Free ebook: Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionals

Microsoft is offering a free book called "Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionals (Final Edition)".  Below is excerpt from the web site describing the book: "Is this book for you? Get a headstart evaluating Window 8—guided by a Windows expert who’s worked extensively with the software since the preview releases. Based on final, release-to-manufacturing (RTM) software, this book

Read More

Video: Windows PowerShell v3 Crash Course

Video description from the site: "Windows PowerShell v3 is here, and it is delivering on Microsoft's promise to make nearly everything in Windows manageable from the command-line. Are you finally going to learn the shell, or learn to say, "would you like fries with that?" instead? Join PowerShell author, columnist, trainer, and MVP Don Jones (one of the world's most well-known PowerShell

Read More

Article: Netflix Alternatives (Streaming Movie Sites)

Below is a excerpt from an article on a web site called The Jason Chronicles called "Netflix Alternatives (Streaming Movie Sites)": "Like many people, I have ditched my TV several years ago and get most of my video entertainment from sites like Hulu and Netflix. I have been a huge fan of Netflix for years, I thought they provided a great deal for what you got. Although, after their rate hikes in

Read More

Software: Password Management Applications (Updated)

About a year ago I wrote the original article which this one is based on, but I recently decided it was and important subject and it needed to be expanded with more information.

The problems is that most of us are swimming in passwords, and we have a hard time remembering all of them.  To deal with the password overload, people will use different unsecured methods like writing them down store

Read More

Special Offer: Carbonite Update and $20 Amazon Gift Card for Signing Up

I have talked about the Carbonite cloud based backup service in the past, see the excerpt below from an article that I wrote back in July.  

Recently I found out two new things about the Carbonite service, and I wanted to share it.  First, they extended their service to include protection of your Android based cellphone. They currently offer backup, location, and remote lock and wipe (if your

Read More

Hardware: Introduction to RAID Arrays

Did you know if you have multiple drives on your computer, and your hard drive controller supports RAID you can make them appear as one drive? RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. Some motherboard and hard drive controllers support the ability to create a RAID array out of two or more disks.

You might wonder what are some of the advantages to RAID arrays? The first

Read More

Article: If Windows 8 baffles you, here's some free training

 CNET Reviews reports: "People new to Windows 8 can get a helping hand via a special course from the online training site Lynda.com. Dubbed Windows 8 Essential Training, the four-hour course is available for free to the public until November 23." (read the rest of the article)

Read More

Bringing 'Minority Report' touchless gestures to Windows 8

CNET News reports: "Elliptic Labs wants to bring the touchless gesture controls seen in the science-fiction film "Minority Report" to everyday consumer electronic devices, starting with Windows 8." (read the rest of the article)

Read More

Windows 8: Windows Key Keyboard Shortcuts

With every new version of it operating system, Microsoft updates the keyboard shortcuts.  Sometimes it changes the functionality of older shortcuts, and it also adds new shortcuts as appropriate.

The Windows Key (WinKey) keyboard shortcuts below are for Windows 8




Key Strokes
Description




WinKey
Displays the Start screen.




WinKey + Pause/Break
Displays System Properties page.

Read More

Windows 8

Most people already know that Windows 8 has been released, and those that installed it on they're systems are experiencing Microsoft's new "Modern UI".  Personally I like the new OS, it modernizes the Windows user interface which really has not changed since 1995 with the introduction of Windows 95.

The Windows Modern UI incorporates some new user interface metaphors that were designed to allow

Read More

Security: PwnedList: Find Out If Your Accounts Could Have Been Comprimised

There is a site called PwnedList that can check if your email address is contained in public data that has been taken from computers and web sites that have been compromised by hackers.  The site started out as a research project to find out how many compromised accounts could be harvested programatically in just a couple of hours.

To use the site all you have to do is put in your email address

Read More

YouTube: Video Discovery Services

YouTube offers two video discovery services that can help you find new music and other types of videos.  The Disco service is for finding, mixing, and watching music.  The Leanback service is for finding new videos that you might enjoy.

