Tech--for Everyone

Rejuvenate your PC

techpaul — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:04:02 +0000

When my computer was fresh-out-of-the-box, and all shiny and new, it was speedier than it is now. It had a spring in its step that seems to be lacking now. Can you relate?

There are reasons for this ’slowing down’, of course. Some of them are just ‘facts’, and there’s not much we can do about them, and others we can (should) remedy. Today I’ll list and review the basic PC steps, which will optimize your computer’s performance, and provide you with the links to my more detailed How-To’s.

*Your files:
A primary cause for PCs ’slowing down’ is simply that there is more stuff (files) on your hard-drive now, and the more you put on there, the more there is for your computer to keep track of (index). You have added applications (programs), Updates, and all your files, and the volume on your hard-drive has grown– probably quite a bit! [note: to function properly, you should always have at least 10% "free space" on your drive.]

Clean off the junk. As you use your machine, and browse the Internet, you will pick up scraps of files (temps), and you will put things into the Recycle Bin, etc., and I recommend that once a week you use the Disk Cleanup Tool to “take out the trash”. My article on this tool is here.

Get organized. As you machine writes data to the hard-drive, which it is doing a lot, it places things in the first available block of space to save time. The first available space is not necessarily the best or most logical place, though, and we need to come along after and put things in better order. The tool for this is a “defragmenter”, and it should be run at least once a month. I wrote an article on how to set this tool to run automatically, here.

Make space. You may also want to make more space on your hard-drive, and do some “serious cleaning”, by going into the Add/Remove Programs area of your Control Panel and uninstalling any programs you never use anymore.

Get physical. It may seem a bit un-intuitive, but excess heat can cause your PC to run slower, and so I highly recommend a physical cleaning of your machine as well… particularly removing the dust and lint build-ups around your fan vents (depending on your environment, you may want to do this every couple of days). Every so often, (say, 1/month) open the cover (usually a side panel) and use a can of compressed air to blow out all that dust and dirt and pet hair and…
[note: you want to do this to your printer, too. For more on that, click here.]

Today’s free link: Believe it or not, some people just prefer not to use the tools built into Windows, and insist on using specialized “3rd-party” tools to do the job (imagine that), and a top-rated (free) disk defragmentation tool is the Auslogics Disk Defrag.

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Security tip– turn off the preview pane

techpaul — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:29:59 +0000

A recent article on scam spam (e-mail) prompted a reader to send in this good question,

Hi Paul –
You wrote “… don’t even open e-mail from unknown sources.. doing so can/will mark your e-mail address as a “live” person, …”.
How do we delete without opening a specific email message? Even while deleting in bulk the first email in the highlighted selections opens. I’m using Outlook Express. Thanks for your help!

What is being referred to is the feature common to e-mail clients called the “Preview Pane”.

Dear Reader–
You’re correct that most webmail settings, and e-mail clients, (by default) have what is called a “preview pane”, which opens the first (topmost/most recent) e-mail in your Inbox, and shows you the first few lines of the e-mail. Yes.. this will trigger whatever the spammers/hackers are using to verify receipt (such as downloading an invisible jpeg). Because of this, I always turn the Preview Pane off.
To do this in OE, click on the View menu and select Layout.
Then in the Preview Pane Properties, uncheck the “Show preview pane” checkbox.

BTW– by exploring Properties/Options/Settings/Preferences (different names for the same thing), you can disable the preview pane in every e-mail viewer.. Hotmail, Thunderbird, etc.

Tip of the day: While many people find the preview window a convenient way to skim their incoming mail, using it automatically opens your machine up to security risks (especially if you are allowing HTML, and/or images, as the OE pictured above does) and tells anyone who’s interested that yes, your.name@isp.com is a valid address.. suitable for spamming.
I advise disabling the feature, and doing without the ’speed enhancement’ of previewing. Doing so will reduce the amount of spam you receive, and close the door on one of the methods hackers can use to infect your machine.

