If you build it, they will come

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An item for you thinkers out there..

* Cryptocurrency mining malware discovered on surveillance DVRs

“Johannes Ullrich, dean of research with the SANS Technology Institute, posted on Monday that DVRs made by Hikvision, a video surveillance products and solutions supplier headquartered in China, were found to contain malware that mined for Bitcoins.” Read more..

What are the implications here?

(Puts a twist on the meaning of “Made in China” a bit, too, doesn’t it? But you should know that already: remember the “infected digital picture frames” [circa 2008] ? )

*     *     *

Other tech: What you should know about Windows 8.1 Update

“The soon-to-be-released Windows 8.1 Update brings minor improvements that favor those using a mouse — in other words, most Win8 users.

Anyone currently on Windows 8.1 will want the update; those who still haven’t made the Modern plunge won’t be impressed.” Read more..

[ This actually does eliminate my main beefs about Win8. But I won’t be switching – it’s Win 7 for me still.]

Today’s free software:  IObit  PCtransfer

“To find a best solution to safely and thoroughly transfer data for XP users, IObit newly releases PCtransfer. It is a free, light, and portable data transfer tool that provides users with an easy and secure way to backup and restore data with one click. PCtransfer especially supports bookmarks and favorites backup on Internet Explorer 6 and 7, and also allows user to quickly select and backup the third-party programs and settings. PCtransfer not only helps user to transfer data from Windows XP system to new systems but also provide assistance to users for moving data to a new PC.”

Today’s quote: “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” ~ B. F. Skinner

(I think he meant “humans”, or “people”, but..)

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
And please, never forget – one person can make a difference.
Find a way to make someone’s day today.
(Best advice I ever heard? Don’t sweat the small stuff.)

Get a boost from your thumb drive

Thumb drives are amazing. They’re fast, they’re small, they make great keychain fobs, and they’re affordable. I have seen 8GB thumb drives for as little as $30, and 16GB’s for $50*.
That’s right– sixteen billion bytes. (The hard drive on my P-II [still running] is 4.3GB’s.)

Yes, thumb drives are all those things, and they’re practical too. By purchasing a U3 drive, or downloading the Portable Apps suite, you can easily convert your thumb drive to a “computer on a stick” and run your applications from it (as opposed to the host computer). This can be particularly useful when traveling, as you can carry your bookmarks, contacts, and documents with you.. and you won’t leave histories and ‘tracks’ that someone can read later.

In this article, https://techpaul.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/how-to-install-a-program-on-your-thumb-drive/, I tell you the steps for installing (pretty much) any program onto your thumb drive. By doing so, you can load your favorite, and most useful programs onto your computer-on-a-stick.. allowing you to carry a computer on your keychain (sort of).
I recommend loading a antivirus, and a couple of anti-spyware onto your thumb drives, and — since thumb drives are small and “losable”– using encryption to render the drive unreadable without knowing the password.

In another article, https://techpaul.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/put-your-thumb-drive-to-work/, I describe how to make a thumb drive “bootable”, and how you can load it up with diagnostic and repair programs; thus turning it into a recovery tool, and portable repair kit-on-a-stick. (This is for the more geek-inclined, but there is some good information there even if you aren’t skilled in computer repair.)

But even if you aren’t interested in using a “computer on a stick”, Vista users can still get some extra mileage out of your drive that you might not be aware of…
Tip of the day: Improve Vista’s performance with ReadyBoost. Loyal readers of this series will already know that 1) Vista is a resource hog, and 2) the best way to improve Vista’s performance is to give it lots of RAM. Well, the flash memory in your thumb drive may be fast enough for Vista to use as additional RAM (this is determined by the make/model of your thumb drive. Typically, the discount, or generic drives are not fast enough).

When you plug in a thumb drive, a small window opens which provides a list of options of what you want to do with this device– one of the options is “speed up my system”. Select this, and another window opens; click “Use this device”. If your thumb drive is capable of ReadyBoost, you’ll see a slider which allows you to allocate how much of your drive’s room you want to give over to the Vista OS– accepting the default is fine.
That’s it. You’re done. Pretty painless way to add RAM, eh? (cheap, too.)

Today’s free link: today’s free link is a repeat, but it is simply the best way to encrypt your volumes (drives), files and/or folders — such as your thumb drive. Download the free TrueCrypt, and make sure a lost thumb drive won’t be a minor disaster.

* As a testiment to Moore’s Law, just two weeks after posting this, I have seen the prices go down $20!

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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The (hidden) power of Works

The odds are very good that your computer came pre-configured with a powerful tool; and, that you rarely use it, and may not have even noticed in the first place. This tool contains a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a database program. It also has a scheduler (calendar), dictionary/thesaurus, and has many useful templates.. such as greeting cards. It may also have an accounting program.
The best part of all this, is that it is made by Microsoft. (By which I mean it’s compatible with Office.)