Disco Service (Music Discovery)
Leanback Service (Video Discovery)

Read More

Privacyfix - Locking down your privacy settings (Facebook, Google, and More)

Information that you share publicly on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. can sometimes be used against you (such as embarrassing photos, what you think of someone, etc.).  The general rule of thumb is "if its too personal don't post it", but its also good to make sure that only the people you want to see your posts can.

Social networking sites in the past have made

Read More

EULAlyzer

End User License Agreements (also known as EULAs) are the bane of most computer users. These EULAs can be several pages long filled with legalese that seems next to impossible to understand unless you're a lawyer, and to make matters worse they put it all into a small window that requires a lot of scrolling.

Most user might skim through them at best, then press will press the accept button to

Read More

Protecting Your Digital Presence

Every day we are putting more of our data and connecting our computers and devices to the "cloud" because it offers conveniences and features that are not available by other means. For example, you can have your data automatically backed up to a remote service provider, or access your home or office computer from any location with an internet connection. Although by doing this, we are also

Read More

Troubleshooting: Fixing Shutdown/Hibernation Problems

Are you having problems with the hibernation or shutdown feature on your computer not working?  Sometimes  these issues can be caused by a process or application running in the background.

To help fix this issue from an administrator command prompt, type "POWERCFG -REQUESTS".  The output of this command will show any processes or drivers that are making power requests that could prevent your

Read More

Software: Cliplets from Microsoft Research (Free)

Product description: "Microsoft Research Cliplets is an interactive app that gives users the power to create "Cliplets" -- a type of imagery that sits between stills and video, including imagery such as video textures and "cinemagraphs". The app provides a simple, yet expressive way to mix static and dynamic elements from a video clip."

The video below is a tutorial on how to use the software:

Read More

Windows 7: Create a Flip3D Launch Icon

In Windows Vista they created a more sophisticated version of the Alt+Tab feature and called it "Windows Flip", it supports live previews of the applications.

They also created a more enhanced version called Flip 3D that allows you flip through a stack of your open application windows?  To access it press the WinKey+TAB. (Note: Windows Aero user interface needs to be enabled to use Flip 3D).

Read More

Internet Explorer: Play Updated Classic Atari Arcade Game (Free)

For Atari's fortieth anniversary, it has released several updated versions of its classic arcade games.
Go to the following site in Internet Explorer to play the games for free.  These games will work in other browsers but they're not going to be ad-free.

Below is a list of all the games:


Asteroids
Centipede
Combat
Lunar Lander
Missile Command
Pong
Super Break
Yars' Revenge

Read More

50GB of free cloud storage (With a catch)

There are several storage services that will give you a few gigs of free cloud space for your files, such as: SugarSync (w/5GB of free space), SkyDrive (w/7GB of free space) and Dropbox (w/2GB of free space). Although if you need great deal of storage, check out MediaFire it's offering 50GB of free cloud storage (with a catch).

Make sure to read the following chart and see if you can live with

Read More

Software: Microsoft Download Manager

Do you need to download several large files (such as: application or multimedia files) from different sites.  You can use your browser's built-in file download feature, or you can check out an application called Microsoft's Download Manager.  It can make downloading large files quick and reliable.

Read More

Software: Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 (Free Screen Recorder)

Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 allows you to record your PC’s screen for video training and demos.  This software comes in two editions, a free and pro version.  The main differences is that the free version only lets you record for about 10 minutes, and only supports a limited set of CODECs to export your video.

If you're only going to post your videos to sites like YouTube, most people are

Read More

Software: Eyes on the Solar System

Eyes on the Solar System is a 3-D environment full of real NASA mission data. You can explore the cosmos from your computer, hop on an asteroid, or fly with NASA's Voyager spacecraft. See the whole solar system moving in real time.  Download the software: http://eyes.nasa.gov/ (requires Java to run)

Read More

Internet Explorer: Starting in InPrivate Mode

You can start Internet Explorer in the InPrivate mode which doesn't save your personal information (such as: browser history and cache files for personal privacy reasons). Follow the steps below to create a shortcut that enables this feature when you launch its icon:

Right-click an empty space on the desktop and click New, then select Shortcut.
Type the following information into the