Today’s free link: (For Mac) Evernote is the ubiquitous notetaking/data capture utility, and I was please to find it for Apple machines/devices. From site: “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.“

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my interview

techpaul — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:04:54 +0000

Folks–
The Pakistani Spectator published an interview with me today. If you’re interested in taking a look-see, click here.

Another advantage of credit cards..

techpaul — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:05:01 +0000

LONDON (Reuters) - Prices charged by cybercriminals selling hacked bank and credit card details have fallen sharply as the volume of data on offer has soared, forcing them to look elsewhere to boost profit margins, a new report says.*

Yes, folks, you read that right. If you want to buy a stolen credit card and PIN, now’s the time because the price has never been better. A Platinum card — guaranteed to be “fresh” and work when you use it — can be had for $20.

This is because hackers have been so successful at planting Trojans on your machines, poisoning websites, and getting people to provide their identities through phishing (spam) e-mails, and using their botnets, that they simply have too much product.

We aren’t just losing the war on cyber-crime, we’re not even fighting one.

So.. since stolen credit cards are now a dime-a-dozen, what is the “shadow economy” organized cyber-criminal to peddle? “New types of stolen data are now commanding a premium, such as patient healthcare information that can be used for insurance fraud or to illicitly acquire and sell medicines.

Other premium data includes business information, company personnel files and intercepted commercial emails.”

Yikes.

These kinds of news stories, and reports, never seem to make make the front page or headline the news. Billions are being stolen from us, every year, the problem is growing, and we don’t seem to care.

And the media doesn’t like finding the “guilty party” in this kind of story because the truly guilty are us.
* From a security perspective, the Internet is completely broken and needs to be scrapped and rebuilt. Nobody knows how to “fix” the old structure. The headline, Tech Experts Are Baffled isn’t very reassuring to the public, and that might lead to the dreaded “consumer confidence” failure.

* We –the common everyday Internet surfer– can’t be bothered with securing our machines, or even learning enough of that “tech stuff” to realize our PC’s are not convenient toys.
“Why get a new Vista or Mac computer? My Windows 98 machine lets me get on the Internet and play BlackJack..” How many times have I heard that???
Some experts say that 75% of all the computers are infected with malware. Wonder why?
What does this story’s headline look like?

* We –the common everyday Internet surfer– KEEP clicking on e-mails that promise us free iPods, or tell us that there’s 750,000 Pounds Sterling waiting for us to simply pick it up.
What does this story’s headline look like?

Awww, I’m getting depressed, angry, and.. frustrated. We deserve to have our identities stolen, and we can’t blame the smart people for taking it from us when it’s this easy.

Yes, a lot of this is not our fault. The Tech Industry continues to sell us crappy products, and would rather be first to market than to check the security of their technology. I wrote about this here, How the Tech Industry is Failing You.

* To read the whole news story which triggered today’s rant, click here.

To visit Finjan (one of the article’s sources) and look at their quarterly analysis of the state of Web security and cyber-crime, click here.

I apologize. I didn’t mean to bring you down. But if you think you can take more, why not read about how the credit card companies are putting unsecured transmitters into your cards now, so a criminal can pick your pocket wirelessly! Credit Card 2.0.

Don’t you just love the folly of Man?

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! READ AND REPLY

techpaul — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:12:21 +0000

This urgent (”flagged with a red “!”) e-mail slipped into my Inbox. The Subject was READ AND REPLY.

Sir/Madam
I am a lawyer and legal representative to a high profile client within the international community that requires your experience and assistance in the investment of her inherited funds,should this transaction be of interest to you contact me for more.
Best regards,
Dominic Chambers

Hmmm… curious. I suspect this is scam spam (mainly because I have never, ever, made an investment or inquired about investing). But some of the usual elements are missing.. and it did make it past my spam filters.. and it is marked “urgent”…

Maybe this high-profile, international lady wants to invest her money in me?
That could be kewl. I like money.

