Seven essential programs for your new (or re-installed OS) PC

Hi People

Have a look at the video below and see what you think




This is a reasonable set of applications

AVG Free is good and contains an added element of good antispyware detection as well.

For a good basic web browser alternative to Internet Explorer 8 - go for Google Chrome it is clean slick and very quick. It is getting better as it matures. If it is not for you then as the man said consider Firefox and Thunderbird for email (Outlook express, Windows Live Mail, or Windows mail are the Microsoft alternatives for XP, Vista and 7 respectively - though you can get Windows mail for all three - XP and Vista are downloads). But whatever you do, you will need to keep Internet explorer installed on your PC if you use the Automatice Updates for windonws.

The IM and IRC clients are Internent Messenger and Intern Relay Chat clients - may or may not be your thing so at your discretion.

Pidgin and Paint.net again I have not used (will get back to you on These)

OpenOffice is an excellent alternative to Microsoft office and can read and write Word and Excel files. Powerpoint compatible presentations can also be viewed and created (though I have not tried this)

VLC player from Videolan is an excellent player, though creating playlists can be awkward.

Hijack This, the final program mentioned is a tool for dealing with spyware and should NOT be used by general user unless instructed to, by someone who knows what they are doing. a suitable alternative is Superantispyware, which does a superb job of dealing with spyware. You will need to update and scan regularly (minimum twice a week) if using the free version.

That's All People
See you next time

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Got some sensitive files you would like to remove from your system

Erase Those Files Permanently

Hi there

Many of us create files which at some point we want to delete and if deletion is good enough then the good old Windows delete option will suffice, but occasionally we would like to remove 'sensitive' files, such as electronic bank statements that have been downloaded, or lists of passwords which have been superceded, or other files which could be embarassing or a problem if they get into the wrong hands.

Well, this where a little free program called Eraser would be very handy. Once installed, you can use it on single files or drives if you wish ( two cautionary notes here: 1/ The time taken to 'Erase' a file is much longer than simply deleting it. 2/ Once 'Erased' the file CANNOT be recovered - so take care!). It works by writing and overwriting the storage area on the hard drive where the file was stored, this effectively 'scrubs' the area and makes it impossible to recover the data.



To access the 'Eraser' utility, simply highlight the file you want to 'erase', with a right click to bring up the context menu and select the 'Erase' option. You will also note that you can make use of a 'Eraser secure move' option. Now why would you want this, yes when you 'move' a file it is copied first then the original file in the original folder is simply deleted, leaving it vunerable to recovery.

There are other little setting to the program, such as which type of overwriting is done and how many times, but in a nutshell that is all there is to it.

Now where are my old CV's and receipts

Thank You and see you next time


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Organise Your Desktop

Hi Again

Another quickie blog item for you

Has your desktop got crowded with icons, try this

Fences

This is a nifty little program and helps control the bulging desktop icons.

Or you could create a number of folders on the desktop such as video / documents / spreadsheet / etc links in appropriately named folders. Sorted.

Have fun

Thank You




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Pre-empting software screwups

If you have had your PC get screwed up by a virus / driver / operating system / hardware fault, then you will no doubt be well aware of the situation of "What about all my data, the pictures from our holiday and the kids growing up" scenario.

No I am not going to say anything about backups, my point here is that it is usually the operating system / driver that screws up. Now for many of you, a single large (250GB or bigger) hard drive is usually what you have had the good fortune to have had put into your system when you purchased / made you PC. Right, now if you have to re-install windows or replace the hard drive for any reason, and then re-install windows, for heavens sake, reduce the size of the Windows partition to approx 80-120GB (80000MB - 120000MB) i.e less than 50% of the suggested value of MB that the installation process offers. This will leave you an unformatted partition which you can use to put your data (and emails) on (if you dont know how to do this or need help, again mail me at service@gds888.com).

Once you have finished putting the Windows on, your programs again can be put on the Windows partition. Now using computer management, create the second partition for DATA only (no program installations here, again if you don't know how to do this email me at service@gds888.com). When you have done this, the 'My computer' will reveal two hard drives present. One is used for Windows and program installations, the other will be used for 'My documents' and emails. WARNING DO NOT PUT ANYTHING IN THIS PARTITION / DRIVE UNTIL YOU HAVE MOVED YOUR MY DOCUMENTS FOLDER.

To move the 'My documents' folder to the new partition ('hard drive' in My computer)in XP, simply click on 'start', locate 'My documents', right click on this and select 'properties' from the menu. Click on the 'Move' button under the 'Target folder location' section.
This opens a 'Select a destination' window, locate the second drive (without windows on it) and click 'Apply' then wait. Click 'OK' when finished and now your 'My documents' folder is on the second drive/partition. I go into much more detail in my forthcoming book on Windows installs.