Read More

Article: Microsoft opens $14.99 Windows 8 upgrade registration for purchasers of Windows 7 PCs

Here excerpt from an Engadget article:"Normally the early bird gets the worm, but in the case of Windows 8, purchasers of Windows 7 PCs will have until February 28th, 2013 to snag their promotional upgrade. The Windows Upgrade Offer, which provides upgrades to Windows 8 Pro for a mere $14.99, is now open for registration to all those who purchase a Windows 7 PC between June 2nd, 2012 and January

Read More

Microsoft SkyDrive Gets an Update

SkyDrive.com, Microsoft's cloud-based storage service got several new features and an updated look recently.  It defaults to a tile-based layout and boasts new features like instant search and a contextual toolbar.


Outlook.com was also rolled out recently, which is Microsoft's new cloud-based e-mail service designed to replace Hotmail.com.

Read More

Internet Explorer: Reset Settings

Internet Explorer can be difficult to troubleshoot, partly because of the many settings and modifications that can be made to it. There's a way to undo most of these changes and roll I.E. back to its original "factory" configuration.

Microsoft includes a feature called "Reset Internet Explorer Settings", to utilize it follow the instructions below:

Warning: This feature can't be undone, use it

Read More

Article: Grab Free Desktop Syncing Plus 25GB Storage Space on Box

Here is an excerpt from a LifeHacker article entitled "Grab Free Desktop Syncing Plus 25GB Storage Space on Box": "Box is one of the more generous of the online storage services—especially if you got in on one of the free 50GB deals previously offered. However, syncing wasn't offered for personal users—until, it seems, now. Here's how to get Box syncing without a business account." (Read the rest

Read More

Internet Explorer: Keyboard Shortcuts

With every version of Internet Explorer, Microsoft seems to beef up its selection of keyboard shortcuts. 

Some of the shortcuts are new for this version of I.E., others have been around for a while (but aren’t widely used), and some are classics that every user should be aware of.

See the full list of shortcuts for Internet Explorer 9.

Read More

Internet Explorer: Run IE without Add-Ons

To check if Internet Explorer is having a problem that is being caused by an add-on. From the search field under Start menu type: "iexplore.exe -extoff".

If the problem disappears, from the Tools menu (the gear icon in the upper right) select Manage Add-ons, under Add-ons Types, you can enable or disable toolbars and extensions until your find the one that is causing the problem.

Read More

Article: Windows Defender Offline vs Microsoft Safety Scanner (Which One should you use?)

Have you ever wonder what the difference is between Windows Defender Offline and the Microsoft Safety Scanner?  There doesn't seem to be a lot of information on this subject so I decided the write the following article.  Here is a excerpt from it: "Both Windows Defender Offline and Microsoft Safety Scanner are not a replacement for using a real-time anti-malware (e.g. viruses, spyware, or other

Read More

Internet Explorer: Delete Any AutoComplete Items

Internet Explorer's AutoComplete feature allows you to quickly re-enter common information that was previously entered into fields on a Web form. Sometime you may want to remove information from this feature because it incorrect (e.g. old or wrong information) or you may not want others to see it. Put the cursor into the field where you want to delete the form data, use the keyboard down arrow

Read More

Internet Explorer: Setting Multiple Home Pages

Since Internet Explorer 7 you have been able to open multiple pages in different tabs when the program launches. For example, if you want Bing and Google to open when you launch I.E., open Bing in one tab and Google in another. 

Open a up a different web page in a new tab that you want to open automatically Internet Explorer is launched.
From the Settings menu select Internet Options, and press

Read More

Internet Explorer: Alphabetize your Favorites

Want to find your Internet Shortcuts more easily in the Favorites menu? A little known feature of Internet Explorer allows you alphabetize them:

Open the Favorites menu (the star in the upper right corner) in I.E. 
Right-click any Internet shortcut, and choose Sort by name from the pop-up menu that appears.

