folder

Locate the app ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector or other name

Drag to Trash, and empty Trash

Malware also installs a login item in your account in System Preferences. Removal of the login item is not necessary, but you can remove it by following the steps below.

Open System Preferences, select Accounts, then Login Items

Select the name of the app you removed in the steps above ex. MacDefender, MacSecurity, MacProtector

Click the minus button

Use the steps in the “How to avoid installing this malware” section above to remove the installer from the download location.

Note: Apple provides security updates for the Mac exclusively through Software Update and the Apple Support Downloads site. User should exercise caution any time they are asked to enter sensitive personal information online.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4650

Six Things That Block Your Wi-Fi, and How to Fix Them

2011-05-18T09:35:00.001-07:00

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Does your wireless network seem slow? A recent study by Epitiro, a UK-based broadband-analysis firm, shows that consumers lose an average of 30 percent of the data speed their broadband connection supplies when they use Wi-Fi connections in the home.

Why the slowdown? You've probably heard that some household electronic devices, including microwave ovens, baby monitors, and cordless phones, hamper Wi-Fi performance. To separate fact from fiction, we did some research and consulted an expert on the topic: Nandan Kalle, networking business unit manager for router manufacturer Belkin.

1. Public Enemy Number One: Your Neighbors' Wi-Fi Networks

"I'd say the biggest source of interference today for most people is their neighbors' Wi-Fi networks," says Kalle. The problem is that most existing Wi-Fi equipment operates on the crowded 2.4GHz band. "There are basically three nonoverlapping channels. I always describe it as a three-lane road that's really, really busy," Kalle adds.

If you use a 2.4GHz router and live in a densely populated area, your neighbors' Wi-Fi networks could interfere with yours, hindering the performance and range of your wireless network.

The solution: Buy a dual-band router that operates simultaneously at 2.4GHz and 5GHz. While the 2.4GHz band is necessary for supporting older Wi-Fi devices, 5GHz "is almost like an 11-lane highway that nobody's heard about yet," Kalle says. "There's much less congestion."

Newer Wi-Fi devices, including tablets such as the Apple iPad and Motorola Xoom, Internet-ready TVs with built-in Wi-Fi, gaming consoles, and business laptops, are all dual-band. "They all play in the 5GHz band. They can take advantage of that empty highway, and that's really going to help," Kalle says.

It's important to get a router that supports simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz, such as the $100 Cisco Linksys E2500. Some older dual-band routers allow only one band at a time; that's a problem if you have older Wi-Fi devices (as most people do), because you'll have to leave your router at 2.4GHz. "You won't get any benefit from the 5GHz mode," says Kalle.

When you're shopping for a new router, look for a dual-band, 802.11n MIMO device, which typically has an "N600" label. The "N" refers to 802.11n, an international Wi-Fi standard approved in 2009. MIMO(multiple input, multiple output) technology provides greater range by using multiple antennas to transmit and receive data. And "600" refers to two bands, each transmitting at 300 megabits per second.

2. Household Electronics

Is your microwave oven, cordless phone, or baby monitor sabotaging your Netflix stream? Perhaps.

Most problems with cordless phones and microwaves involve products that use the 2.4GHz band. Many baby monitors operate at 900MHz and won't interfere with Wi-Fi. However, some wireless monitors are 2.4GHz, which can interfere with 802.11g or single-band 802.11n routers.

The solution: When choosing a wireless baby monitor, look for a 900MHz model such as the Sony 900MHz BabyCall Nursery Monitor ($45). Alternatively, get a Wi-Fi-friendly system such as the WiFi Baby 3G ($272), which connects to your existing wireless network.

Newer cordless phone systems like the Panasonic KX-TG6545B ($140) use DECT 6.0 technology and the 1.9GHz band, not the 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz bands.

3. Bluetooth Devices

Older Bluetooth devices did interfere with Wi-Fi networks--but those days have passed.

"Over the past several years, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi manufacturers have implemented specific techniques to minimize interference," says Kalle.

The solution: "Most people replace their phones every couple of years, so unless you have a really old phone or Bluetooth device, it's unlikely that [Bluetooth] will interfere with Wi-Fi," says Kalle.

4. Humans

You might recall from science class that the human body is mostly water, anywhere from 45 percent to 75 percent depending on your age and fitness level. Water can hamper Wi-Fi speeds, too.

"For example, say your room is very crowded and you're having a party. That can actually dampen your Wi-Fi signal--but that's an extreme case," says Kalle.

"When we're doing Wi-Fi testing in the lab and trying to get very accurate results, we have to make sure that we're not standing in front of the antenna, because we'll measurably impact the performance," he adds.

Humidity can affect Wi-Fi speeds too, but not enough for the average user to notice.

The solution: Relax. Don't worry about humidity, or those bags of water called people. After all, you can't control the weather, and it's unwise to be antisocial just to get better Wi-Fi performance.

5. Security Settings

In some low-end routers, a stronger security setting can moderately affect performance. However, that doesn't mean you should turn off security completely, or downgrade to weaker protection.

In recent years, the WPA (Wireless Protected Access) and WPA2 protocols have displaced the older and less-secure WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol). On inexpensive routers that use WEP, upgrading to WPA may impede performance a bit. In contrast, more-robust devices generally have hardware specifically designed for WPA and WPA2 encryption; as a result, the stronger security protocols shouldn't slow Wi-Fi speeds on higher-end routers.

The solution: Kalle stresses the importance of router encryption. "You always hear about data theft, and it's so easy to enable security these days," he says. Since today's routers have security enabled out of the box, users don't have to worry about configuring it. But don't disable encryption, even if doing so may speed up your Wi-Fi a little.

6. Old Firmware

Why upgrade your router's firmware? Well, for performance improvements and occasionally a new feature or two.

"Whenever you have a problem, check to see if you have good firmware. Sometimes there are little bugs out there, and the router manufacturer may already have a fix," says Kalle.

When you buy a new router, it's always a good idea to check for the latest firmware as well.

The solution: Keep your firmware up-to-date. With older devices, you'll have to access the router's administrative interface--typically through a Web browser--to check for updates. The process is getting easier, though. "Our routers have an application--it's almost like iTunes--that tells you whenever there's new firmware available," says Kalle. "The user can update by just pushing a button."

Although the workings of your router may seem mysterious, following these simple tips can go a long way toward keeping your home wireless network in working order.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/227973-2/six_things_that_block_your_wifi_and_how_to_fix_them.html

What To Do When Your Email Account is Compromised

2011-04-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

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More and more I see spam coming from friends when I open my e-mail. In addition to this, people are telling me that they think their e-mail accounts have been hacked. Signs can be friends receiving messages you did not send, mail is marked read that they never saw, settings are changed, or anything else out of the ordinary. In any case, the question is the same: “What do I do?”

While many Ghacks readers may know to follow these steps, having a guide handy for others is a useful thing. I can imagine many readers are resources for friends, family, and coworkers. These steps can serve as a checklist to ensure thoroughness.

his is a guide on how to reasonably secure your e-mail account. What to do if you lose access to your account is a different problem for another article. This article assumes you still have access, but strange things (as mentioned) are going on. It will cover the three most commonly used e-mail account types: Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail. While changing the settings is pretty easy, finding them can be less than obvious. Here are some screenshots to help you find the general settings page for your account.

Step 1 : Change Your Password

You need to do this immediately. This is akin to changing the locks on your doors. When you do not know exactly who has a key to your home, the locks are a liability. Count yourself lucky that you can get into your account. To change your password, log-in and go to Settings. Then follow the steps appropriate to your account.

In Gmail: Mail Settings > Accounts and Imports > Change Password

In Hotmail: More Options > Account Details (look for “Change” next to password)

In Yahoo Mail: Mail Options > Account Information > Change your password

Step 2 : Check Your Recovery E-mail Address

Your recovery e-mail address is the one that you use to reset/regain your password. However, if it was changed, it can be used to get the password to your account. Take a look to see if it is set to another account you own. If not, change it immediately. You also may want to follow these steps on that account.

In Gmail: Mail Settings > Accounts and Imports > Change Password Recovery Options

In Hotmail: More Options > Account Details (look for “Remove” next to an odd e-mail)

In Yahoo Mail: Mail Options > Account Information > Update password-reset info

Step 3 : Change Your Hints

Most people forget about this, but it is a good idea to change your hints. If the hacker knows the answer, they may be able to regain access. This usually requires the recovery e-mail address to be altered, but it is still better to change your hints. Since hints are usually used to reset passwords, they can be used to change your password.

In Gmail: Mail Settings > Accounts and Imports > Change Password Recovery Options

In Hotmail: More Options > Account Details (look for remove next to a question)

In Yahoo Mail: Mail Options > Account Information > Update password-reset info

Step 4 : Check Your Forwards

Checking your forwards is going to be a tedious process, but it is important. If you only have time to skim them over, then do so but make a thorough look your next priority. Your bank account may depend on it. Your e-mail account can be set up to send letters to other e-mail accounts. Most websites are set up to send new passwords to your e-mail address. That means that an unscrupulous person could ask the site for your password, set up your account to forward it to an account they have access to, and the get into the site. That could be a bank site, a blog, FaceBook, or anything else.

In Gmail: Mail Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP

In Hotmail: More Options > Email forwarding

In Yahoo Mail: Mail Options > POP & Forwarding (note: a premium service)

Step 5 : Change All Your Passwords on Connected Accounts

Sadly, you have to assume that your forwards are compromised. You are going to have to go through each site you used your e-mail account to sign up with and change the password and hint. You might even want to associate them with a separate account to isolate critical e-mails. Alternatively, you could just change your password and hint on sensitive sites. Your bank and any financial websites should be first. Social networking site like FaceBook and Twitter should be next.

Keep in Mind

You should always use a strong password for your accounts: one with uppercase, lowercase, numeric, and symbol characters. Ideally, you should have a different one for each account. At the very least your e-mail, financial, and social networking sites should have separate passwords. Security is not about absolutes, but about making it difficult for others to gain access to you account.

It is worth noting that each of these services has an extra security feature. You can actually set up your account to use your phone for e-mail recovery. As I have not used it, it is beyond the scope of this article, but is worth considering.

Addendum

If you have troubles logging in at all, you may want to take a look at the following guides to resolve the problem:

Hotmail Sign In Help

Yahoo Mail Signin, Login Help (Yahoomail)

MSN Hotmail Sign In Troubleshooting

Google Sign In Help, Troubleshooting

Gmail Login

The guides aid you in password, username and account recovery.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2011/04/11/what-to-do-when-your-email-account-is-compromised/

Top Automation Tools to Look At

2011-04-15T09:26:00.001-07:00

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Here are some Automation tools that you should look at. They are free and can help you different ways.

Data Visualization

It is an easy way to create reportsfrom any data. You can easily create report layouts and import data from almost any data base system like Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird, MS SQLServer, IBM DB2, Interbase, SQLite or from external files and create hundreds of documents in whatever format you want (PDF, RTF, XLS, XML). Cost: Free

The application works on a variety of OS formats: Linux, MS WindowsXP/Vista/2003/7 , and Mac OS . It supports English, Spanish, and Polish.

[Download Link]

Do It Again

If you’ve ever wanted a task to be repeated on your computer, this program will help you do that. It allows you to make your computer automatically perform a task for you, whenever you want. For example, if there is something that you do on your computer over and over, and you do it exactly the same way every time (such as backing up your pictures, checking web-based email for new messages, etc.), you can tell Do It Again how to perform that task (by doing it once yourself to create the new task). After that you record a task (or macro) then sit back and watch as your computer automates that task, clicking the mouse and pressing the keyboard by itself. If it helps, this is also called macro or automation software, as it allows you to record a macro, then play it back to automate the actions of that macro. Cost: Free.

[Download Link]

Auto Mute

Control the sounds on your PC. How? This small software utility will make your PC silent when it’s turning on or is waking up. Solution is very easy! The sound is automatically muted when the computer is turning off or is going to suspend mode. The next system start is absolutely silent even if you forgot to turn the sound off in previous session. After that you can enable sound effects manually, using a shortcut combination. Moreover, you may use this keyboard shortcut to quickly switch the sound on and off.

Why is this program beneficial? Well around your house if you have small children trying to sleep, it won’t wake them up. If you are at work, you can control the sound there too.

[Download Link]

Source: http://www.windows7news.com/2011/04/13/top-automation-tools/

How to Remove Win 7 Anti-Spyware 2011 (Fake Anti-Virus Infections)

2011-04-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

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If your PC is infected with the Win 7 Anti-Spyware 2011 malware or something similar, you’ve come to the right place, because we’re going to show you how to get rid of it, and free your PC from the awful clutches of this insidious malware (and many others)

Win 7 Anti-Spyware 2011 is just one of many fake antivirus applications like Antivirus Live, Advanced Virus Remover, Internet Security 2010, Security Tool, and others that hold your computer hostage until you pay their ransom money. They tell you that your PC is infected with fake viruses, and prevent you from doing anything to remove them.

This particular virus goes by a lot of names, including XP Antispyware, Win 7 Antispyware, Win 7 Internet Security 2011, Win 7 Guard, Win 7 Security, Vista Internet Security 2011, and many, many others. It’s all the same virus, but renames itself depending on your system and which strain you get infected with.

The What Now?

If you aren’t familiar with this one, it’s time to take a look at the face of an awful scam. If you are infected, scroll down to the section where we explain how to remove it.

Once a PC is infected, it’ll display this very official-looking window, which pretends to scan your PC and find things that are infected, but of course, it’s all a lie.

The really crazy thing is that it pops up a very realistic looking Action Center window, but it’s actually the virus.

Removing Rogue Fake Antivirus Infections (General Guide)

There’s a couple of steps that you can generally follow to get rid of the majority of rogue antivirus infections, and actually most malware or spyware infections of any type. Here’s the quick steps:

Try to use the free, portable version of SUPERAntiSpyware to remove the viruses.

If that doesn’t work, reboot your PC into safe mode with networking (use F8 right before Windows starts to load)

Try to use the free, portable version of SUPERAntiSpyware to remove the viruses.

Reboot your PC and go back into safe mode with networking.

If that doesn’t work, and safe mode is blocked, try running ComboFix. Note that I’ve not yet had to resort to this, but some of our readers have.

Install MalwareBytes and run it, doing a full system scan.

Reboot your PC again, and run a full scan using your normal Antivirus application (we recommend Microsoft Security Essentials).

At this point your PC is usually clean.

Those are the rules that normally work. Note that there are some malware infections that not only block safe mode, but also prevent you from doing anything at all. We’ll cover those in another article soon, so make sure to subscribe to How-To Geek for updates (top of the page).

Removing Win 7 Anti-Spyware 2011

Download a free copy of MalwareBytes, copy it to a thumb drive, and then install it on the infected PC and run through a scan. You might have better luck doing this in Safe Mode.

You may have better luck installing MalwareBytes first, if the virus will let you. In my case, it did not. When I scanned through the first time using SUPERAntiSpyware, it detected the viruses and removed the files just fine.

At this point, you should hopefully have a clean system. Make sure to install Microsoft Security Essentials, and don’t be fooled by these viruses again.

Can’t Open Any Applications After Deleting the Virus?

The next problem was that once the virus was removed, you couldn’t open anything—in fact, I still wasn’t even able to install MalwareBytes. Hopefully you have better luck.

Why couldn’t I open anything? Because the virus had rewritten the registry to force all applications to open the virus instead—which meant you couldn’t even open the registry editor to fix the problem. This problem might have been avoided had I properly completed the scan, but I interrupted it before it was done.

On a normal PC, there’s a registry key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT that specifies what happens when you double-click on an executable file (*.exe) – but on a virus-infected system, this value is rewritten with the virus executable. That’s how it prevents you from opening anything.

To fix the problem, I exported a clean registry file from another PC, and did a little extra hacking to it, and problem solved! All you have to do is download, extract, copy the .reg file to the infected PC, and double-click it to add the information into the registry.

Download the Fixing Malware Appliction Won’t Open Registry Hack

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/57837/how-to-remove-win-7-anti-spyware-2011-fake-anti-malware-infections/

Get Started With a VPN: For Beginners, Power Users

2011-03-25T09:37:00.001-07:00

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Do you want to be secure--I mean really secure--when you're on the Internet? If so, then you want a virtual private network.

A VPN creates a secure "tunnel" across the Internet between you and your office, a VPN provider, or your home. Why would you want that? Easy-to-use programs such as Firesheep make it easy for snoops to see what you're writing in your e-mail messages, posting to your Facebook page, or buying online. But with a VPN, you can surf the Web through that virtual tunnel, away from prying eyes, and your Internet traffic is encrypted.

Whether you just want to access Wi-Fi networks on the road without potentially exposing your activities to nosy strangers, or whether you need to enable a team of remote employees to handle business securely on the Internet, you can find a VPN to fit your needs. This guide will walk you through VPN essentials for beginners and power users.

VPN for Beginners

The easiest and least costly way to get a VPN service is to obtain one from your company, school, or organization. Not on the road often? Check with your IT department to see if they offer a VPN to all users. If they do, life is good: Just install the corporate VPN software, set it up, and you're ready to go. The next time you turn on your PC, fire up the VPN application before you start surfing the Web.

What if your IT department doesn't have a VPN--or what if you don't have an IT department? You're not out of luck. Lately, numerous VPN providers, including Banana VPN, Black Logic, LogMeIn Hamachi, and StrongVPN, have started offering their services for a fee, generally from $15 to $20 a month. To learn more, take a look at a comparison of three personal VPN services.

How do you go about picking one? If a service has an online forum, check what their customers have posted. Call or e-mail to see if real people answer. Generally speaking, bigger is better. If they're a tiny company, that may be fine for you as an individual, but they probably can't give you the support a small company needs.

Is the privacy factor alone worth the effort? Yes, but VPNs offer other advantages as well. For example, if you're in Canada, ordinarily you can't watch a U.S. TV show on Hulu. But you can access the show if you use a VPN to obtain a U.S. IP (Internet Protocol) address.

Some VPN providers offer another benefit: anonymous Web browsing, which allows you to roam the Internet without being tracked. If your ISP blocks some applications, such as Skype or other VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications, you can use a VPN to get around the restrictions.

These VPN services may sound exactly like what you need. Beware, however: Not all services are created equal. If a service doesn't have enough VPN servers--technically, VPN concentrators--to support the number of customers, you may experience poor Internet speeds or be unable to make a connection at all.

So, before subscribing to a VPN service, look into what its customers say about it. Better still, if the company offers a free test period, take advantage of it before paying money for a service that may not meet your needs.

VPN Fundamentals for the Power User

Do you want to lock down your Internet connection when you’re on the road? If so, the best approach is, of course, to use a VPN. You’re set if you work for a company that can provide you with a VPN. But if you run your own small business or home office, you also have options.

You can find several, inexpensive ways to get a VPN of your own. Besides paying $15 to $20 a month to a VPN subscription service, you might be able to install a VPN server into your router using open-source, alternative router firmware such as DD-WRT and OpenWRT. This firmware will allow you to use many, but not all, Wi-Fi routers and access points as VPN endpoints.

VPN on Your Router

Before flashing your Wi-Fi hardware with any alternative firmware, make sure that it's supported. The last thing you want to do is to "brick" your wireless device--rendering it useless--just to set up a small VPN. Be sure to consult the DD-WRT supported-device list or the OpenWRT supported-device list. As these lists are all works in progress, check back often if you buy a brand-new router or access point.

If you'd rather not take your hardware's life into your own hands, some routers, such as Buffalo Technology's WZR-HP-G300NH AirStation Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Router, come with DD-WRT already installed.

VPN Server Software

Some desktop operating systems, including Windows (from XP to Windows 7) and Mac OS X, include VPN server software. Granted, these are very simple VPNs, but they may be all you need. Of course, the Windows Server family comes with more-sophisticated VPN setups. If you're running all Windows 7 clients and Windows Server 2008 R2, you may also want to consider using DirectAccess, an advanced IPSec VPN that runs over IPv6 on ordinary IPv4-based LANs and the Internet.

If you don't choose to use DirectAccess but opt for Microsoft's older VPN technologies, Windows Server 2008 R2 has a helpful new feature: VPN Reconnect. Just as the name suggests, it will try to connect VPN sessions automatically if they're interrupted by a break in Internet connectivity. This function can be handy for users with spotty Wi-Fi connectivity, since they won't need to manually reconnect with the VPN after they reestablish a network connection.

Another way to add a VPN to your small network is to install VPN server software yourself. The best known of these is OpenVPN, which is open-source. It's available in versions for almost all popular desktop operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

If setting up native OpenVPN sounds a little too technical for you or your staff, you can run it as a VMware or Windows Virtual Hard Disk OpenVPN virtual appliance. With this arrangement, you'll have a basic VPN up and running in minutes.

But OpenVPN is far from the only VPN software out there. Other programs worth considering are NeoRouter and Tinc. If you want more than just VPN services and do-it-all network-services software packages, I highly recommend the open-source Vyatta, Core 6.1. Vyatta includes OpenVPN.

VPN Appliances

If you plan on having more than a dozen or so users on the VPN at one time, though, you'll want to use an inexpensive VPN hardware appliance such as the Juniper Networks SA700 SSL VPN Appliance, the SonicWall Secure Remote Access Series, or the Vyatta 514.

No matter which VPN you use, you'll need to set your firewall to allow VPN traffic. On many routers and firewalls, this task can be as simple as setting VPN passthrough to allow VPN traffic. Typically, your choices will be PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol), L2TP (Layer Two Tunneling Protocol), or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Allow only those VPN protocols that you'll be using--after all, when in doubt with firewalls, it's safer to forbid than to permit.

Check your VPN’s documentation to see which ports you’ll need to open. As for SSL VPNs, they typically use port 443, the usual port for SSL-protected Web servers, so that port should already be open.

Naturally, no matter what VPN you're running and regardless of your network setup, a VPN in a small business is likely to limit its users’ speeds. For example, in my own home office, my Charter cable Internet connection gives me a 25-megabits-per-second downlink and a 3-mbps uplink. This means that no matter how fast my remote network connection is when I connect to my OpenVPN server, my maximum throughput will be limited to 3 mbps.

I've often seen small businesses flummoxed by slow VPN connections. That usually happens because neither the users nor the in-house IT staffers (often one and the same) realize that the math of Internet connections means that the slowest link along the VPN route will determine the VPN's top speed. If you want a really fast VPN, you'll need to bite the bullet and get a high-end Internet connection from your ISP.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/223044-1/get_started_with_a_vpn_for_beginners_power_users_and_it_pros.html

Hibernate VS Sleep VS Shut-Down

2011-03-21T10:17:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

There are many ways to shut down and restart your computer, but – which does what, and which should you use when ?

The answer depends mostly on you. Are you into saving energy or boot-up time? How often do you leave your computer and for how long ?

There are three main shut-down options available in Windows: Shut-Down, Sleep and Hibernate (names may vary depending on the Windows version). In Vista and Windows 7, there is also a fourth option; Hybrid Sleep.

Let’s explore the topic.

Environmental friendly

If your concern is to save energy, and you don’t mind the longer Boot Up time – then you should always use the “Shut Down” option. This will shut down every running service and application and wipe clean your RAM. This option saves the most energy as the computer is not using any power at all when in this state. There might be some power consumption from the main-board as it is still connected to your outlet, but this is significantly little.

Hibernate Vs Sleep

The difference between the two is power-consumption – one use less power than the other.

Sleep Feature = Pause

Sleep is a power-saving state which keeps enough voltage across your RAM to retain the memory for when you “wake up” your computer again. This mode use the most power of all the “Power-Off Modes” as the computer need to be able to keep your RAM alive. The Sleep Feature is recommended when you leave your computer for a short period (like going to lunch or step out for a few hours). Putting your computer into the sleep state is like pausing a DVD player—the computer immediately stops what it’s doing and is ready to start again when you want to resume working (usually within seconds).

Hibernate

The Hibernate function was intended primarily for laptop users (though available for Desktop Computers as well). This mode let you save much more power when not using your computer (as in saving battery). When you put the computer in Hibernate Mode, it stores the contents of your RAM (Services, clipboard etc.) to your hard-drive (hiberfile.sys) which on reboot is read back into the RAM which takes about a minute to be completed, but on the upside you do save more energy.

Hybrid Sleep

Hybrid sleep is both Sleep and Hibernate, primarily intended for Desktop Computers. Hybrid Sleep keeps the RAM alive (as in Sleep Mode) and stores the Content of your RAM to your Hard-Drive (in case of a power failure). It also stores any open documents before putting your computer into a low-power state which allows for a quick Reboot later on. When hybrid sleep is turned on, putting your computer into sleep automatically puts your computer into hybrid sleep.

Source: http://mintywhite.com/windows-7/7maintenance/hibernate-sleep-shutdown/

How to Attach Sticky-Note Reminders to Windows and Applications

2011-03-07T09:42:00.001-08:00

Friendly Computers would to share this article with you.

Some applications come with a boatload of keyboard shortcuts; these can make you very fast, but can be difficult to remember, especially if you customized some of them. What if you could have your own little cheat sheet that would pop up next to the application every time your ran it? Read on to see how you can make one.

We’re going to be using an excellent (and free) application called Stickies. If you don’t have it yet, go to the Stickies homepage, download it, and install it.

Creating Your First Cheat Sheet

The first thing we’re going to do is create the sticky note containing whatever info you want to have on hand. With Stickies running, hit Win+S. You should see a blank sticky note, much like the one below.

Yours may not have the current date and time in the caption – that’s a setting you can toggle, but we don’t need it for now.

Next, set the title for your sticky by clicking it and pressing Ctrl+Shift+T. You can also right-click the caption and select Set Title from the context menu.

Now that you’ve set the title (say, Total Commander Tips), fill in the text with whatever you’d like to remember. Use Ctrl + and Ctrl – to increase or decrease the font size, Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+I for italics. You can also select just a portion of the text to make it larger (think subheadings).

With your sticky note all ready, it’s now time to attach it to the window. Make sure the “target application” is running, so we’d have a window to attach the note to. Then, right-click the note’s caption and select Attach.

In the Attach Sticky window, locate your application in the list and click it. You can also toggle the box that says “Only if visible” to have the note visible only when the application window isn’t minimized.

The sticky note you created will now appear whenever you run your application, and disappear when you close the app. If you’d like to make the note always on top, click it and hit Ctrl+T. This way no other windows would cover it. That’s it – you now have a handy application-specific cheat-sheet.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/45189/how-to-attach-sticky-note-reminders-to-windows-and-applications/

Secrets to Making the iPad Your Only Mobile PC

2011-03-07T09:36:00.001-08:00

Friendly Computers found this article interesting and would like to share it with you.