Tip(s) of the day: Don’t even think about responding to e-mails like these; and better yet, don’t even open e-mail from unknown sources.. doing so can/will mark your e-mail address as a “live” person, and get your name on junkmail lists (which spammers trade with each other) and you’ll get even more spam than you already do. I don’t care if they’re marked “Urgent” or not– resist the temptation.

Secondly, please read my article Managing your email: eliminating junk and learn a few techniques for spam reduction.

And thirdly, why do dumb scammers send dumb scam e-mails? Because a few ________ people respond, and get hoodwinked. Don’t be part of the problem.

Today’s free link: A recent building project had me using an old 3D drawing program that I first downloaded years ago, and so I went looking to see what apps available now. I discovered the simply fabulous Google SketchUp, and after watching a couple of animated tutorials, I knocked out my design in no time at all.

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Restore Bookmarks in Firefox– quick tip

techpaul — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:33:39 +0000

Earlier this week I posted a “quick tip” on restoring your Internet Explorer “Favorites” (everybody else calls them ‘bookmarks’), and quite naturally and predictably I received a question asking how do you do that in Firefox — the world’s most popular “alternative” Web browser.
So, here goes.

Like IE, Firefox’s Bookmarks are a list of URL’s saved into a file (localstore.rdf) that can be “imported”, “exported” to other browsers, or Saved as a comma-separated-values file (.csv) or HTML file. This file can become corrupted, or deleted, and your Bookmarks will no longer appear. To restore your “favorite” websites to your Bookmarks..

Method 1: (Firefox 2)
1) Close any instances of Firefox (hereafter referred to as “FF”) you have open/running and then launch FF in Safe Mode by clicking Start> Mozilla Firefox> Mozilla Firefox (Safe Mode).

2) In the dialogue box, select (check) “Reset Toolbars and Controls.

and click the “Make Changes and Restart” button.

3) Close FF and then start it (aka “launch”/”open”) again in normal mode.

That’s it. You’re done. You should now see your bookmarks.
If you don’t…

Method 2: (Firefox 2) FF automatically generates a backup copy of your localstore.rdf, and you can “import” this copy into your Bookmarks.
1) press Ctrl+Shft+B (or select “Organize Bookmarks” under the Bookmarks menu).

2) In the new window, select File> Import, and then “From File”.

3) In the Open file search window, you need to “drill down” to
C:\Documents and Settings\user*\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles…where you’ll see a ‘dot default’ folder.

4) Open that folder, and then open the “Bookmark Backups” folder. Select the most recent one, and click the “Open” button.

Firefox 3: the new version of FF is “Firefox 3″, and it makes restoring the backup easier.
1) press Ctrl+Shft+B (or select “Organize Bookmarks” under the Bookmarks menu), and click the “Import and Backup” button.

2) Select “Restore” and choose the top date and hit “Enter”, and then “OK”.

Today’s free link: Today I’m putting it out to you, Dear Reader. I have provided over 300 links to free tools and great websites (so far) and I’m wondering.. is there a favorite of yours, and you haven’t seen it posted here yet?
Let me know– in a Comment — an item you think should appear here.

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Video + e-mail = v-mail*

techpaul — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:05:56 +0000

Loyal Friends and True know that Tech–for Everyone is always on the cutting edge of technical innovation, and that I am a World Renown Tech Journalist whose fame springs from bringing you the latest in breaking IT news. (Ignore the man behind the curtain.)

It is my skill and extensive research (ahem) that allows me to be the first to inform you, Dear Reader, that e-mail, as we know it today, is utterly passe — completely old hat– and, like, so yesterday that it ‘gags me with a spoon’.

Yes my friends, e-mail is dead.
(And you heard it here first.)

Some of you are surely saying, “Why, Tech Paul! E-mail is the single greatest contribution to society that the IT Geek’s ever made! It enables commerce, and has facilitated ‘Globalization’! A couple billion e-mail messages are sent everyday! Dead? Surely you are mistaken!”
Right? You did say that?

