Lucky Lurchiano

TrueCrypt 6.3 released

2009-10-25T08:32:00.000+10:30

TrueCrypt has released version 6.3 of their open source, cross platform, disk encryption tool. In addition to several bug fixes and minor improvements on all platforms, the latest release features full support for Windows 7. TrueCrypt 6.3 now includes the ability to configure selected volumes as "system favourite volumes" in order to, for example, mount them before the system and application services start, or before users start logging on.

Snort 2.8.5.1 released

2009-10-25T08:31:00.001+10:30

Snort is an open source network intrusion prevention system, capable of performing real-time traffic analysis and packet logging on IP networks. It can perform protocol analysis, content searching/matching and can be used to detect a variety of attacks and probes, such as buffer overflows, stealth port scans, CGI attacks, SMB probes, OS fingerprinting attempts, and much more.

Nmap 5.00 released

2009-07-19T07:51:00.002+09:30

Nmap ("Network Mapper") is a free and open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. Version 5.00 is the first major release since 4.50 in 2007, and includes about 600 changes.

The new Ncat tool aims to be a Swiss Army Knife for data transfer, redirection, and debugging

Ndiff makes it easy to automatically scan your network daily and report on any changes (systems coming up or going down or changes to the software services they are running). The other two tools now packaged with Nmap itself are Ncat and the improved Zenmap GUI and results viewer

Improved Nmap performance allows Nmap to scan fewer ports by default while finding more open ports. Also added is a fixed-rate scan engine so you can bypass Nmap's congestion control algorithms and scan at exactly the rate (packets per second) you specify

Nmap Network Scanning, the official Nmap guide to network discovery and security scanning, has been released. From explaining port scanning basics for novices to detailing low-level packet crafting methods used by advanced hackers, this book suits all levels of security and networking professionals. A 42-page reference guide documents every Nmap feature and option, while the rest of the book demonstrates how to apply those features to quickly solve real-world tasks

The Nmap Scripting Engine allows users to write (and share) simple scripts to automate a wide variety of networking tasks. All existing scripts have been improved, and 32 new ones added. New scripts include a lot of MSRPC/NetBIOS attacks, queries, and vulnerability probes; open proxy detection; whois and AS number lookup queries; brute force attack scripts against the SNMP and POP3 protocols; and many more.

TrueCrypt 6.2 Released

2009-06-30T08:00:00.000+09:30

Version 6.2 of TrueCrypt has been released and includes several improvements, security enhancements and bug fixes on all platforms. The open source, cross platform disk encryption tool has an updated I/O pipeline that uses read-ahead buffering to improve the read performance, especially on solid-state drives (SSD), by around 30 to 50 per cent.

The release now includes boot loader support for motherboards with BIOSes that reserve large amounts of base memory (normally for onboard RAID controllers). The Auto-Mount Devices feature has been improved on Windows, making it run significantly faster, and the header areas will now be wiped before the encrypted headers are written to the disk.

TrueCrypt 6.2 is available to download and a Beginner's Tutorial is also available.

Customization in IE8

2009-06-25T08:00:00.000+09:30

I am a user interface tester on the Internet Explorer team and one of my favorite things about any application is the ability to personalize the program to give it your own look and feel.

I am never content with ubiquitous one-size–fits-all solutions and really look forward to products that value user choice. I’m excited that IE8 now has some personalization options and this cycle I have been fortunate to work on two such features – IE8 Look and Feel (customizations around the Command bar) and the Smart Address bar.

First of all, let me walk you through the .....

Top 10 Ubuntu Downloads

2009-06-22T08:00:00.000+09:30

The reviews are in, and the just-released Ubuntu 9.04, i.e. “Jaunty Jackalope,” rates as a slick, fully-formed Linux desktop. Looking to get started or upgrade your system? We’re recommending
10 downloads for everyone to try.

Folder Lock 6.2.1

2009-06-20T08:00:00.001+09:30

Folder Lock is a Windows tool that enables you to create a password protected folder. The folder is completely hidden while it is locked, and the files, folders and drives contained in the Locker are unaccessible from Windows Explorer or even DOS mode.

Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

2009-06-17T08:00:00.001+09:30

UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. UBCD4Win includes network support and allows you the ability to modify NTFS volumes, recover deleted files, create new NTFS volumes, scan hard drives for viruses, etc. Our download includes almost everything you need to repair your system problems. This project has been put together to be the ultimate recovery cd and not a replacement OS.

JetBytes : Direct File Transfer Over Internet

2009-06-14T08:05:00.002+09:30

JetBytes is an experimental direct file transfer tool that lets you quickly send files over the net. The application creates direct link between sender and receiver and does not store files during the transfer.

To send files, simply select file on your computer and JetBytes will generate a web URL for it, copy and forward it to any one you want. When recipient clicks the URL the file transfer will begin. (Note: The file transfer is direct and in real time, so both sender and receiver should be online.)

Windows Security Tools

2009-05-21T00:39:00.001+09:30

New update on the website. Has added over 150 new tools!. Also included many new types of tools and other utilities, such as dictionaries and rainbow tables.

Security Tools

2009-05-19T17:35:00.002+09:30

Portable security tools are becoming popular not only with travelers or people on the go, but also with people who have more than one computers and limited hard-disk space. Read this article to find out more about the must-have free security tools that should be on your flash drive. Most malware will block the installation of scanners or will shut down any installed scanners. Some malware will stop you from connecting to security vendors websites, meaning that you be unable to download either the security tools or updates for them. It's sometimes possible to "trick" the malware scanner by renaming the executable of your security application, but this is not a foolproof method and does not always work. If ever you come across such a situation, having these tools on your portable device will really help

Rip MP3's From YouTube Vidoes

2009-05-02T06:50:00.000+09:30

You find a great video on YouTube and you’d love to save the audio or load it on your MP3 player to listen to later.

What can you do? You can hop over to ListenToYouTube.

ListenToYouTube is a simple web-based application for pulling the audio out of a YouTube video and converting it to MP3. The service is free and simple: you plug in the URL for the video, it grabs the audio, you download the MP3.

Creating Virtual Machines With VirtualBox

2009-04-26T06:45:00.001+09:30

Virtual machines can seem juuuuust a bit too geeky for most otherwise computer-friendly people. That’s sad, because it’s an easy, free way to try or use a separate OS without messing with your hard drive.

Why would you want to run a virtual machine on your computer? Plenty of reasons:
You like using one OS, but need just an app or two from another running in their natural environments
You want to try out some new software
Web sites that don’t play nice with the operating system you’re running
You’re intrigued at the idea of trying out a Linux desktop

Setting up

First Look At Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

2009-04-26T06:41:00.001+09:30

Installation
Boot Times
Desktop
Look and Feel
New Programs ... HERE

Last Freeware Version

2009-04-04T08:07:00.002+10:30

Some of the best commercial Windows utilities, like FastStone Capture, or Reaper started out as freeware. If you want the latest versions of these programs with all the new features, bug fixes, and other updates you'll have to pull out your wallet. But if you're OK with using an older version or just want to try the program for a while before deciding whether to pay for the most recent update, you can often install the last freeware version.