There are a lot of reasons to rely on the Apple iPad as your sole, or primary mobile computing device. It is smaller, lighter, has longer battery life, and offers a more functional user interface than a notebook for staying productive on the go. iOS is a "mobile" OS, while Windows and Mac OS X are "desktop" operating systems--you do the math.

Still, out of the box the iPad is primarily geared for Web surfing, watching movies, playing music, and reading eBooks. It takes a little tweaking to get the right tools in place to optimize the iPad for use as a mobile computing platform for business, and not just for entertainment.

Typing: OK. This is not a tool, but the lack of a physical keyboard is a common jab made at the iPad when it comes to considering it as a productivity tool for business. Let me just say that the vast majority of you use the two-finger hunt and peck typing method anyway, and are not 100 word-per-minute typing speed demons. The iPad display sensitivity is the best I have seen on tablets and smartphones, and you should be able to hunt and peck your way around just as fast as you do at your desktop keyboard.

E-mail: E-mail is arguably the most important function of a mobile computing device. You can set your e-mail accounts up on the iPad, but if you want to make sure you get your messages on your desktop PC, as well as your iPad you need to make sure the account is set up properly. The iPad e-mail settings can be configured to delete the message from the server when it removed from the Inbox, after seven days, or never. You need to also make sure that your PC e-mail software is configured to leave the message on the server for a period of time as well so that both devices can get the message rather than one stealing it before the other.

A better option is to either use an Exchange e-mail account, or a webmail like Google's Gmail. With Exchange, the Inbox and folders on the iPad are kept in sync with the information on the Exchange Server and the PC, so there is no worry about the one device getting the message before another. With webmail, both the PC and the iPad would be accessing the same information on the Web so there is no reason for conflict.

Productivity: You need to be able to work with documents while on the go. You might not write the next great American novel on your iPad, but you at least need to be able to open and edit Microsoft Office files. Get the DocumentsToGo app to be able to view, edit, and create Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. DocumentsToGo also lets you view Adobe PDF and Apple iWork files, and it can view, edit, and sync with online file storage such as Box.net--which we will cover next.

Files: One of the hardest parts about having both a desktop PC and a tablet as a mobile device is syncing and managing files. For one thing, Apple's iOS doesn't provide any direct file and folder structure like a desktop OS, and even if it did, it would be a pain to remember to sync the files you might need while on the go. The better solution is to adopt an online file storage solution like Box.net or SugarSync. If you use online file storage by default from both your PC and your iPad, the files will always be available online to both platforms and you won't get stuck without access to a critical file.

Access the Network: Sometimes you might need to connect to applications or data hosted on company servers. Of course, you don't want to be connecting to company resources using the insecure connection at your local neighborhood Starbucks. A VPN client like Cisco AnyConnect can let you connect securely to the applications and data you need. To use the Cisco AnyConnect app, your company has to be have the right Cisco VPN tools and licensing in place. There are other VPN options, though, including the VPN tool built in to iOS.

Access Your PC: After all is said and done, there may still be some software that runs on your PC that you simply can't replace on your iPad. That is where remote desktop solutions come in. Apps like Citrix GoToMyPC and LogMeIn Ignition enable you to establish a remote connection back to the PC sitting at your desk, and work with the software and data on it as if you were sitting in front of it.

By installing the right apps and adopting a few simple practices, the iPad can be everything you need in a mobile computing platform. Even better, it can deliver in a tablet that is thin, and light, and has the battery endurance to last all day.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/221486/secrets_to_making_the_ipad_your_only_mobile_pc.html#tk.hp_new

15 Things Every PC User Should Know

2010-08-18T10:17:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share with you 15 things every PC user should know.

Think you know tech? If you don't have a handle on every single one of these 15 tech facts, habits, and efficiency tricks, you're not living up to your potential.

1. Don't double-click everything. Windows 101: Double-clicking is how you open items in Windows. It's not how you open links in your Web browser, click buttons in dialog boxes, or do pretty much anything else--and if you reflexively double-click, you might accidentally zip right past something important or submit a form twice. If you don't need this reminder yourself, chances are you know someone who does.

2. Use slashes and backslashes in the appropriate situations. Let's get it straight: / is a slash (or forward slash, if you must), and \ is a backslash. Backslashes are conventionally used for Windows file paths (C:\Program Files\Whatever), while slashes are used for Internet addresses (http://www.pcworld.com/howto.html).

3. Record the exact error message. When your PC crashes, it'll usually try to tell you why it is doing so--albeit with a string of numbers and letters that you won't understand. Write the message down in its entirety (or take a screenshot, if possible) so you can later plug it into Google or give it to your tech support agent. If your PC didn't provide an error message, go to Action Center (in the Control Panel) and see if it shows up under 'View archived messages' or 'View problems to report'.

4. Bring deleted files back from the dead. When you delete a file from your PC or memory card, you're not wiping it off the actual hard drive. Instead, you're simply removing the index information that tells your PC where the file is, at which point the PC is free to treat the part of your disk that contain that file as empty space that it can write something else to. If you've accidentally deleted something, undelete utilities such as Recuva can help you find those files again as long as you haven't already written over that file with something new.

Don't leave your personal data on your old PC's hard drive. Nuke it completely with Darik's Boot and Nuke.

5. Wipe your hard drive before getting rid of it.Because your PC doesn't immediately get rid of the files you delete, you can't just reformat your hard drive before recycling or selling your old computer--because someone might be able to use an undelete app to recover your sensitive data. We have all kinds of tips for completely erasing an old drive, but the short version is: grab Darik's Boot and Nuke.

Want a totally worthless toolbar added to your browser? No? Then uncheck the box for that option before you install updates.

6. Uncheck the boxes before you install. Lots of helpful apps out there give you the option of installing search toolbars and other add-ons--and some of them are so pushy about being helpful that their installers are configured to install the uninvited extras unless you check a box saying you don't want them. Not only is each add-on another thing that your PC needs to load, but you have no idea what kind of data it could be sending out. They come bundled with the app because they make money for the app developer, not because they're particularly useful. So take a close look at what you're installing before you click Install--and in return, the installer won't change your search engine or install apps you don't need.

7. Beware of viruses living in Office docs. Experienced Microsoft Office users can take advantage of its built-in Visual Basic for Applications support to automate complex tasks with macros. However, malicious coders can use those same tools to design viruses that may interfere with your work and that of your colleagues. By default, Office is set to disable all macros and notify you when a doc you're reading contains them (to toggle this setting, in Word, select Word Options, Trust Center, Trust Center Settings, Macro Settings), so you should already be safe on this score.

8. Be skeptical of "cleaning" apps. Apps that make vague claims about improving your PC's performance and clearing out its clutter (Registry cleaners, I'm looking at you) will generally do more harm than good (if they do anything at all). To clean up your system, simply run Disk Cleanup (to reach it, select Start Menu, All programs, Accessories, System Tools); it comes with every Windows installation and it won't mess up your PC.

9. Uninstall your old apps. If you regularly download and install new apps from the Internet, you should get in the habit of pruning your collection every now and then. To do so, open the Programs and Features control panel, scroll through the list, and click Uninstall to ditch items you no longer want. You may need to take a trip into your C:/Program Files/ folder to hunt down a few additional unused apps. The less stuff you have on your PC, the less things are to go wrong.

10. Don't let a spilled drink ruin your laptop. If you keep your cool when a spill occurs, you may be able to prevent your data from disappearing and your motherboard from frying. Instead of panicking, quickly but methodically unplug the power cord and yank out the battery--don't wait for Windows to power off. Next, detach anything connected to the PC (network cables, USB devices) and pull out any readily removable components such as an optical drive. Tilt the laptop to try to drain the liquid in the direction that it spilled onto your PC, but be careful--you don't want to tilt the laptop in a direction that would allow the liquid to seep even deeper in. If you see liquid on the surface of the laptop, dab it off with a towel. At this point, unless you're comfortable disassembling your PC and cleaning it with electronics cleaner, you'll probably want to take it to a tech.

11. Turn down UAC. Both Windows 7 and Windows Vista include a security function called User Account Control, which dims the screen and flashes a dialog box whenever you install an app or change your system settings. Though this arrangement can be useful for catching sneaky apps that are trying to install or change things without your knowledge, it can also be annoying. If you use Vista, grab TweakUAC to make it less annoying without turning it off. If you use Windows 7, the default settings aren't too bad, but I recommend that you go into the User Accounts control panel, click User Account Control settings, and change the setting to the third notch down, so UAC will still warn you but it won't dim the screen.

12. Don't work in your admin account. Many PC users are accustomed to doing their everyday work while logged in to their PC's administrator account--especially in Windows XP. Doing so can save you the hassle of having to log in and out when you want to install apps or make changes, but it also leaves you much more vulnerable to viruses and malware--so don't do it.

The Control Panel is far easier to navigate when you can see all the icons at a glance.

13. Keep your Control Panel in Icon View. The Control Panel's Categories view can be useful if you're intimidated by the many different options available, but it can also make finding what you're looking for more difficult (especially if you're following detailed instructions that refer to the control panels by name). Click Classic view on the left (in Vista) or choose Large Icons from the View bydropdown menu in the upper right (in Windows 7), and you'll have ready access to all of the control panels.

Limit the clutter in your system tray by paring down the list of icons that occupy it.

14. Clear your system tray.Apps often park themselves in the system tray (the row of icons on the right side of your taskbar) and stay open without your realizing it. Take the time to clear it out occasionally. Open the Notification Area Icons control panel, and check the box on the bottom that says Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar to get a sense of how cluttered your system tray is; then right-click each one you don't need and choose Close. Your RAM will thank you.

15. Manage your power settings. If you're using a laptop, you'll want to know how to change your power settings so your PC doesn't waste battery when you need to conserve it, doesn't slow down when you need to go fast, and doesn't go to sleep at an inopportune moment. Open the Power Options control panel, and choose from among several presets containing different configurations for when you're plugged in and when you're mobile--or feel free to create your own. To access the advanced settings, click Change plan settings, Change advanced settings; there you'll find detailed options related to your battery, Wi-Fi radio, graphics card, and more.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/203395/15_things_every_pc_user_should_know.html

How to Rename Libraries, Computer, and Favorites in Windows 7 Explorer’s Navigation Pane

2010-08-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share this article with Windows 7 users.

Today in this tutorial, we'll tell you how to rename these items present in Navigation pane. By default, Windows only allows you to rename "Computer" item. You can right-click on it and select "Rename" and type whatever name you want to give.

But what about other items? You can rename them too using a simple registry trick which is mentioned in the coming steps.

We'll modify the same registry keys which we modified in the above mentioned tutorials to remove the items. We'll just edit a String value "LocalizedString" for each Navigation pane item and give it our desired name.

So without wasting any time, lets start the tutorial:

1. Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.

2. Now go to any of following keys according to your requirements:

Favorites - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{323CA680-C24D-4099-B94D-446DD2D7249E}
Libraries - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{031E4825-7B94-4dc3-B131-E946B44C8DD5}
Homegroup - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{B4FB3F98-C1EA-428d-A78A-D1F5659CBA93}
Network - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{F02C1A0D-BE21-4350-88B0-7367FC96EF3C}

3. Now you'll need to change value of "LocalizedString" String value present in the right-side section. But Windows will not allow you to change its value as you won't have proper permissions.

You can use following simple steps to take permission:

Right-click on the key mentioned in Step 2 and select "Permissions...".

It'll open a dialog box, Click on "Advanced" button.

It'll open another dialog box, Go to "Owner" tab.

Select your Username from the list and click on "Apply" button and then OK.

Again click on OK button in the first dialog box.

Now again right-click on the same key and select "Permissions...".

Select your Username in the list and check the "Allow" option for "Full Control".

Click on Apply button and then OK.

4. Now double-click on "LocalizedString" String value given in right-side section and change its value to any desired name like "PC Favorites", "My Libraries", "Home Network", etc.

5. That's it. Now open My Computer and you'll see the new names for each item.

NOTE: If you want to restore the default names, you can use following default values of "LocalizedString" String value:

Favorites - @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21796
Libraries - @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-50691
Homegroup - @%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-50688
Network - @%systemroot%\system32\NetworkExplorer.dll,-1

Source: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-rename-favorites-libraries-homegroup-computer-and-network-items-in-windows-7-explorer’s-navigation-pane/

Checklist Guide for Reinstalling Windows

2010-08-02T09:49:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this checklist guide for reinstalling Windows very useful and would like to share it with you.

Do you need to reinstall Windows on your computer? Here’s a checklist of the things you should do before you make the leap and reinstall.

Whether you’re replacing a dying hard drive in your computer or want to upgrade from XP to Windows 7, there are many reasons you may want to reinstall Windows. Vista and Windows 7 are much less prone to major OS issues that require you to reinstall Windows, but there are many things that can make a reinstall needed. Many people are worried about losing data when reinstalling Windows. However, if you make sure you cover all the things in this list, you should be certain to have your new install of Windows running great with all of your data and programs running as before.

Back up Your Files

As more and more of our lives and memories are stored on computers, losing your files is not an option. We strongly urge everyone to always have complete backups of their data, but even still, you may have many files you need to move when installing Windows. You’ll want to have a copy of your documents, music, videos, pictures, and more copied to another hard drive or disk before you reinstall. If you’ve never changed the default storage locations, most of your files should be stored in your User folder, which you can access by entering%UserProfile% in the address bar in Explorer.

You can copy the files to an external hard drive, flash drive, DVD, Cloud Storage, or even another partition on your primary hard drive; just make sure not to delete the files during the upgrade.

Backup Email

Many programs such as Outlook save data on your computer as well, and if you forget to backup Outlook data you can lose years of work. Here’s how you can copy your PST files from Outlook to your backup drive so you can easily add them to Outlook again once you reinstall Windows.

Find Your Programs to Reinstall

Windows without programs doesn’t let you do much with your computer, so you’ll want to make sure you can easily install all of your programs again once you’ve reinstalled. You could make a list of all your installed programs from your All Programs menu in the Start menu, or you could look through your Program files folders to see what you currently have installed. Then, you’ll need to locate product keys for commercial programs.

This can be difficult and time consuming, so thankfully there’s easier tools to help you find all your programs. System Information for Windows is free for personal use and a great tool that will list the programs you have installed on your computer, as well as the product keys you’ve used to activate them. It will also list all of your hardware, so you can download drivers if Windows doesn’t automatically find them with Windows update.

Check out our article on how to get detailed information about your PC.

If you have lost the installer disks for your programs, a quick web search can often turn up trial downloads that you can activate with your existing product keys that you may have found with SIW. Or, you could try out some alternates to the programs you’ve been using for years.

Great Free Alternatives to Popular Programs

If you’ve been using your computer for many years, you may have a variety of old for-pay and shareware programs installed on your computer. When you look through your list of applications, you might want to consider trying out some newer, free alternatives to other programs. Here’s some we like:

Antivirus – Microsoft Security Essentials is a great, free antivirus and antimalware application, which you can use instead of Norton, MacAfee, or other expensive antivirus solutions. Check our overview of the new MSE 2.0 beta, too.

Archiving Files – Were you using an older version of WinZip or WinRAR before? Try out 7-zip; it’s an excellent free alternative that works with most file archival formats such as zip, rar, cab, and more.

CD/DVD Burning – Windows 7 can burn ISO files to disks without extra software, but if you need extra features, try out the free ImgBurn instead of reinstalling the copy of Roxio or Nero that came with your computer.

Windows Live Essentials includes Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Messenger, and Writer, all of which are great tools that can replace many other for-pay programs. The new Beta edition includes even more features, including advanced photo merge and touchup tools in Photo Gallery that previously were only available in tools like Photoshop Elements. For more photo tools, try out Paint.NET or Picasa.

Music and Video Tools – Most of us don’t pay for media player programs, but while you’re reinstalling, why not try out new programs such as Zune for Windows or the fully customizable Foobar2000 music player.

If you’re looking for replacements for other applications, check out the Alternatives website. This site lists for-pay and free alternatives to many popular programs, and you might even discover some you’ve never heard of.

Cloud Applications

This could also be a good opportunity to try out more online applications. From Google Apps and the new Office Web Apps to Mint.com and Picnik, there are web apps that can replace many standard desktop applications today. If you have broadband internet connection, web apps can often be a great way to use newer applications for free.

You may still want to keep Microsoft Office installed for the times you need to work offline, the service goes down, or you lose your web connection. Even if you use an older version of Office, you might want to keep it incase you’re not comfortable putting all your documents online.

Installing Windows

When you’ve got all your data and programs backed up, you’re ready to install Windows. You can install it from a DVD as normal, or if you have USB flash drive you could install Windows directly from it. We’ve recently installed Windows 7 on a new hard drive in only 15 minutes from a flash drive; it’s amazingly quick.

Once you’ve got Windows installed again, you’ve got 30 days to activate it. But, if you’d like more time to make sure everything’s working properly, here’s yow you can extend the trial to 120 days so you can use it for nearly 4 months without activating. That should be more than enough time to make sure everything’s working perfectly!

Quickly and Automatically Reinstall Apps

You can now copy your files back from your backups and get your programs reinstalled. No one likes clicking through dozens of installers, so we recommend you try out Ninite, a great tool that makes it a snap to install a lot of free and trial programs in a couple clicks. Check out our review of Ninite for more info.

Conclusion

Don’t forget to keep your clean install of Windows up to date with Microsoft Update and protected with Security Essentials! Also, make sure to setup a good backup solution such as Windows Backup and Restore to make sure you don’t lose any of your data if your new hard drive suddenly dies.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/23890/checklist-guide-for-reinstalling-windows/

Your Windows 7 Reliability Monitor

2010-07-30T09:24:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful to keep your PC on the right track and would like to share it with you.

One of the cool little features that arose from the ashes of the disaster known as Windows Vista was the Reliability Monitor. A little-known tool which is almost hidden within the action center, the Reliability tool is great for tracking your computers reliability.

I remember using it when I was running Vista and nearly forgot about it until I was reminded by a weekly podcast to which I subscribe. I did my best to see if we have ever covered the Reliability Monitor here on Windows7News and as far as I can tell, we haven’t.

“Reliability Monitor is an advanced tool that measures hardware and software problems and other changes to your computer. It provides a stability index that ranges from 1 (the least stable) to 10 (the most stable). You can use the index to help evaluate the reliability of your computer. Any change you make to your computer or problem that occurs on your computer affects the stability index.”

Per Microsoft, the Reliability Monitor is intended for advanced computer users, such as software developers and network administrators, but it is easy to use, so even moderate users will have no problem using the tool to track their system over time.

There are two ways to find your PC’s Reliability history:

You can use Windows Search and begin typing the word ‘Reliability’ until the option shows.

Or

Right-click on the white flag in your taskbar to open Action Center.

Click Maintenance. Then, under Check for solutions to problem reports, clickView reliability history.

In Reliability Monitor, you can:

Click any event on the graph to view its details.

Click Days, or Weeks, to view the stability index over a specific period of time.

Click items in the Action column to view more information about it.

Click View all problem reports to view only the problems that have occurred on your computer. This view does not include the other computer events that show up in Reliability Monitor, such as events about software installation.

The layout of the program is pretty self-explanatory and very basic.

You can click on specific unreliable instances to view the details.

The Reliability Monitor is a very basic program with a very basic use. It’s one of the many useful tools provided natively in Windows 7 which can help you keep your PC on the right track.

Source: http://www.windows7news.com/2010/07/28/reliability-monitor/

What's Useful in the Safari Extensions Gallery

2010-07-28T09:45:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to help you to choose some useful Safari Extensions.

Safari's Extensions Gallery has gone live, and there's quite a bit to look through and add to your browser at launch. We took a gander through the offerings and picked out some of the extensions worth noting. Here's the list.

To use these extensions, you'll need to have Safari installed, and have it updated to the latest version. Both Macs and Windows installations have Apple's updating software you can use to grab the 5.0.1 copy, but if you've disabled Apple's Software Update on Windows, you'll need to grab a fresh copy manually.

We've provided links to the extension maker and a direct installation link for each extension we picked out, with each link coming from the extension maker. You may be asked whether you want to Open or Save the file we're linking to (choose "Open"), and if you're sure you want to install that extension ("Install," we presume). To manage these extensions once you've got them installed, head to your Safari preferences and look for the newly-enabled Extensions menu.

Social Networking

Better Facebook: Automatically hides posts you've already read, removes some of the cruft from the site, notifies you of new comments and un-friendings, and more. [Install in Safari]

Shut Up: Kills comments on many sites where you might get sick of them. [Install in Safari]

Bookmarking

Procrastinate: Adds text articles to bookmarking and reading services like Instapaper, Read it Later, and Delicious from an all-in-one toolbar button. [Install in Safari]

Twitter Tools

Twitter for Safari: Twitter's official client for sending tweets, but also reading tweets and seeing Twitter profiles related to the page you're on. You can easily tweet about a page you're looking at, too, with a pre-shortened URL. [Install in Safari]

E-mail

GmailThis: Sends an email through Gmail's compose window, with the page you're on pre-loaded in the subject and body text. Basically, a fancy bookmarklet, but with a nice button. [Install in Safari]

TrueNew Count for Gmail and Google Apps: More than just providing a count of the messages marked unread, TrueNew's counter shows you how many messages are unread since the last time you looked at Gmail or Google Apps. [Install in Safari]

Shopping

InvisibleHand: Like the Firefox and (slightly scandalous) Chrome extensions, InvisibleHand checks the shopping item pages you're looking at to see if the item is offered elsewhere—Amazon, Buy.com, and the like—at a cheaper price. [Install in Safari]

Entertainment

A Cleaner YouTube: Claims to transform YouTube into a "quiet and peaceful place" by cutting out most of everything except the video itself. [Install in Safari]

Turn Off the Lights: As with its nifty Chrome counterpart, this little button throws a shade over everything except the video you're watching on YouTube, Vimeo, or embedded clips. [Install in Safari]

Security

LastPass: One of our favorite universal password systems, LastPass is an elegant little plug-in for storing your passwords, filling them in automatically, and yet keeping them encrypted and available anywhere you go. [Install in Safari]

Web of Trust: Reads out everything the very excellent Web of Trust community knows about the site you're on—encryption, trustworthiness, vendor reliability for various components, and so on. [Install in Safari]

Photos

Awesome Screenshot: Like its Chrome counterpart, Awesome Screenshot handles the capture, annotation, sensitive data blurring, and upload/sharing aspects of grabbing web pages, no extra software needed. [Install in Safari]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5598524/whats-useful-in-the-safari-extensions-gallery

Add Some Visual Flair to the Task Manager Display in Windows 7

2010-07-23T11:58:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to help you to customize Task Manager Display in Windows 7.

If you love to customize your system as much as possible, then we have a fun way for you to change the color scheme for the Task Manager Window. Those Performance and Networking tabs will have a fresh new look in only a few minutes.

Before

The default color scheme for the Performance and Networking tabs is not bad, but if you love customizing your system then even this can be changed.

Getting Started with Task Manager Modder

Task Manager Modder comes in .7z zip file and has a single file inside (Task Manager Modder.exe). All you will need to do is place it in an appropriate Program Files folder and create a shortcut. When you start Task Manager Modder for the first time you will have to agree to the EULA in order to use the program.

You will see an embedded Task Manager Window inside the program window for viewing color modifications and the color controls at the bottom.

Here is a closer look at the color adjustments toolbar. You can select from the set of included colors for each option or enter your own custom color codes if desired. During our tests we chose the colors included with the program.

Here are three examples that we set up on our system. You can have a lot of fun experimenting with the color schemes to get that “just perfect look��. When you have everything fixed just the way that you like click on Modify Taskmgr. Keep in mind that if you have the Task Manager Window open it will temporarily close while the colors are changed then restart. Click Exit when you are finished modifying the color scheme.

After

Our Task Manager Window definitely had a different look and feel to it afterwards.

If you need or want to change back to the default color scheme just click on Restore Taskmgr. As discussed above, if you have the Task Manager Window open it will temporarily close while the colors are reset then restart.

Conclusion

By changing the colors in Task Manager, it could actually help you identify performance issues easier. So if you love to customize as much of your system as possible, then you can definitely have fun with Task Manager Modder.

Links

Download Task Manager Modder

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22470/add-some-visual-flair-to-the-task-manager-display-in-windows-7/

5 Ways to Use Bootable Linux Live Discs

2010-07-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

In the almost 20 years since Linux was first released into the world, free for anyone to use and modify however they like, the operating system has been put to a lot of uses. Today, a vast number of servers run Linux to serve up Web pages and applications, while user-friendly versions of Linux run PCs, netbooks, and even Android and WebOS phones.

One incredibly useful way that Linux has been adapted to the needs of modern computer users is as a "live CD," a version of the operating system that can be booted from a CD (or a DVD or, in some cases, a USB drive) without actually being installed on the computer's hard drive. Given the massive RAM and fast CPUs available on even the lowest-end computers today, along with Linux's generally lower system requirements compared to Windows and Mac OS X, you can run Linux quite comfortably from a CD drive.

Live discs allow you to radically transform the nature of the machine you're working on -- without modifying the installed operating system and software at all. There are a number of reasons you might want to do this. The most obvious is to test a new version or different distribution of Linux before deploying it, saving yourself the surprise of incompatible software or nonfunctional hardware after installation. But even if your business does not plan to deploy Linux as a desktop or server operating system, there are still good reasons to have a live Linux CD or two on hand.

Live CDs are great for system diagnosis and recovery when disaster strikes; they're also useful for securing and testing your network. And for road warriors, the ability to boot up a familiar, customized operating system on any machine, anywhere in the world, has an obvious attraction -- as do specialized live distributions designed to provide security and anonymity for workers with sensitive data or communications to protect.

Live discs are read-only, which means they're quite secure, since malware can't make any changes to the core system. If you do get an infection, it disappears as soon as you reboot.

Here are five ways to use live Linux in your business, as well as pointers to distributions best suited to each particular task.

1. Test-drive Linux

Over the years, Linux has developed from a usability nightmare into a fairly straightforward desktop operating system. With professional-quality productivity tools like OpenOffice.orgfor creating documents, spreadsheets and presentations and GIMP for image editing, as well as versions of familiar applications such as Firefox, Thunderbird, Adobe Reader and Flash, most common business tasks can be done pretty easily on a Linux system.