It is true… it is very hard to picture a world without e-mail (I can envision a world without spam e-mail just fine, thank you very much) and it is impossible to deny that the ability to send electronic messages has radically altered the way we communicate with friends and family, conduct business, and.. share jokes. Yes, e-mail has had an incalculable impact on our lives.
Keywords: “has had”.

My extensive (ahem) research, and whetted-finger-held-aloft-to-the-Winds-of-Change , tells me (and now I’m telling you) that a New Thing has come along which is going to replace e-mail entirely.. and that is a little thing I have named “v-mail”. (With a little “v”. To those of you old enough to remember Victory Mail, I salute you.) The little “v” stands for “video”.

My Award-Winning* Nose for News has led me to uncover a service (which I am revealing as Today’s free link:) that allows us to send 30-second video clips of ourselves instead of boring -old letters and words and punctuations and stuff. No longer will we need emoticons and “smileys”. Avatars are doomed too. Video, my friends, trumps them all!

Why type “wink”, when you can just.. well.. wink?!

Bonus: Typos and outright misspellings will no longer embarrass us, and ruin careers! (Bad hair days are another story..)

As I mentioned in my recent article Climb aboard the VoIP bandwagon, at this stage in the game you really should (IMHO) have a webcam, and the odds are pretty good that, by now, you have added a microphone and used Skype or SightSpeed to make calls or video conference (aka “video chat”).
* With v-mail, you don’t have to worry about if your “buddies” are available at the moment.. you just create your message and send it.
* With v-mail, you don’t have to download any special software, or manage a “Contacts” list.. it is entirely browser-based (it uses Flash).
* With v-mail, you don’t have to pay any subscription fee.
* It is one-click simple. (And you don’t have to learn that “texting” lingo used in Instant Messaging/Chat.)
* It is not some new “beta” thing. It has actually been around for a while now, and it works like it should.

Now.. when you add all that up, doesn’t it spell the end of e-mail to you too?
Today’s free link: Get your v-mail at EyeJot (or, go there and take a look at their “how it works” examples). All you need to do is provide your first name and a valid e-mail account (doesn’t have to be one of your real accounts). This creates your eyejot account. Your microphone and webcam are automatically detected, and you can start recording your v-mail right away.
Folks.. don’t you want to be an early-adopter, nay, trendsetter, for once? Blow your kids away and be the first to send a v-mail.

* The prestigious Annie Award. (An award that I just made up, and named after a beloved family pet.)

Original post: 5/5/08

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Browser tabs–quick tip*

techpaul — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:55:30 +0000

One of the nice things about ‘modern’ web browsers is they let you open multiple sites in a single window through the use of “tabbed browsing”. This allows you to quickly flip back and forth between relevant sites.. while keeping an eye on your webmail Inboxes. No more minimizing/maximizing from your Taskbar.

One of the not so nice things about tabbed browsing is that when you hit Ctrl+T and open a new tab, it doesn’t go straight to where you want to go.. but opens to MSN (or some other pre-defined site) or more likely it says…

Yes. I know. I’m the one that hit Ctrl+T.
This may be tolerable.. and even informational, the first few times you ever use “tabbed browsing”.. but I do not particularly enjoy being told that I have just done something that I did on purpose (”You’ve typed some words”).
“You’ve opened a new tab” has got to go. Fortunately, this “Welcome to Tabbed Browsing” page has my very favorite-est computing checkbox on it (down towards the bottom), the “Don’t show this again” option. I love seeing this option. Place a check in the box, and the next time you open a new tab you will get…

Which is not only less insulting to my intelligence, but it loads faster. I like faster.