The “tool” to which I refer is MS Works. Works is frequently installed by PC manufacturer’s as a “value bonus” (*look for it when shopping) or offered as an optional upgrade for a very modest fee. If your computer did not come with MS Works, you can find the ‘boxed’ version for $50 (or less).

Works is a little different than Office in that it is set up to guide you somewhat. It is organized by what you want to accomplish — called “tasks” and “projects” — and by making selections, it will open the appropriate program for you. (This is particularly helpful for folks who aren’t really familiar with database functionality.) By default, Works opens to the scheduler/calendar program.. as shown above. This works very much like the Calendar and Tasks (To Do) features of Outlook.

What I think is the most useful feature of Works is the word processor, and mainly because it allows me to open, and create, Word documents. The recent version of Works (9.0) has full compatibility with the new Office 2007 formats, and so offers you another method of opening those documents if you don’t own the latest version of Office.

Opening a .doc (Word 97-2003) or .docx (Word 2007) file with Works happens automatically and requires no special actions on your part. But (text) documents you create in Works will, by default, be saved as .wks or .wps (Works) files.. and if you send them to someone, the recipient might not be able to open them. However, Works allows you to “Save As” your document in a few other formats..

…and you can select the more common Word format (.doc), or even the new 2007 format. Create a Word document without Word! (This works with spreadsheet/Excel as well.)
And if you do a lot of document creation, you will (probably) appreciate the built-in Dictionary and Thesaurus.

As I mentioned earlier, Works likes to help organize your tasks with “Projects” and includes quite a few templates to help you get started. I have clicked on the “Templates” button on the top menu bar in the screenshot below. In the left-hand column, Works lists a range of categories (I have selected “Home and Money”) and displays sub-categories in the right-hand window. Clicking on the task/template that matches what you’re trying to accomplish will launch the appropriate program for the job: word processor, spreadsheet, database or MS Money Essentials.

I frequently use Works to create greeting cards with the templates, but if you poke around and explore a little, you will discover many useful options for getting yourself organized or managing your affairs– whether that be coaching a youth team, or organizing a fundraiser, or sending  a newsletter for your favorite civic organization, or balancing your checkbook.. you’ll find a “Project” or “Template” that will help.

But wait! There’s more! Not only is Works either free or very affordable (a full version of Office can run you $350), but it’s small. (Works is essentially a “Lite” version of Office). Now, why is that “cool”? Because at 256 Megabytes, it can be installed on a thumb-drive, thus giving you a portable Office (Lite). (You will need the Install CD, however.)
For the How To on installing “regular” programs onto a thumb-drive, and making them “portable”, click here.
And for info on other portable Office suites, click here.

To find out if you have Works, just open Programs and look for a folder called “Works” (or, “MS Works”). Use the dollars you would’ve spent on Office for something else.

Today’s free link: I sorta ran short on space and so I did not spend much time on Works’ integration with the accounting application, MS Money Essentials ($20). For those of you who don’t need all the bells-and-whistles of Money, you can download Microsoft’s free Accounting Express. This program is quite similar to the well-known Quicken and Quick-Books.. and it is a free download.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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How to install a program on your thumb drive (reposting)

As I am sure you have experienced a time or two yourselves, today is “one of those mornings” and I am impelled to quickly re-post a prior article. This article tells you how to get more use out of your thumb-drive by making it a ‘computer on a stick’. It appeared 12/12/07–

Today I will answer a very good question submitted by a reader.

Q: How do I install a program on my thumb-drive so I can run it from there?
A: One of the handier uses for thumb-drives is to load them with programs and use them as sort of a ‘computer-on-a-stick’. As I mentioned in a prior article, I have a bootable thumb-drive loaded with troubleshooting programs which I use as a portable repair kit. But you don’t need to make a thumb-drive bootable to run programs from it.

The most popular way to put programs on your thumb-drive is to either purchase a (pre-configured) U3 drive, or download and install the suite of portable programs called Portable Apps. Both of these methods will give you a portable word processor, web browser, and other useful tools — and offer other “portable” programs for downloading. (These, btw, are an excellent resource for individual “portable” downloads.)

But let’s say you want to install the very useful troubleshooting tool Process Explorer or some other program that is not specifically a “portable”, or part of the suites mentioned above. If the program is not larger than the available space on your thumb drive — Office 2007 will not fit on a 512MB drive, for example — use the following method to install it. (I am going to install the popular free anti-spyware program AdAware as my demonstration.)
1) download the setup.exe to your computer’s desktop, using the “Save” option (not “Run”).
2) Insert the thumb-drive.
3) Open My Computer, and locate the “Removable Storage” drive letter that is the thumb-drive. In my case, that is “Removable Disk (D:)”, but yours may differ.