You can see how well adapted Linux is to your business by running several of the most popular desktop distributions from a live CD. Perhaps the most refined and user-friendly desktop system available right now is Ubuntu, which includes just about every application you could ever ask for, from business productivity apps to programs for multimedia editing, Web design, running databases, serving up Web pages and chatting online.

Ubuntu's installation disk is itself a live CD, so if you decide to install the system later you can just run the installer from the Ubuntu desktop.

2. Recover aging hardware

Linux in general has lower system requirements than other contemporary operating systems, but there are a few distributions that are specially designed to take advantage of old, even ancient, computer hardware, letting you squeeze a few more years of life out of systems you wouldn't even think of running Windows on -- including machines with broken hard drives.

Both Damn Small Linux (DSL) and Puppy Linux are designed for older systems, requiring only a Pentium 486 or equivalent CPU and 128MB of RAM to run well. DSL can even run with just 64MB of RAM. Both launch a usable, if somewhat stripped down, user interface that's perfect for tasks like sending and receiving e-mail, creating documents and surfing the Web -- in other words, basic administrative tasks.

3. Secure your network

Linux is already one of the more secure operating systems, since it was designed from the start as an Internet-connected system. Running it from a live CD makes it even more secure, since the disk image cannot be modified. Several distributions take advantage of the inherent security of the live CD to transform old computer equipment into powerful secure gateways for your network.

Zeroshell can be installed on any PC with a 233-MHz processor and 96MB of RAM to transform it into a fully featured gateway router and firewall. All the advanced features you'd expect from a modern gateway are present, including authentication via RADIUS server, quality-of-service monitoring and traffic-shaping, VPN and the ability to act as an 802.11a/b/g router on machines with the appropriate wireless cards.

4. Restore failed systems and recover lost files

When Windows fails to boot, smart IT professionals reach for their live Linux CDs. Whether the problem is a corrupted operating system or a damaged hard drive, you can boot up Linux from the CD drive, allowing you to read and copy files, run diagnostics or perform other maintenance tasks like partitioning drives.

While most Linux distributions have an assortment of at least some useful diagnostic and recovery tools (and often, looking at a drive through another operating system can be immensely useful in itself), specialized distros like the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) designed to run from discs are ideal for dealing with technical problems.

UBCD is the Swiss Army knife of recovery discs, containing more than 100 tools for performing deep sector-by-sector analysis of a hard drive's physical surface, recovering deleted or damaged files, rebuilding file tables, examining boot-sector errors and plenty more.

5. Work anonymously

Transform any computer into a paranoia-inspired privacy powerhouse using a CD-based distribution such as TAILS, The (Amnesic) Incognito Live System. With TAILS, you can surf the Web in total privacy -- all outgoing traffic is anonymized using the Tor service, which bounces your packets through random servers worldwide before delivering them to their destination.

In addition, the software included with TAILS is configured for privacy by default: Firefox comes with JavaScript and cookies disabled; the e-mail client, Claws, includes integrated GnuPG encryption; the Pidgin IM client is configured for Off-the-Record messaging, which encrypts and strips identifying information from your messages; and so on. Since it boots from a Live CD and saves no information on the host machine, once you remove the disc all traces of your activity simply disappear.

Find more live Linux distros

These choices only scratch the surface of the available Linux systems that can be run from a live CD -- Wikipedia's "List of Live CDs" entry names about 100 different Linux versions with live CDs, as well as live CDs based on other operating systems such as BSD, Solaris and even Windows. If you have a preferred Linux version, check the list -- chances are it will run from a live CD, with all the portability and security benefits that implies.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/201542/5_ways_to_use_bootable_linux_live_discs.html

See Image Previews in Craigslist Listings

2010-07-21T09:46:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share this article with you.

I love Craigslist, but does the service have to be souser-unfriendly? I mean, would it kill Craig (or whoever's in charge these days) to offer some kind of image preview in the listings? As it stands, you have to click through every single item to see whatever photos lie beneath.

To paraphrase a popular slogan, there's a Firefox add-on for that. CLIP (a.k.a. CraigsList Image Prefetcher) adds thumbnail image previews to all Craigslist listings and search results. (And speaking of thumbnails, click the one up top to see a larger version of what CLIP does.)

Even better, CLIP adds previews of the listings themselves. Just mouse over the little arrow to the right of any item and the underlying ad text appears in a pop-up box. That should save you a lot of unnecessary clicking.

While you're at it, be sure to check out CL Genie, a free service that sends you an e-mail whenever a new Craigslist listing matches your search term(s).

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/201530/see_image_previews_in_craigslist_listings.html

Remove Those Stubborn Files From Windows 7

2010-07-14T10:27:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

Every so often you download a file, and when your finished with it, you go to delete it and then you get the famous error message. ” Windows was not able to remove the selected file because it is currently in use” this just drives me nuts when I see it. Ok, right so I just go and close whatever window I had open that caused the file to be in use and try again.

Nope still doesn’t work. Right then, I’ll close every single window and program, that should do the trick. Try to remove the file again, but nope still you keep getting that error message.

You’re getting worried at this stage, is this a virus or what? So you go and reboot your machine, then you go once more to delete the file, but still no luck, error message yet again.

So what do you do? Are you stuck with this file forever? Well not anymore, now there is a program called “Unlocker” which will solve all your problems.

It works with both Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit (there is a different version for each so be sure to download the right one) and even better it’s free.

It works out which processes are running and causing the file to be in use, and kills them which then allows it to delete the file. What’s more, you don’t even have to reboot your machine unlike other file removal programs.

Just a word of note though, because of the nature of this program, several antivirus programs mark it as a false positive and think it’s malware. But rest assured, it’s not and there’s proof of that on the developers blog

You can download the

32 Bit version here

64 Bit version here

Source: http://www.windows7news.com/2010/07/08/remove-stubborn-files-windows-7/

Mount a Windows Share in OS X and Have it Reconnect at Login

2010-07-13T12:12:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers thought that this article will help you to mount Windows share in OS X and have it reconnect at login.

Something Mac users often need to do is be able to access files stored on Windows shares. Here’s a good way to mount those share, and keep t1hem mounting at login.

Mounting the Windows Share

When you are in Finder you can click Go and Connect to Server or you can type Command + K to get to the same menu.

In Server Address you will need to put the location of you Windows share with this formatsmb://server/share where server is the name or IP address of your Windows machine andshare is going to be the folder or drive you want to mount.

If your Windows share requires authentication it will ask you for that info here.

Now if you have Connected Servers showing on your desktop, it will show up on your desktop an in Finder.

Making the Share Mount at Login

To keep the share showing up when you have to log out seems pretty difficult. The internet is littered with ways to write scripts to allow you to do this. But OS X makes it pretty simple if you are just needing to add the share to your machine.

You will need to be in System Preferences for this, which you can get to by clicking on the Apple Menu and then going to System Preferences.

Then you will go to Accounts.

Once in Accounts, you will need go to the Login Items tab. Then you will just drag the share from your desktop or Finder window into the Login Items list.

If your share requires authentication, it may be possible to add the username and password into your keychain with the check box in the authentication window. Some shares will not work with the keychain though.

This is pretty nice if you are working a lot between OS X and Windows, and need to move files between the two.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21600/mount-a-windows-share-in-os-x-and-have-it-reconnect-at-login/

Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal

2010-07-09T09:32:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share this article with you.

If you live in an apartment complex you’ve probably noticed more than just the passive-aggressive network IDs that your neighbors use—very likely you’ve had problems with your wireless connections dropping out, or just not being as fast as you’d like. Here’s a quick fix.

Of course, this isn’t the only thing you need to do to make sure your wireless network is running at maximum speed, but for today’s lesson we’ll show you how to pick the right channel to make sure you can stream the new Futurama episode to your laptop without skipping.

Note: if your Wireless network is working fine, please don’t mess with it. Or at least, don’t blame us if you break it.

Figuring Out the Right Wi-Fi Channel

The first thing you need to do is grab yourself a copy of the free inSSIDer utility, which will scan your wireless network and probably reveal some humorous names from your weird neighbors. If only they could learn how to park their cars like decent human beings.

Let’s take a closer look at that window… you’ll need to choose the right channel band, depending on the router you are using. Mine is a Linksys dual-band Wireless-N router, which has two separate networks… if you aren’t sure, go for the 2.4 GHz one first, and then click the Start Scanning button.

Note: If you have more than one network card enabled, make sure the drop-down has your wireless card selected.

Ideally you’ve selected the right one, and after waiting for a minute or two, you’ll see your network in the list. For example, my test network is called lhdevnet, and it’s currently running on channel 6. If you looked closely at the screenshot earlier, you’d see that there are loads of networks in my apartment complex using the same wireless channel.

Looks like it’s time to change the channel. Hopefully Futurama is on.

Change Your Wireless Channel

If you’re using a Linksys router, you’ll need to browse to the address of your router, which is probably set to http://192.168.1.1 but could be assigned to another address. You can run a quick ipconfig command at the command prompt to check:

In my case the address is different (because I changed it, of course), but what you’re looking for is the Default Gateway for your Wireless connection, and then go to http://<Default Gateway> in your browser. Enter in the password that you hopefully remember, and head to the Wireless –> Basic Wireless Settings tab.

My router has two separate bands, but your router might just have a single band here. In my case, what I’ve done is set the 2.4 GHz band to only be used for Wireless-G, and the 5GHz one to Wireless-N only. Since I’m not having any problems with the Wireless-N settings, I’ve left those on auto.

Where I am having a problem, however, is my Wireless-G devices—so what I’ve done is chosen channel 9, since it’s the only channel that’s not being used by any of my neighbors, who are using mostly channels 1 and 6, though a few are using 11 as well.

Channels 1, 6, and 11 are the most common channels to choose, and most routers will use one of them as the default channel—but the general idea is to be as far away from everybody else as you can.

Note: I’ve also configured my router for 20 MHz only on the 2.4 GHz Wireless-G band, just because that was the only way it would let me choose the standard channel manually.

If you are using a different router, the IP address will generally be the same, but you’ll have to figure out how to change the Wireless channel without any screenshot tours. It’s usually fairly easy, though, once you know what you’re looking for.

Fun Technical notes

If you look closely, you’ll notice that each of the channels are 5 MHz away from each other, but the Channel Width for 2.4 GHz is actually 20 MHz. What this means is while that the channel might be set to channel 6, it’s also partially using 5 and 7, and probably slightly interfering with 4 and 8.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21132/change-your-wi-fi-router-channel-to-optimize-your-wireless-signal/

Two Ways to Remove People From Your Vacation Photos

2010-07-09T09:22:00.001-07:00

Planning summer vacation? Friendly Computers found this article very useful and would like to share it with you.

No matter where you travel this summer, you're probably going to have some trouble taking photos--not necessarily because of any technical issues with your camera, but because there will be so many people in the way of what you're trying to shoot. I've explained before how to erase tourists from your photos using Corel Paint Shop Pro, but this time around I've got two different techniques to share with you: One you can use in almost any photo editor from Adobe Photoshop Elements to GIMP, and an even easier method that works in Adobe Photoshop only.

The Traditional Method: Cloning

One of the oldest and most beloved photo editing tricks, cloning is a handy way to discreetly remove small objects from a photo. To clone away an unwanted element, you just "paint over" it with some texture from a nearby part of the photo. When done well, it can be almost impossible to tell anything was changed, and it's a great way to eliminate tourists from vacation photos. Take this airshow photo, for example, with a distracting pole in the shot. Rather than cropping it out, I'll clone it away.

Most photo editors have a Clone tool. In Photoshop Elements, you can find it in the 15th cubby from the top of the toolbar on the left side of the screen; it looks like an old-fashioned ink stamp. (In GIMP, it's also an ink stamp, sixth from the end of the toolbar.) After you select the tool, find a part of the photo that you can use to paint over the unwanted bits. Look for a section of the photo that would naturally be there. If a tourist is standing in front of a tree, for example, can you copy bits of foliage?

Next, hold the Alt key and click on the part of the photo that you want to use as your source. Also, you might need to adjust the size of the clone brush--you can adjust that in the Tool Options palette at the top of the screen. Make the size big enough that you can dab and paint sections of the photo with each stroke. It shouldn't feel like you're etching with a sharpened pencil.

You can also experiment with the opacity control in the Tool Options palette. Setting the opacity at 100 percent will completely obliterate the unwanted element, but the source material that you're cloning might look unnaturally pasted in as well--reducing the opacity can help to blend the new and old parts of the photo.

When you're ready, just start painting. Wherever you paint, you'll replace the pixels under your brush with "borrowed" bits from the source location. There's an art to painting with the Clone tool. Like learning to play a musical instrument, you'll need to practice with it before your results look realistic and attractive--just like my airshow shot, without that annoying pole.

An Easier Method: Stacking Photos in Photoshop

If slaving over the Clone tool sounds like too much work, then I've got a fast and simple solution that you might enjoy. The downside? Not only does it require the full Creative Suite edition of Photoshop, but it's also a technique you have to plan for when you originally take the photo.

In a nutshell, Photoshop can take a series of similar photos and automatically remove parts that don't belong in all the photos, leaving behind only those sections that are identical in every one. Here's a crowded shot, for example, with people moving around in the scene.

Here's what to do: When you take a photo of something in which a bunch of tourists are cluttering up the photo, take a bunch of photos so that, over a handful of shots, you thoroughly photograph every bit of the scene. In each photo, you'll have unwanted people, but they'll move around from shot to shot, leaving the background consistent in every frame you shoot. It's best to shoot this on a tripod, but if you're hand-holding the camera it might be okay; just be sure to keep the framing as consistent as possible in every photo.

When you get home, load all the photos into Photoshop and then choose File, Scripts, Statistics. Change the Stack Mode to Median, and then click Add Open Files. Finally, click OK. That's all you need to do. Photoshop will think for a little while (depending upon how many photos you supplied), and you will end up with a photo with no tourists, almost like magic. I took a series of six photos to get this human-free photo.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/200184/two_ways_to_remove_people_from_your_vacation_photos.html

How to Jailbreak Your iPad (Plus 8 Things to Do With It)

2010-06-30T10:26:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

Apple's iOS 4 enables multitasking and other new and useful features, but the iPad can't join the party until this fall. If you jailbreak your iPad, however, you can multitask today--and that's just the beginning.

Your jailbroken iPad can run all kinds of third-party apps far beyond the selection in Apple's App Store. Want to sync over Wi-Fi, connect a Bluetooth GPS or mouse, and browse the entire iPad file structure? Here's how.

Jailbreaking Basics

Jailbreaking your iPad lets you install third-party utilities and applications. (That's different from "unlocking," which allows you to use a device with a different phone carrier.) When jailbroken, the iPad becomes an actual computer in that you can tweak the interface and make modifications at the lowest levels. This is a double-edged sword: You could run unstable tools or even damage your device, although that's highly unlikely. Remember that with your jailbroken iPad, Apple isn't around to tell you what you can and can't do with it--for better or for worse.

Fortunately, if you pay attention to what you're doing, you can run the warranty-voiding process without incident--and if you change your mind later, you can return to Apple's default, locked-down environment.

How to Jailbreak Your iPad

As with all major installations, begin with a backup. Connect the iPad to your computer. In the left iTunes column, right-click the iPad's name, and pick Backup. You can restore your data from here if needed.

Download Spirit to jailbreak the iPad. Note that the jailbreak process depends highly on your version of iTunes and iOS. As of this writing, Spirit hadn't yet been updated to work with iTunes 9.2; be sure that you have an older version of iTunes or that Spirit now supports iTunes 9.2 before proceeding. The jailbreaking community usually compensates for Apple's updates within several days or weeks.

Unplug other iPod devices, and connect your iOS 3.2 iPad directly to your computer. Run Spirit. The process will modify and restart the iPad; leave everything alone until the process is complete. Did it work? Great.

If it didn't work--as happened to me initially--quit Spirit and restore your iPad in iTunes. If iTunes won't even recognize the iPad, kick it into DFU (device firmware upgrade) mode. Connect the iPad, and hold the lock and home buttons for 10 seconds. Release the lock button, but continue holding the home button. The screen should stay black, but the iPad should appear in iTunes. Restore the iPad, and then reattempt the jailbreak.

Again, if you ever get cold feet and want to revert to your iPad's original state, just restore the iPad in iTunes. If iTunes doesn't recognize the iPad, put it in DFU mode first.

What to Do After You Jailbreak Your iPad

After completing the jailbreak, you'll see a new icon named Cydia. This is the center for downloading free and paid apps and tweaks. These apps coexist with your App Store programs, so you don't have to commit to one or the other.

Cydia connects to various sources to download and install packages. Though Cydia includes its trusted sources by default, you can add others. (I'll explain how later.) You can also download other stores, such as Rock App; Rock even includes a way for you to try demos of many downloads before purchase.

When you launch Cydia, it will check the version numbers of your apps against its latest files and prompt you to install updates if necessary. Even if you don't want any more apps, open Cydia once in a while to look for updates.

Before you dig through the Cydia options, back up your iPad's ECID SHSH--an identification code that Apple uses to determine which devices can install what firmware--with the Cydia server. If, in the future, you accidentally install an iOS update that defeats jailbreaking, you should be able to use this backup to revert to the prior, jailbreak-friendly version of the OS. Within Cydia, approve the backup when first prompted with a dialog box, or pick the option within the main page.

Your iPad also now has a default, root login that anyone could guess. Since Cydia and various apps can enable additional network functionality, set a new password. Follow the directions under 'Root Password How-To' in Cydia; basically, you'll install a terminal program and enter a few commands.

Add Multitasking

Apple's iOS 4 only partially multitasks. Apps need to be written for multitasking--the feature isn't enabled for everything--and further restrictions dictate what apps can do in the background. With a jailbroken iPad, however, you can multitask with any app. This comes in handy in various ways, permitting you to leave a cooking-timer app active, for instance, or to pause a game that doesn't save.

To add multitasking, install Backgrounder (free). Tap Search within Cydia to find it.

If you press the home button, the iPad will quit apps as it normally does. But if you hold the button for several seconds, a message will appear, saying that the program will keep running in the background. (If you want to quit an app later, repeat this process to exit completely.)

Keep an eye out, too, for an iPad update to the Multifl0w iPhone tool. This multitasking add-on swaps between active applications, showing a preview of the other apps.

Sync Over Wi-Fi

Tired of connecting over USB to sync with iTunes? Cut the cord, and sync through Wi-Fi. The process is slower than that of USB, but it works well. Within Cydia, search for and install Wi-Fi Sync ($10)

Install the companion utility on your computer. Then, with iTunes open, run Wi-Fi Sync on the iPad. iTunes will recognize the connected iPad, and you can initiate a sync from the app.

Add a Bluetooth Mouse

Apps occasionally feel like they need a mouse. You can connect most Bluetooth mice--but not the Mighty Mouse--through BTstack Mouse. Search for and install the free app through Cydia.

Once BTstack Mouse is installed, run the app and set your mouse to discoverable mode. Pick it out, and the app will superimpose a mouse pointer on the screen. Click just as if you were on a traditional computer.

BTstack Mouse disables Apple's built-in Bluetooth protocol. If you want to connect a keyboard as well, install BTstack Keyboard ($5) too.

Manage Your Files as You Do on a PC

Without a file browser, it's hard to get documents on and off the iPad. So install one. The free iFile lets you rummage through the iPad's disk structure; search for and install it through Cydia.

Once launched, iFile can also set itself up as a file server, so you can access files back on a computer. Tap the antenna icon at the bottom of the screen, and connect to the listed address on a Web browser.

Add GPS Through Bluetooth

BTstack GPS connects to a range of Bluetooth GPS devices; if you have a Wi-Fi iPad, you can enable GPS for most apps. Search for and install the free app through Cydia.

I connected a DeLorme Earthmate Blue Logger GPS unit. To set up your GPS device, open the BTstack GPS app, set the device to discoverable, and select it in the iPad. Once you have a clear satellite signal, the iPad will recognize your location.

Play Classic Games

On the App Store, Apple doesn't allow applications that run executable code. That shuts out one of my favorite entertainment apps, ScummVM (free). The classic LucasArts adventure games from the 1990s--and many others--ran on the SCUMM engine, and this application can play those games. You just need to track down copies of the original games; for many people, that's simply a matter of looking in the closet.

To get the latest ScummVM release, install a new source within Cydia. Tap More Package Sources in the main Cydia screen, and pick UrbanFanatics.com. TapInstall. Now, search for ScummVM, and install the free app.

Transfer your games to the iPad. I used the iFile server feature, moving the files through a Web browser. Open up ScummVM, locate the directory with the games, and begin playing.

Customize the Interface

After sampling many of the terrible interface tweaks available, you might appreciate Apple's design even more. Still, some tweaks add great features.

My favorite iPad-compatible interface tweak, Infiniboard($2), lets you place as many app icons on a page as you want. When you get to the bottom of the screen, you just scroll down to see the rest. It's a simple way to organize apps without running out of room.

Music Controls ($5) adds an interface for background audio apps. It supports dozens of other apps, including Pandora, Slacker, and the default iPod app. Music Controls gives you many control options, too, such as putting buttons and song info in the Status Bar and even using swipe gestures to control background apps.

Run iPhone Apps Full Screen (With Better Results)

Though you can blow up iPhone-only apps to fit much of the iPad's screen, the result is chunky and the process is a weak workaround. Instead of waiting for native, higher-resolution editions, try the free FullForce (available via Cydia), which sharply renders apps with great results and a few caveats.

Apps that aren't constrained to two-dimensional art look the best. Text-driven apps and many 3D games can look great. In my tests,Pandemonium, Remote,Stair Dismount, and others looked like native apps. Try your favorites to see what works.

You're Free!

These apps and tweaks are just the surface; be sure to browse through the hundreds of apps and utilities in Cydia to find more.

As you use your hacked iPad, avoid iPad updates from Apple, since they can revert your device to the non-jailbroken state. But once Spirit or another tool is compatible, you can run the Apple update and then jailbreak your iPad again.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/199834-2/how_to_jailbreak_your_ipad_plus_8_things_to_do_with_it.html

Top 10 Clever Google Voice Tricks

2010-06-28T10:17:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

Earlier this week, Google Voice opened to everyone in the U.S.. The phone management app is great, but even cooler hacks exist just under the hood. Here are our favorite tricks every Google Voice user should know about.

If you're just signing up for Google Voice, and wondering, in general, what it's good for, we've previously offered our take on whether Google Voice makes sense for you, and how to ease your transition to your new number and system. Google Voice also offers the option to just use it for voicemail and keep your number, but you won't get use of much of the SMS features touted here. Now, onto Voice's lesser-known perks and features:

10. Manage Voicemail and Text Messages Through Email

It's not a "hidden" feature, per se, but it's not made apparent that you can have Google Voice send you an email when you get a new voicemail message or a text message—and that you can reply, from your email client, to those text messages. Because they come from a standardtxt.voice.google.com, they're also easy to filter and set alerts for. If you're a Gmail user, you can also play messages back right in Gmail, and they'll be marked as listened to in your Voice account. (Original post)

9. Set as Your Skype Caller ID

Free internet calling service Skype is a really cheap way to make phone calls to a landline from your computer. One big downside, though, is those you're calling probably don't recognize the caller, and your number might change every time you call. Google Voice set up their servers, though, to allow setting your Google Voice number as a Skype caller ID. Commenter downdb explains the step-by-step process, which generally involves confirming a text message code and waiting for Skype to change your number.

8. Use Your Location to Determine Which Phones Ring

You can set up time-based rules for your phones in Google Voice—so, for example, your home phone doesn't ring from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.—but not everybody works a regular schedule. Chad Smith, a Wichita-based geek who loves him some Google Voice, set up a clever means of syncing Google Voice with your GPS location, using some PHP scripting and the Locale geo-location app. When you're away from home, you can have only your cellphone ring. When you're at home, you can have a VoIP line and your home line ring. If you're not rocking your own PHP-friendly server space, there's a somewhat beta-level app in the Market, Google Voice Locations (scan-able QR link here) that accomplishes much the same kind of GPS-aware phone management.

7. Use "Do Not Disturb" to Get Work Done

If you've managed to make Google Voice your one number that rings all your phones, you can enact a cloak of silence when you really need to get things done by enabling "Do Not Disturb" for a certain amount of time. All your calls go straight to voicemail, and nothing buzzes or plays a ringtone. It would be even nicer if Google could delay your SMS for the same time—that's often just as deadly a distraction. (Original post)

6. Send Yourself Advanced Voice Memos

True, you could use a digital recorder, or just call your own voicemail, to leave yourself a voice memo about something you need to remember later. But using Google Voice, you can have that voice memo transcribed to text, sent to your Outlook inbox at work, backed up forever in Gmail, and smartly delivered just where you need it. Drew Vogel's setup sets up his system so that all his other phones don't ring when he calls himself from one of them, and also gets his note-to-selfs into his Outlook box. Mark Stout's method sets up a special greeting for when he calls ("Record note now"), then has that message sent first to Gmail, then forwarded to cloud-based memory service Evernote. Mix and match settings from the two, and you'll feel like you've got your own personal assistant that lives in the cloud and only wants to help you remember things. (Original posts: Stout, Vogel).

5. Upgrade Your Cellphone Voice Plan to Unlimited

Every major U.S. cellular carrier offers some kind of "pick a few numbers, talk with them for free" plan. You know what happens when you make your Google Voice number one of your "friends"? Yep—unlimited free calls on your cellphone. Since everyone gets a unique Google Voice number, it would be hard for AT&SprintRizon-Mobile to start universally blocking Google Voice from your picks. So, for the time being, enjoy living beyond your cellular talk time means through the magic of whatever business plan Google has for Voice.

4. Send Text Messages Through Your IM Client

Google Voice's web site is pretty fast and easy to grasp, and there are a few nifty desktop clients, like the Google Voice AIR app, that make it easy to send messages with a click or two. But you've already got an instant communication system set up—instant messaging, in fact—and you can receive, reply, and send SMS through it.GVXMPP hooks together your Google Voice text messaging, your email address, and your IM client, so that when a friend texts you, it shows up as a kind of IM, and when you reply, it goes back to their phone—no extra thought, web tab, or phone reach needed. (Original post)

3. Use Voice on an iPhone, Despite Apple's Block

Apple generated a good bit of criticism when it blocked the Google Voice app from its iPhone app store, but doesn't seem to be backing down any time soon. In the meantime, Google has created a pretty powerful webapp as a partial work-around (that also works on Palm WebOS phones). For even tighter iPhone integration with Google Voice, you can use GVMax. The free app can send Google Voice SMS messages to your IM client or email address, and then notify you through a push message that you've got a new message. (Original post)

2. Use Google Voice SMS and Call Shortcuts from Any Phone

Google Voice has crafted pretty neat mobile apps for Android and BlackBerry phones that integrate Google's free SMS messaging. If you're not on one of those platforms, or don't have any kind of data plan, you can still hide your "real" number behind Voice and benefit from its inbox. Gina explained how to do it with a standard phone. It unfortunately involves saving a kind of "alternate" number for each contact, but most modern phones make that fairly easy. Luckily, you can also use that alternate number to call your contact through Google Voice.