There's even a web site dedicated to finding the last version of apps that you don't need to pay for.

It's cleverly called Last Freeware Version.

HTML to PDF

2009-03-09T08:59:00.002+10:30

HTML to PDF
It's a simple service to convert the web pages to PDF files. No need to install applications on your computer.It's free and without registration!

PDF Download 2.0
Convert Web pages into great looking PDF files.

PDF Hammer
Use the leading online PDF editor to quickly and easily edit PDF files online.

PrimoPDF
Convert PDF files from 300+ files types with the #1 free PDF creator.

PrimoOnline
Convert PDF online free without the need to install or sign up for anything.

Freeraser

2009-02-28T07:00:00.001+10:30

Freeraser takes a novel and portable approach to secure file deletion by placing a virtual bio-hazard barrel on your desktop. All files dropped in the barrel are sentenced to random, secure overwriting. Files dragged into it are deleted, and their location on the disk securely erased. You can specify three levels of secure deletion: fast will do one overwrite of random data, forced will do three rounds of DoD approved overwrites, and Ultimate will do a 35 round Gutmann Pass.

Office 2007 SmartArt

2009-02-25T07:00:00.000+10:30

Communicating ideas using illustrations are natural for us MS Office users, especially when illustrations are the best way to communicate a certain message. Of course we can create our own good looking illustrations using a separate application like Photoshop or Flash, but if you have Office 2007 installed, there are built-in illustration templates called SmartArt that you can use to effectively present those abstract ideas.

Gizmo Drive

2009-02-21T05:00:00.000+10:30

Gizmo Drive mounts almost any virtual hard drive you can throw at it, including ISO, BIN, CUE, and the new virtual hard drive (VHD) images supported in Windows 7. The purpose of disk image mounting tools is generally the same: Rather than burning a new CD or DVD whenever you want to access a file inside a disk image, these applications simply mount the image as though it's a physical hard drive on your computer. We've featured several disk mounting utilities in the past, including previously mentioned ISODisk and Pismo File Mount, but Gizmo Drive may be the first we've seen that's added VHD support as well—which may come in handy for XP and Vista users once Windows 7 comes along. The application is included in a packaged install with other apps, so be sure to check only what you want to install.

My Lockbox

2009-02-14T05:00:00.000+10:30

My Lockbox is a free program that can quickly hide and password protect a folder and all files/folders within it from being shown in the Windows files system, and will do so under Windows safe mode as well. The reason I tried “My Lockbox” in the first place is because it promised to maintain its protection even under safe mode. I tested this and it is true. Read the review HERE.

Secure deletion: a single overwrite will do it

2009-01-30T06:00:00.000+10:30

The myth that to delete data really securely from a hard disk you have to overwrite it many times, using different patterns, has persisted for decades, despite the fact that even firms specialising in data recovery, openly admit that if a hard disk is overwritten with zeros just once, all of its data is irretrievably lost. Even one wipe with zeroes would require that someone disassemble the drive and use specialized equipment to recover the data... hard drives leave traces that are a little wider than the tracks, so special super-sensitive probes can read the edges and recover the original data. No garden-variety garage hacker is going to have that stuff; it costs a mint.

The 7x and 35x overwrites are meant to make it very difficult even for the specialized tools to recover the data. Overwriting with zeroes is predictable, so the weak fluxes in the track edges can be reassembled into data, but when random data has been repeatedly written, it should be extremely difficult to sort out which bits are correct and which are just noise. As long as nobody risks jail time if the drive falls into the wrong hands, even zeroes is probably enough, but 7x will give you a very high degree of safety. 35x is for the ridiculously paranoid.

dban
Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

DP Shredder
DP Shredder scrubs files, folders, and free disk space with Department-of-Defense-approved methods. Completely stand-alone and small, DP Shredder is a great addition to your flash drive toolbox. After selecting the disk, folder, or file you want to securely delete with DP Shredder, you can select the method and number of times the method will be applied. You can use a basic overwrite with all zeros, pseudo-random blocks of data, or opt to use more robust methods. DP Shredder can wipe with the power of US DoD 5220.22.M ECE 7X—which, if you must know, deletes the files, overwrite all locations with a character, its complement, then a random character followed by an overwrite, and it's repeated seven times. At the end of a single round, every bit of data you've deleted has been over-written 49 times. If you need more assurance that your data is gone, it's time to break out the drill and find a far-away landfill or e-cycling centre. DP Shredder is freeware, Windows only.

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference

2009-01-28T08:10:00.000+10:30

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is now available! Written by award-winning author Keir Thomas, Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is a totally unique and concise guide for everyday Ubuntu use. The PDF Edition is entirely free of charge and is identical to the print edition.

Free Logos At LogoInstant

2009-01-18T08:13:00.000+10:30

If you need a logo but you're lacking the design chops to whip one up, score a free one at LogoInstant. LogoInstant is a design service that cranks out a new logo every day. The logos are completely free for both personal and commercial use and come in a layered Adobe Photoshop source file so you can edit the name or make more advanced changes.

Greenshot

2009-01-03T08:00:00.000+10:30

Greenshot is a lightweight, open source, and portable screen-capture tool. The executable and supporting .dll files weigh in at 464KB, making Greenshot a rather lightweight tool and well suited for a flash-drive toolkit. You can generate screen captures by a variety of methods including using the print-screen button as a hot key and activating the main menu from the system tray where you can capture by region, freehand cropping, etc. Greenshot can be set to send your crops directly to a printer, open for editing, or to be saved.

Once you have captured an image you can add text and shapes such as arrows to draw attention or a bright red box to isolate. One curiously lacking feature is the ability to crop after the initial capture. You can use the freehand-capture tool to carefully grab the area you want when getting the initial capture, but once you are in the actual editing stage there appears to be no method to crop.

MediaPortal

2009-01-01T00:01:00.000+10:30

MediaPortal turns your PC / TV into a very advanced MediaCenter / HTPC. Our software allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch and store your videos and DVDs, view, schedule and record live TV as a digital video recorder and much much more. You get MediaPortal as Open Source software. This means you can help in developing MediaPortal or tweak it for your own needs with lots of innovating plugins from our great community.

Monitor Your Bandwidth

2008-12-30T07:00:00.000+10:30

BitMeter is a small bandwidth-monitoring application packed with features to help you track and analyse your bandwidth usage and avoid end-of-month shaping or excess bills. On top of the basic features like a real time usage meter, BitMeter allows you to set BitMeter to alert you when you've reached a user specified percentage of your bandwidth allotment.