Read More

Internet Explorer: Backing up/Exporting your Favorites, Feeds and Cookies

Have you ever needed to backup or export your Favorites, Feeds or Cookies from Internet Explorer? This is kind of a hidden built-in feature in the application that is not too obvious unless you know where to find it, follow the instructions below:

Press the ALT key to access the File menu, and choose Import and export...
Select Export to a file" press the Next button.
Choose what you want to

Read More

Windows 7: Creating a password reset disk

If you forget your password to log onto Windows 7, you can change it (without knowing the old one) by using a password reset disk. This is handy tool for accounts that aren't used often.

Note: This recovery disk has be created before you have a problem, it can't be created after you forgot your password.

Follow the instructions below: 

Log into the account that you want to make a password

Read More

Hardware: Extending a USB Connection

Do you have a USB device such as a printer that is further away from the computer then the cable will reach? The maximum supported length of a USB  cable is 5 meters according to the specification for this technolog.

Below are some products that may be able help you overcome this limitation.


Active USB extender (a USB extension cable with a built-in repeater), check out the: 32 ft / 10 meter

Read More

Carbonite - Internet Backup Solutions

Backing up data on your computer has always been critical. A long time ago floppies were used to backup your data, later it was CDs and then DVDs. Today there is no affordable external removable media capable of keeping up with modern multi-terabyte drives.
Note: For those that can afford it, tape backup is still an option but it's expensive and slow when compared to an external hard drive.

Read More

Article: Upgrading vs. Buying a New Computer

Excerpt from the article: "As computers get older, it becomes more and more difficult to get them
to run the latest and greatest hardware and software. The newest games
are notoriously bad about not running on older hardware. They generally
require the fastest CPU, video card, and a ton of RAM in order just to
run properly. 
Sometimes older computers just don't appear to be
running as fast

Read More

Hardware: Diagnosing Noises from your Hard Drive

A few months back I gave my son my previous computer.  It's not that much slower then the newer machine I built to replace it.  Recently all of a sudden it became unusable as far as performance, it was slow to start, basically bogged down when you try to use it.

When I checked into the problem, I noticed that the hard drive was making a clicking noise.  I hate to say it, generally when hard

Read More

Software: DNSCrypt for Windows is now Available

OpenDNS created a service called DNSCrypt to address a widely known problem with Internet security and enhanced your privacy. When you use public Wi-Fi that is available in coffee shops, airports, hotels and other places you can be vulnerable to a weaknesses in DNS.

DNS traffic is sent unencrypted, so it can be intercepted by criminals, ISPs, and other organizations. They can potentially see

Read More

Microsoft Flight (Free Flight Simulator)

Microsoft has a long history of creating flight simulators.  I remember playing the first version of Microsoft Flight Simulator on an Apple II+.  It was crude by today's standards, but it was state of the art back in the 80's.  Flight simulators now seem second only to the real thing.

If you love flight simulators, check out Microsoft Flight.  I need to note that there are two versions.  The  

Read More

All Hail IPv6 as King, IPv4 is dead...

For decades IPv4 was king because it was the dominate networking protocol for Internet and corporate Intranet communications.  Although its rein has come to an end as the pool of publicly available IPv4 addresses (the numeric addresses assigned to every device on the Internet) was officially depleted as of February, 2011.

Its been known for a long time that the publicly available IPv4 address

Read More

Windows Defender Offline (Offline Virus Scanner)

Everyone should have an up-to-date real-time anti-malware application running on their system at all times.  These programs won't guarantee that you will never get infected by a rouge application (e.g. virus, Trojan-horse, worm, root-kit, etc.), but it provides better protection then not having this software running at all.

If your computer starts acting strangely, you might want a second

Read More

Fun With Text

Emojicons 
Tired of the boring old simily face emoticon ;-)?  Check out a site called Emojicons, it gives you access to a new batch of emoticons to express your emotions with text.

Text-Image.com 
Back in the early days of computer before graphics there was ASCII art.  People and programs would convert images into text based images.  A site called Text-Image.com will convert your photos or

Read More

Software: 0 A.D. - A free, real-time strategy (RTS) game of ancient warfare

Description from the website: "0 A.D. (pronounced "zero ey-dee") is a free, open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy (RTS) game of ancient warfare. In short, it is a historically-based war/economy game that allows players to relive or rewrite the history of Western civilizations, focusing on the years between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D. The project is highly ambitious, involving state-of-the-art

Read More

Video: Updates for Firefox 13

Video Description: "The latest Firefox has some great updates to make getting to your next task faster and easier than ever!