1. Make and Receive Free VoIP Calls with Your Google Voice Number

Google Voice once integrated nicely with the free, Skype-like Gizmo5 service. Then Google bought Gizmo5 and closed down new registrations. They might come back—heck, Google might offer its own desktop client someday. In the meantime, we've detailed how to make free computer calls to any phone with Google Voice, using the free Sipgate service, which gives you your own actual phone number that you can feed to Google Voice as just another phone you can have ring whenever you want.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5573714/top-10-clever-google-voice-tricks

How to Prevent Your Computer from Overheating (and Why It's Important)

2010-06-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article very important and would like to share it with you.

Keeping your computer running within safe temperatures is important, especially as the temperature rises outside. Here's how to make sure your computer's not overheating—and how to fix it if it is.

The cooling system of your computer is one of the most important features of the device. Without the cooling system, the electrical components of your computer wouldn't be able to function; overheating would damage the integral parts of what makes your computer work. The heat has to be dissipated in order to keep everything working within safe operating temperatures.

Why an Overheated Computer Is Dangerous

Simply put, if your computer becomes too hot, it is possible to destroy and shorten the lifespan of the hardware inside your computer, leading to irreparable damage and potential data loss. Besides losing your data, heat pecks away at your computer's internal organs—the motherboard, CPU, and more—significantly shortening its lifespan.

Besides the most obvious reason to keep your computer cool, a hot computer will also run slower than a cooler computer. So to prevent your computer from slowing down, make sure that it is running at a moderate or low temperature.

What Temperature Should My Computer Be Running At?

Because of the different types of computer makes and models out there, the safe temperature range your computer should run at varies. The safe operating range depends on things like processor type, manufacturer, and other factors that make it impossible to give an answer that applies to all CPUs.

According to the folks at the Overclockers Club (a site dedicated to pushing CPU performance to its limits without overheating your CPU):

AMD and Intel both have maximum temperature ratings for their CPUs listed around 80C. If your CPU gets this hot, you've got some serious problems. Most people try and keep the CPU temperature below 40C at idle and below 55C at load.

How To Check The Temperature of Your PC

Sticking your hand over your computer's ventilation system or case isn't an accurate way to judge how hot your computer is running. (However, it can be a good gauge of whether you computer is getting progressively hotter, or climbing to astronomical temperatures. It should not be so hot that you would want to pull back your hand.) So how do you determine how hot your system's running? You've got a few options.

To check the computer's temperature without additional software, you can check your system BIOS. Restart your computer, and on the boot screen, you should have an option to press a key (often Delete) to enter the BIOS. Once you enter Setup, navigate the BIOS menu using the on-screen instructions. You should be able to find a menu that deals with the computer's hardware monitors and CPU. There should be a field that lists your CPU temperature.

Rather not restart your computer to check the temp? We don't blame you. Plenty of system monitoring tools can give you a temperature read-out, like free Windows program HWMonitor, which displays the temperature of the CPU, each of the computer's cores, video card, hard drives, along with the minimum and maximum values of each temperature. (Unfortunately, you'll need to make sure that your hardware is supported because the program can only read certain sensors.)

We've featured several system monitoring options in the past that can also handle these duties, like the cross-platform, previously mentioned GKrellM (Windows/Mac/Linux), system-tray friendly app Real Temp, Core Temp, and SpeedFan. SpeedFan has the added bonus of being able to show how fast each fan is spinning, complete with RPM readings.

How to Keep Your Computer From Overheating

Most computers come with adequate cooling systems and plenty of fans, but here are some steps you can take to ensure heat doesn't become a problem.

Keep it clean: The first step in overheating prevention is making sure that the insides of the computer are kept clean. We've covered how to give your computer a spring cleaning to get rid of the dust that's a huge culprit in raising your computer's temperature.

Like we previously mentioned, internal dust buildup over time can lead to heating problems:

Dust is an insulator. When you crack open the case of your computer and [it's blanketed with dust] you're looking at a computer that's facing a radically reduced life span. Every inch of it is covered with a blanket of insulating dust that raises the temperature of components across the board. Your computer might not be that dusty but given how easy it is to clean out a computer, it's ridiculous not to. Not taking the time to dust out your computer once or twice a year is like being too busy to get your oil changed.

So what happens if you've got all that dust? You arm yourself with a Philips screwdriver, mechanical oil dropper, and a can of compressed air and get to work. Luckily we've got a step-by-step guide with pictures on how to banish those dust bunnies from your computer. While we used a damp cloth to clean our fans, typical geek procedure says to use the compressed can of air to blow out the fans, inlets, and heat sinks. Among the really important things to check for is the fan on top of the CPU, the filters over the fans, and the fan on the power supply.

Avoid hot neighbors: It's also important to check the physical location of your computer. If you have devices nearby that are blowing hot air into the computer's intakes, that's not good either. Ideally, the flow of air where the fans are should be steady and adequate, with room for the computer to breathe.

Photo by sneaka.

If Your Computer Overheats Anyway

Here's a word of caution: If your computer is overheating, resist the urge to take the side of the case off the computer. It's a rookie mistake that will often make the problem worse. Because most computers are very carefully designed to ensure that cool air is delivered to critical components, removing the side of the case disrupts the circulation (convection) system.

Instead, shut down the computer and let it cool down. From then on, you can plan a course of action that involves doing some cleaning if necessary, potentially upgrading your BIOS (check your motherboard's manual or web site for details), or planning some system-cooling upgrades if necessary.

If your computer is clean, your BIOS is up to date, and you're still having temperature problems, crack open your computer and check for damaged fans and heat sinks. Check for cracks, missing pieces, and make sure all the push pins are secure and all the appropriate fans are running. Secure and/or replace any loose or damaged cables. If you find you've got broken fans or a damaged heatsink, you can buy and install new cooling hardware for relatively cheap, and finding a highly rated, compatible fan or heatsink on a site like Neweggcan potentially go a long ways toward keeping your computer cooler.

If you're not comfortable cracking open your PC and installing new parts, this is the point that you may want to consider finding some professional help.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5570909/how-to-prevent-your-computer-from-overheating-and-why-its-important

Increase the Speed of the Aero Taskbar Thumbnails in Windows 7

2010-06-23T09:59:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful for Windows 7 users and would like to share it with you.

By default you may notice that there is a slight delay when hovering your mouse over a Taskbar Thumbnail. Here is a neat registry hack that will allow you to speed it up.

Registry Hack

First type regedit into the search box in the Start Menu and hit Enter.

Now navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced and right-click to create a new DWORD and name it ExtendedUIHoverTime.

Now double-click on it and give it a Decimal value of “1” click OK, close out of Registry Editor, then logoff and back on for it to go into effect.

When you come back, you’ll notice when you hover your mouse over a thumbnail of an open app on the Taskbar the preview pops up instantly with no delay.

Slow it Down

If for some reason you want to slow it down you can do that too. Just change the Decimal value to something else like 1000 which is milliseconds. Then the delay will be a lot longer. You can change the value to whatever you want for your needs. We’re not sure why anyone would want to slow the preview down, but you never know.

If you’re annoyed by the small delay that takes place when hovering over a thumbnail on the Taskbar, this neat registry hack will fix the annoyance. If you want to increase the size of the Thumbnail Previews check out our article on using Windows 7 Taskbar Thumbnail Customizer.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/20052/increase-the-speed-of-the-aero-taskbar-thumbnails-in-windows-7/

Securely wipe your data with a hidden Windows 7 tool

2010-06-21T10:35:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

There are a huge number of third-party tools to allow you to securely wipe all the data on a hard disk in Windows, but did you know that Windows 7 itself contains a hidden utility for not only wiping data on drives, but also down to specific folders if you wish?

While I’ve been writing my new book,Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out, I’ve had to research all sorts of stuff in Windows7 (and I’ll be sharing more in coming weeks) and one of the little gems I found is a command line utility called Cipher.exe.

This is run from the Command Prompt (you’ll need to run it as an Administrator) and is simplicity itself to use.

The command is Simply cipher /w x:\folder where you would substitute x:\folder for the location you want wiped, for instance your D:\ drive or your C:\Users\Mike Halsey\Musicfolder.

In the help for the command it says it…

removes data from available unused disk space on the entire volume. If this option is chosen, all other options are ignored. The directory specified can be anywhere in a local volume. If it is a mount point of points to a directory in another volume, the data on that volume will be removed.

This will then write 1s, 0s and then random characters to each sector of the drive to securely wipe the data.

This is but one purpose of the cipher tool which is generally used to backup and restore encryption keys for the EFS (Encrypted File System) system that’s been around since Windows 2000. This wipe feature though is new to Windows 7.

I would always recommend you use any tool like this with extreme care, but if you are dumping a hard drive or replacing an ageing PC, this is an excellent and completely free way to wipe your data forever.

Source: http://windows7news.com/2010/06/20/securely-wipe-your-data-with-a-hidden-windows-7-tool/

Quickly Copy Movie Files to Individually Named Folders

2010-06-18T09:23:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share with you this useful article.

Some HTPC media manager applications require movie files to be in stored in separate folders to properly store information such as cover art images and other metadata. Here we look at copying movie files to individual folders.

If you already have a large movie collection stored in a single folder, we’ll show you how to quickly move those files into their own individually named folders.

File2Folder

FIle2folder is a handy portable app that automatically creates and moves movie files into a folder of the same filename. There is no installation needed. Simply download and run the .exe file (link below). Enter the current movie directory, or browse for the folder. File2folder now supports both local and network shares.

When you are ready to create the folders and move the files, click Move!

You’ll see the move progress displayed in the window.

When the process is finished, you’ll have all your movie file in individual folders.

Change your mind? Just click the Undo! button…

…and the move and folder creation process will be undone.

If you would like to have the folder monitored for new files, click the Start button. File2folder will process any new files it discovers every 180 seconds. To turn it off, click Stop.

This simple little program is a huge timesaver for those looking to organize movie collections for their HTPC. We should also note that this will work with any files, not just videos.

Download file2folder

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19707/quickly-copy-movie-files-to-individually-named-folders/

Monitor your Hard Drive’s Health with Acronis Drive Monitor

2010-06-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

Are you worried that your computer’s hard drive could die without any warning? Here’s how you can keep tabs on it and get the first warning signs of potential problems before you actually lose your critical data.

Hard drive failures are one of the most common ways people lose important data from their computers. As more of our memories and important documents are stored digitally, a hard drive failure can mean the loss of years of work. Acronis Drive Monitor helps you avert these disasters by warning you at the first signs your hard drive may be having trouble. It monitors many indicators, including heat, read/write errors, total lifespan, and more. It then notifies you via a taskbar popup or email that problems have been detected. This early warning lets you know ahead of time that you may need to purchase a new hard drive and migrate your data before it’s too late.

Getting Started

Head over to the Acronis site to download Drive Monitor (link below). You’ll need to enter your name and email, and then you can download this free tool.

Also, note that the download page may ask if you want to include a trial of their for-pay backup program. If you wish to simply install the Drive Monitor utility, click Continue without adding.

Run the installer when the download is finished. Follow the prompts and install as normal.

Once it’s installed, you can quickly get an overview of your hard drives’ health. Note that it shows 3 categories: Disk problems, Acronis backup, and Critical Events. On our computer, we had Seagate DiskWizard, an image backup utility based on Acronis Backup, installed, and Acronis detected it.

Drive Monitor stays running in your tray even when the application window is closed. It will keep monitoring your hard drives, and will alert you if there’s a problem.

Find Detailed Information About Your Hard Drives

Acronis’ simple interface lets you quickly see an overview of how the drives on your computer are performing. If you’d like more information, click the link under the description. Here we see that one of our drives have overheated, so click Show disks to get more information.

Now you can select each of your drives and see more information about them. From theDisk overview tab that opens by default, we see that our drive is being monitored, has been running for a total of 368 days, and that it’s health is good. However, it is running at 113F, which is over the recommended max of 107F.

The S.M.A.R.T. parameters tab gives us more detailed information about our drive. Most users wouldn’t know what an accepted value would be, so it also shows the status. If the value is within the accepted parameters, it will report OK; otherwise, it will show that has a problem in this area.

One very interesting piece of information we can see is the total number of Power-On Hours, Start/Stop Count, and Power Cycle Count. These could be useful indicators to check if you’re considering purchasing a second hand computer. Simply load this program, and you’ll get a better view of how long it’s been in use.

Finally, the Events tab shows each time the program gave a warning. We can see that our drive, which had been acting flaky already, is routinely overheating even when our other hard drive was running in normal temperature ranges.

Monitor Acronis Backups And Critical Errors

In addition to monitoring critical stats of your hard drives, Acronis Drive Monitor also keeps up with the status of your backup software and critical events reported by Windows. You can access these from the front page, or via the links on the left hand sidebar. If you have any edition of any Acronis Backup product installed, it will show that it was detected. Note that it can only monitor the backup status of the newest versions of Acronis Backup and True Image.

If no Acronis backup software was installed, it will show a warning that the drive may be unprotected and will give you a link to download Acronis backup software.

If you have another backup utility installed that you wish to monitor yourself, clickConfigure backup monitoring, and then disable monitoring on the drives you’re monitoring yourself.

Finally, you can view any detected Critical events from the Critical events tab on the left.

Get Emailed When There’s a Problem

One of Drive Monitor’s best features is the ability to send you an email whenever there’s a problem. Since this program can run on any version of Windows, including the Server and Home Server editions, you can use this feature to stay on top of your hard drives’ health even when you’re not nearby. To set this up, click Options in the top left corner.

Select Alerts on the left, and then click the Change settings link to setup your email account.

Enter the email address which you wish to receive alerts, and a name for the program. Then, enter the outgoing mail server settings for your email. If you have a Gmail account, enter the following information:

Outgoing mail server (SMTP):
smtp.gmail.com

Port:
587

Username and Password:
Your gmail address and password

Check the Use encryption box, and then select TLS from the encryption options.

It will now send a test message to your email account, so check and make sure it sent ok.

Now you can choose to have the program automatically email you when warnings and critical alerts appear, and also to have it send regular disk status reports.

Conclusion

Whether you’ve got a brand new hard drive or one that’s seen better days, knowing the real health of your it is one of the best ways to be prepared before disaster strikes. It’s no substitute for regular backups, but can help you avert problems. Acronis Drive Monitor is a nice tool for this, and although we wish it wasn’t so centered around their backup offerings, we still found it a nice tool.

Link

Download Acronis Drive Monitor (registration required)

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19591/monitor-your-hard-drives-health-with-acronis-drive-monitor/

What’s the Difference Between Viruses, Trojans, Worms, and Other Malware?

2010-06-14T09:36:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article interesting and would like to share it with you.

Lifehacker's tech-savvy readers are the first people on speed-dial when it's time to heal an infected PC, but how much do you really know about viruses, spyware, scareware, trojans, and worms? Here's a helpful guide to understanding all the different types of malware.

The point of today's lesson, of course, is to help you teach your friends and family more about the different types of malware, and debunk a few of the common myths about viruses. Who knows, maybe you'll learn a thing or two as well.

What is Malware?

The word Malware is short for malicious software, and is a general term used to describe all of the viruses, worms, spyware, and pretty much anything that is specifically designed to cause harm to your PC or steal your information.

Viruses Wreak Havoc On Your Files

The term computer virus is often used interchangeably with malware, though the two don't actually have the same meaning. In the strictest sense, a virus is a program that copies itself and infects a PC, spreading from one file to another, and then from one PC to another when the files are copied or shared. Image by Joffley

Most viruses attach themselves to executable files, but some can target a master boot record, autorun scripts, MS Office macros, or even in some cases, arbitrary files. Many of these viruses, like CIH, are designed to render your PC completely inoperable, while others simply delete or corrupt your files—the general point is that a virus is designed to cause havoc and break stuff.

You can protect yourself from viruses by making certain your antivirus application is always updated with the latest definitions and avoiding suspicious looking files coming through email or otherwise. Pay special attention to the filename—if the file is supposed to be an mp3, and the name ends in .mp3.exe, you're dealing with a virus.

Spyware Steals Your Information

Spyware is any software installed on your PC that collects your information without your knowledge, and sends that information back to the creator so they can use your personal information in some nefarious way. This could include keylogging to learn your passwords, watching your searching habits, changing out your browser home and search pages, adding obnoxious browser toolbars, or just stealing your passwords and credit card numbers.

Since spyware is primarily meant to make money at your expense, it doesn't usually kill your PC—in fact, many people have spyware running without even realizing it, but generally those that have one spyware application installed also have a dozen more. Once you've got that many pieces of software spying on you, your PC is going to become slow.

What many people don't realize about spyware is that not every antivirus software is designed to catch spyware. You should check with the vendor to make sure the application you are using to protect you from malware is actually checking for spyware as well. If you come across a PC that is already heavily infected, run a combination of MalwareBytes andSuperAntiSpyware to clean it thoroughly.

Scareware Holds Your PC for Ransom

Scareware is a relatively new type of attack, where a user is tricked into downloading what appears to be an antivirus application, which then proceeds to tell you that your PC is infected with hundreds of viruses, and can only be cleaned if you pay for a full license. Of course, these scareware applications are nothing more than malware that hold your PC hostage until you pay the ransom—in most cases, you can't uninstall them or even use the PC.

If you manage to come across a PC infected with one of these, your best bet is to Google the name of the virus and find specific instructions on how to remove it, but the steps are usually the same—run a combination of MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, and maybe ComboFix if you need to.

For more on scareware, including a full walk-through of how a PC actually gets infected in the first place, check out the guide I wrote on removing Internet Security 2010 and other fake antivirus malware.

Trojan Horses Install a Backdoor

Trojan horses are applications that look like they are doing something innocuous, but secretly have malicious code that does something else. In many cases, trojans will create a backdoor that allows your PC to be remotely controlled, either directly or as part of a botnet—a network of computers also infected with a trojan or other malicious software. The major difference between a virus and a trojan is that trojans don't replicate themselves—they must be installed by an unwitting user. Image by otzberg

Once your PC has been infected with the trojan, it can be used for any number of nefarious purposes, like a denial of service (DoS) attack against a web site, a proxy server for concealing attacks, or even worse—for sending out buckets of spam. Protection against trojans works the same way as viruses—make sure that your antivirus application is up to date, don't open suspicious attachments, and think long and hard before you try and use a downloaded crack for Photoshop—that's one of malware authors' favorite spots to hide a trojan.

Worms Infect Through the Network

Computer worms use the network to send copies of themselves to other PCs, usually utilizing a security hole to travel from one host to the next, often automatically without user intervention. Because they can spread so rapidly across a network, infecting every PC in their path, they tend to be the most well-known type of malware, although many users still mistakenly refer to them as viruses. Image by me and the sysop

Some of the most famous worms include theILOVEYOU worm, transmitted as an email attachment, which cost businesses upwards of 5.5 billion dollars in damage. The Code Red worm defaced 359,000 web sites, SQL Slammer slowed down the entire internet for a brief period of time, and the Blaster worm would force your PC to reboot repeatedly.

Because worms often exploit a network vulnerability, they are the one type of malware that can be partially prevented by making sure your firewall is enabled and locked down—you'll still need an updated antivirus software, of course.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5560443/whats-the-difference-between-viruses-trojans-worms-and-other-malware

How Does Office Web Apps Compare to Google Docs?

2010-06-11T09:16:00.001-07:00

Are you using Google Docs? Microsoft rolled out its free Office Web Apps earlier this week. Do you have reasons to move to Office Web Apps now? Friendly Computers would like to share with you this article.

Microsoft rolled out its free Office Web Apps earlier this week, introducing a free, basic Office suite for the web. How does it compare to Google's own Docs offering? Here's a rundown of each webapp's strengths and weaknesses.

Where Office Web Apps Excels

Yeah, yeah, that's a pretty bad pun. But it's actually the first descriptor that came to mind.

Microsoft Office Compatibility

As you'd probably expect, when it comes to uploading a complex Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document to the web, and having it look the same there as it does on your desktop, Web Apps takes the cake. Until our little test, though, we didn't realize by just how much.

We uploaded a few different Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files to both suites, and relied on our past experience with Docs. To show you the difference, here's a heavily formatted corporate-style newsletter-pictures, sub-headings, margins, you name it. We opened it in TextEdit on a Mac, and placed it next to both Google Docs and Office Web Apps.

First, here's how it looks in Google Docs, compared to the original in TextEdit. (Click the image for a larger view):

Not the same, but you might also think, not too bad, right?

Compare that to Office Web Apps' version:

Honestly, until I saw the online Office version, I didn't even know there was supposed to be an image at the top. There's a larger argument to be made about open data formats, along with the sub-argument about rigidly formatted newsletters sent out as Word documents. But if tricky Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are a regular part of your online life, Office Web Apps has it all over Google at the present moment.

Font Selection (on Windows)

Another undiscovered quirk of online office suites until today: font selection. When you load Google Docs in any browser on any OS, you get a fairly small but standard set of fonts to choose from, shown here.

Load Office Web Apps on a Windows system, though, and you seem to get full access to all the fonts installed on your system, for both content creation and reading documents with specialized fonts. (Click the image at left for a larger view). That might not matter to everyone, but for those to whom fonts are a pretty big deal, Office Web Apps seems like a more convenient framework.

Storage Space and Access

Where Google offers universal access and constant iterative features for its online apps, Microsoft competes with raw storage space. 25 GB to store whatever you need—including pictures, audio, and video for use with your docs and presentations—is nothing to sneeze at. And a number of crafty coders have devised ways ofmounting SkyDrive to make it just like any drive. Suddenly, Google's heretofore generous 1 GB of Docs upload space doesn't seem quite so impressive.

OneNote

If your life feels incomplete and disconnected without Microsoft's powerful note-taking, doc-organizing, and life-arranging tool, then you're going to want to get into Office Web Apps. It's not the full-scale version, but you can add, view, and edit your OneNote data in fairly clean form, so that's something you're going to either love or not quite understand what the fuss is about. Jason loves OneNote, and gets things done with it. You might feel the same.

Where Google Docs Still Rules

Google's Docs offerings have been on the market a good four years now, so they've had more time to learn what users want and need in an online suite. It shows in the design and function of Docs for day-to-day users.

Interface and Organization

Not that either webapp is particularly pretty, but Google's system of nested folders, tags, and powerful search takes the cake over Office Web Apps, which is deeply tied into the Live.com ecosystem, laid out a bit like Hotmail, and generally harder to get around if you've got a lot of projects. Simply adding some color coding would help out Office's layout quite a bit, instead of relying on the beige folder icons that are the norm of Windows apps.

On top of that, Office Web Apps' landing page usually sticks an ugly ad in the lower-right corner, one you're probably used to seeing on the sites of newspapers that have lost touch with their advertisers, blogs hungry for monetization, and other hey-whatever ad sections. It's less than appealing, especially when the design seems to blend into the beige-ish focus of Live.com's design. (Note that you can change your Live.com theme, but the ad doesn't ever go away).

Sharing and Collaboration

In terms of real-time collaboration, Google wins hands-down, because Office offers none. You can share documents for editing and viewing, and the controls are actually quite good for doing so (as discussed further on). But Office is heavy-handed when it comes to editor lock-in—switching between laptops in my own house, I was often locked out of documents because Office considered one "Open in another account," even when I'd shut down the other computer. Google Docs, on the other hand, has recently added Wave-like, real-time collaboration, one my wife and I have used to plan a vacation together on a single document with surprisingly few conflicts. Both apps tie their document sharing into emailed requests and grouped contacts on the Google/Live.com servers; Google's implementation feels a little more easy to grasp.

Speed

Google Docs feels pretty fast when you're editing, uploading, loading new documents, and even editing presentations with images. Office Web Apps constantly bugs you to install Silverlight for a "faster experience," and doesn't exactly churn and crank after you do install it. Google's certainly got the lead in cloud-based architecture and coding.

Google Integration

Let's face facts: Far more people are enthusiastic Google users than Live.com fans. That wouldn't matter so much, except that among your friends and coworkers, it's more likely forthem to be enthusiastic Google users, and have a Docs account, and know how to edit a Docs file, than they are likely to have a Live.com account and know their way around Office Web Apps. It's a first-mover's advantage, and an issue of scale, but it's still there, and worth noting.

Where Docs and Web Apps Tie

For some types of users, a difference between the two webapps won't be a win/lose item, so much as a difference in taste.

Access Control

Google does a decent job of letting you choose exactly who can view and edit your documents. Office does a surprisingly similar good job, but with a different tool—a sliding scale for each document, setting it to totally public and open, only available to you, available to groups, particular friends, and other stops in-between. If your life is loaded into Gmail and Google Contacts, Google's contacts and groups might work better, but Office Web Apps has a good system, too.

The Interface

We'd love to be so sophisticated as to call a winner here. But in all honesty, both Docs and Office Web Apps have pretty utilitarian interfaces, and whether you like one or the other is going to depend on which camp you fall into: the minimalism and keyboard-friendly realm of Google, or the ribbon-ish look of Office, where everything is a button. Neither web tool is meant for all-inclusive utility, and both seem to have stuck to the basic functions of font, spacing, and layout in their buttons.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5560352/how-does-office-web-apps-compare-to-google-docs

How to Keep Track of Your Cellphone Data Usage

2010-06-09T09:46:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article very useful and would like to share it with you.

Just as many smartphones added tethering support and enough great features that wewanted to use the hell out of our data plans, many carriers are moving to metered plans. Here's how to keep monitor on your usage and avoid overage fees.

Photo by paul_irish.

In recent weeks, cell carriers have changed their data plans, opened up to tethering, and made cellular data subscribers worry about how much data they really use. With this guide, you'll hopefully find a tool for monitoring your data use more accurately, and more frequently than when the shocking bill arrives. We'll look at tools that work for straight-up cellular users, tethering road warriors, USB broadband stick addicts, and anyone who's a little of each. Great tools with alert capabilities exist as mobile apps, desktop applications, and, as a last resort, on your cellular carrier's web site.