Networx offers network Statistics, Incoming Traffic, and Speed Meter readouts. It also includes traceroute, netstat, and a ping module to help you keep an eye on your network.

Unlimited Online Storage

2008-12-28T07:00:00.000+10:30

LiveDrive is a free and unlimited online storage service. LiveDrive users can upload an unlimited number of files, and while the size limit per file isn't explicitly stated anywhere on the site I had no trouble uploading multi-GB files. The upload speed maxed out the available upload bandwidth.

SUMO Paint

2008-12-25T07:54:00.000+10:30

SUMO Paint is a free, high-end online art and photo editing application which has an impressive clone of Photoshop's major features inside a browser window.

ColorPad

2008-12-22T07:51:00.000+10:30

ColorPad is a lightweight colour picking application. ColorPad grabs the colour value of anything you can see on your screen in hex, dec, and floating point number format. ColorPad has a persistent zoom function and a split screen option. There are numerous keyboard shortcuts that cover the basic functions and allow you to do more advanced tweaks like shift the colour once you've grabbed it.

ConvertXtoDVD

2008-12-10T14:23:00.001+10:30

With ConvertXtoDVD, video conversion software, you can convert and burn all your videos and convert Avi to DVD! Backup and transfer your movies to DVD and enjoy watching them on any home DVD player. This award-winning divx to dvd video converter software supports most video and audio formats for video conversion (avi, mpg, mov, wmv, mkv, ogm and more) and even handles DVD to DVD copy! In a single click, the software offers easy and speedy conversion and burning (without the need of avi codec download). ConvertXtoDVD automatically makes DVD menus and chapters, handles advanced subtitle support (SSA, SRT, SUB/IDX) and lets you choose between 4/3 and 16/9. You can also convert video from NTSC to PAL formats along with lots of other useful features.

AutoLyrix

2008-12-01T04:21:00.001+10:30

AutoLyrix was designed to download Lyrics, AlbumArt (artwork) and SyncLyric (LRC files) automatically. It is an open-source solution to EvilLyrics. Saved lyrics from EvilLyrics can be used by AutoLyrix. AutoLyrix is simple: run AutoLyrix and it will find the player running (if the player is supported), get the current song from it and download the lyric and albumart for you. AutoLyrix uses Google to search (Lyrics and AlbumArt)... AutoLyrix has its own library, so you can submit AlbumArt, Lyrics and SyncLyrics so other users can get the right content for whatever they are listening to!

Daisy Dukes [aka Memsniff]

2008-11-14T06:45:00.001+10:30

A proof-of-concept signature-based memory sniffer called “Memsniff” (originally “DaisyDukes”).

DaisyDukes is a memory sniffer that resides on a USB device. A researcher can plug it into an unattended machine that is turned on but has been locked and reboot the machine off a compact operating system contained on the drive.

For now, DaisyDukes remains very much a beta program, so it's not yet suitable for production. But it already shows great promise. For one, it's highly compact, which prevents the boot sequence from overwriting old data stored in the computer's RAM. For another, it's highly flexible, making it possible to sniff the password for a single application or grab the entire contents in memory.

Daisy Dukes then had a name change - to Memsniff.

Memsniff is a bootable memory sniffer which extracts passwords and other interesting information from memory, based on a catalog of known signatures. It can be copied onto a removable device, and used to extract data from memory of a cold-booted system.

If you are into this sort of shit, this is a definite bookmark.

Convert Scanned PDFs to Text

2008-11-12T05:37:00.000+10:30

Now if you have bunch of scanned PDF files on your hard drive and no OCR software, here’s what you can do to convert them into recognizable text.

Create a folder in your website (say google.com/pdf) and upload all the PDF images to that folder. Now create a public web page that links to all the PDF files. Wait for the Google bots to spider your stuff.

Once done, type the query "site:google.com/pdf filetype:pdf" to see the PDF documents as HTML.

Check Your Passwords

2008-11-10T04:34:00.000+10:30

Ever wonder how long it would take a dedicated soul to bust into your email, home network, or other password-protected places? Enter your character counts into Hackosis' Brute Force Calculator, which crunches how long it would take a typical PC to get through.

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

2008-11-08T06:24:00.000+10:30

You've probably read more than a few reviews of Ubuntu 8.10 by now, but most will have focused on technology like what bits of the kernel are new. While such features are the wet dreams of programmers, it can be hard to relate them to day-to-day experience. Instead, let's take an end-user look at the productivity boosts that Ubuntu 8.10 brings, so you can judge if Ubuntu 8.10 is actually likely to offer you any benefits or not.

System Control Centre

2008-11-06T10:29:00.000+10:30

If you ask Windows system administrators about their favorite non commercial software publishers the names Nirsoft and Sysinternals will be mentioned without doubt lots of times. Both produce high quality software that can be useful in many occasions.

Windows System Control Center is a frontend for Nirsoft and Sysinternals software programs. The portable software displays the options at first start which is important to make sure the path to Sysinternals and Nirsoft applications is set correctly. Only one directory can be selected that has to contain all applications. This is not such a big problem for Sysinternals because the Sysinternals Live address is given as a backup for that. Most, if not all, of the Nirsoft and Sysinternals applications are portable which means it should not be a problem to move them into one single directory though.

The Control Center will display the applications sorted by publisher and categories but it is also possible to display all applications in one huge list. A click on a category will load the application list which contains a short description of each application listed in that category, a button to launch it and a icon at the beginning that gives information if the application is installed or can be started online.

AnVir Task Manager

2008-11-04T05:21:00.000+10:30

AnVir Task Manager Free is a Windows Task Manager replacement boasting an enormous feature set. This utility can manage startup applications, running applications, processes, services, and oh-so-much more. When you select a running process in the top pane, the bottom pane provides a wealth of information about the process, from a brief description of what it does to the network connections it's making and DLLs it's using.

Custom Windows Visual Styles

2008-11-02T07:37:00.002+10:30

Customising the appearance of your Windows installation can be frustrating, because both Windows XP and Vista are limited to the Microsoft's default themes out of the box. However, with a bit of tweaking under the hood, your Windows setup can try on a wider range of looks than come pre-installed. Let's take a look at how to patch your Windows installation to allow customised styles, and a few places to find new and interesting styles online. Read the article HERE.

Instant Eyedropper

2008-10-22T07:30:00.001+10:30

Instant Eyedropper is a simple system tray tool that can identify the colour of any pixel on screen -- a useful trick if you're designing a web site or performing other graphics-related tasks. Just drag the tray icon to the part of the screen whose colour you want to copy, and release. Instant Eyedropper copies the colour code for that pixel onto your clipboard (you can choose from a range of formats), ready for use in your HTML editor or graphics program. This is a simple one-task tool, but if you're trying to experiment with different colour schemes it could save you a lot of hassle.