4) Double-click on the downloaded installation setup.exe (on your Desktop), and start the Install process. Here you will agree to the EULA, click Next a few times, and go through an install wizard. Do this process as you normally would except you need to change the install’s Destination.
5) Change the Install Destination Folder to the thumb drive’s drive letter: in my example, that’s D:\. At some point, the Install wizard will ask you to choose a destination or accept the default (the default destination is C:\Program Files\) and here is where we need to make the change. If you go through the wizard without being asked for a Destination, use the the “<Back” button and change the Install Type from “Typical” to “Custom”.

Click on the Browse button and then double-click on the D:\ drive.

6) Now let the Install Wizard do its thing. When it has completed installing, click on the “Finish” button.

That’s it. You’re done.
When you “Explore”, or “Open Folder for Viewing”, or otherwise look at your thumb drive’s directory, you will see the AdAware.exe icon. That means the program is available to be run.. just as if you were running it from your computer. Literally, a program-on-a-stick!
Remember, I used AdAware as an example, but you can pretty much do this with any application (“executable”), though — since a thumb drive’s size is somewhat small — I recommend you seek out a “portable” version of your program if one is available.

[Update: Bill Mullins has brought to my attention a program – MojoPac – for running apps on your thumbdrive that seems more flexible than the others I have mentioned. To read his review, click here.]

Today’s free link(s): Well,.. let’s see.. I count four sprinkled through the article..

Copyright 2007 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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Holiday Edition: portable word processors

Tech–for Everyone is taking a short break for the Holiday, and I am re-posting a prior article. This post appeared 10/19/07. I sincerely hope you all are having a safe and a happy holiday. My online Tech Support business is open as usual.  

One of my more popular articles discussed using a thumb drive to run applications (to read it, click here), and my two previous articles discussed Microsoft Word (click on “MS Word” in the Tag Cloud), which led to two reader questions which I think are worth posting — in the Q’s and their A’s format.

Q: Is there a version of Word I can run on my U3 thumb drive?
A: There are tremendous advantages to running programs from a thumb drive (particularly when using someone-elses’ computer), and there are many programs already developed that are designed to do this, which are called “portable”.
The answer to this question is: no… and yes. Microsoft has not released a portable version of any of the programs in the Office suite, and I have not read of any plans to do so in the future. However, that doesn’t mean you cannot find warez and hacks out there. Loyal friends and true of this blog know that I would never advocate advocate the use of this kind of software; aside from the question of legality, the security risks are simply too great.

That is not to say you cannot run a word processor from your thumb drive. If you have loaded your thumb drive with the Portable Apps suite, (wildly popular, and previously recommended here) you already have the free Open Source suite of programs called Open Office which includes a “clone” of Word called “Write”. This works so much like Word (and can open Word docs) that there’s practically a zero learning-curve.
Users of the U3 system of thumb drives can download Open Office to add it to the installed programs. To do this manually, visit http://software.u3.com/, which will show you all of the U3 programs available– listed by category. But the easiest way is to plug in your thumb drive and launch the U3 “Launchpad” from the System Tray, and click on the “Add programs>>” link.

[Update: Bill Mullins has brought to my attention a program for running apps on your thumbdrive that seems superior to others I have mentioned. To read his review, click here.]

Q: Can I use portable Write to read Word documents?
A: The two main portable word processors (and there are others, if you’re the experimental sort) — Open Office’s Write, and the platform-independent AbiWord— allow you to open, and edit MS Word documents. They also allow you to Save to HTML, PDF, and Word formats (this step is taken in the Save As menu) which allows you to send your documents to anyone.
And the best part? These programs are free!

[I also wrote an article which explains the steps for installing regular, not “portable”, programs onto a thumb drive: https://techpaul.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/how-to-install-a-program-on-your-thumb-drive/]

Today’s free link(s): You needn’t put these word processors on a thumb drive to use them (and get to know and love them). Click the links in the paragraph above to get free word processing power.

Copyright 2007 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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How to install a program on your thumb drive

Today I will answer a very good question submitted by a reader.

Q: How do I install a program on my thumb-drive so I can run it from there?
A: One of the handier uses for thumb-drives is to load them with programs and use them as sort of a ‘computer-on-a-stick’. As I mentioned in a prior article, I have a bootable thumb-drive loaded with troubleshooting programs which I use as a portable repair kit. But you don’t need to make a thumb-drive bootable to run programs from it.