Why should you care about your cellphone data usage if you never had a problem before? For a few good reasons. More carriers are offering tethering options with their data plans, and an Android upgrade rolling out includes tethering and mobile hotspot powers by default, but no carrier is waiving over-limit fees or eliminating stern warnings for heavy usage, even if you pay extra. Even if you don't tether, the release of cool streaming apps like Netflix for iPhone mean that those just using their phones alone should be aware of how much they're passing back and forth to cellular towers each month.

The Current State of Tethering

Tethering is simply a means of connecting your smartphone to your computer—generally a laptop and usually through a USB cable—so that you can use the mobile data connection you pay for on the bigger screen. Very few phones and carriers have officially supported the practice in the U.S., although that hasn't stopped those in need of internet everywhere from figuring out solutions, whether cracking older iPhone operating systems or tricky/paid Android work-arounds, along with other solutions, like PDANet's full line of tether software.

Recently, though, AT&T has made tethering an official data plan add-on. Pay $20 extra per month, connect your iPhone as you would for syncing, and you're good to go—except that you're now on a 200 MB or 2 GB per month plan, one that definitely needs occasional monitoring.

On the Android side, Sprint is charging $30 per month for (supposedly unlimited) tethering access through its new HTC EVO 4G, while T-Mobile has quietly allowed Nexus One models to upgrade toAndroid 2.2 "Froyo", with both tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot creation options, though the carrier institutes a "soft" 5 GB restriction/reminder on its "unlimited" data plans. On Verizon, the Droid Incredible also has ahardly spoken-of tethering feature, while other Android phones on the big red network can use less-official tethering tools.

Whether or not your carrier offers "unlimited" data, you'll likely be warned, or possibly even charged, if you start heavily using your cellular data connection as a net connection for your computer. So here's how to watch your data—on your phone, on your laptop, and, as a last resort, through your carrier's (universally cruddy) web-based account management tool.

Android Phones

3G Watchdog: It's the easiest to use and most versatile data monitoring tool I've found for Android phones.

Install the app (through the barcode link at its Cyrket page or searching "3g watchdog" in the Market), launch it, then give it your daily, weekly, or monthly data limit in its settings, and set the date when your last billing cycle turned over. Choose the threshold you want to see alerts for, and when you want to see the monitor's color-coded icon in your phone's notification bar. If you're serious about not breaking past your data limit, install APNDroid as well, and have 3G Watchdog actually turn off your data just before you go over. There's also a home screen widget, in both small and large sizes, you can add and monitor for a more passive watch on how much cellular data you're using.

NetCounter: Far more simple than 3G Watchdog, NetCounter has you set intervals it should be watching—today, this week/month, or a period starting right whenever you create a new interval—and does so in the background, pinging you when your cellular data usage approaches. It automatically launches on phone restarts, and can write out its usage data to your SD card, if you want to extract and take a deeper look.

iPhones

AT&T offers its ownmyWireless iPhone Appthat provides a good glance at how much of your plan's data you've used for that billing cycle. Fire it up, hit the Data tab up top, and you'll see your usage set against your plan total. Simple, no?

If you're not on AT&T, a few readers and Twitter users recommend Consume, which supports both international and unlocked carriers like T-Mobile, Orange, Rogers, and others.

On Your Computer

There are many, many bandwidth monitoring tools available for all three major computer platforms—as you can imagine, the folks who really know how bandwidth works tend to be the types who can code up their own monitors. We'll offer up just a few suggestions for those looking for just a workable, handy solution.

Windows: I've found BitMeter 2, an older version of which we'd previously covered, as a really handy kind of stopwatch for bandwidth monitoring. Don't let it start up every time you start your computer, but start it up when you're plugging in your tether tool.

You can keep a tiny, transparent data widget floating around your desktop, and set it so it doesn't interfere with anything you can click on your desktop. The app itself can notify you when you hit certain limits on particular network ports, including the USB tether you're using, and can track and graph usage over certain periods.

Of course, if you'd like a more stylish, whole-picture look at your bandwidth usage, the Rainmeter desktop monitor is the way to go. You can devote whatever space you'd like to specific bandwidth readings and counters. A variant and customization tool, the Enigman Desktop, is a nicely pre-packaged Rainmeter system that makes customizing your desktop very easy, bandwidth monitors included.

Mac: Your best bet is the free SurplusMeter.

It's perfect for setting up certain bandwidth limits in particular time frames. Set it to monitor the connection your computer connects to your phone through, and you won't have to mess with it again. It'll just ping you when you're getting close to your limit. You can manually tweak the amounts, see your usage over time on a graph, and otherwise control how much data you pass through the air into your MacBook.

Linux: Many, many options about for Linux users. I mean, just look at a sampling of picks. But for a (relatively) simple-to-set-up monitor, try vnStat, which quietly monitors a specific network interface and charts its use.

Linux Magazine has a good installation, setup, and usage guide for vnStat.

Check Your Usage Through Your Carrier

If you're not using your tethered device at the moment, you can usually see how you're doing for your month's usage through your carrier's web site, or through a free text message or phone call. The operative word there is can—it probably won't be convenient, or detailed, but at least it's from the horse's mouth.

Verizon: For a free check from your phone, dial #DATA (#3282) and hit Send. You'll get back a (free) text with your total data usage for the current billing cycle. To check online, log intomyaccount.verizonwireless.com, then head to the my data usage section.

Sprint: Log into My Sprint, head to the "My Account" section, then look to see if your smartphone is listed. It may not be, and you'll have to enter your phone's serial number in manually (as Jason found out, to his great battery-popping annoyance). Once it's there, look for a link under your device reading "Show all usage," then scroll down and click on "Data/Others" under the "Detailed Usage" section.

You can also dial *4 on your phone, hit 4 again to hear the extended menu, and you should then have the option to get all your usage read to you. Near the end, you'll hear your data usage read to you, albeit in slightly awkward form (to quote Jason, "You have used—twenty one thousand, four hundred and ninety-two kilobytes of data ...").

AT&T: As The Mac Observer explains, you log in at AT&T Wireless, head to Bill & Payments, click the "Create a Billing Report" link under Billing Reports, and choose Data Usage Trend. You'll then be able to see your data usage over select time periods. You can also dial*DATA# and hit Send on your phone, and you'll get a text back with your usage.

T-Mobile: T-Mobile doesn't make any to-the-moment data use tools readily available for its customers, as far as one editor's searches reach, anyways. That's likely because they offer a "fair use" unlimited data plan, wherein there's no firm cap, but you might get a warning if your data exceeds what customers have estimated as a 5 GB/month soft cap.

You can still check to see what you've used in previously months by logging into My T-Mobile, then clicking on "Bill Summary" or another billing area, and checking out the "Data" tab on any bill view.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5557836/the-best-tools-for-monitoring-your-cellphone-data-usage

How To: Recover From a Soda-Spill Disaster

2010-06-02T09:11:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share it with you.

There are few moments in life quite as sickening as realizing that you've spilled a beverage on one of your gadgets. Because of that, we've put together a simple disaster plan for dealing with beverage-soiled electronics.

1. Act Fast

Yeah, we know. You're pissed. You just splashed merlot on your expensive gaming laptop. And while we do feel your pain, there's no time to sit around and pout. Every second you waste is another second that whatever you've spilled gets to dry into a sticky, short-circuiting, corrosive mess. So act fast.

Start by unplugging your gadget from the wall, if it's plugged in. If it's a laptop, remove the battery. If it's a keyboard, disconnect it from the PC. Liquid will create short-circuits inside your electronics, so getting it unplugged quickly will improve the chance of recovering your gadget intact.

2. Assess the Damage

Now that you've unplugged your device, take a second to assess the location and quantity of the spill. If it's just a few drops on a keyboard, you might be able to get away with prying off the surrounding keys (image A) and wiping down the affected area. For this, we recommend alcohol swabs, which break up stains and dry very quickly. You can get enough to last for years for about $4 in the first-aid section of a drug store, so get some now, before you need them.

(Image A)

If it's just a matter of washing down some keys, remember to wipe off both the keyboard and the keys that you've pried off. Your keyboard might be safe from electrical harm, but if you don't thoroughly clean off every contaminated surface, your keys will start to stick as the mess dries.

If the spill doesn't appear to be limited to the surface of your device, then scrub up-it's time for surgery.

3. Take it Apart

You can't clean a bespoiled device without first taking it apart. If the thought of opening up your expensive toys scares you, that's understandable, but just remember that any chance is better than no chance at all, which is what you've got if you let that spill just sit there. Of course, if you don't know which end of a screwdriver goes where, it might be worth calling a more electronically handy friend to help you out.

(Image B)

Using your tiny screwdriver (you do have a tiny screwdriver, don't you?) open up the device (image B). Obviously there's no one-size-fits-all guide for taking apart gadgets, but here are a few guidelines to follow:

• You may need to use some force to pry apart your device, but be careful, especially with circuit boards. If something seems to be taking more force to pull apart than it should, check again for hidden screws.

• Be careful to save all your screws as you go. Don't just throw them all into a coffee mug, either, because most gadgets have several different-size screws in them, and you'll need to remember which goes where when you put everything back together.

• If something is particularly complicated, and you're afraid you won't be able to put it back when you're done, grab a digital camera and snap some photos before you start taking stuff apart.

• Your ultimate goal is to expose any circuit boards or other electronics that might have gotten spilled on. If you're taking apart a laptop, this means you'll need to isolate the motherboard and any daughterboards.

4. Wash It Off

Once you've exposed the circuitry in your device, you'll have to clean off the stain. If you can see that the stain is contained in a certain part of the board, you can use alcohol swabs, as described above, to clean it off (images C and D). If an entire circuit board is soiled, you'll need to resort to more drastic measures: completely disconnect it from the rest of the gadget and run it under soapy water.

(Image C)

Yes, that's right, run it under water. We're all conditioned to want to keep our electronics away from liquids, and that's generally a good policy, but sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire, so wash that sucker off. Don't scrub, just gently wipe, and let the soapy water do its thing.

When you've removed the stain, rinse off the soapy water. For the best chance of success, you'll want to rinse with distilled or deionized water, which can be bought at most supermarkets. Tap water will leave deposits on your circuit board when it dries.

(Image D)

You'll want to see whether your device will work right away, but you'll have to wait a little longer. The next step is to make sure every part that you washed is completely dry. It's best to air dry it, since cloth or paper towels can leave behind lint, although you can speed up the process by packing the wet parts in a desiccant, such as silica gel or plain old white rice. You can also speed the drying process by using a fan or even a hair dryer, although if you do, be sure to do so from a distance and using the low-heat setting, as you don't want to warp the circuit board.

Finally, once all the components are clean and dry, it's time to put everything back together. Refer to your photographs if you took them, and make sure that everything fits back together securely. We can't guarantee that your device will be working again, but at least you'll know you did everything you could.

Source: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_recover_sodaspill_disaster

Fill a Flash Drive with Portable Software using Lupo PenSuite

2010-05-28T09:04:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share these tips how to fill your flash drive with portable software.

A flash drive full of portable software is helpful to have along wherever you go. The Lupo PenSuite lets you choose from three different versions to get the best fit for your everyday needs.

Note: If running the full version you will need a 512 MB USB flash drive or larger.

Using Lupo PenSuite

The one window to watch for during the setup process is where you have the opportunity to add a specific language pack if needed. Outside of that all that you need to do is sit back and wait for the suite to be extracted.

Note: Extraction times will vary based on version and extraction location.

We extracted the suite to our flash drive.

Once the setup process is complete locate and double click the Lupo_PenSuite.exe file. This one time window will present you the opportunity to start using the suite immediately, or go directly into the options.

When the suite is active you will have a new system tray icon that operates as a start menu button. At the bottom you can monitor the remaining room on your flash drive, and use the close button to exit the suite (may display as a power button based on menu theme).

A quick look at the set up inside the suite.

There is a pre-configured area for organizing and storing your personal files.

Prefer a classic style menu? Just select for it in the options (various tab) and enjoy a smaller streamlined look.

Note: You can also change the theme for the regular menu and add a user pic.

The suite provides access to your portable software and online sites. You get to enjoy the best of both as shown in the following examples.

Websites will open using the suite’s portable Firefox install.

VLC is ready to play your downloaded videos.

The suite also has some very nice photo editing programs added in.

Installing Additional Apps

If one of your favorite programs is not included in the version you chose then it only takes a few minutes to add it in. Go to the Additional Apps webpage, download the app(s), and extract them onto your hard-drive.

Note: Link for additional apps webpage provided below.

Add the extracted app(s) to the MyApps folder in the suite’s folder hierarchy.

Click on ASuite in the suite’s start menu.

Drag and drop the portable app’s exe file into the MyApps section in the ASuite window.

Your new software’s shortcut should display as shown here. Close this window when finished.

Checking the suite’s start menu will show your new software ready to be used.

Conclusion

If you need a good portable software collection to carry with you on a flash drive then Lupo PenSuite is definitely worth taking a look at. We tested Lupo PenSuite on XP, Vista, and Windows 7 and it works great on all three.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/17638/fill-a-flash-drive-with-portable-software-using-lupo-pensuite/

Speed up Your Wireless Network

2010-05-26T09:24:00.001-07:00

Want to speed up your office or home wireless network? Friendly Computers found these tips useful and would like to share with you.

Wi-Fi networks are miraculous and devilish at the same time. They can seem miraculous in their ability to deliver high-speed network and Internet communication through walls and ceilings, and over long distances. But they don't always deliver the speeds they promise. When you're troubleshooting a slower-than-it-should-be network, the devil is in the details.

The most common reason for an underperforming wireless network is interference, which can crop up when competing wireless signals disrupt the transmission of data on your network. Interference means bits have to be resent or sent at a slower speed. It can also mean that network throughput drops to zero or that devices lose their connections to your base station. Here's how to find out what might be interfering with your wireless net and then to make sure you're getting the highest rates you can.

Don't interfere

Wi-Fi uses two unlicensed spectrum bands (hunks of frequencies reserved by regulators for low-power devices) to send and receive data.

The 2.4 GHz band (which Wi-Fi equipment has been using since 1999) is called a junk band, because it's shared by so many different kinds of equipment: medical monitors in hospitals; industrial sealers; home microwave ovens; Bluetooth devices; baby monitors; cordless phones; older wireless keyboards and mice; and on and on. So if your Wi-Fi equipment is using the 2.4 GHz band, its signals will have lots of competition.

There's less competition in the 5 GHz band. The laws of physics demand that a 2.4 GHz signal travels farther than a 5 GHz signal using the same amount of power. The laws of nations put further restraints on devices that use the 5 GHz band, limiting signal strength often to a level lower than than allowed in 2.4 GHz. Those two factors can reduce interference (neighboring networks are less likely to get in the way because their signals don't reach far enough to interfere), but they also means you can't get the best speeds in 5 GHz more than a couple rooms away.

Interference doesn't come just from competing sources; it also comes from overlap. The 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are both split into channels that are about 20 MHz wide. In the 2.4 GHz band, those channels overlap at 5 MHz intervals; that means that (in the United States) only three of the eleven available channels--1, 6, and 11--largely avoid crossing into adjacent channels. (Other countries and regulatory regions allow more or fewer channels.) Because there are fewer channels to choose from in 2.4 GHz, signals from nearby networks can bump into your network, reducing speed.

In the 5 GHz band, each 20 MHz channel butts right up against the next with no overlap. Apple 802.11n gear is designed to use eight non-overlapping channels. (There are 13 other channels in the 5 GHz band that Apple doesn't use, because of regulatory and interference issues.) Additionally, Apple's hardware can bind two of those channels together into a so-called wide channel, to double your bandwidth.

Find the culprit

Given the above, the first step in troubleshooting a slow network is to find out more what might be interfering with it. (Note: For the purposes of this article, I'll provide instructions primarily for Apple's AirPort base stations. But the general principles can apply to any wireless router.)

For starters, launch /Applications/Utilities/AirPort Utility and select your base station. Click Manual Setup at the bottom of the base station overview screen, then the Advanced view icon. Select Logs and Statistics at the bottom of the screen and then the Wireless Clients tab. There, you can see which devices are connected to your base station, as well as assessments of those connections.

Signal and noise indicate the relative strength of the connection, expressed as a negative number. The lower the number is, the better; a high noise value (like -50) indicates a lot of interference; a number down in the negative 90s (-90 or below) means the signal is cleaner. You also want a strong signal number, which is also expressed in negatives; -24 is much better than -51. The Rate field shows the current connected rate in Mbps; that can range from 5 to 270 depending on the band and device. Type shows the kind of connection that's in use: 802.11b/g or b/g/n means the device is using the 2.4 GHz band; 802.11a/n means a 5 GHz connection is in use.

When you see a high amount of interference in the form of a high noise number or a lower than expected rate for one of those connections, you need to identify potential culprits.

To find out if the problem is a nearby wireless network, download and install iStumbler (donation requested); make sure you get the correct release for your version of Mac OS X. That utility provides a list of all the networks that your Mac's Wi-Fi adapter can sense, and the channel each one is using.

Change channels

Assuming you do find a nearby wireless network that's using the same channel as yours, you can try to change the channel your base station is using.

The easiest way to do so is to restart your router. When you first start an Apple base station (as well as Wi-Fi routers from many other companies), it automatically chooses the channel that's least used at that time. Restarting it forces it to pick a new channel, which could solve the problem without making you muck about with settings.

But the choice your router makes may not always be best. And even if its initial choice is a good one, if you leave it on for months at a time, that choice may no longer be the right one. You could reboot the router again. Or, to make sure you get the channel you want, you could select it manually.

In AirPort Utility (/Applications/Utilities), select your base station, click Manual Setup, and click the Wireless tab in AirPort view. On a 2007 or 2008 AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, or Time Capsule, select a channel from the Channel popup menu. On base stations released in 2009 or later, first select Manual from the Radio Channel Selection menu, then click the Edit button. From the 2.4 GHz Channel menu, select a different channel.

The specific channel you choose--with an exception in the 5 GHz band--isn't as important as picking one that's not in use by a nearby network. In the 2.4 GHz band, you want to pick from among channels 1, 6, or 11, whichever one is being used by the fewest nearby networks. If that channel still performs poorly, try one of the others.

In the 5 GHz band, you can choose from any of the eight channels Apple makes available, but there's a big difference among them that's worth noting. The four lower-numbered channels (36, 40, 44, and 48) use just five percent of the signal power compared to the higher-numbered channels (149, 153, 157, and 161). You can choose a low-numbered channel to reduce interference and range. Or you could select a high-numbered channel to boost range, even though that could cause interference with other nearby networks. Reducing interference can improve throughput if your base station is receiving signals from competing devices. Increasing range can do the same thing, if the problem is that you're trying to reach a distant device.

You could also try switching bands. If your base station can use only the 2.4 GHz band, you could upgrade to a new, dual-band router (such as the current AirPort Extreme ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ) or Time Capsule ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice )). But before you do, make sure your other hardware can work in the 5 GHz band. All Macs with Wi-Fi released since October 2006--except for pre-2009 Mac minis--can; so can the iPad and the Apple TV. The iPhone and iPod touch work only over 2.4 GHz. (If you get a new simultaneous dual-band base station, you could plug in your old 2.4 GHz-only unit via Ethernet to extend your network's range in another part of the house or office.)

You could also try moving the base station. If you can locate your base station somewhere further from outside walls or other homes or apartments (the sources of interference), give it a try.

Finally, talk to your neighbors. It's possible they're having the same trouble. Perhaps you can agree to coordinate channel usage. Help them if they don't know how to make changes; while you're at it, you might turn on network security for them, if they haven't done so already.

Other sources of trouble

If your wireless net is suffering from interference, but the Airport Utility or iStumbler have ruled out nearby networks as culprits, you need to consider other causes.

For example, are you using older wireless hardware, such as a baby monitor, old Bluetooth equipment (more than three or four years old), or a non-standard wireless keyboard with a USB dongle? Do you have a 2.4 GHz cordless phone? Even if you don't have any of those things, they could still cause problems if your neighbor does.

The first troubleshooting step is to eliminate as many possible causes as you can. Turn off every non-Wi-Fi wireless device you have, then check your network speed. If the problems go away, you may need to get rid of the offending item. If it's your phone, note that new 1900 MHz DECT6 cordless phones are cheap, work well, and don't interfere with either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz Wi-Fi.

You could also try switching bands, as above. If the problem is with another device that uses the 2.4 GHz band, moving to 5 GHz could solve it.

Finally, if the problems persist, you could have a problem with your Wi-Fi radio itself. If you can't duplicate the problems with another computer, look into warranty repair; document all the troubleshooting steps you've tried, because even Geniuses might not believe the radio is at fault.

Stumped?

I receive hundreds of e-mails a year from Mac users about troubleshooting their Wi-Fi networks. In most cases, the advice above helps. But sometimes I encounter a case that no amount of reconfiguration will fix.

Some of this clearly has to do with interference--in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band--that's outside of the control of the user or his neighbors. For example, I had a year or two when some massive unknown interference-source near my Seattle office was causing problems with Channel 1 in the 2.4 GHz band. No amount of tweaking would get more than a few kilobytes to dribble through per second.

If you suspect that you might have some kind of mysterious source like that, and if you don't mind the investment, you could buy a device that scans the spectrum for signals--not just those produced by Wi-Fi, but all emissions. MetaGeek offers their 2.4 GHz Wi-Spy 2.4isoftware-plus-USB-dongle combo for $99.

With Wi-Spy installed, you could walk with a laptop and perhaps discover that a neighbor's hobby is microwave bag sealing, or that there's a high-powered amateur radio station in your area. (Hams have overlapping licensed rights in part of the 2.4 GHz band, and can use vastly higher power than Wi-Fi allows; switching to channel 11 could help you avoid them.)

The Bottom Line

Getting a Wi-Fi network to run at something close to its top speed isn't quite a black art. But it is remarkable how often plug-connect-and-surf just doesn't work. It's also remarkable how often Identifying, isolating, and working around a source of interference can solve the problem.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/197209/speed_up_your_wireless_network.html

Editing Word Documents on an IPad

2010-05-24T09:42:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers would like to share with you these iPad tips about editing Word documents.

Unlike the iPhone and iPod touch, the iPad was designed with the needs of typists in mind. The screen size, the large virtual keyboard in landscape orientation, and the support for external keyboards make the iPad a natural choice for word processing on the go. For many people, that means reading, editing, and saving Microsoft Word documents. Even though there's no iPad version of Word, you can work with Word documents on your iPad if you're willing to accept a few compromises.

Read Word documents

Just need read Word documents? All you have to do is get the documents onto your iPad. The iPhone OS (which the iPad uses) can display them natively. For example, you can e-mail documents to yourself as attachments, or use an app designed for transferring and viewing documents, such as Avatron Software's $10 Air Sharing HD, Good.iWare's $1 GoodReader ( Macworld rated 4.5 out of 5 mice ), or Readdle's $5 ReaddleDocs for iPad.

Editing Word documents is a bit trickier. There are currently two good options, but both come with a qualification: they support only a subset of Word's features. So, no matter which method you use to import Word documents, some elements of your document (especially formatting details) may be lost in translation.

Edit documents with Pages

Apple's $10 Pages for the iPad ( Macworld rated 3 out of 5 mice ) can import documents in Word format and offers most of Word's major features. For example, you'll find paragraph styles, lists, columns, tables, charts, shapes, imported graphics, named paragraph styles, headers, and footers. However, Pages for the iPad doesn't support footnotes or endnotes, hyperlinks, tracked changes, or comments, so any of those items present in a Word document will be removed when you import it, and some other elements (such as fonts, grouped objects, and multi-page tables) will be altered as necessary.

One way to get a Word document into Pages is to e-mail it to yourself. Then, tap and hold on the attachment icon in Mail, tap Open In, and then tap Pages. (Most third-party file-transfer apps, including the ones mentioned earlier plus Dropbox, SugarSync, and numerous others, also have an Open In button that lets you send imported documents to Pages.) Once you've done this, Pages imports the document and displays a message listing any changes made during the process, such as font replacements.

After editing a document in Pages, you must export it before you can open it in Word on your Mac. To do this, tap My Documents (with your iPad in portrait orientation) and then tap the arrow icon under the document's name. To e-mail the document to yourself, tap Send Via Mail, and then Word. To transfer it via iTunes, tap Export, and then Word. Attach your iPad to your Mac with a USB cable, open iTunes, select your iPad, and click on the Apps tab. Select Pages in the list under File Sharing, and then drag the exported document to your Desktop.

Edit documents with Google Documents

Google Documents, the word processing component of the Google Docs Web application package, can import and export documents in Word format. When importing Word files (which must be no larger than 500K), be aware that Google Documents has a smaller subset of Word's features than Pages does. For example, it offers fewer fonts, almost no control over document layout, and limited paragraph styles.

Unfortunately, you can view but not edit Google Documents in a browser on your iPad. If you access the site in Safari, Google delivers the mobile version of Google Docs, which is read-only. If you tap the Desktop link to display the full version (or use a third-party browser that can masquerade as another browser), you'll encounter a different problem: no support for typing on either the iPad's virtual keyboard or an external one. So your best bet is to use a third-party app that connects directly to your Google Docs account and provides a native iPad editing interface.

For now, the best options are Byte Squared's $6 Doc2 HD, which offers editing for Google Documents, and the company's slightly pricier $8 Office2 HD, which also lets you edit Google Spreadsheets on your iPad. Both of these apps give you control over font, size, style, color, and alignment. They support bulleted and numbered lists, let you insert and manipulate tables and graphics, and include search, undo, and redo features. In addition to saving documents to Google Docs, they let you share them via Wi-Fi, send them as e-mail attachments, or save them to other cloud-based storage systems such as Apple'sMobileMe.

Senior contributor Joe Kissell is the senior editor of TidBits and the author of the e-bookTake Control of Working on the iPad.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/196995/editing_word_documents_on_an_ipad.html

10 Great Ways to Get More From Your iPad

2010-05-21T09:29:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found useful tips to customize and get more from your iPad.

The iPad is loaded with all kinds of features you’ve probably heard about, but look a little deeper, and its extra abilities might surprise you. Some of these secrets are enabled through apps, while some are built into the device already.

Turn Your iPad into a Secondary Desktop Display

With its big, high-resolution display, it’s a shame to just park an iPad when switching to a computer. Instead, Air Display ($10) makes your iPad a second screen for your Mac, extending the desktop. The tool has just been submitted to the App Store and should be released soon; I checked out a beta.