Put Outlook Events And Tasks On Your Desktop

2008-10-12T05:23:00.001+10:30

Freeware application DeskTask embeds your Microsoft Outlook calendars and tasks directly on your desktop—whether Outlook is running or not. Granted, you can accomplish more with something like Samurize, but if all you want is your Outlook info at a glance, the lightweight DeskTask is just the ticket.

WiFi

2008-10-06T08:53:00.005+10:30

Activate Your Wireless Security Settings
If you are running a wireless network and haven't changed the default user name and password, or set it up to use encryption, take a few minutes to do that. If you're not sure how to do these things, THIS SITE has some easy-to-follow video and text primers on four of the most widely used wireless routers on the market.

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor Detects Wireless Networks
Free application Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor is a cross-platform Wi-Fi tool that displays available networks on a very cool radar map. More specifically, the app searches for Wi-Fi networks, displays strength, detects rogue access points, and helps you tweak your network for the best signal. The downside: Xirrus Wi-Fi monitor is only available in widget/gadget/desklet form.

Synergy

2008-09-22T07:43:00.003+09:30

Synergy is an open-source program that allows one system and one keyboard and mouse to operate on multiple machines. This means you can sit at one terminal and still take advantage of multiple machines on your network. Simply by dragging the mouse to the edge of one screen, you can move keyboard and mouse functionality to the next machine.

Read the article [and read the comments] HERE.

Watch the video HERE.

HOWTO - reset a lost Ubuntu password

2008-09-21T07:31:00.003+09:30

Losing your root password isn't the end of the world, though. You'll just need to reboot into single user mode to reset it. Here's how to do it on a typical Ubuntu machine with the GRUB bootloader:

Boot Linux into single-user mode
Reboot the machine.
Press the ESC key while GRUB is loading to enter the menu.
If there is a 'recovery mode' option, select it and press 'b' to boot into single user mode.
Otherwise, the default boot configuration should be selected.
Press 'e' to edit it.
Highlight the line that begins with 'kernel'.
Press 'e' again to edit this line.
At the end of the line, add an additional parameter: 'single'.
Hit return to make the change and press 'b' to boot.

Change the admin password
The system should load into single user mode and you'll be left at the command line automatically logged in as root. Type 'passwd' to change the root password or 'passwd someuser' to change the password for your "someuser" admin account.

Reboot
Once your done, give the three finger salute, or enter 'reboot' to restart into your machine's normal configuration.

Registry Edits for Windows XP

2008-09-20T07:39:00.001+09:30

They are all HERE.

VLC media player

2008-09-19T07:36:00.001+09:30

The popular open-source VLC media player has released a significant update with an interface refresh for Windows, Linux, and Unix, improved playlist and media library tools, and a whole lot more. The release, codenamed Grishenko, also adds support for more input and codec types, which means that the media player that you can always count on to play back any file you throw at it has gotten even better. VLC 0.9.2 displays album art, includes a metadata editor, scrobbles to Last.fm, and even includes YouTube video support (just give VLC the URL of the video you want to watch). VLC media player is free for all platforms.

Read the article HERE.

Open DNS

2008-09-07T07:52:00.000+09:30

Free domain name service Open DNS speeds up your web surfing sessions and protects you from phishing sites.

Read the article HERE.

IrfanView substitute

2008-08-10T07:57:00.001+09:30

XnView is a fast multi-format graphics browser, viewer, and converter. It can read more than 400 file formats, e.g. gif, bmp, jpeg, png, targa, multipage tiff, camera RAW, jpeg 2000, mpeg, Avi, Quicktime. EXIF & IPTC metadata are also supported. The image viewer has an Explorer-like browser that allows quick and simple browsing of directory contents.

XnView supports red eye correction, crops and transforms JPG images losslessly, generates HTML pages and contact sheets, and provides batch conversion and batch renaming. Slide shows with transitions effects, screen capturing, WIA & TWAIN support (scanner & digital cameras), image comparison, file operations.

Read more - including user reviews - HERE.

How to identify unknown fonts

2008-07-20T11:20:00.001+09:30

It happened to me yesterday. I was browsing the Internet normally, and then I saw it. The most beautiful font I’d ever seen. But it was on a picture! How was I ever going to figure out the font type?

Method 1: Identifont
Method 2: What The Font

Xrecode

2008-07-20T11:17:00.001+09:30

Xrecode is a free audio file conversion program that supports a wide range of formats. Just drag files you want to convert into Xrecode, choose the output format, and get started. It can convert to/from any of the following formats; MP3, WMA, OGG, APE, FLAC, WavPack, AAC, and WAVE.

Read the article HERE.

Kyolo

2008-07-20T11:15:00.000+09:30

Free web service Kyolo helps you quickly add speech bubbles to any picture with serious simplicity. There are no layers or strokes here, just upload your photo, choose from 3 different speech bubbles and type away. It couldn't be any simpler.

Photo Editing Tools

2008-06-22T07:35:00.000+09:30

Dumpr is web-based, very simple to use, and has a pretty decent library of effects: sketch, Lomo, reflection and jigsaw puzzle, to name a few. You can upload photos from your own hard drive, or paste in URLs from some of the major photo hosting services, including Flickr and MySpace.

A.viary is a hardcore photo editing app, kind of like Photoshop without the price tag and disk install. But it’s way cooler than that. It’s a whole lot of really interesting editing abilities and a whole community of people doing their own thing with the tools that makes this one a great choice. Note: it’s still in an invite-only beta period.

Picnik is a lightweight photo editing tool that gets me through pretty much all of my needs right now. I use it about twice a day, and have found that it does most everything I need from a photo editor. It’s not really good with batch-based activities, but if you’re into editing things one at a time, this is for you.

Skitch acts as a screen capture and annotation tool. It’s super easy to use, has just enough tools to be useful but not so many that you feel bloated and misunderstood. I use it to do lots of odd jobs on capture screens and little images from web pages. Definitely good to have.

XeroBank Security Software

2008-06-17T10:32:00.000+09:30

xB Browser is the most popular anonymous web browser in the world and with good reason; you're only 30 seconds from surfing securely. xB Browser is the free and open-source anonymous web browser. You're just a click away from anonymous surfing right now! The benefits of xB Browser are that it allows you to securely and anonymously surf the internet, and bypass firewalls and website censorship. For enhanced privacy, xB Browser automatically clears surfing history and deletes cookies when you close the browser. The main advantage compared to other anonymous web browsers is that xB Browser requires no configuration or technical knowledge in order to achieve anonymity. xB Browser is open-source so you can feel safe knowing what goes into xB Browser. Additionally, it is even portable on a USB stick so you can take it to work, school, or on vacation.

xB Mail offers you a strong email client that makes encrypted messaging effortless. When coupled with XeroBank's Encrypted eMail service, you can access and anonymously send email from anywhere. xB VPN is the core software for channeling all your internet through XeroBank. It is included as a module in all other XeroBank software. xB Machine is the strongest pre-built operating system, providing instant anonymity and encrypted storage. If you can use Windows, you can use xB Machine.