The most popular way to put programs on your thumb-drive is to either purchase a (pre-configured) U3 drive, or download and install the suite of portable programs called Portable Apps. Both of these methods will give you a portable word processor, web browser, and other useful tools — and offer other “portable” programs for downloading. (These, btw, are an excellent resource for individual “portable” downloads. Another resource is the collection of portable freeware programs)

But let’s say you want to install the very useful troubleshooting tool Process Explorer or some other program that is not specifically a “portable”, or part of the suites mentioned above. If the program is not larger than the available space on your thumb drive — Office 2007 will not fit on a 512MB drive, for example — use the following method to install it. (I am going to install the popular free anti-spyware program AdAware as my demonstration.)
1) download the setup.exe to your computer’s desktop, using the “Save” option (not “Run”).
2) Insert the thumb-drive.
3) Open My Computer, and locate the “Removable Storage” drive letter that is the thumb-drive. In my case, that is “Removable Disk (D:)”, but yours may differ.

4) Double-click on the downloaded installation setup.exe (on your Desktop), and start the Install process. Here you will agree to the EULA, click Next a few times, and go through an install wizard. Do this process as you normally would except you need to change the install’s Destination.
5) Change the Install Destination Folder to the thumb drive’s drive letter (in my example, that’s D:\) At some point, the Install wizard will ask you to choose a destination or accept the default (the default destination is C:\Program Files\) and here is where we need to make the change. If you go through the wizard without being asked for a Destination, use the the “<Back” button and change the Install Type from “Typical” to “Custom”.

Click on the Browse button and then double-click on the D:\ drive.

6) Now let the Install Wizard do its thing. When it has completed installing, click on the “Finish” button.

That’s it. You’re done.
When you “Explore”, or “Open Folder for Viewing”, or otherwise look at your thumb drive’s directory, you will see the AdAware.exe icon. That means the program is available to be run.. just as if you were running it from your computer. Literally, a program-on-a-stick!
Remember, I used AdAware as an example, but you can pretty much do this with any application (“executable”), though — since a thumb drive’s size is somewhat small — I recommend you seek out a “portable” version of your program if one is available.

Today’s free link(s): Well,.. let’s see.. I count four sprinkled through the article..

Copyright 2007 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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Put your thumb drive to work (updated)

I often use a specially configured USB “thumb drive” as my portable PC repair kit, and use it as an alternative to a “boot CD”. I have made it “bootable” and loaded it with useful tools and repair applications (like an antivirus scanner). It has come in handy, from time to time. With the price of these drives being as affordable as they are, there’s really no reason you cannot have a portable PC repair kit (on a stick) too.

Tip of the day: Making yourself a toolkit-on-a-stick requires a couple of steps; first you must format it to make it bootable, and then you must load it with the tools and applications you think you will need — if the thumb drive you’re planning to use is small (say, 512MB), you will want to get the “portable”, or “Lite”, versions of these programs if they’re available.

1) Make the drive bootable. The geekier (remember, I use “geek” as a compliment!) of you out there may be already familiar with the DOS utilty FDISK, and if you are and you still have a Windows 98 Install CD (or a Win 95 boot floppy) laying around, you can format the drive using the format /s command as outlined here.
If that doesn’t fit your description, or you are going to use a larger thumb drive, I suggest you download and run (it is a Wizard, so you just follow the prompts) a tool offered by HP (the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool), which should do the work for you: get it here.

2) Now that your thumb drive can be used to boot a machine, it’s time to load it up with some useful programs and utilities. I started with the DOS tools FDISK, scandisk, and format. There is some debate amongst my fellow Tech Support-types as to which utilities are “must have’s” (but we all agree on some version of antivirus and anti-spyware) and I’m not going to trouble you with that. Instead, I’m going to point you towards today’s free link (below) and a wonderful pre-made suite of very handy portable applications, and suggest the addition of (my previously mentioned) HiJack This!

If you used the copy-the-system-files method (the “format /s”) you will already have chkdsk and fdisk and a few others.. or if not, these can be added. If you are not going to install Portable Apps, I suggest you do install Portable Firefox (or similar Web browser) so that you can access the Internet, for downloading device drivers.

To make it more of a “repair kit” you can add: a Registry cleaner/fixer, such as CCleaner and or AMUST Registry Cleaner, Process Explorer, and another anti-spyware like Spybot Search&Destroy.

Click here to read my article on the steps for installing programs on thumb drives.

Today’s free link: Portable Apps.com. This collection of portable application runs completely from the USB thumb drive. It has a Webbrowser, word processor, antivirus and more. Get started on the road to thumb drive power here.
[Update: Bill Mullins has brought to my attention a program for running apps on your thumbdrive that seems superior to others I have mentioned. To read his review, click here.]

Copyright © 2007 Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

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