You install a utility on the computer and connect with the Air Display System Preference. (It’s Mac-only at launch, but a Windows version is coming.) The iPad then behaves just like an extra screen. You reposition it in the Displays System Preference like a real monitor, in a portrait or landscape view. Although it lags a little when showing video, it refreshes quickly enough for most work. You can even tap on the iPad to click.

If you can’t wait for Air Display’s release, you can check out iDisplay ($5) now. But this buggy competitor needs an update to match Air Display’s ease.

Stream Movies From Your PC

Even if you bought the largest-capacity iPad, if it can’t fit all of your videos, it’s too small. Instead of trying to cram everything into the device, you can stream videos from a local or online PC. The process has one main caveat; if you bought movies or TV shows from the iTunes store, DRM restrictions block those files. (Podcasts and music videos should work.). But you can watch your own videos or DRM-free downloads without taking up iPad storage.

Of the many options available, I like Air Video ($3) the best. (A free version includes the same functions but limits the number of files you can browse in each folder). Similar to competitors, you run a server utility on your PC or Mac in order to route data to the iPad. In my tests, Air Video played most resolutions smoothly, including 720p video files over an 802.11n Wi-Fi network.

That resolution stutters on an 802.11g network, but if you reach a file that’s too big—or just not in an iPad-friendly QuickTime format, including AVI, WMV, ASF, MKV, DIVX, and FLV—you can have the PC remotely convert the clip. Just hit a button from the iPad interface and stream it when ready, or have a speedy PC process it and stream it live. It even supports subtitles and TV output. The iPad can send video to a TV at 1024 by 768 resolution via its $29 Dock Connector to VGA adapter; 576p and 480p with the $49 Apple Component A/V Cable, and 576i or 480i with an Apple Composite Cable (also $49).

Connect More Than a Camera

Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit ($29) does so much more than its stated purpose. Instead of just transferring photos and videos from your camera or SD card, the adapter’s USB port attaches a range of devices.

Many USB keyboards work. The iPad presents a warning that the device isn’t supported (shown left), but if it doesn’t draw much power, you can ignore the message. Volume and media keys usually work, and you can even use desktop commands such as Command-Z. (Don’t forget that the iPad also officially supports Bluetooth keyboards and Apple’s iPad Keyboard Dock).

USB audio devices can work, too--including speakers, headsets, and microphones. If a device draws too much power and balks (as when I connected a Zoom H2 mic and Logitech V20 PC speakers), no problem: just attach the device to a powered USB hub, and connect the hub to the Camera Connection Kit adapter. You can even attach different devices—such as a keyboard and speaker set—at the same time.

Jailbreak for More Features

Apple maintains obsessive control over the iPad, making it less like a computer and more like a media player. But you have an alternative: Jailbreak the iPad, and you can run third-party apps that weren’t approved by Apple.

If you’re willing to jailbreak your iPad (which means voiding your iPad warranty and taking full responsibility for anything that may go wrong), then you can also use the Camera Connection Kit to read USB sticks and SD card directories. (Without jailbreaking, you can already import SD-card videos and photos or attach a Compact Flash reader). With a bit more fiddling, you can read files from an external USB hard drive. Those are a lot of unnecessary hoops to jump through for such basic connectivity, but it is at least possible. Again, jailbreaking is best left for the tech-oriented or the adventurous.

You would connect the iPad to a computer, run Spritand then be able to install apps through the Cydia interface. Cydia and iTunes apps coexist, so you can install apps like Backgrounder and Multiflow to enable multitasking (letting you listen to Pandora while working in other iTunes-purchased apps, say). Of course,multitasking is coming officially in OS 4.0. Notes: ProSwitcher (arguably the best jailbreak multitasking app for the iPhone) didn't appear to be optimized for the iPad (yet) at the time of writing. For jailbreak apps, sticking to those that have been reworked for the iPad will help avoid--though not guarantee against--unnecessary hassle.

Other jailbreak apps include iPad-ready versions of Wi-Fi Sync (wireless iTunes syncing), Winterboard (customized themes), and Dashboard (OS X-style widgets). You can also use your iPad with a mouse, run game console emulators and hand controllers, and otherwise do things Apple doesn’t allow. Benefits will grow as the iPad jailbreaking community expands.

Access Your PC Remotely

You just left for the weekend but forgot to copy an important business file (or hilarious LOLcat) to your laptop. Use an iPad to retrieve the content. Several remote desktop-style tools present a live view of the distant computer, letting you control the PC as if you were sitting right there.

Whether you’re reaching across the Internet, or just into the next room, the process isn’t fast enough to play smooth video. So keep searching for that Hulu fix. But most other applications and slow-moving Flash games —such as Farmville—work if you can handle about 10 to 20 frames per second.

Among many choices, I like LogMeIn Ignition ($30 if you want to configure as little as possible) and iTeleport($25), plus VNC Viewer ($10) if you want to manually set it up. You’ll first configure the PC with a server utility (or an option built into the OS) first, then you can connect anywhere.

All three tools offer similar functionality. You’ll zoom in and out with pinch gesture, and mouse around by touching the iPad. Two-fingered taps activate right-click, and other gestures help with the input. iTeleport includes more keyboard options, such as presets to control media applications, but I thought the implementation got in the way.

If you just want to sit back and control a computer hooked up to a TV, Mobile Mouse ($3) can turn your iPad into a wireless keyboard, multitouch mouse trackpad, and media remote.

Supercharge the Browser

Safari set a great standard for mobile browsing, but many alternatives reveal its missing features.

Starting with real tabs, Atomic Web ($1) adds many desktop-class benefits. Multitouch swipe gestures even toggle between open sites. But that’s just the beginning. Atomic Web Browser can optionally omit images to save bandwidth, identify itself as various desktop browsers, let you customize the search engine, search for text within a page, modify its buttons, and more.

Safari will unfortunately remain as the iPad’s default. However, you can create a bookmark that reloads a Safari page within Atomic Web Browser. In the Atomic Web Browser Settings menu, tap Install Bookmarklet. That’ll open Safari and explain the process.

Transfer Your Books to iBooks Reader

Apple’s eBook reader--iBooks--keeps all of your Apple-purchased books together, includes an iPad-specific interface, and interfaces with iTunes. iBooks uses the ePub file format, so while the iPad can read PDFs, you can’t store those files here with the rest of your books. You can, however, convert them to ePub first, and keep everything in one place.

To do this, try Calibre--an open source e-book library management application for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The software imports a range of formats, including PDF. After installation, click Add books, and select the PDF. Click Convert E-books. In Page Setup, pick iPad as the Output profile. For simple documents, you can even try online conversion through www.epubtogo.com. When finished, just drag the ePub files into iTunes, and you’ll sync them the next time you connect the iPad.

My results varied depending on the complexity of the PDF. When I tried converting a document with photos and margin sidebars, unrelated sections of text merged. However, the process worked for simpler, text-driven documents.

Print from an iPad

iPad printing might arrive in the future, but you can still print hard copies today. Several apps download network or online files to the iPad and can send them to a printer. Some apps even edit documents first, but many are difficult to use.

I had the best luck with PrintCentral, one of many printing tools from the same developer. (The vendor created a chart to explain all the different offerings, but it would have been most helpful to make a single, great app.) You’ll install a print server utility on a Mac or PC, and PrintCentral uses it to reach your local or network printer.

PrintCentral’s cluttered interface obscures many settings. But after troubleshooting, it worked. Give it a shot if you have to print today.

Browse Web Content Offline

Whether you have a 3G version or not, your iPad faces certain situations where it can’t be online: planes, train tunnels, and other network-not-found destinations. You can still keep up on all of your favorite Websites with Instapaper Pro ($5). This tool manages content you want to read later and caches articles for times that you’re offline.

Instead of directly browsing content you want to save, Instapaper interfaces with several PC and iPad apps. Within those tools—Safari, Google Reader, NetNewsWire, Twitterrific, Tweetie, and more—you’ll hit a Read Later button that sends details to Instapaper.

Load Instapaper once, when you have a network connection, and it downloads all of those stories. Then, you can dig deep into those articles from any location, with or without a network.

Remotely Control PC Applications

A keyboard-and-mouse combination remains the best way to control a PC, but those days might be numbered. What if you could use the iPad as an interface, changing PowerPoint slides while reading your notes, or even touching faders and dials to interface with pro audio-production tools? You can!

I have several favorites among the many different input-device apps. I-Clickr PowerPoint Remote for iPad helps deliver great presentations. TouchOSC ($5), DiddyMidiDJ ($5), andAC-7 Pro Control Surface ($10) control audio-editing tools. And Folabs makes several high-end virtual controllers, like ProRemote (shown above; $100), that let the iPad control audio production software like ProTools, Apple Logic, and Ableton Live.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/196415-2/10_great_ways_to_get_more_from_your_ipad.html

Add Your Gmail Account to Outlook 2010 Using IMAP

2010-05-17T12:13:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful.

If you’re upgrading from Outlook 2003 to 2010, you might want to use IMAP with your Gmail account to synchronize mail across multiple machines. Using our guide, you will be able to start using it in no time.

Enable IMAP in Gmail

First log into your Gmail account and open the Settings panel. Click on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and verify IMAP is enabled and save changes.

Next open Outlook 2010, click on the File tab to access the Backstage view. Click on Account Settings and Add and remove accounts or change existing connection settings.

In the Account Settings window click on the New button.

Enter in your name, email address, and password twice then click Next.

Outlook will configure the email server settings, the amount of time it takes will vary.

Provided everything goes correctly, the configuration will be successful and you can begin using your account.

Manually Configure IMAP Settings

If the above instructions don’t work, then we’ll need to manually configure the settings. Again, go into Auto Account Setup and select Manually configure server settings or additional server types and click Next.

Select Internet E-mail – Connect to POP or IMAP server to send and receive e-mail messages.

Now we need to manually enter in our settings similar to the following. Under the Server Information section verify the following.

Account Type: IMAP

Incoming mail server: imap.gmail.com

Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com

Note: If you have a Google Apps account make sure to put the full email address (user@yourdomain.com) in the Your Name and User Name fields.

Note: If you live outside of the US you might need to use imap.googlemail.com and smtp.googlemail.com

Next, we need to click on the More Settings button…

In the Internet E-mail Settings screen that pops up, click on the Outgoing Server tab, and check the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication. Also select the radio button next to Use same settings as my incoming mail server.

In the same window click on the Advanced tab and verify the following.

Incoming server: 993

Incoming server encrypted connection: SSL

Outgoing server encrypted connection TLS

Outgoing server: 587

Note: You will need to change the Outgoing server encrypted connection first, otherwise it will default back to port 25. Also, if TLS doesn’t work, we were able to successfully use Auto. Click OK when finished.

Now we want to test the settings, before continuing on…it’s just easier that way incase something was entered incorrectly. To make sure the settings are tested, check the boxTest Account Settings by clicking the Next button.

If you’ve entered everything in correctly, both tasks will be completed successfully and you can close out of the window. and begin using your account via Outlook 2010.

You’ll get a final congratulations message you can close out of…

And begin using your account via Outlook 2010.

Conclusion

Using IMAP allows you to synchronize email across multiple machines and devices. The IMAP feature in Gmail is free to use, and this should get you started using it with Outlook 2010.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/17248/set-up-gmail-imap-in-outlook-2010/

Zen and the Art of File and Folder Organization

2010-05-14T11:02:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found 40 useful tips to organize your files.

Is your desktop a paragon of neatness, or is it overflowing with so many icons that you’re scared to look at it? If you’ve been putting off getting organized because the task is too huge or daunting, or you don’t know where to start, we’ve got 40 tips to get you on the path to zen mastery of your digital filing system.

For all those readers who would like to get their files and folders organized, or, if they’re already organized, better organized—we have compiled a complete guide to getting organized and staying organized, a comprehensive article that will hopefully cover every possible tip you could want.

Signs that Your Computer is Poorly Organized

If your computer is a mess, you’re probably already aware of it. But just in case you’re not, here are some tell-tale signs:

Your Desktop has over 40 icons on it

“My Documents” contains over 300 files and 60 folders, including MP3s and digital photos

You use the Windows’ built-in search facility whenever you need to find a file

You can’t find programs in the out-of-control list of programs in your Start Menu

You save all your Word documents in one folder, all your spreadsheets in a second folder, etc

Any given file that you’re looking for may be in any one of four different sets of folders

But before we start, here are some quick notes:

We’re going to assume you know what files and folders are, and how to create, save, rename, copy and delete them

The organization principles described in this article apply equally to all computer systems. However, the screenshots here will reflect how things look on Windows (usually Windows 7). We will also mention some useful features of Windows that can help you get organized.

Everyone has their own favorite methodology of organizing and filing, and it’s all too easy to get into “My Way is Better than Your Way” arguments. The reality is that there is no perfect way of getting things organized. When I wrote this article, I tried to keep a generalist and objective viewpoint. I consider myself to be unusually well organized (to the point of obsession, truth be told), and I’ve had 25 years experience in collecting and organizing files on computers. So I’ve got a lot to say on the subject. But the tips I have described here are only one way of doing it. Hopefully some of these tips will work for you too, but please don’t read this as any sort of “right” way to do it.

At the end of the article we’ll be asking you, the reader, for your own organization tips.

Why Bother Organizing At All?

For some, the answer to this question is self-evident. And yet, in this era of powerful desktop search software (the search capabilities built into the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Start Menus, and third-party programs like Google Desktop Search), the question does need to be asked, and answered.

I have a friend who puts every file he ever creates, receives or downloads into his My Documents folder and doesn’t bother filing them into subfolders at all. He relies on the search functionality built into his Windows operating system to help him find whatever he’s looking for. And he always finds it. He’s a Search Samurai. For him, filing is a waste of valuable time that could be spent enjoying life!

It’s tempting to follow suit. On the face of it, why would anyone bother to take the time to organize their hard disk when such excellent search software is available? Well, if all you ever want to do with the files you own is to locate and open them individually (for listening, editing, etc), then there’s no reason to ever bother doing one scrap of organization. But consider these common tasks that are not achievable with desktop search software:

Find files manually. Often it’s not convenient, speedy or even possible to utilize your desktop search software to find what you want. It doesn’t work 100% of the time, or you may not even have it installed. Sometimes its just plain faster to go straight to the file you want, if you know it’s in a particular sub-folder, rather than trawling through hundreds of search results.

Find groups of similar files (e.g. all your “work” files, all the photos of your Europe holiday in 2008, all your music videos, all the MP3s from Dark Side of the Moon, all your letters you wrote to your wife, all your tax returns). Clever naming of the files will only get you so far. Sometimes it’s the date the file was created that’s important, other times it’s the file format, and other times it’s the purpose of the file. How do you name a collection of files so that they’re easy to isolate based on any of the above criteria? Short answer, you can’t.

Move files to a new computer. It’s time to upgrade your computer. How do you quickly grab all the files that are important to you? Or you decide to have twocomputers now – one for home and one for work. How do you quickly isolate only the work-related files to move them to the work computer?

Synchronize files to other computers. If you have more than one computer, and you need to mirror some of your files onto the other computer (e.g. your music collection), then you need a way to quickly determine which files are to be synced and which are not. Surely you don’t want to synchronize everything?

Choose which files to back up. If your backup regime calls for multiple backups, or requires speedy backups, then you’ll need to be able to specify which files are to be backed up, and which are not. This is not possible if they’re all in the same folder.

Finally, if you’re simply someone who takes pleasure in being organized, tidy and ordered (me! me!), then you don’t even need a reason. Being disorganized is simply unthinkable.

Tips on Getting Organized

Here we present our 40 best tips on how to get organized. Or, if you’re already organized, to get better organized.

Tip #1. Choose Your Organization System Carefully

The reason that most people are not organized is that it takes time. And the first thing that takes time is deciding upon a system of organization. This is always a matter of personal preference, and is not something that a geek on a website can tell you. You should always choose your own system, based on how your own brain is organized (which makes the assumption that your brain is, in fact, organized).

We can’t instruct you, but we can make suggestions:

You may want to start off with a system based on the users of the computer. i.e. “My Files”, “My Wife’s Files”, My Son’s Files”, etc. Inside “My Files”, you might then break it down into “Personal” and “Business”. You may then realize that there are overlaps. For example, everyone may want to share access to the music library, or the photos from the school play. So you may create another folder called “Family”, for the “common” files.

You may decide that the highest-level breakdown of your files is based on the “source” of each file. In other words, who created the files. You could have “Files created by ME (business or personal)”, “Files created by people I know (family, friends, etc)”, and finally “Files created by the rest of the world (MP3 music files, downloaded or ripped movies or TV shows, software installation files, gorgeous desktop wallpaper images you’ve collected, etc).” This system happens to be the one I use myself. See below:

Mark is for files created by me
VC is for files created by my company (Virtual Creations)
Others is for files created by my friends and family
Data is the rest of the world
Also, Settings is where I store the configuration files and other program data files for my installed software (more on this in tip #34, below).

Each folder will present its own particular set of requirements for furthersub-organization. For example, you may decide to organize your music collection into sub-folders based on the artist’s name, while your digital photos might get organized based on the date they were taken. It can be different for every sub-folder!

Another strategy would be based on “currentness”. Files you have yet to open and look at live in one folder. Ones that have been looked at but not yet filed live in another place. Current, active projects live in yet another place. All other files (your “archive”, if you like) would live in a fourth folder. (And of course, within that last folder you’d need to create a further sub-system based on one of the previous bullet points).

Put some thought into this – changing it when it proves incomplete can be a big hassle! Before you go to the trouble of implementing any system you come up with, examine a wide cross-section of the files you own and see if they will all be able to find a nice logical place to sit within your system.

Tip #2. When You Decide on Your System, Stick to It!

There’s nothing more pointless than going to all the trouble of creating a system and filing all your files, and then whenever you create, receive or download a new file, you simply dump it onto your Desktop. You need to be disciplined – forever! Every new file you get,spend those extra few seconds to file it where it belongs! Otherwise, in just a month or two, you’ll be worse off than before – half your files will be organized and half will be disorganized – and you won’t know which is which!

Tip #3. Choose the Root Folder of Your Structure Carefully

Every data file (document, photo, music file, etc) that you create, own or is important to you, no matter where it came from, should be found within one single folder, and that one single folder should be located at the root of your C: drive (as a sub-folder of C:\). In other words, do not base your folder structure in standard folders like “My Documents”. If you do, then you’re leaving it up to the operating system engineers to decide what folder structure is best for you. And every operating system has a different system! In Windows 7 your files are found in C:\Users\YourName, whilst on Windows XP it wasC:\Documents and Settings\YourName\My Documents. In UNIX systems it’s often/home/YourName.

These standard default folders tend to fill up with junk files and folders that are not at all important to you. “My Documents” is the worst offender. Every second piece of software you install, it seems, likes to create its own folder in the “My Documents” folder. These folders usually don’t fit within your organizational structure, so don’t use them! In fact, don’t even use the “My Documents” folder at all. Allow it to fill up with junk, and then simply ignore it. It sounds heretical, but: Don’t ever visit your “My Documents” folder! Remove your icons/links to “My Documents” and replace them with links to the folders youcreated and you care about!

Create your own file system from scratch! Probably the best place to put it would be on your D: drive – if you have one. This way, all your files live on one drive, while all the operating system and software component files live on the C: drive – simply and elegantly separated. The benefits of that are profound. Not only are there obvious organizational benefits (see tip #10, below), but when it comes to migrate your data to a new computer, you can (sometimes) simply unplug your D: drive and plug it in as the D: drive of your new computer (this implies that the D: drive is actually a separate physical disk, and not a partition on the same disk as C:). You also get a slight speed improvement (again, only if your C: and D: drives are on separate physical disks).

Warning: From tip #12, below, you will see that it’s actually a good idea to have exactly the same file system structure – including the drive it’s filed on – on all of the computers you own. So if you decide to use the D: drive as the storage system for your own files, make sure you are able to use the D: drive on all the computers you own. If you can’t ensure that, then you can still use a clever geeky trick to store your files on the D: drive, but still access them all via the C: drive (see tip #17, below).

If you only have one hard disk (C:), then create a dedicated folder that will contain all your files – something like C:\Files. The name of the folder is not important, but make it a single, brief word.

There are several reasons for this:

When creating a backup regime, it’s easy to decide what files should be backed up – they’re all in the one folder!

If you ever decide to trade in your computer for a new one, you know exactly which files to migrate

You will always know where to begin a search for any file

If you synchronize files with other computers, it makes your synchronization routines very simple. It also causes all your shortcuts to continue to work on the other machines (more about this in tip #24, below).

Once you’ve decided where your files should go, then put all your files in there –Everything! Completely disregard the standard, default folders that are created for you by the operating system (“My Music”, “My Pictures”, etc). In fact, you can actually relocate many of those folders into your own structure (more about that below, in tip #6).

The more completely you get all your data files (documents, photos, music, etc) and all your configuration settings into that one folder, then the easier it will be to perform all of the above tasks.

Once this has been done, and all your files live in one folder, all the other folders in C:\ can be thought of as “operating system” folders, and therefore of little day-to-day interest for us.

Here’s a screenshot of a nicely organized C: drive, where all user files are located within the \Files folder:

Tip #4. Use Sub-Folders

This would be our simplest and most obvious tip. It almost goes without saying. Any organizational system you decide upon (see tip #1) will require that you create sub-folders for your files. Get used to creating folders on a regular basis.

Tip #5. Don’t be Shy About Depth

Create as many levels of sub-folders as you need. Don’t be scared to do so. Every time you notice an opportunity to group a set of related files into a sub-folder, do so. Examples might include: All the MP3s from one music CD, all the photos from one holiday, or all the documents from one client.

It’s perfectly okay to put files into a folder called C:\Files\Me\From Others\Services\WestCo Bank\Statements\2009. That’s only seven levels deep. Ten levels is not uncommon. Of course, it’s possible to take this too far. If you notice yourself creating a sub-folder to hold only one file, then you’ve probably become a little over-zealous. On the other hand, if you simply create a structure with only two levels (for example C:\Files\Work) then you really haven’t achieved any level of organization at all (unless you own only six files!). Your “Work” folder will have become a dumping ground, just like your Desktop was, with most likely hundreds of files in it.

Tip #6. Move the Standard User Folders into Your Own Folder Structure

Most operating systems, including Windows, create a set of standard folders for each of its users. These folders then become the default location for files such as documents, music files, digital photos and downloaded Internet files. In Windows 7, the full list is shown below:

Some of these folders you may never use nor care about (for example, the Favoritesfolder, if you’re not using Internet Explorer as your browser). Those ones you can leave where they are. But you may be using some of the other folders to store files that are important to you. Even if you’re not using them, Windows will still often treat them as the default storage location for many types of files. When you go to save a standard file type, it can become annoying to be automatically prompted to save it in a folder that’s not part of your own file structure.

But there’s a simple solution: Move the folders you care about into your own folder structure! If you do, then the next time you go to save a file of the corresponding type, Windows will prompt you to save it in the new, moved location.

Moving the folders is easy. Simply drag-and-drop them to the new location. Here’s a screenshot of the default My Music folder being moved to my custom personal folder (Mark):

Tip #7. Name Files and Folders Intelligently

This is another one that almost goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: Do not allow files to be created that have meaningless names like Document1.doc, or folders calledNew Folder (2). Take that extra 20 seconds and come up with a meaningful name for the file/folder – one that accurately divulges its contents without repeating the entire contents in the name.

Tip #8. Watch Out for Long Filenames

Another way to tell if you have not yet created enough depth to your folder hierarchy is that your files often require really long names. If you need to call a file Johnson Sales Figures March 2009.xls (which might happen to live in the same folder as Abercrombie Budget Report 2008.xls), then you might want to create some sub-folders so that the first file could be simply called March.xls, and living in the Clients\Johnson\Sales Figures\2009 folder.

A well-placed file needs only a brief filename!

Tip #9. Use Shortcuts! Everywhere!

This is probably the single most useful and important tip we can offer. A shortcut allows a file to be in two places at once.

Why would you want that? Well, the file and folder structure of every popular operating system on the market today is hierarchical. This means that all objects (files and folders) always live within exactly one parent folder. It’s a bit like a tree. A tree has branches (folders) and leaves (files). Each leaf, and each branch, is supported by exactly one parent branch, all the way back to the root of the tree (which, incidentally, is exactly why C:\ is called the “root folder” of the C: drive).

That hard disks are structured this way may seem obvious and even necessary, but it’s only one way of organizing data. There are others: Relational databases, for example, organize structured data entirely differently. The main limitation of hierarchical filing structures is that a file can only ever be in one branch of the tree – in only one folder – at a time. Why is this a problem? Well, there are two main reasons why this limitation is a problem for computer users:

The “correct” place for a file, according to our organizational rationale, is very often a very inconvenient place for that file to be located. Just because it’s correctly filed doesn’t mean it’s easy to get to. Your file may be “correctly” buried six levels deep in your sub-folder structure, but you may need regular and speedy access to this file every day. You could always move it to a more convenient location, but that would mean that you would need to re-file back to its “correct” location it every time you’d finished working on it. Most unsatisfactory.

A file may simply “belong” in two or more different locations within your file structure. For example, say you’re an accountant and you have just completed the 2009 tax return for John Smith. It might make sense to you to call this file 2009 Tax Return.doc and file it under Clients\John Smith. But it may also be important to you to have the 2009 tax returns from all your clients together in the one place. So you might also want to call the file John Smith.doc and file it under Tax Returns\2009. The problem is, in a purely hierarchical filing system, you can’t put it in both places. Grrrrr!

Fortunately, Windows (and most other operating systems) offers a way for you to do exactly that: It’s called a “shortcut” (also known as an “alias” on Macs and a “symbolic link” on UNIX systems). Shortcuts allow a file to exist in one place, and an icon that represents the file to be created and put anywhere else you please. In fact, you can create a dozen such icons and scatter them all over your hard disk. Double-clicking on one of these icons/shortcuts opens up the original file, just as if you had double-clicked on the original file itself.

Consider the following two icons:

The one on the left is the actual Word document, while the one on the right is a shortcut that represents the Word document. Double-clicking on either icon will open the same file. There are two main visual differences between the icons:

The shortcut will have a small arrow in the lower-left-hand corner (on Windows, anyway)

The shortcut is allowed to have a name that does not include the file extension (the “.docx” part, in this case)

You can delete the shortcut at any time without losing any actual data. The original is still intact. All you lose is the ability to get to that data from wherever the shortcut was.