Photoscape

2008-06-08T08:51:00.001+09:30

Freeware image editor Photoscape offers a large array of features packaged with a simple and intuitive user interface. View and organize your photos in Photoscape, correct red eye and white balance, crop, add text and frames, and more all from the basic editor. Photoscape also has a batch editor for quickly processing large volumes of pictures, a file renamer, RAW to JPEG processor, screen capture tool, image splitter for printing pictures across multiple sheets, and the ability to create animated GIFs.

Printing

2008-05-23T06:43:00.002+09:30

PDF to Word Converter 1.1
Freeware application Some PDF to Word Converter takes your PDFs and—as the name implies—converts them to Microsoft Word documents. It's always been a cinch to print Word documents as PDFs, but going the other way around is generally more difficult. Many online tools can handle PDF-to-DOC conversions, but most of us don't want to upload our sensitive docs to the web for third-party conversion, so desktop tools are preferable. We've featured one other PDF-to-Word converter in the past, but Some PDF to Word Converter requires no registration, has more options, and seems to perform better.

Read more HERE.

Related Products:
Some PDF to Html Converter
Some PDF to Txt Converter
Some Text to PDF Converter
Some PDF Image Extract

HP Smart Web Printing
Freeware application HP Smart Web Printing combines clips from any number of web pages into one page, so you don't have to print five different pages of filler to get one page worth of information. The tool—which despite its HP origins works with any printer—integrates directly with both Firefox and Internet Explorer, so clipping text, images, or any part of a page is as simple as clicking a button. Before you print, you can edit, resize, and adjust all of your clippings to your liking. The result is more useful printouts and less wasted paper.

Read more and download HERE.

Installing WINE

2008-05-18T07:47:00.000+09:30

WINE is a piece of software (an emulation layer if you want to get technical) which lets you run certain Windows applications on Linux systems. So it's very handy for penguin lovers who still have one or two (WINE-supported) Windows apps they want to be able to run.

Read the article HERE.

Create 360 degree Panoramas Online

2008-05-10T10:55:00.001+09:30

Looking for an easy way to stitch together a cluster of photos you took of that great vacation scene? MagToo, a free online panorma-sharing service, offers a free online tool to create 360-degree panoramas (or more simple wide-angle stitches) and share them from a flash applet on its site or embedded on another. As the Digital Inspiration blog points out, you have to use Internet Explorer 7 to create the panoramas in MagToo's ActiveX app, but the Flash-based viewers can be seen in any browser. For a guide to creating high-quality stitches yourself, check out our guide to panorama-stitching with free software.

Read the article HERE.

LookTorrent

2008-05-08T05:56:00.000+09:30

To be honest, BitTorrent aggregator LookTorrent wouldn't be much of a competitor for its Ajax-powered counterpart YouTorrent, except that YouTorrent has dropped most of the popular torrent sources in anticipation of a squeaky-clean sale. What LookTorrent does is provide a top frame to search for torrent download links, and links to 25 sources, one of which will likely have even the most obscure files. If nothing else, LookTorrent's home page is a nice catalog of sites to look through while you're on the hunt for that special download.

Password Reset Disk

2008-05-04T08:51:00.001+09:30

Creating a Windows XP password reset disk is a great way to protect yourself from the possibility of forgetting your account password. With it, you can easily reset your password and get right in to Windows XP. While there are ways to recover lost passwords without a password reset disk, they are often complicated and time consuming.

Read the article HERE.

Windows Password Recovery Tools
These password recovery tools are great if you need them, but there's a much easier way to access your account if you forget your password - create a password reset disk!

A password reset disk is a special disk you can insert in your PC during the logon process that will allow you to reset your password. You will need to create this disk before you lose access to your account!

Password recovery tools are used to recover lost user and administrator passwords used to log on to Windows. Password recovery tools are often called "password cracking" tools because they are sometimes used to "crack" passwords by hackers. Legally cracking your own password is certainly a legitimate and often necessary practice!

Many password recovery tools cost hundreds of dollars. Here are some free password recovery tools that will help recover forgotten Windows passwords fast!

Read the article HERE.

Rip DVDs to DivX and Xvid Formats

2008-04-30T19:04:00.001+09:30

Lifehacker tells us about another freeware application [AutoGK] that rips DVDs to hard drive-friendly DivX and Xvid formats for quick, easy, and high-quality backups. It does so by acting as an automating front-end to several other free ripping and encoding tools, which it automatically installs on your system. We've never featured AutoGK, but a lot of readers swear by it.

BitRipper

2008-04-27T09:30:00.000+09:30

BitRipper is an integrated DVD ripping and conversion program that provides AVI or Mpeg creation from DVDs in a single step. What BitRipper offers is an integrated solution that consolidates the ripping and conversion parts of into a single process, and then attempts to make it as simple to run as clicking a single button.

Read the article HERE.

Hardy Heron

2008-04-26T18:40:00.000+09:30

This week's release of Hardy Heron, an Ubuntu release that will be supported until 2011, offers a freer, more productive space for work and play than ever before.

Read the article HERE.

Ubuntu Cheat Sheet

2008-04-26T18:36:00.001+09:30

The sequel is here!
Grab a reference of all of the commands you need to administer a Ubuntu system.

Read more HERE

How hackers work

2008-04-20T09:51:00.000+09:30

Thanks to the media, the word "hacker" has gotten a bad reputation. The word summons up thoughts of malicious computer users finding new ways to harass people, defraud corporations, steal information and maybe even destroy the economy or start a war by infiltrating military computer systems. While there's no denying that there are hackers out there with bad intentions, they make up only a small percentage of the hacker community.

Read the article HERE.

FastStone Capture

2008-04-13T07:20:00.001+09:30

FastStone Capture is lightweight and feature-rich screen capture tool. In addition to saving its captures in a multitude of formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIFF and PDF), FastStone Capture can send any screenshot to your image editor of choice, printer, email client, open it in a Word or Powerpoint doc, or upload it to an FTP site. There's no need to send the capture to an image editor for simple tasks however, since FastStone Capture's built-in editor can easily handle simple annotations and editing tasks such as cropping, adding text, arrows, highlighting, watermarking or enhancements like drop shadows or frames.

Try it for free HERE.

The ultimate search guide

2008-04-05T08:20:00.001+10:30

The ultimate guide to advanced searching within Yahoo, Google and MSN.

Read the article HERE.

But if you just use Google, this info may also help you.

20 Microsoft sites for IT professionals

2008-04-05T08:17:00.001+10:30

Microsoft professionals have a lot to keep track of, and a lot of market noise to contend with. That's why we've compiled this list of the 20 best places on the Web to help you find what you need. The list includes technology-specific sites, worthy bloggers and safe resources to help you pass your next Microsoft cert or training course. Plus we'll reveal places for trustworthy free Microsoft software and the best sites to help you stay on top of the voluminous amount of news churned out by, and about, the folks in Redmond.