The New Tab page now opens whenever you click on the '+' sign, allowing you to see thumbnails of your most recently and frequently visited sites. You can customize the New Tab page by adding or removing thumbnails based on where you go most.

The Home Page now

Read More

ASUS Taichi - dual screen Windows 8 notebook - Computex 2012

This is one of the more interesting Ultrabook/tablet hybrid designs that I have seen so far.









Video Description: "At first glance, the Taichi passes for just another ultrabook, but upon closer review, the lid yields a reflective surface, that is in fact, a touchscreen. The touchscreen is a beautiful Full HD IPS display with a 1920x1080 resolution that offers crisp visuals, even from

Read More

Privacy: Visually See How You're Tracked When Browsing (Firefox Add-on)

A new Firefox add-on called "Collusion" visually depicts the sites that are tracking your web surfing.  Online behavior profiling is big business, the revenues from the top online tracking companies is over $39 billion.

Collusion displays a dot matrix diagram composed of grey dots (sites you've visited) connected to red dots (sites that your browser passed tracking data that is used to monitor

Read More

Article: Internet Backup Solutions (An Introduction to Cloud Backup Services)

Here is an excerpt from an article that provides a brief introduction cloud backup services: "Backing up data on your computer has always been
critical. A long time ago floppies were used to backup your data, later
it was CDs and then DVDs. Today there is no
affordable external removable media capable of keeping up with modern
multi-terabyte drives.

Even if you have an external drive or NAS

Read More

Leap - Motion Control Gestures

Leap appears to be a very cool technology that supports accurate motion control that allows you to interact with your computer in three dimensions with natural hand and finger movements.  Its currently only in pre-order availability (US$69), but its supposed to be available in a few month for the Window 7/8, and Mac OS/X.

Setup is supposed to be easy. Just plugin the device to a USB port,

Read More

Photo tours in Google Maps

Google Maps offers a new feature called "Photo Tours" that allows you to experience landmarks from all around the world in 3D.  This site requires that the MapsGL feature be enabled in your browser.

The latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer browsers are supposed to support the MapsGL feature.  I was only able to get it to work properly in Google Chrome after I downloaded the 

Read More

Article: Living in the Clouds (an Introduction Cloud Services and Storage)

Here is an excerpt from an article that provides a brief introduction cloud services and storage: "The term "cloud" has been over-hyped by many different businesses trying to distinguish their products or services in the market or from their competition. The word Cloud refers to products or services that requires an Internet connection to utilize it, often requiring a web browser." (read the

Read More

Windows 7: Creating a Recurring Alarm

You don't need a special program like Microsoft Outlook to have a recurring alarm that reminds you of regular events (such as: exercise, lessons, etc.).  You can create one with the Windows Task Scheduler.


Click the Start button in the Search field, type "task scheduler" and press Enter
In the right Actions panel, click Create Task...
In the General tab, type a name for the task, such as "

Read More

Microsoft SkyDrive (Free Cloud Storage, with Local File Access/Syncing)

Microsoft offers a cloud storage service called SkyDrive.  If you already have a SkyDrive account you had 25GB of free storage space, but you better "opt-in" to keep it, otherwise you will lose it.  For new users who didn't already have an account will get 7GB free storage, and can opt to buy more space if needed.

Microsoft recently added a new feature to this service allows you to use Windows

Read More

Free Photo Morphing Tool

Looking for a tool that transforms your photos into another one? Check out a tool called Fotomorph.  Make sure view the sample projects to see how it works, just use the play button at the bottom to see the morph in action.  

Here is an except from a CNet review: Digital imaging and graphic design software is often the victim of one of two problems: either it's too advanced for everyone but

Read More

Software: Skype Auto Recorder

Skype is a great tool for making calls over the Internet, using either computer-to-computer or from PC to mobile phones and landlines. Sometimes you want to have an audio recording of a conversation things for archival reference reasons. Podcasters also sometimes us programs like this to make audio podcasts with remote guests.