So that being done, now for the emails (Outlook Express/Outlook). If you are putting your email back after backing up /recovering it from a previous install. Make sure that you are not connected to the internet/accessing emails (the idea is here you want to avoid setting up your email account, then finding that some recent emails have come down before you have had a chance to put the backed up / recovered email data in place and set up the storage folder).

Outlook versions allow you to import files of various types, and if you have used this option the usual format is as a .pst file. Simply use the import option to put the emails/folders back.

Outlook Express versions do not have an Outlook Express to Outlook Express transfer only an 'upgrade' option to Outlook. To get the folders for the previous Outlook Express installaton, you require access to copy the 'Local Settings'/ 'Application Data' / 'Identities' folder. When you have this it can be placed back in the same place on the new installation OR you could be super smart and put it on the DATA partition and point Outlook Express to that partition (Please remember not to connect to your email before doing this as you will possibly overwrite the folder containing the newer emails or have two folders and have to switch between the two)

That's all for now people
Back soon


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Tabnabbing the New 'Phishing' Angle

Hi People

This item is a new move in the world of security threats. Tabnabbing is a devious way of obtaining information about accounts, be they social media accounts, bank accounts or possibly credit card accounts (as most these days have online access to balances, making payments etc). Tabs appear to morph in this one, what a sneaky trick.

Click here for a more complete explanation of how this works.


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MP3 players and Phones

Hi People

A quick post about phones and mp3 players (yes includes iPods)

Basically if you can hook them up to a PC they are generally seen as a 'mass storage' device in 'My computer'. Click 'start', 'My computer' (with the device connected and you will probably see it as a drive or mass storage device.

It is possible then to navigate it and read and write (if there are no proprietry files), to the various places (be careful not to overwrite anything crucial to the operation of the phone apps).

Look for pictures (generally .jpg files), (audio, usually mp3 files as if you didn't know), video may be a bit more tricky as very often these are proprietry files.

But there you are, you can now get access to those little pictures, without getting more programs installed on your programs menu and more importantly, reserving resources at bootup for some programs which you may use rarely, if at all.

Thank You

See you next time


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What are installed files and why can't I use them to put my programs back

Hi Again,

How are you doing?

OK Installation and Installed files

Frequently during the course of my work, I get told, "I have got all my data and programs backed up".

What users tend to not realise is that when they (or anyone else) install programs, the programs are sometimes, unzipped, then unpacked and then the installation begins.
An installation, places files in windows directories and in program directories (sorry people, but there isn't much difference between a directory or folder, so having used DOS based systems - Hmmm what is he talking about I hear you say - ancient Microsoft operating systems - Before Windows).
Anyway, back to the point and that is once you install a program, it is extremely unlikely that anyone would be able to extract the necessary INSTALLED files and get the program to operate again.

So you see, you need to keep the installation files, to re-install your programs.
Retain all disks / downloaded installation files until you know you will not need them ever again (for example program superceded, pc upgraded and program not compatible etc)

As operating systems get more and more sophisticated, the programs that run on them also become more complex with hundreds if not thousands of files spread all over the operating system. So keep those installation files huh.

Right we have got that one sorted, yes (email me at service@gds888.com if there is a problem)

O
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Assorted Windows Tips

Hi again

No Video this time, but some very interesting and useful tips to help in the day to day use of your computer.

For ALL Windows Versions (XP to Windows 7)

1 - OK first one up is the fullscreen option. And yes I mean fullscreen, not just maximised window.

It is a simple toggle keypress, press once to show fullscreen and press again to return to normal mode. The key to press is the F11 key. Try it now on this window.

2 - Next up for Vista and XP Users, view 2 or more open windows side by side (or one over the other).

To achieve this make sure the windows you wish to view are open and are present on the taskbar.
Hold down the 'Ctrl' and left click on the two window buttons in the taskbar, that you want to view.
Now right click on one of the selected buttons and click on 'Tile horizontally'(for one above the other) or Tile vertically' (for side by side).
Click on the maximise button or minimise button to either maximise the window or return the window to the taskbar. Simples!

3 - What ever you are doing, it pays to right click on items, to discover a host of useful items than can be used, for the situation in front of you. For instance, in Windows XP, right click the time at the bottom righthand side of the screen (under usual circumstances). Some of the things you can do here are,
Open the Task Manager - View running programs, shutdown / restart /log off windows etc

Show the desktop - if your view of the desktop is covered by open windows, two clicks and the desktop is revealed

Adjust the date and time

Tile all current open windows (not really helpful if there are more than two, depending on your screen size!)

Happy tinkering and Thank You for reading


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