Read the article HERE.

“How do I?” videos for security

2008-04-05T08:08:00.002+10:30

These “How do I ?” videos provide video tutorials to security issues, and are .NET focused, but I’m sure some of the techniques will apply nicely across the board, even if the code or technology used is a bit different. Some of the videos even cover fixing issues on other platforms, which I think is pretty nice. Hopefully these videos will proove helpful to those of our readers who are struggling with some of these security topics.

You will need to enable Microsoft Silverlight to view the contents on the How do I? page.

How to install a hard drive

2008-04-01T06:48:00.000+10:30

Adding new hard drive devices to your PC is a quick and simple operation.

Read the article HERE.

101 Fantastic Freebies

2008-04-01T06:47:00.000+10:30

Want to make your PC more productive, secure, informative, and entertaining? These downloads and services will do the trick - and they cost sweeet FA.

Read the article HERE.

Google Code University

2008-03-28T06:37:00.001+10:30

This website provides tutorials and sample course content so CS students and educators can learn more about current computing technologies and paradigms. In particular, this content is Creative Commons licensed which makes it easy for CS educators to use in their own classes. The Courses section contains tutorials, lecture slides, and problem sets for a variety of topic areas:

AJAX Programming
Distributed Systems
Web Security
Languages

In the Tools 101 section, you will find a set of introductions to some common tools used in Computer Science such as version control systems and databases.

Read more HERE.

Photoshop Express

2008-03-28T06:35:00.001+10:30

This Flash-based app has 17 basic buttons for editing, a thumbnail display of all the different changes you've made, import (from Picasa and Facebook, among others) and 2 GB of album storing space.

No layers here, no fancy pants masking. But for 95% of your photos, it offers pretty much all you need to fix ‘em up, and it does it with style. Whether adjusting exposure, white balance, or hue, touching up blemishes, or distorting your image, Photoshop Express provides an easy slider and thumbnails to give you an instant preview of your image at various settings. Even undo is better than you’d expect.

Go to Photoshop Express HERE.

Is your Email being Hacked?

2008-03-24T08:54:00.001+10:30

If you've ever had suspicions that someone may be reading your email but you've never seen proof, weblog MakeUseOf details how to set up an "electronic tripwire" in your email account to keep you aware of email break-ins. The trick uses a web utility called OneStatFree to track file requests, and depends on the email snoop reading this email. Since OneStatFree will let you know if anyone tries downloading the file (and will log the time, IP address, and approximate location of the snoop), you'll know the snoop was there even if the he tries covering his tracks by marking the message as unread. If you're even slightly suspicious that someone's reading your email, the first thing you should do is change your password, but if you're still not feeling safe, this is a decent trick for finding out for sure.
Read the article HERE.

Back to basics with Unix permissions

2008-03-24T08:52:00.000+10:30

The most basic, yet important part of mastering Unix is to fully understand the nuances of file permissions. Tools exist to manage permissions easily, but true enlightenment and quick troubleshooting skills come to those who wholly master the concept. Remember, 80% of Unix problems are permissions issues.

Read the article HERE.

File Dropper

2008-03-24T08:48:00.000+10:30

Lifehacker tells us that we can upload and share files up to 5GB for free with web site File Dropper. The site is missing at least one very important feature—namely that you can't see the upload progress, which is a very big deal when uploading large files—but it's also the largest upload limit we've seen from a free file sharing service in a while. If large files aren't all that important to you, check out the very cool, previously mentioned EatLime (for files under 1GB) or Drop.io (for files under 100MB).

Corsair Flash Drives

2008-03-14T16:21:00.000+10:30

Corsair have new/larger 32GB USB flash drives for you.
Now you can lose twice as much information. Read more HERE.

Apps for USB Flash Drives

2008-03-14T16:18:00.003+10:30

Sometimes you just need to take your apps on the go. Whether you’re providing support or just trying to make a strange computer feel more familiar, having a collection of portable applications is very useful. From development to security, these apps are some of the best tools you’ll ever keep in your pocket.

Read the article HERE.

USB Flash Drives

2008-03-14T16:13:00.001+10:30

You've read the book, seen the movie, and even got the t-shirt.
What began life as a "toy" has exploded into something we probably never imagined. It's humble 256Mg storage capacity has grown to a 16Gb [8Gb review here] self contained shock proof, water resistant portable desktop. I'm not sure how many of you are using this device for that purpose. Some may just use it for easy transfer of large files. But if you like to take all your goodies with you, here's a starting point.

Portable apps
A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer. When your USB flash drive is plugged in, you have access to your software and personal data just as you would on your own PC. And when you unplug, none of your personal data is left behind.

Wired
Even the lightest laptops won't fit in your pocket. But these days, you don't need to lug around an entire computer just to get some work done. In fact, you can carry your entire PC desktop on a USB stick and gain access to your favorite applications, browser bookmarks, documents and even your e-mail no matter what computer you sit down in front of. Wired article - Nov 8

Portable Freeware Collection
The wired WIKI article doesn't mention it, but the Portable Freeware Collection is the most extensive database of portable Windows software I know of. They even tell you just how portable a program is (whether it will still save settings to the %APPDATA% directory or need administrator access to write to the temp directory, for example) and how to make some non-portable programs portable.

Read the Lifehacker articles HERE.

U3 - The 'Official' Portable USB Apps Platform
U3 smart drives are traditional USB Flash Drives with a specific setup:
Two partitions: one for the U3 Launchpad, and one for U3 Programs and Data
U3 Launchpad Preloaded onto primary partition and set to autoplay
Optional: U3 Compliant Applications Preloaded

Visit the website HERE

USB Webites
PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives
List of portable software - Wikipedia
Everything USB... We Mean Everything!

Security/Hacking apps
I am not linking to the actual modified applications, primarily because although these can be used to assist in securing your network, can also be used for nefarious purposes … [of course they are not difficult to find ]

Nmap
Nmap is a free open source tool used for network exploration and vulnerability auditing. Using Nmap a user can quickly scan large networks as well as target specific hosts. Nmap uses IP packets in unique ways to figure out what hosts are available on a given network and can determine what operating system it is running as well as determine what services (including versions) it is running and can also discover what type of packet filters and firewalls are in use.

Ethereal
Ethereal is a free protocal analyzer, also called a packet sniffer that is used for network troubleshooting, analysis and protocol development. The tool allows the user to see all traffic being passed over a network when putting a network card into what is known as “promiscuous mode”.

Showtraf
Showtraf is a tool that monitors network traffic on a network and displays the traffic continuously via a GUI.

TCPDump
TCPDump is similar in functionality to Ethereal, however works via the command line and does not have a graphical user interface. The application allows the user to intercept and display TCP/IP and other packets transmitted and received over a network.