Skype Auto Recorder is a free open-source application that allows

Read More

Optting Out of Behavioral Advertising

Are you concerned about your privacy in relationship to Internet advertising? The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) offers a tool that allows you "opt out of behavioral advertising" that is utilized by its members.

This is not all an encompassing tool, there are a lot of caveats, but it does offer some control over your online privacy. It doesn't allow you to opt out of web advertising, it

Read More

Article: Five Best Tax Preparation Tools

LifeHacker reports: "It's tax time, and here in the United States you're guaranteed a faster refund if you're due one by filing your taxes electronically. The trouble is that there are dozens of tools that can help you e-file. Some of them help you maximize your deductions and make sure nothing's overlooks, and others just make the filing process quick and easy. Here are five of the best tax

Read More

Software: Free BarCode Generator

The Bytescout BarCode Generator is a free program that is able to create and export barcodes into several different image formats (e.g. EMF, PNG, JPG, TIFF, GIF).  The application supports several different 1D and 2D barcode types (e.g. Codabar, Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5, Code 93, Code 128, EAN-13, EAN-8, JAN-13, Bookland, UPC-A, UPC-E, Postnet, PDF417, Truncated PDF417, DataMatrix, QR Code

Read More

Windows 7: Backing up EFS certificates

Do you use the Encrypted File System (EFS) that's built into Windows 7 (which is included in Pro, Enterprise and Ultimate versions of the OS) to protect your data on your local hard drive?  If so you should make sure that you back up the EFS certificate so you can recover your encrypted data if the stored keys on your hard drive get accidentally corrupted or deleted.


To backup the EFS key, use

Read More

Article: AWS offers free Windows on EC2 (kind of)

GIGAOM reports: "Amazon will let customers run free micro-instances of Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 on its EC2 service starting now, according to a new post to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) blog.

Such try-before-you-buy tactics have helped Amazon win converts to its cloud platform by letting them test new or existing applications in its cloud for free. While Amazon offers a choice of operating

Read More

Article: Microsoft revives flight sim by giving it away free

The Register reports: "Microsoft has said that it will be reviving its Flight Simulator franchise this spring with a free version of the game entitled simply Flight.Redmond is making the game available in a private beta at present, but plans to release it as a free download eventually. The game needs a minimum of 10GB of hard drive space, a dual-core 2Ghz processor, Windows XP SP3 and 2GB of RAM,

Read More

ShapeCatcher.com (Unicode Character Finder)

ShapeCatcher.com helps you to find the right Unicode characters.  All you have to do is draw the Unicode character you're looking for, and the site will show you the closest matches in their database. Currently, there are 10877 Unicode character glyphs in their database.

Note: The site currently doesn't support Japanese, Korean and Chinese characters.

If you don't know what Unicode is, per

Read More

Play Cut the Rope for the your Browser

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team partnered with ZeptoLab to port their popular game Cut the Rope in to  HTML5 to demonstrate its robustness as a development platform. The game was  primarily designed to demonstrate Internet Explorer 9 capabilities, but it works in other browsers (like Chrome).

Read More

Emperor 1510 Workstation from MWE Lab at CES 2011

At CES 2012 MWE Lab introduced the Emperor 1510, which is the ultimate computer workstation chair for around $6000 USD. Check out the site for more information.

Read More

Speed Up Your SSD By Correctly Aligning Your Partitions

If you have a newer SSD drive you have to make sure that the partition alignment is setup correctly. Otherwise, you might be sacrificing some of your performance.LifeHacker did a great article called "Speed Up Your SSD By Correctly Aligning Your Partitions", here is an excerpt: "To see if your partitions are aligned correctly, hit the Start menu and type in msinfo32. Enter Msinfo32 and go to

Read More

Privacy: Introduction to Publicly Available Information

As the Internet grew over the last few decades, people and companies would make information publicly available without realizing how it can be exploited if used improperly.

Criminals have learned how to take advantage of this information by having computers crawl the public web looking for it.  For example, they first started looking for email addressees for sending SPAM, and later evolved into

Read More