So why are shortcuts so great? Because they allow us to easily overcome the main limitation of hierarchical file systems, and put a file in two (or more) places at the same time. You will always have files that don’t play nice with your organizational rationale, and can’t be filed in only one place. They demand to exist in two places. Shortcuts allow this! Furthermore, they allow you to collect your most often-opened files and folders together in one spot for convenient access. The cool part is that the original files stay where they are, safe forever in their perfectly organized location.

So your collection of most often-opened files can – and should – become a collection ofshortcuts!

If you’re still not convinced of the utility of shortcuts, consider the following well-known areas of a typical Windows computer:

The Start Menu (and all the programs that live within it)

The Quick Launch bar (or the Superbar in Windows 7)

The “Favorite folders” area in the top-left corner of the Windows Explorer window (in Windows Vista or Windows 7)

Your Internet Explorer Favorites or Firefox Bookmarks

Each item in each of these areas is a shortcut! Each of those areas exist for one purpose only: For convenience – to provide you with a collection of the files and folders you access most often.

It should be easy to see by now that shortcuts are designed for one single purpose: To make accessing your files more convenient. Each time you double-click on a shortcut, you are saved the hassle of locating the file (or folder, or program, or drive, or control panel icon) that it represents.

Shortcuts allow us to invent a golden rule of file and folder organization:

“Only ever have one copy of a file – never have two copies of the same file. Use a shortcut instead”

(this rule doesn’t apply to copies created for backup purposes, of course!)

There are also lesser rules, like “don’t move a file into your work area – create a shortcut there instead”, and “any time you find yourself frustrated with how long it takes to locate a file, create a shortcut to it and place that shortcut in a convenient location.”

So how to we create these massively useful shortcuts? There are two main ways:

“Copy” the original file or folder (click on it and type Ctrl-C, or right-click on it and select Copy):

Then right-click in an empty area of the destination folder (the place where you want the shortcut to go) and select Paste shortcut:

Right-drag (drag with the right mouse button) the file from the source folder to the destination folder. When you let go of the mouse button at the destination folder, a menu pops up:

Select Create shortcuts here.

Note that when shortcuts are created, they are often named something like Shortcut to Budget Detail.doc (windows XP) or Budget Detail – Shortcut.doc (Windows 7). If you don’t like those extra words, you can easily rename the shortcuts after they’re created, or you can configure Windows to never insert the extra words in the first place (see our article on how to do this).

And of course, you can create shortcuts to folders too, not just to files!

Bottom line:

Whenever you have a file that you’d like to access from somewhere else (whether it’s convenience you’re after, or because the file simply belongs in two places), create a shortcut to the original file in the new location.

Tip #10. Separate Application Files from Data Files

Any digital organization guru will drum this rule into you. Application files are the components of the software you’ve installed (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop or Internet Explorer). Data files are the files that you’ve created for yourself using that software (e.g. Word Documents, digital photos, emails or playlists).

Software gets installed, uninstalled and upgraded all the time. Hopefully you always have the original installation media (or downloaded set-up file) kept somewhere safe, and can thus reinstall your software at any time. This means that the software component files are of little importance. Whereas the files you have created with that software is, by definition, important. It’s a good rule to always separate unimportant files from important files.

So when your software prompts you to save a file you’ve just created, take a moment and check out where it’s suggesting that you save the file. If it’s suggesting that you save the file into the same folder as the software itself, then definitely don’t follow that suggestion. File it in your own folder! In fact, see if you can find the program’s configuration option that determines where files are saved by default (if it has one), and change it.

Tip #11. Organize Files Based on Purpose, Not on File Type

If you have, for example a folder called Work\Clients\Johnson, and within that folder you have two sub-folders, Word Documents and Spreadsheets (in other words, you’re separating “.doc” files from “.xls” files), then chances are that you’re not optimally organized. It makes little sense to organize your files based on the program that created them. Instead, create your sub-folders based on the purpose of the file. For example, it would make more sense to create sub-folders called Correspondence and Financials. It may well be that all the files in a given sub-folder are of the same file-type, but this should be more of a coincidence and less of a design feature of your organization system.

Tip #12. Maintain the Same Folder Structure on All Your Computers

In other words, whatever organizational system you create, apply it to every computer that you can. There are several benefits to this:

There’s less to remember. No matter where you are, you always know where to look for your files

If you copy or synchronize files from one computer to another, then setting up the synchronization job becomes very simple

Shortcuts can be copied or moved from one computer to another with ease (assuming the original files are also copied/moved). There’s no need to find the target of the shortcut all over again on the second computer

Ditto for linked files (e.g Word documents that link to data in a separate Excel file), playlists, and any files that reference the exact file locations of other files.

This applies even to the drive that your files are stored on. If your files are stored on C:on one computer, make sure they’re stored on C: on all your computers. Otherwise all your shortcuts, playlists and linked files will stop working!

Tip #13. Create an “Inbox” Folder

Create yourself a folder where you store all files that you’re currently working on, or that you haven’t gotten around to filing yet. You can think of this folder as your “to-do” list. You can call it “Inbox” (making it the same metaphor as your email system), or “Work”, or “To-Do”, or “Scratch”, or whatever name makes sense to you. It doesn’t matter what you call it – just make sure you have one!

Once you have finished working on a file, you then move it from the “Inbox” to its correct location within your organizational structure.

You may want to use your Desktop as this “Inbox” folder. Rightly or wrongly, most people do. It’s not a bad place to put such files, but be careful: If you do decide that your Desktop represents your “to-do” list, then make sure that no other files find their way there. In other words, make sure that your “Inbox”, wherever it is, Desktop or otherwise, is kept free of junk – stray files that don’t belong there.

So where should you put this folder, which, almost by definition, lives outside the structure of the rest of your filing system? Well, first and foremost, it has to be somewhere handy. This will be one of your most-visited folders, so convenience is key. Putting it on the Desktop is a great option – especially if you don’t have any other folders on your Desktop: the folder then becomes supremely easy to find in Windows Explorer:

You would then create shortcuts to this folder in convenient spots all over your computer (“Favorite Links”, “Quick Launch”, etc).

Tip #14. Ensure You have Only One “Inbox” Folder

Once you’ve created your “Inbox” folder, don’t use any other folder location as your “to-do list”. Throw every incoming or created file into the Inbox folder as you create/receive it. This keeps the rest of your computer pristine and free of randomly created or downloaded junk. The last thing you want to be doing is checking multiple folders to see all your current tasks and projects. Gather them all together into one folder.

Here are some tips to help ensure you only have one Inbox:

Set the default “save” location of all your programs to this folder.

Set the default “download” location for your browser to this folder.

If this folder is not your desktop (recommended) then also see if you can make a point of not putting “to-do” files on your desktop. This keeps your desktop uncluttered and Zen-like:

(the Inbox folder is in the bottom-right corner)

Tip #15. Be Vigilant about Clearing Your “Inbox” Folder

This is one of the keys to staying organized. If you let your “Inbox” overflow (i.e. allow there to be more than, say, 30 files or folders in there), then you’re probably going to start feeling like you’re overwhelmed: You’re not keeping up with your to-do list. Once your Inbox gets beyond a certain point (around 30 files, studies have shown), then you’ll simply start to avoid it. You may continue to put files in there, but you’ll be scared to look at it, fearing the “out of control” feeling that all overworked, chaotic or just plain disorganized people regularly feel.

So, here’s what you can do:

Visit your Inbox/to-do folder regularly (at least five times per day).

Scan the folder regularly for files that you have completed working on and are ready for filing. File them immediately.

Make it a source of pride to keep the number of files in this folder as small as possible. If you value peace of mind, then make the emptiness of this folder one of your highest (computer) priorities

If you know that a particular file has been in the folder for more than, say, six weeks, then admit that you’re not actually going to get around to processing it, and move it to its final resting place.

Tip #16. File Everything Immediately, and Use Shortcuts for Your Active Projects

As soon as you create, receive or download a new file, store it away in its “correct” folderimmediately. Then, whenever you need to work on it (possibly straight away), create a shortcut to it in your “Inbox” (“to-do”) folder or your desktop. That way, all your files are always in their “correct” locations, yet you still have immediate, convenient access to your current, active files. When you finish working on a file, simply delete the shortcut.

Ideally, your “Inbox” folder – and your Desktop – should contain no actual files or folders. They should simply contain shortcuts.

Tip #17. Use Directory Symbolic Links (or Junctions) to Maintain One Unified Folder Structure

Using this tip, we can get around a potential hiccup that we can run into when creating our organizational structure – the issue of having more than one drive on our computer (C:, D:, etc). We might have files we need to store on the D: drive for space reasons, and yet want to base our organized folder structure on the C: drive (or vice-versa).

Your chosen organizational structure may dictate that all your files must be accessed from the C: drive (for example, the root folder of all your files may be something likeC:\Files). And yet you may still have a D: drive and wish to take advantage of the hundreds of spare Gigabytes that it offers. Did you know that it’s actually possible to store your files on the D: drive and yet access them as if they were on the C: drive? And no, we’re not talking about shortcuts here (although the concept is very similar).

By using the shell command mklink, you can essentially take a folder that lives on onedrive and create an alias for it on a different drive (you can do lots more than that withmklink – for a full rundown on this programs capabilities, see our dedicated article). These aliases are called directory symbolic links (and used to be known as junctions). You can think of them as “virtual” folders. They function exactly like regular folders, except they’re physically located somewhere else.

For example, you may decide that your entire D: drive contains your complete organizational file structure, but that you need to reference all those files as if they were on the C: drive, under C:\Files. If that was the case you could create C:\Files as a directory symbolic link – a link to D:, as follows:

mklink /d c:\files d:\

Or it may be that the only files you wish to store on the D: drive are your movie collection. You could locate all your movie files in the root of your D: drive, and then link it to C:\Files\Media\Movies, as follows:

mklink /d c:\files\media\movies d:\

(Needless to say, you must run these commands from a command prompt – click the Start button, type cmd and press Enter)

Tip #18. Customize Your Folder Icons

This is not strictly speaking an organizational tip, but having unique icons for each folderdoes allow you to more quickly visually identify which folder is which, and thus saves you time when you’re finding files. An example is below (from my folder that contains all files downloaded from the Internet):

To learn how to change your folder icons, please refer to our dedicated article on the subject.

Tip #19. Tidy Your Start Menu

The Windows Start Menu is usually one of the messiest parts of any Windows computer. Every program you install seems to adopt a completely different approach to placing icons in this menu. Some simply put a single program icon. Others create a folder based on the name of the software. And others create a folder based on the name of the software manufacturer. It’s chaos, and can make it hard to find the software you want to run.

Thankfully we can avoid this chaos with useful operating system features like Quick Launch, the Superbar or pinned start menu items.

Even so, it would make a lot of sense to get into the guts of the Start Menu itself and give it a good once-over. All you really need to decide is how you’re going to organize your applications. A structure based on the purpose of the application is an obvious candidate. Below is an example of one such structure:

In this structure, Utilities means software whose job it is to keep the computer itself running smoothly (configuration tools, backup software, Zip programs, etc). Applications refers to any productivity software that doesn’t fit under the headingsMultimedia, Graphics, Internet, etc.

In case you’re not aware, every icon in your Start Menu is a shortcut and can be manipulated like any other shortcut (copied, moved, deleted, etc).

With the Windows Start Menu (all version of Windows), Microsoft has decided that there be two parallel folder structures to store your Start Menu shortcuts. One for you (the logged-in user of the computer) and one for all users of the computer. Having two parallel structures can often be redundant: If you are the only user of the computer, then having two parallel structures is totally redundant. Even if you have several users that regularly log into the computer, most of your installed software will need to be made available to all users, and should thus be moved out of the “just you” version of the Start Menu and into the “all users” area.

To take control of your Start Menu, so you can start organizing it, you’ll need to know how to access the actual folders and shortcut files that make up the Start Menu (both versions of it). To find these folders and files, click the Start button and then right-click on the All Programs text (Windows XP users should right-click on the Start button itself):

The Open option refers to the “just you” version of the Start Menu, while the Open All Users option refers to the “all users” version. Click on the one you want to organize.

A Windows Explorer window then opens with your chosen version of the Start Menu selected. From there it’s easy. Double-click on the Programs folder and you’ll see all your folders and shortcuts. Now you can delete/rename/move until it’s just the way you want it.

Note: When you’re reorganizing your Start Menu, you may want to have two Explorer windows open at the same time – one showing the “just you” version and one showing the “all users” version. You can drag-and-drop between the windows.

Tip #20. Keep Your Start Menu Tidy

Once you have a perfectly organized Start Menu, try to be a little vigilant about keeping it that way. Every time you install a new piece of software, the icons that get created will almost certainly violate your organizational structure.

So to keep your Start Menu pristine and organized, make sure you do the following whenever you install a new piece of software:

Check whether the software was installed into the “just you” area of the Start Menu, or the “all users” area, and then move it to the correct area.

Remove all the unnecessary icons (like the “Read me” icon, the “Help” icon (you can always open the help from within the software itself when it’s running), the “Uninstall” icon, the link(s)to the manufacturer’s website, etc)

Rename the main icon(s) of the software to something brief that makes sense to you. For example, you might like to rename Microsoft Office Word 2010 to simplyWord

Move the icon(s) into the correct folder based on your Start Menu organizational structure

And don’t forget: when you uninstall a piece of software, the software’s uninstall routine is no longer going to be able to remove the software’s icon from the Start Menu (because you moved and/or renamed it), so you’ll need to remove that icon manually.

Tip #21. Tidy C:\

The root of your C: drive (C:\) is a common dumping ground for files and folders – both by the users of your computer and by the software that you install on your computer. It can become a mess.

There’s almost no software these days that requires itself to be installed in C:\. 99% of the time it can and should be installed into C:\Program Files. And as for your own files, well, it’s clear that they can (and almost always should) be stored somewhere else.

In an ideal world, your C:\ folder should look like this (on Windows 7):

Note that there are some system files and folders in C:\ that are usually and deliberately “hidden” (such as the Windows virtual memory file pagefile.sys, the boot loader filebootmgr, and the System Volume Information folder). Hiding these files and folders is a good idea, as they need to stay where they are and are almost never needed to be opened or even seen by you, the user. Hiding them prevents you from accidentally messing with them, and enhances your sense of order and well-being when you look at your C: drive folder.

Tip #22. Tidy Your Desktop

The Desktop is probably the most abused part of a Windows computer (from an organization point of view). It usually serves as a dumping ground for all incoming files, as well as holding icons to oft-used applications, plus some regularly opened files and folders. It often ends up becoming an uncontrolled mess. See if you can avoid this. Here’s why…

Application icons (Word, Internet Explorer, etc) are often found on the Desktop, but it’s unlikely that this is the optimum place for them. The “Quick Launch” bar (or the Superbar in Windows 7) is always visible and so represents a perfect location to put your icons. You’ll only be able to see the icons on your Desktop when all your programs are minimized. It might be time to get your application icons off your desktop…

You may have decided that the Inbox/To-do folder on your computer (see tip #13, above) should be your Desktop. If so, then enough said. Simply be vigilant about clearing it and preventing it from being polluted by junk files (see tip #15, above). On the other hand, if your Desktop is not acting as your “Inbox” folder, then there’s no reason for it to have any data files or folders on it at all, except perhaps a couple of shortcuts to often-opened files and folders (either ongoing or current projects). Everything else should be moved to your “Inbox” folder.

In an ideal world, it might look like this:

Tip #23. Move Permanent Items on Your Desktop Away from the Top-Left Corner

When files/folders are dragged onto your desktop in a Windows Explorer window, or when shortcuts are created on your Desktop from Internet Explorer, those icons are always placed in the top-left corner – or as close as they can get. If you have other files, folders or shortcuts that you keep on the Desktop permanently, then it’s a good idea to separate these permanent icons from the transient ones, so that you can quickly identify which ones the transients are. An easy way to do this is to move all your permanent icons to the right-hand side of your Desktop. That should keep them separated from incoming items.

Tip #24. Synchronize

If you have more than one computer, you’ll almost certainly want to share files between them. If the computers are permanently attached to the same local network, then there’s no need to store multiple copies of any one file or folder – shortcuts will suffice. However, if the computers are not always on the same network, then you will at some point need to copy files between them. For files that need to permanently live on both computers, the ideal way to do this is to synchronize the files, as opposed to simply copying them.

We only have room here to write a brief summary of synchronization, not a full article. In short, there are several different types of synchronization:

Where the contents of one folder are accessible anywhere, such as with Dropbox

Where the contents of any number of folders are accessible anywhere, such as withWindows Live Mesh

Where any files or folders from anywhere on your computer are synchronized with exactly one other computer, such as with the Windows “Briefcase”, Microsoft SyncToy, or (much more powerful, yet still free) SyncBack from 2BrightSparks. This only works when both computers are on the same local network, at least temporarily.

A great advantage of synchronization solutions is that once you’ve got it configured the way you want it, then the sync process happens automatically, every time. Click a button (or schedule it to happen automatically) and all your files are automagically put where they’re supposed to be.

If you maintain the same file and folder structure on both computers, then you can also sync files depend upon the correct location of other files, like shortcuts, playlists and office documents that link to other office documents, and the synchronized files still work on the other computer!

Tip #25. Hide Files You Never Need to See

If you have your files well organized, you will often be able to tell if a file is out of place just by glancing at the contents of a folder (for example, it should be pretty obvious if you look in a folder that contains all the MP3s from one music CD and see a Word document in there). This is a good thing – it allows you to determine if there are files out of place with a quick glance. Yet sometimes there are files in a folder that seem out of place but actually need to be there, such as the “folder art” JPEGs in music folders, and various files in the root of the C: drive. If such files never need to be opened by you, then a good idea is to simply hide them. Then, the next time you glance at the folder, you won’t have to remember whether that file was supposed to be there or not, because you won’t see it at all!

To hide a file, simply right-click on it and choose Properties:

Then simply tick the Hidden tick-box:

Tip #26. Keep Every Setup File

These days most software is downloaded from the Internet. Whenever you download a piece of software, keep it. You’ll never know when you need to reinstall the software.

Further, keep with it an Internet shortcut that links back to the website where you originally downloaded it, in case you ever need to check for updates.

See tip #33 below for a full description of the excellence of organizing your setup files.

Tip #27. Try to Minimize the Number of Folders that Contain Both Files and Sub-folders

Some of the folders in your organizational structure will contain only files. Others will contain only sub-folders. And you will also have some folders that contain both files andsub-folders. You will notice slight improvements in how long it takes you to locate a file if you try to avoid this third type of folder. It’s not always possible, of course – you’ll always have some of these folders, but see if you can avoid it.

One way of doing this is to take all the leftover files that didn’t end up getting stored in a sub-folder and create a special “Miscellaneous” or “Other” folder for them.

Tip #28. Starting a Filename with an Underscore Brings it to the Top of a List

Further to the previous tip, if you name that “Miscellaneous” or “Other” folder in such a way that its name begins with an underscore “_”, then it will appear at the top of the list of files/folders.

The screenshot below is an example of this. Each folder in the list contains a set of digital photos. The folder at the top of the list, _Misc, contains random photos that didn’t deserve their own dedicated folder:

Tip #29. Clean Up those CD-ROMs and (shudder!) Floppy Disks

Have you got a pile of CD-ROMs stacked on a shelf of your office? Old photos, or files you archived off onto CD-ROM (or even worse, floppy disks!) because you didn’t have enough disk space at the time? In the meantime have you upgraded your computer and now have 500 Gigabytes of space you don’t know what to do with? If so, isn’t it time you tidied up that stack of disks and filed them into your gorgeous new folder structure?

So what are you waiting for? Bite the bullet, copy them all back onto your computer, file them in their appropriate folders, and then back the whole lot up onto a shiny new 1000Gig external hard drive!

Useful Folders to Create

This next section suggests some useful folders that you might want to create within your folder structure. I’ve personally found them to be indispensable.

The first three are all about convenience – handy folders to create and then put somewhere that you can always access instantly. For each one, it’s not so important where the actual folder is located, but it’s very important where you put the shortcut(s) to the folder. You might want to locate the shortcuts:

On your Desktop

In your “Quick Launch” area (or pinned to your Windows 7 Superbar)

In your Windows Explorer “Favorite Links” area

Tip #30. Create an “Inbox” (“To-Do”) Folder

This has already been mentioned in depth (see tip #13), but we wanted to reiterate its importance here. This folder contains all the recently created, received or downloaded files that you have not yet had a chance to file away properly, and it also may contain files that you have yet to process. In effect, it becomes a sort of “to-do list”. It doesn’t have to be called “Inbox” – you can call it whatever you want.

Tip #31. Create a Folder where Your Current Projects are Collected

Rather than going hunting for them all the time, or dumping them all on your desktop, create a special folder where you put links (or work folders) for each of the projects you’re currently working on.

You can locate this folder in your “Inbox” folder, on your desktop, or anywhere at all – just so long as there’s a way of getting to it quickly, such as putting a link to it in Windows Explorer’s “Favorite Links” area:

Tip #32. Create a Folder for Files and Folders that You Regularly Open

You will always have a few files that you open regularly, whether it be a spreadsheet of your current accounts, or a favorite playlist. These are not necessarily “current projects”, rather they’re simply files that you always find yourself opening. Typically such files would be located on your desktop (or even better, shortcuts to those files). Why not collect all such shortcuts together and put them in their own special folder?

As with the “Current Projects” folder (above), you would want to locate that folder somewhere convenient. Below is an example of a folder called “Quick links”, with about seven files (shortcuts) in it, that is accessible through the Windows Quick Launch bar:

See tip #37 below for a full explanation of the power of the Quick Launch bar.

Tip #33. Create a “Set-ups” Folder

A typical computer has dozens of applications installed on it. For each piece of software, there are often many different pieces of information you need to keep track of, including:

The original installation setup file(s). This can be anything from a simple 100Kb setup.exe file you downloaded from a website, all the way up to a 4Gig ISO file that you copied from a DVD-ROM that you purchased.

The home page of the software manufacturer (in case you need to look up something on their support pages, their forum or their online help)

The page containing the download link for your actual file (in case you need to re-download it, or download an upgraded version)

The serial number

Your proof-of-purchase documentation

Any other template files, plug-ins, themes, etc that also need to get installed

For each piece of software, it’s a great idea to gather all of these files together and put them in a single folder. The folder can be the name of the software (plus possibly a very brief description of what it’s for – in case you can’t remember what the software does based in its name). Then you would gather all of these folders together into one place, and call it something like “Software” or “Setups”.

If you have enough of these folders (I have several hundred, being a geek, collected over 20 years), then you may want to further categorize them. My own categorization structure is based on “platform” (operating system):

The last seven folders each represents one platform/operating system, while _Operating Systems contains set-up files for installing the operating systems themselves. _Hardware contains ROMs for hardware I own, such as routers.

Within the Windows folder (above), you can see the beginnings of the vast library of software I’ve compiled over the years:

An example of a typical application folder looks like this:

Tip #34. Have a “Settings” Folder

We all know that our documents are important. So are our photos and music files. We save all of these files into folders, and then locate them afterwards and double-click on them to open them. But there are many files that are important to us that can’t be saved into folders, and then searched for and double-clicked later on. These files certainly contain important information that we need, but are often created internally by an application, and saved wherever that application feels is appropriate.

A good example of this is the “PST” file that Outlook creates for us and uses to store all our emails, contacts, appointments and so forth. Another example would be the collection of Bookmarks that Firefox stores on your behalf.

And yet another example would be the customized settings and configuration files of our all our software. Granted, most Windows programs store their configuration in the Registry, but there are still many programs that use configuration files to store their settings.

Imagine if you lost all of the above files! And yet, when people are backing up their computers, they typically only back up the files they know about – those that are stored in the “My Documents” folder, etc. If they had a hard disk failure or their computer was lost or stolen, their backup files would not include some of the most vital files they owned. Also, when migrating to a new computer, it’s vital to ensure that these files make the journey.

It can be a very useful idea to create yourself a folder to store all your “settings” – files that are important to you but which you never actually search for by name and double-click on to open them. Otherwise, next time you go to set up a new computer just the way you want it, you’ll need to spend hours recreating the configuration of your previous computer!

So how to we get our important files into this folder? Well, we have a few options:

Some programs (such as Outlook and its PST files) allow you to place these files wherever you want. If you delve into the program’s options, you will find a setting somewhere that controls the location of the important settings files (or “personal storage” – PST – when it comes to Outlook)

Some programs do not allow you to change such locations in any easy way, but if you get into the Registry, you can sometimes find a registry key that refers to the location of the file(s). Simply move the file into your Settings folder and adjust the registry key to refer to the new location.

Some programs stubbornly refuse to allow their settings files to be placed anywhere other then where they stipulate. When faced with programs like these, you have three choices: (1) You can ignore those files, (2) You can copy the files into your Settings folder (let’s face it – settings don’t change very often), or (3) you can use synchronization software, such as the Windows Briefcase, to make synchronized copies of all your files in your Settings folder. All you then have to do is to remember to run your sync software periodically (perhaps just before you run your backup software!).

There are some other things you may decide to locate inside this new “Settings” folder:

Exports of registry keys (from the many applications that store their configurations in the Registry). This is useful for backup purposes or for migrating to a new computer

Notes you’ve made about all the specific customizations you have made to a particular piece of software (so that you’ll know how to do it all again on your next computer)

Shortcuts to webpages that detail how to tweak certain aspects of your operating system or applications so they are just the way you like them (such as how to remove the words “Shortcut to” from the beginning of newly created shortcuts). In other words, you’d want to create shortcuts to half the pages on the How-To Geek website!

Here’s an example of a “Settings” folder:

Windows Features that Help with Organization

This section details some of the features of Microsoft Windows that are a boon to anyone hoping to stay optimally organized.

Tip #35. Use the “Favorite Links” Area to Access Oft-Used Folders

Once you’ve created your great new filing system, work out which folders you access most regularly, or which serve as great starting points for locating the rest of the files in your folder structure, and then put links to those folders in your “Favorite Links” area of the left-hand side of the Windows Explorer window (simply called “Favorites” in Windows 7):

Some ideas for folders you might want to add there include:

Your “Inbox” folder (or whatever you’ve called it) – most important!

The base of your filing structure (e.g. C:\Files)

A folder containing shortcuts to often-accessed folders on other computers around the network (shown above as Network Folders)

A folder containing shortcuts to your current projects (unless that folder is in your “Inbox” folder)

Getting folders into this area is very simple – just locate the folder you’re interested in and drag it there!