Nemesis
Nemesis works on the command line and is used for packet crafting and injection. It is used primarily for testing Network Intrusion Detection Systems, firewalls and IP stacks and other networking tasks.

John the Ripper
John the Ripper is a password cracking tool which works to detect weak password. There are several other password cracking tools that run via USB, in fact most can. Interestingly many anti-virus applications will detect the presence of these files and quarantine them, however all one needs to do is temporarily disable the anti-virus which most users have the rights to do and it can be run without a problem.

Netpass
Netpass is a utility used to recover network passwords on Windows 98/ME, however can also discover other passwords on XP such as .NET Passport passwords etc.

Slurp
A “podslurping” application that allows users to copy large quantities files from a system in a matter of seconds. A version that simply audits a system as an example of how such an application works is downloadable from here.

This is just a sampling of security related applications that can be run directly from a USB drive, this is by no means complete. More applications are appearing on a daily basis that can run straight from a USB flash drive.

Portable USB Flash Drives - Formatting
All types of flash memory and EEPROM wear out after a certain number of erase operations, due to wear on the insulating oxide layer around the charge storage mechanism used to store data.

Warning! Windows XP provides a tool to format USB flash drives, but the results of that process are error-prone. In a worst case situation, it can even destroy the flash RAM in a USB flash drive.

USB Format Tool: This programme may be used to safely format most USB flash drives.

Click HERE to download.

Installation :
Download the .EXE file to a directory on your hard drive.
Execute the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions.

Utilities to make USB flash drives bootable
I found a couple of links for creating bootable flash drives that I found useful. How to boot from a USB device has good instructions, and this worked for me, and took about 20 minutes. Then I found this utility: HP bootable flash utility. And it worked for me as well, and took about a minute. The best thing about this utility is that it is reported to work with many other flash drives - I tried it on a no-name USB 2.0 thumb drive, made it bootable with the HP utility on a 1.1 USB bus, and then used it to boot a computer.

USB Hacksaw
The USB Hacksaw is an evolution of the popular USB Switchblade that uses a modified version of USBDumper, Blat, Stunnel, and Gmail to automatically infect Windows PCs with a payload that will retrieve documents from USB drives plugged into the target machine and securely transmit them to an email account. Proof of concept code shows how to deliver the payload instantly with a U3 autorun hack borrowed from the USB Switchblade on Windows 2000 or higher computers running as administrator or guest. Automatic propogation to other USB devices is possible.

Visit the website HERE.

Buy or create security
There is now a reasonable choice of products if you wish to purchase your security over the counter. To mention a few : Stealth MXP [4Gb] is a complete standalone, portable, USB powered, secure, multi-functional product with on-board processor and seamless, hardware based encryption. IronKey [4Gb] is a USB flash drive with a dedicated hardware encryption chip and a self-destruct ability, bundled with secure means of accessing internet and storing your passwords.

TrueCrypt
Or, if you are not on your Fedaral Police Force "Midnight Visit List" you may just like to grab a 16Gb Corsair Flash Survivor GT [reviewed above], and instal TrueCrypt. While this is just a software solution, it should be enough protection for most users.

Installing software from source in Linux

2008-03-11T19:05:00.000+10:30

So you've downloaded a software package with tar.gz or tar.bz2 extension and have no idea what to do with it. Or perhaps you already know that it's most likely the source code of the program you want to install and you have to compile it, but don't know how. Don't worry, compiling and installing software from source in Linux isn't as hard as it may sound!

Read the article HERE.

How To Install Gnome-Do Plugins

2008-03-11T19:03:00.000+10:30

Hopefully you caught yesterday’s post on How To Install Gnome Do. If not, head back and check it out. It’s a really sweet app. As promised yesterday I wanted to outline how to install plugins for Gnome-Do, which really add to the functionality.

Read the article HERE.

PDF Printer for a Windows Home Network

2008-03-01T07:22:00.000+10:30

The Confessions of a Freeware Junkie blog has the lowdown on getting PDFCreator set up for creating and sharing PDFs, or securely locking away each users' printouts, if that's more your speed. Whether single-user or network-installed, PDFCreator is a free download for Windows systems only.

Read the article HERE.

Cross-Platform Backup Server

2008-03-01T07:20:00.000+10:30

Backing up your data on a regular basis is important, and turning a spare computer into a backup server is often the best way to make sure it gets done. But most methods require either a good deal of command-line learning or serve only one operating system. Not with Restore, a free, open-source backup system that can install or run from a live CD, work with any OS, and operate through a simple browser-based interface. Today I'll demonstrate backing up a Windows laptop to an older desktop, but you'll see how Restore can be easily molded to fit just about any home backup needs.

Read the article HERE.

RAID

2008-02-23T07:31:00.000+10:30

Hard drives fail, and they do it much more often than we'd like to think. Even if you've set up automated hard drive backups, you're not necessarily getting the best backup bang for your buck—especially if your operating system's main hard drive fails. Even if you've been backing up your important files, you'll still need to reinstall your OS and go through the pain of copying your files back to your new hard drive, installing new applications, and setting up your system to how you had it. There's a better way, my friends. With a RAID 1 array, you'll always have a perfect backup of your hard drive so that—in the event that one drive fails—the other will seamlessly pick up where it left off. That means no reinstalling your operating system, no reinstalling applications, and no time lost in the event of a hard drive failure.

Read the article HERE.

Rescue files with a boot CD

2008-02-23T07:29:00.001+10:30

Few moments in computing are as heartbreaking as when you turn on your trusty PC only to receive that bone-chilling message: "Boot sector corrupt. Config.sys missing. Disk cannot be read."

In other words, "You're screwed". Or are you? Read the article HERE

5 GB of Online Storage Space

2008-02-23T07:26:00.001+10:30

Lifehacker tells us that you can upload and share up to 5GB of data to Windows Live SkyDrive, an online storage solution from Microsoft that's just graduated from beta. With your SkyDrive account (which requires a Windows Live ID), you get that 5GB of storage (which bests Box.net's 1GB free plan) for personal folders accessible only to you, shared folders accessible to your friends, and public folders open to everyone (which can be subscribed to via RSS). Details on SkyDrive limitations and usage are sketchy, but it looks like individual file sizes may be limited to 500MB.

Pidgin

2008-02-18T17:04:00.001+10:30

Cross-platform, multi-protocol instant messaging application Pidgin is very functional, but by default it's not what most people would call sexy. But like many great software projects the looks and extra functionality are there—you just have to know where to find them. Today we're taking a look at 10 of the best Pidgin plug-ins for taking Pidgin from drab to fab

Read the article HERE.

F-Secure Health Check

2008-02-18T17:02:00.000+10:30

In my last post, I urged readers to patch weak applications. How do you know which ones to patch? The hard way to do it would be to go through your program files and open each application, check the version, and then see if there is an updated version at the vendor’s website.