In Internet Explorer 7, there is a new tab behavior that just makes no sense to me, and I believe it is the default behavior (which makes even less sense)– that is, when you open a new tab, it doesn’t open next to your current Webpage.. but launches a whole ‘nother instance of IE.. and you’re back to Taskbar minimizing/maximizing again. This “option” shouldn’t even exist.. much less be the default: it is called the “Open in new window” setting. Let’s turn this off and force IE to keep all our work in one place– the current window.
From the “Tools” (a gray gear icon) menu in the upper-rt. corner, select Internet Options.

In the “Tabs” heading, click the “Settings” button to open up our tab behavior options.

You want to change the radio buttons in two places: the middle option, “When a pop-up is encountered” and “Open links from other programs” should be set to “new tab“. Click “OK”.
That’s it, you’re done. Now your browser will behave (more) the way you want it to.

* If your new tab opens to MSN (or some other pre-defined page [called a "homepage"]) and you don’t want to be exposed to the potentially dangerous Flash advertisements and/or it takes to long to load, or whatever reason, you can uncheck the box next to “Open home page for new tabs instead of a blank page”. Now Ctrl+T will always open to a quick blank tab. (When you do want to see MSN/homepage, click the house icon on your menu bar.)

* * Another alternative is to change the browser’s “home page” to a Website of your choosing — your ‘personalized’ page your ISP gave you, maybe. My Quick Tip article on how to do that is here. Note: if you do this, and want new tabs to open to your page, place a check in the box (option) mentioned in the paragraph above.

[Note: while these screenshots, and specific menu choices, are IE, the procedure applies to pretty much all web browsers. "Internet Options" may be named simply "Options", or "Preferences".]

Today’s free link: Some people need lists in order to function efficiently and actually get things done (I have found that if I ignore my lists, I can get a lot less accomplished). Todoist is an online list service that is clean and efficient and yet supports a large variety of complex services (nested lists, calendaring, e-mail integration, etc.) and integrations.

Original post: 4/17/08

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Sudden Internet trouble? News alert

techpaul — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:38:51 +0000

Folks–
A large, Internet-wide, multi-vendor patch was released and implemented yesterday to resolve a critical vulnerabilty in the Internet system.
This patching process caused “weird” connectivity issues, hyperlinks seemingly don’t work, and slow connections. If you are suddenly having these issues and/or are unable to connect to the Internet, please don’t uninstall the Microsoft Update.. try these steps first.
1) reboot your PC–twice.
2) reboot your router/WAP
3) If you are running ZoneAlarm free firewall, you must set it to “medium”, or lower.
4) be a little patient.. this process is mostly accomplished, and the quirks should soon pass.

To read more about this disturbing vulnerability in the Web (or see which MS patch is the one affecting you), read: Patched Flaw Could Have Broken Internet Backbone.
(The geekier amongst you might prefer C/Net’s Zero Day Blog version.)

Recently opened files show in Start menu

techpaul — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:43:02 +0000

Folks, today a ‘quick tip’- The Windows Start menu can show you a list of the files you have recently opened, which is a handy shortcut for returning to works-in-progress. This feature is called “My Recent Documents” and you can quickly and easily turn it on or off.

Tip of the day: Customize your Start menu to show your most recently opened files (Note: if you’re a ‘minimalist’, and want a leaner, cleaner Start Menu, do the opposite of [uncheck] these steps to disable the Recent Documents feature).
Step 1:Right-click on a blank area of your Taskbar, and select “Properies” from the context menu.

Step 2: Select the Start Menu tab, and click on the “Customize” button.

Step 3: Select the “Advanced” tab, and Place a check in the checkbox labelled “List my most recently opened documents.” Now click “OK”, and “OK” again.
That’s it. You’re done. Now when you click on the Start Button, you will see the last things you were working on, and can quickly launch them by clicking their icon.

For Vista: Vista users can do this too, and actually have a little more control..

.. but the steps are the same. Select the “Start Menu” tab, and place the checks.

Today’s free link: TweakUI, a Microsoft “Power Toy”, is an applet for XP that allows for a remarkable amount of, well, “tweaking” of Windows’ behavior and appearance. “This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.”

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