Tip #36. Customize the Places Bar in the File/Open and File/Save Boxes

Consider the screenshot below:

The highlighted icons (collectively known as the “Places Bar”) can be customized to refer to any folder location you want, allowing instant access to any part of your organizational structure.

Note: These File/Open and File/Save boxes have been superseded by new versions that use the Windows Vista/Windows 7 “Favorite Links”, but the older versions (shown above) are still used by a surprisingly large number of applications.

The easiest way to customize these icons is to use the Group Policy Editor, but not everyone has access to this program. If you do, open it up and navigate to:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer > Common Open File Dialog

If you don’t have access to the Group Policy Editor, then you’ll need to get into the Registry. Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ comdlg32 \ Placesbar

It should then be easy to make the desired changes. Log off and log on again to allow the changes to take effect.

Tip #37. Use the Quick Launch Bar as a Application and File Launcher

That Quick Launch bar (to the right of the Start button) is a lot more useful than people give it credit for. Most people simply have half a dozen icons in it, and use it to start just those programs. But it can actually be used to instantly access just about anything in your filing system:

For complete instructions on how to set this up, visit our dedicated article on this topic.

Tip #38. Put a Shortcut to Windows Explorer into Your Quick Launch Bar

This is only necessary in Windows Vista and Windows XP. The Microsoft boffins finally got wise and added it to the Windows 7 Superbar by default.

Windows Explorer – the program used for managing your files and folders – is one of the most useful programs in Windows. Anyone who considers themselves serious about being organized needs instant access to this program at any time. A great place to create a shortcut to this program is in the Windows XP and Windows Vista “Quick Launch” bar:

To get it there, locate it in your Start Menu (usually under “Accessories”) and then right-drag it down into your Quick Launch bar (and create a copy).

Tip #39. Customize the Starting Folder for Your Windows 7 Explorer Superbar Icon

If you’re on Windows 7, your Superbar will include a Windows Explorer icon. Clicking on the icon will launch Windows Explorer (of course), and will start you off in your “Libraries” folder. Libraries may be fine as a starting point, but if you have created yourself an “Inbox” folder, then it would probably make more sense to start off in this folder every time you launch Windows Explorer.

To change this default/starting folder location, then first right-click the Explorer icon in the Superbar, and then right-click Properties:

Then, in Target field of the Windows Explorer Properties box that appears, type%windir%\explorer.exe followed by the path of the folder you wish to start in. For example:

%windir%\explorer.exe C:\Files

If that folder happened to be on the Desktop (and called, say, “Inbox”), then you would use the following cleverness:

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:desktop\Inbox

Then click OK and test it out.

Tip #40. Ummmmm….

No, that’s it. I can’t think of another one. That’s all of the tips I can come up with. I only created this one because 40 is such a nice round number…

Case Study – An Organized PC

To finish off the article, I have included a few screenshots of my (main) computer (running Vista). The aim here is twofold:

To give you a sense of what it looks like when the above, sometimes abstract, tips are applied to a real-life computer, and

To offer some ideas about folders and structure that you may want to steal to use on your own PC.

Let’s start with the C: drive itself. Very minimal. All my files are contained withinC:\Files. I’ll confine the rest of the case study to this folder:

That folder contains the following:

Mark: My personal files

VC: My business (Virtual Creations, Australia)

Others contains files created by friends and family

Data contains files from the rest of the world (can be thought of as “public” files, usually downloaded from the Net)

Settings is described above in tip #34

The Data folder contains the following sub-folders:

Audio: Radio plays, audio books, podcasts, etc

Development: Programmer and developer resources, sample source code, etc (see below)

Humour: Jokes, funnies (those emails that we all receive)

Movies: Downloaded and ripped movies (all legal, of course!), their scripts, DVD covers, etc.

Music: (see below)

Setups: Installation files for software (explained in full in tip #33)

System: (see below)

TV: Downloaded TV shows

Writings: Books, instruction manuals, etc (see below)

The Music folder contains the following sub-folders:

Album covers: JPEG scans

Guitar tabs: Text files of guitar sheet music

Lists: e.g. “Top 1000 songs of all time”

Lyrics: Text files

MIDI: Electronic music files

MP3 (representing 99% of the Music folder): MP3s, either ripped from CDs or downloaded, sorted by artist/album name

Music Video: Video clips

Sheet Music: usually PDFs

The Data\Writings folder contains the following sub-folders:

(all pretty self-explanatory)

The Data\Development folder contains the following sub-folders:

Again, all pretty self-explanatory (if you’re a geek)

The Data\System folder contains the following sub-folders:

These are usually themes, plug-ins and other downloadable program-specific resources.

The Mark folder contains the following sub-folders:

From Others: Usually letters that other people (friends, family, etc) have written to me

For Others: Letters and other things I have created for other people

Green Book: None of your business

Playlists: M3U files that I have compiled of my favorite songs (plus one M3U playlist file for every album I own)

Writing: Fiction, philosophy and other musings of mine

Mark Docs: Shortcut to C:\Users\Mark

Settings: Shortcut to C:\Files\Settings\Mark

The Others folder contains the following sub-folders:

The VC (Virtual Creations, my business – I develop websites) folder contains the following sub-folders:

And again, all of those are pretty self-explanatory.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15677/zen-and-the-art-of-file-and-folder-organization/

The life-changing list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows users

2010-05-12T10:07:00.001-07:00

Friendly Computers found this article useful and would like to share with you.

There is always at least two ways of doing something on a Windows PC. If you've learnt by doing, rather than from a book, you probably only know one way. Watch your mother use a word processor one day -- I bet she uses File > Save rather than hitting Ctrl+S. What about you? Do you know your shortcuts?
Keyboard shortcuts are by far and away the best way to a) speed up your work flow and b) preventRSI. The single worst thing you can do, as far as your wrist and elbow is concerned, is move your hand to the mouse. The best thing you can do is read this list of shortcuts and be amazed at what you can do with just a couple of keystrokes.
I've sorted these ~~life~~finger-savers into three categories: life-changing, really neat and kinda cool.Some of you will already know most of them, but you won't know all of them. You owe it to yourself to read the first block -- but try and keep going until the end!

Life-changing Keyboard Shortcuts
First, the shortcuts that are so fundamental to computer use that you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. Almost all of these shortcuts should be performed with the LEFT hand, with your thumb on Alt or Ctrl.

Ctrl+T -- opens a new tab in all major Web browsers.

Alt+Tab -- cycles through currently-open programs. If you also hold down Shift, it cycles backwards.

Ctrl+Tab -- cycles through Web browser tabs (you can use Shift to go backwards too).

Ctrl+W -- closes the current window or tab. Some applications can be closed with Ctrl+W, butAlt+F4 is universal.

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V -- copies selected text (you can use Shift and arrow keys to select text!), and then paste it. Use Alt-Tab to switch between source and destination for bonus points.

Ctrl+Z -- undoes your last action. This works in almost everything except Web browsers. 'Redo' varies from program to program (check the 'Edit' menu to find out!)

Ctrl+Mouse scroll wheel -- zoom in, zoom out. This works in almost every kind of app, including Web browsers. Great for increasing the size of tiny 'aesthetic' text on normal websites... or tiny thumbnails on nefarious ones. Also scales the size of icons on your desktop, if they're too small for you!

F5 -- refreshes your current folder/directory or Web page. Yes, you can hammer a button on your keyboard rather than foolishly clicking a button over and over!

Alt+D -- selects the address bar in your Web browser or folder/directory view! Yes, I know -- how awesome is that?

Really Neat Keyboard Shortcuts
This next block of shortcuts is for the power users, the administrators, those of you that want tosqueeze just a little bit more out of your PC. These shortcuts are nearly all Windows Key combinations, so first... a little bit of trivia (you never know when you might get asked about the Windows Key in a pub quiz!).
The Windows Key (the one with the flag on, next to 'Ctrl' and 'Alt') is a relatively recent addition to modern keyboards. It's functionally identical to the Mac's Command Key, and both of them originated on the awesomely-named 'Space-cadet keyboard' at MIT. Along with its bastard cousin the 'menu key' (I can only assume that key was thrown in for special people with one-button mouses), it started to appear after Windows 95 was released. And now on with the shortcuts!

Windows Key+L -- locks the computer! BLAM! It's really fast and probably the best (and most secure) way to quickly clear your screen of anything offensive.

Windows Key+D -- shows your desktop. Hit Windows Key+D again to bring the windows back! Another great way to hide whatever you're up to -- or maybe you just want to declutter your workspace.

Windows Key -- pops up the Start Menu. It also focuses the 'instant search/run' box, so you can start typing immediately. Type the name of an application and press enter! Windows Key+R is the same thing but without the as-you-type search.

Windows Key+Number (0 through 9) -- opens the program pinned to your Superbar/taskbar as indicated by the number. Windows Key+1 would be the first icon on your taskbar... +5 the fifth, and so on. If the program is already open, you switch focus to that window. Shift+Windows Key+Number opens a new instance of the pinned program.

Windows Key+Tab -- a pretty, Aero Flip version of Alt+Tab. Cycle through your open applications in 3D! This can be quite slow on laptops or older PCs.

Windows Key+Shift+Left Arrow -- on multi-monitor setups, this moves your current window to the left-hand screen. +Right Arrow would move it to the right. If you only have two screens it doesn't matter which combo you use.

Note: these shortcuts all work with Windows 7; most of them work with Vista -- and only some work with XP and earlier.
Kinda Cool Keyboard Shortcuts
This last section is dedicated to the shortcuts that no one really knows about. These are fairly obscure, and in some cases completely useless, but who knows: maybe you'll find something useful!

Ctrl+Shift+Left Click -- use this on a Superbar or Start Menu item to run it as an administrator. One of the many ways to combat UAC annoyances...!

Hold Shift -- if you hold Shift after putting a CD into your computer it will stop it from Auto Running (this one goes way back to Windows 95!)

Ctrl+Shift -- switches between keyboard layouts. Usually you'll change keyboard layout without noticing... now you know the shortcut to change it back! (Or just uninstall the other keyboard layouts -- that's what I do)

Left Alt+Left Shift+Print Screen (PrtScrn) -- changes Windows to 'high contrast' settings. Good for Web sites that all 'fade into grey' -- or for older people with weaker eyes!

Ctrl+Shift+Esc -- opens the Task Manager. No, you don't have to access it via Ctrl+Alt+Del!

Ctrl+Alt+Del -- yes... this one reboots your computer. Surprising how rarely you have to hit it nowadays, eh?

Windows Key, Right, Right -- no, not a cheat code! This brings you to the Log Off/Shut Down/Sleep menu.

Ctrl+Right Arrow (or Left Arrow) -- when word processing, this moves the cursor one word to the left or right. Much faster than simply 'holding down the arrow key'. If you hold down Shift you also select the text as you go; very cool.

Home and End (Page Up, Page Down, etc.) -- the whole 'block' to the right of the Enter key are actually used for moving around documents and pages. Home takes you to the start of a line; End... to the end. Hold Shift to select text as you go.

Source: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/04/26/the-life-changing-list-of-keyboard-shortcuts-for-windows-users/

Five Best Password Managers

2010-05-05T10:59:00.001-07:00

Want to keep all your strong passwords organized? Friendly Computers found this article very useful.

As more of our work, play, and business is conducted online it becomes increasingly important to use a diverse set of strong passwords. This week we take a look at the five best password managers to keep your passwords organized.

You can't afford to use the same password for everything, nor do many of us have the recall skills to keep dozens and dozens of complex alphanumeric passwords stored in perfect order in our memories. A password manager is the compromise between using a few you can remember and risking forgetting some if you use too many complex passwords. The following five tools will help you build a strong password set and securely store it so you're never stuck using the same old password for fear of forgetting it.

KeePass (Windows/Mac/Linux/Mobile, Free)

If you're extra paranoid about security it's tough to go wrong with an open-source solution knowing that you (or the concerned community) can pore over the code. KeePass is open-source, free, and available for everything from a portable Windows installation to an implementation for iPhones, PocketPCs, and Android phones. KeePass supports a variety of features including automatic password generation, field and icon customization, secure notes, and login and password entry through clipboard copying, drag and drop, or auto fill-in. KeePass supports a wide range of import and export formats as well as printing for hard copy backup or secure offline storage. If you're interested in KeePass you'll definitely want to check out our guide to the eight best KeePass plug-ins and how to sync your KeePass keyring with Dropbox.

Roboform (Windows, Basic: Free/Pro: $29.95)

RoboForm isn't going to win any awards for a stunning GUI, but it has gathered accolades for ease of use and tight integration with popular web browsers. You can set RoboForm to not only automatically log you into existing services but quickly fill out forms to register for new ones with automatic fill in of names and email addresses. RoboForm included encrypted notes, random password generation, and the ability to print hard copy backups of your password lists for storage in a fire safe or other secure location.

LastPass (Windows/Mac/Linux/Mobile, Basic: Free/Premium: $1/month)

LastPass is one of the newest password managers on the market but it has quickly gained a following for ease of use, hiccup-free integration across operating systems, browsers, and mobile platforms, and an extremely reasonable premium-model that costs only a $1 a month. Because LastPass is available for every major operating system and phone platform it's difficult to imagine a combination of operating system, web browser, and phone it doesn't cover, meaning you'll use your password manager more. LastPass has gone to extraordinary lengths to cover the bases when it comes to running a web-connected password management service including the ability to use two-layer authentication and setting up one-time use passwords for those times you want to access your online password database but you're not sure if the connection you're on is really secure. For a closer look at LastPass check out our guide here.

SplashID (Windows/Mac/Mobile, Desktop: $19.95/Mobile:$9.95)

SplashID is a multi-platform password manager. Available on the desktop for Windows and Mac OS X it also syncs to mobile versions on the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and S60 platforms. SplashID uses AES and Blowfish encryption, an automatic password generator, custom icons for entries in your keyring, advanced search, and the ability to sync and securely email your passwords to other SplashID users. SplashID supports heavily customizable entry fields so you can easily make specialized entry types for storage of non-password data (confidential records, bank information, insurance information, and more). SplashID offers a 30 day trial.

1Password (Mac OS X/iPhone, Desktop: $39.95/iPhone:$14.95)

1Password is a Mac-centric password manager with support for syncing to your iPhone and iPad through the 1Password mobile suite. Not only can you organize and sync passwords, but also software licenses and files—great for storing things like scanned copies of your important documents when traveling. 1Password supports customization of login icons and thumbnails, integration with Evernote and Safari, and a tag-based system for easy login organization. While this is completely irrelevant to the quality of a good password manager insofar as the security of the passwords is concerned, it's worth noting that 1Password sports the most attractive and polished user interface of any password manager we've reviewed.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5529133/five-best-password-managers

How to Seamlessly Run That One Windows App You Need on a Mac

2010-04-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

Want to run Windows app on a Mac with OS X? Friendly Computers would like to share with you these useful tips.

Love OS X but have that one stubborn app you can only run on Windows? With the right tools and setup, you can run individual Windows apps seamlessly on your Mac desktop, as though they were always meant to be there.

Over the years, we've covered virtualization, virtual machines—that is, running full-blown operating systems inside your main OS—quite a bit. What we're going to detail here, however, is not so much the setting up of one operating system (Windows) inside another (Mac OS X), but a setup that makes running one or a handful of must-have Windows applications on a Mac simple and seamless. It makes things much easier for non-expert computer users who just need access to an app that there isn't a Mac version for, and it makes the user experience feel less disjointed and cobbled together. When you're done here, you should be able to run that must-have Windows app on your Mac as though it's just another Mac application.

We'll highlight two methods for achieving this kind of setup. One is with Parallels, which is easy to set up, offers great OS X integration, and isn't entirely cheap. The other is withVirtualBox, an app that's free on any platform, but requires a good bit more fiddling, and doesn't offer all the just-works options of Parallels. (Skip straight to the Parallels orVirtualBox sections.)

Method One: The Parallels Solution

At about $80 for a license, Parallels (Desktop 5 for Mac, in this case) is not exactly free, we know. Parallels is, however, a really smart, attractive, and powerful virtualization tool built for one purpose: making Windows applications accessible on a Mac. If you have a Windows disc and license handy—especially Windows 7—it makes Microsoft's operating system feel like it was made to fit inside a Mac.

The shortlist pitch for why you should consider Parallels for your Mac:

Windows app icons on your Dock: Not everybody uses the Dock, but those who do will find it very helpful to have both individual application icons on it, rather than having to hunt them out in a virtual Windows desktop.

Virtual Windows folder: If you need access to a few Windows apps and components on a regular basis, Parallels keeps a Windows-badged folder stocked with everything stashed inside your virtual Windows installation.

File type associations: If you need to open Microsoft Word .doc files inside an actual Word app inside Windows, and not with Mac's own TextEdit app, Parallels can make that happen. If the Mac has no idea what the file is, but a Windows app might, Parallels is on top of that, too.

Look and feel: It's not an essential tool to getting work done, but having your desktop feel integrated, and your applications feel like they belong on your computer, can matter more than you'd think. Parallels does a pretty great job of forming the windows, buttons, and frame of Windows applications so that they feel right on a Mac.

Adam had previously detailed running Windows apps on a Mac with Parallels, but Parallels has come a long way since 2006, and it's worth taking a look at the most seamless integration around.

It's also worth noting that Parallels doesn't always cost $80. You can try it free for 15 days, upgrade from older versions for $50, and often find promotions around the web that get you the app for less, or get you Parallels in combination with other software. I found a coupon link that bundled Parallels with H&R Block at Home. I didn't really need that, but it also mailed me a CD copy of Parallels (normally $6 extra) and a year's license to download the software (another few dollars extra), and it all came in under the total cost of what you'd normally pay. Shop and Google around.

I'm going to run through the installation of WordPerfect, an application some engineers, lawyers, and folks working in offices with IT policies that refuse to die must sometimes rely on. I'm setting it up on a MacBook so that the user—who may, in fact, be married to me—has the easiest possible access to it. When a WordPerfect file arrives via email, double-clicking it opens up WordPerfect. WordPerfect is added to the Dock, it looks (mostly) like a Mac app when it runs, and the virtual machine that supports it in the background disappears when it's closed down. Here's how to get there.

Install Parallels and Your Windows Application

Installing Parallels itself is fairly easy—grab the download from Parallels' site, double-click the resulting file, and enter your Mac administrator password to proceed. When it's finished installing, if it doesn't happen automatically, go ahead and run Parallels Desktop yourself for the first time—head to the Spotlight menu in the upper-right corner, type in Parallels, and hit the result.

You'll get a window that only has one real option, to create a new virtual machine. The easiest way to go through the process is use an installation DVD, though if you've got your installation disc stored as an ISO or Mac disk image, you can go ahead and point Parallels at that, too. Proceed through the Windows installation, and when you're done entering your license key, user name, time zone, and the like, and moved through the virtual reboots, Parallels will be running on your desktop—a full Windows installation inside a little window.

If you've got an installation disc for your application, the easy thing is to just insert it. Parallels will likely detect that it's a disc with a Windows auto-run application and launch a familiar Windows pop-up, asking if you want to run "Install.exe," "Setup.exe," or whatever your disc offers. If not, open the CD from your Mac desktop, then double-click on any install/setup files that seem to have two red lines, looking like a pause symbol, attached to them.

If you're looking to install from an executable package you can download, the easy solution is to open Internet Explorer from the Windows frame (or the Windows-badged folder that just showed up on your Dock), head to the software's web site, then download and run the installer right from the web. If that doesn't fly, you can always just drop the .exe file or installation folder onto a USB drive from your Mac OS, then un-plug it and plug it back in. By default, Parallels should automatically pick up the device and offer it to Windows. If it doesn't, right-click on the glowing Windows-like icon on your dock, hover over the Devices menu, and then select the drive you've dropped it on.

Got your application installed? Let's make it so it runs like any other Mac application.

Fine-Tuning Your Parallels Setup

See that folder that's now sitting on the far-right side of your folder bookmarks? It contains the majority of applications contained in your little self-contained Windows installation. Click on it, then pick out the application you just installed and click that. In almost every case, you'll witness the small miracle of a Windows application launching inside a Mac. It may look a little incongruous, with its Windows title bar and coloring, but we'll fix that right now.

Once your virtual Windows is launched, Parallels adds a Start-Menu-style Windows icon to your dock. Right-click on it. Head up to the View menu that pops out of the Start button and select "Coherence" in the top-most section, if it's not already selected. If you don't see it, your Windows machine has already paused or suspended, but you can start it back up by hitting "Resume" from the Actions menu. This sets Parallels to hide away the bulk of Windows—the desktop, the taskbars, nearly everything—so that the only evidence of Windows you see is the window for the application you're using, along with one or two Dock icons. From the same right-click menu, under the "View" section, choose "Use MacLook." This applies a theme to Windows that makes it a good bit less incongruous when its applications are running on your Mac screen.

Back to that application you've got running in Windows. If you're using your Mac Dock to launch applications, right-click on the icon of your Windows app and choose "Keep in Dock." If you're more inclined to launch an application from Spotlight or Quicksilver, you should be able to find your app, since there's already a shortcut created inside that "Windows Applications" folder on your Dock. Want to put the shortcut somewhere else? Right-click on that folder full of Windows applications, then simply make a copy of the shortcuts you need, wherever you need them.

File Associations, Shared Folders, Auto-Suspending

We're now going to configure our Windows virtual machine for a little smoother integration. Open up Parallels Desktop from Spotlight, hit the Virtual Machines menu, and select "Configure." If you're using a Dock, you can also right-click on the glowing Windows orb and select "Configure."

Hit the Shared Applications category on the left, select your crucial Windows application, then click the SmartSelect button in the resulting panel.

In the case of WordPerfect, it uses pretty specific file formats not used by other applications, so you can see that Parallels has already informed the Mac that if it encounters a .wpd file, it should launch the virtualized WordPerfect and pass that file to it. Other applications may use formats that a Mac can open, too—Word files, particular image files, and the like. You can get specific in this menu, parceling out, for example, basic JPG and PNG opening to Mac's Preview, but opening TIFF files in that one Adobe app you only have a Windows copy of. In any case, when you see a file in your Mac that your Windows application will end up opening, you'll know it—the icon will be formatted for that app, and have the distinct Parallels "stripes" in the bottom-right.

Now, in the Shared Folders category, you can choose to keep your Mac home folder—containing Documents, Music, Pictures, and all your stuff, really—shared with Windows, which makes it fairly easy to trade files back and forth to an application like WordPerfect. You can go one further, though, by "sharing" your Desktop or Documents folder with Windows. Check off the options if they're there, or hit the + button and set up the synchronization between your Mac and Windows desktops and documents. Now, when you've got an app like WordPerfect running, you don't have to dig into your Mac home folder to find a place to save. Save a file to what Windows considers its own Desktop, and it'll show up on your Mac Desktop.

Finally, in the Startup/Shutdown category, I recommend the setup pictured above. Your virtualized Windows suspends itself when nothing is happening with any Windows application, which saves you memory and battery power, but makes it fairly quick to pull applications back up when you need them. Setting the startup view to Coherence also eliminates having to watch a glitchy Windows desktop appear and disappear as it boots up. On the Mac's shutdown, I like to quit out of Parallels, so it's a clean slate when starting up again, but you can set Parallels to suspend its machine instead when you power things down.

That's how I set up WordPerfect to run on a MacBook in such a way as to be nearly invisible as a Windows application. There are many, many more settings you can explore, including those that set up the keyboard shortcut equivalents between Windows and Mac applications, but those are best discovered and configured to one's own tastes.

Not quite sold on the utility of Parallels over a DIY solution? Here's how you can achieve nearly the same end result, though with, admittedly, less convenience and cohesion.

Method Two (the Free One): VirtualBox in Seamless Mode

VirtualBox requires a bit more hands-on operation to get Windows 7 installed. Luckily, we've run down those operations before. Consult our beginners guide to creating virtual machines in VirtualBox for help getting Windows installed. If you'd been considering a Boot Camp installation, or already have Windows installed in a Boot Camp partition, you can still benefit from VirtualBox. Blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash has written up a guide to running Windows 7 under Mac OS X 10.6 for free, which makes your Boot Camp installation VirtualBox-friendly and then links the two up for the best of both worlds.

After you've got Windows 7 installed, you'll want to be sure to install VirtualBox Guest Additions, which is really a two-click process—hit "Install Guest Additions" from the Devices menu of VirtualBox, and then choose to run the installer when when it pops up. Restart your Windows installation after it finishes. Fire up a new "Seamless" option by selecting it from the Machine menu, or hitting Left Command+L.

You'll notice that Windows basically disappears—except for your toolbar/taskbar, which hovers over your Dock, or at the bottom of your screen, if you don't use a Dock. That's, well, ugly. Right-click on the Windows taskbar, select Properties, and look for the option to auto-hide the taskbar.

Now it's out of the way, but what about when you need to get to something? VirtualBox lets you assign a key, or key combination, on your Mac to represent the Start menu. It's Ctrl+Esc by default, but you can change it in your VirtualBox preferences. Given the power of the Start Search feature in Windows Vista and 7, it's easy to launch applications by typing out the first few letters—kind of like Spotlight. When applications launch, they get a Mac-like window frame, and closing them means Windows basically disappears.

Be sure to head into the settings of your Virtual Machine for Windows and set up the Shared Folders. It's not that much harder than Parallels, really, but the way they show up—as network drives—is a bit different. You can connect your Windows and Mac desktops and document folders for easy file saving and retrieval.

To finish up making your VirtualBox a bit more convenient than just running a Virtual Machine, learn the keyboard shortcuts for pausing the machine when not in use (Left Command + P), and be sure to choose the "Save Machine State" option when shutting down VirtualBox. That way, when you fire up Windows 7 again, it will resume in its Seamless state, waiting for you to launch the Start menu and get at what you need.

Another Possible Option: WineBottler/CrossOver

When WINE works, it's a great thing, running applications meant for Windows on Mac or Linux, without the overhead of an entire virtual machine. Thing is, it doesn't always work. Luckily, two applications that make it easy to try out an app in WINE on Mac exist: CrossOver Mac, a paid application that offers a trial period, and WineBottler, a custom build of WINE that works great at framing small Windows apps as native OS X programs. Both are worth looking into if you've got one or two applications you need to run, but don't necessarily need access to an entire Windows OS.

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5521308/how-to-seamlessly-run-that-one-windows-app-you-need-on-a-mac