Or you can use F-Secure’s HealthCheck application here. It automatically enumerates your programs and tells you which ones are unsupported, out of date, insecure, and unpatched. When possible, it provides a way to fix the these apps too.

Read the article HERE.

PizzaTorrent

2008-02-18T16:59:00.001+10:30

Lifehacker tells us about a new BitTorrent search engine PizzaTorrent is a meta-search engine that scours the most popular public torrent trackers and sorts the results by the health of the torrent. Very similar to previously mentioned YouTorrent, PizzaTorrent adds a nice categories feature that sorts results one step further by the result type, which makes finding that special download that much easier.

Nmap looks better than ever

2008-02-07T08:40:00.000+10:30

The 4.50 release includes Zenmap, a cross-platform GUI front end for Nmap which includes a command creation wizard, a scripting engine, and a host of other improvements. At age 10, Nmap may be the most popular network security tool in the world. Given its power, ease of use, and the excellence of its documentation, it's not hard to see why. Security professionals and casual desktop users alike can benefit and learn from this tool. If I had a "must have" list of all the apps I use, Nmap would rank near the top. If you're not familiar with it, grab it and give it a go.

Read the article HERE.

TrueCrypt 5.0 Released

2008-02-07T08:39:00.000+10:30

Among the new features are the ability to encrypt a system partition or entire system drive (i.e. a drive where Windows is installed) with pre-boot authentication, pipelined operations increasing read/write speed by up to 100%, Mac OS X version, graphical interface for the Linux version, XTS mode, SHA-512, and more.

Read the article HERE.

Reconstructor

2008-02-05T09:24:00.000+10:30

Reconstructor creates custom Ubuntu-based live CDs. Have you settled on the perfect Ubuntu installation that you wish you could take from computer-to-computer? Reconstructor offers up a GUI that lets you do exactly this. Reconstructor customizes the packages and modules included in the installation, the included art-work and much more. After you choose all that you want bundled into your Live CD, Reconstructor generates a burnable ISO of your newly created OS. Reconstructor is a free download for Linux only.

Read more HERE.

Build A Cheap Home Media Server

2008-02-05T09:22:00.000+10:30

Popular Mechanics claims that it's not necessary to buy a brand new machine. Instead, use cheap (or salvaged) parts to build your own box, as media server hardware doesn't have to be top-notch. The biggest hurdle is choosing what operating system to use. For free and fully functional, the article suggest Ubuntu. The catch: it's not that easy to configure. The other option would be to go with the expensive, albeit easy OS (Windows Media Server).

Read more HERE.

BurnAware Free Edition

2008-02-05T09:20:00.000+10:30

BurnAware Free Edition allows you to easily perform the most common disc burning tasks: write to all CD/DVD media types, including Blu-Ray and HD DVDs; write Audio CDs and DVD-Video files; create and burn disc images; write multi-session discs and much more.

Read more HERE.

The Gizmo Report: Fire-Safe

2008-02-03T07:52:00.000+10:30

Designed to protect CDs, DVDs, flash drives, iPods, etc. from fires lasting up to two hours at temperatures up to 1,850° F. And the really cool thing is that it'll also protect a 2.5" USB hard drive...while the drive is operating and connected to a computer outside the safe via a USB passthrough in the safe door. So for the first time, your backups can be continuously protected, even if you're not around.

Read the article HERE.

Windows SteadyState

2008-02-03T07:50:00.000+10:30

Episode #129 : Leo and I examine and discuss Microsoft's "Windows SteadyState," an extremely useful, free add-on for Windows XP that allows Windows systems to be "frozen" (in a steady state) to prevent users from making persistent changes to ANYTHING on the system.

Read the article HERE.

Input Director

2008-01-30T09:15:00.000+10:30

Input Director is a free program that enables two or more computers connected on a network to share a single mouse and keyboard input, allowing for dragging a mouse pointer across multiple screens. This easy to set-up software also enables the sharing of clipboard contents, including copying/pasting files and folders across multiple computers.

Read the article HERE.

You might want to check out Synergy2 as a compare-and-contrast. It doesn’t do the copy/paste files and folders or have some of the features listed in Input Director, but it’s rock-solid on reliability. The nice thing about synergy is that it’s platform-independent. You can share the keyboard, mouse, and clipboard on a Windows machine with that of a Linux or Mac, and you can add as many machines to the config as you like.

PixelCryptor Encrypts Files

2008-01-30T09:10:00.000+10:30

File encryption utility PixelCryptor doesn't use a textual password to encrypt your files, it uses a digital image. Lock up your PixelCryptor file package like a drum and set an image as the key. The more complex the image, the more secure your encrypted folder. Then, on another PC with PixelCryptor installed (or available on a thumb drive), unlock the folder contents only with the image you used to encrypt it.

Read more HERE.

Why Is svchost.exe Running?

2008-01-27T08:18:00.000+10:30

If you've ever tried to slim down Windows' memory usage by killing unnecessary processes, you've likely encountered the vague, too-scary-to-kill "svchost.exe." It's technically a generic name for processes running from those .DLL files scattered all around, but what you really want to know is whether you can give all of them the axe. The How-To Geek blog details following those generic entries to the services they run under, using both Vista's Task Manager and previously featured freeware Process Explorer. The performance boost from each process ticked off is usually minimal, but move through a few and you end up with a little more memory for the stuff that matters. For help identifying other non-sensical process names, take a look at TaskList.org

Read the article HERE.

PDF to Text Converter

2008-01-27T08:17:00.000+10:30

Getting text out of your PDF documents is often a major hassle. Enter PDFTextOnline, web-based text extractor that allows users to upload and extract text from PDF documents in less then a minute. Once extracted users are able to easily change the font and layout of the text, and download it back as a text file. No registration required, simply click “Start Now” button and select the PDF document that you want to convert.

Try it HERE.

Tomato

2008-01-20T07:57:00.000+10:30

A year-and-a-half ago, we showed you how to turn your $60 router into a highly configurable $600 router with DD-WRT, a free, open source firmware. Since then there's been a lot of development of open source firmwares, and today we're taking a look at my new favorite, a firmware called Tomato. Tomato does almost everything DD-WRT does—from Wi-Fi signal boosting to Quality of Service bandwidth allocation—in addition to offering a simplified interface chock-full of fancy charts and graphs. Sound good?

Let's get started HERE.

Encrypted Partitions in Ubuntu

2008-01-20T07:56:00.001+10:30

In a previous article, I talked about using shred to securely delete files. Now we’ll delve into using encrypted volumes in Linux to secure our data in the first place, so that we don’t need to use programs like shred. Along the way, we’ll benchmark the raw performance of an encrypted volume and compare the results to an unencrypted volume and see just what kind of real world compromises we see.

Read the article HERE.