Alternatives to paid software

July 11, 2011 in software | Permalink

There are times when you just don’t want to pay retail and for computer software there are often free alternatives to many of the programs you pay for. These are legitimate and often as good or even better in some situations, and this list is focusing just on Windows software this month.

So, starting with the big one, Microsoft Office. Look at LibreOffice or OpenOffice for full-blown office suites with word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, and diagramming.

Web browsers, we all know of the big three free ones, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. But there is also Opera, a browser with a built-in email program, and Safari from Apple.

For playing a range of video, including when you get the error message from Windows Media Player about not having the right codecs (whatever they are, right?) try the VLC player from VideoLAN. For audio editing, Audacity can handle most all simple editing, including layering a few tracks together.

As an alternative to the iTunes store for music, you might want to look at Spotify, which is expanding out from Europe into the United States in the coming month(s).

Needs for Photoshop and Illustrator, can be often be met through GIMP or Inkscape, with lighter weight needs being met with Paint.NET.

And, the big category, security. For antivirus needs, especially on older PCs, try Microsoft Security Essentials. Malwarebytes is good for helping to remove intrusive search stealers. Try Recuva for recovering files that you have put in the trash and then emptied, also good for recovering files off USB drives, and even photos from camera cards, if you haven’t shot many more.

To make it really easy to install these and many others, try the installer from Ninite, www.ninite.com.

Staying a bit safer and private on the Web

June 20, 2011 in privacy | Permalink

Use temporary credit cards to avoid theft or repeat billing. Most all banks and credit card companies have a way to make a temporary card number, or something like a gift card. Using them will let you avoid a repeat billing you might forget about or risking a high credit limit card if someone gets your card information.

Use a fake birthday for web signups, change your gender, and use disposable email addresses to avoid spam or avoid annoying ads. If you are “male” on a site that is focused on mothering, you are not likely to get breast pump ads. And, having an email address, say from gmail.com, that is only used to sign up at places you otherwise don’t care to hear from, will keep spam corralled to that email address, not your personal or work one.

Use HTTPS whenever possible, create secure, easy-to-remember passwords, and keep your security questions as private as your passwords. On any web login page, make sure you are using SSL or that https:// is at the beginning of the web address. Easy to remember passwords are great but 12345678 isn’t one of them. However frvwtwncrr is easy to remember as it is fairviewtowncrier without the vowels yet rather hard to find in any common list or dictionary of passwords. And, always see if you can make up your own security question or start using your second grade teacher’s name as your mother’s maiden name.

And, some final rules for reigning in software, if you didn’t go looking for it, don’t install it, but, if you install it, always check for updates, and when you no longer need it, remove it.

Tips to Keep Your Gear Safe During Electrical Storms

May 9, 2011 in hardware, privacy | Permalink

Surge protectors are the way to go, either a good one as part of an Uninterruptible Power Supply, or something for fast clamping. Or, to protect everything you can get a whole house surge protector. Anytime your surge protector trips, you should consider replacing it, even though there is a reset button, the electronics won’t work as well for the next surge. Of course, the cheapest surge protector could be unplugging all electronics before the storm. No matter what kind of surge protection you use, you should always have a back up of your computer.

<http://www.geeksugar.com/Gadget-Safety-During-Electrical-Storms-16022695>

Protecting an old hard drive from snooping

This is just plain fun, you have an old hard drive you have taken out of a computer you are donating to someone, and you want to ensure that the data can not fall into nefarious hands. Why not take it apart and harvest some fun powerful magnets, get some fine shiny round reflectors to use in the garden against some kind of pest (not sure about how well that actually works) and know that you have made life harder for the spies.
<http://lifehacker.com/5797029/how-to-dismantle-and-destroy-a-hard-drive>

Create an Apple ID in iTunes Account Without a Credit Card

It may look impossible to create an Apple ID without putting in CC data, but you can do it by trying to install a completely free app while not signed into an account. Then you can find an option for “None” at the end of payment options.
<http://www.labnol.org/software/apple-id-without-credit-card/19299/>

Ease Neck and Shoulder Tension Quickly with Desk Yoga

I know I should do this more. And there are other GAIAM yoga exercises, just look at some of the other suggestions to the right of this YouTube video.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBh7NQwlFIA>

How to Brighten Up a Specific Part of a Photo with Virtually Any Image Editor

Using any image editor, not just Photoshop, that has the ability to use layers and lighting adjustments, you can heighten the lighting that dark part of your otherwise wonderful photo.
<http://lifehacker.com/5797565/how-to-brighten-up-a-specific-part-of-a-photo-with-virtually-any-image-editor>

 

iCal upgrade, Epsilon email breach, Facebook

April 7, 2011 in privacy, software | Permalink

MobileMe iCal upgrade

On May 5, 2011, MobileMe will transition to their new Calendar service. If you sync iCal calendars between devices, like two or more computers, iPods, iPads and such, and you wish to continue accessing your calendar at <me.com>, you will have to upgrade your calendars at <me.com>. Apple says all you have to do is log into <me.com/calendar>, using your MobileMe login and password. It is best to make sure your calendar is up to date, as in you have made sure to manually sync it with the MobileMe prefpane in System Preferences or the MobileMe sync widget up in the menu bar near the clock. Also, do whatever you normally do to back up your calendar data. It would be good to make sure that your other devices that also sync calendars via MobileMe are turned off or at least not syncing.

Finally, back on the <me.com/calendar> web page, click on the Upgrade Now icon in the lower left corner. Wait, and wait, and wait even longer. Don’t close the web browser window if you want any chance of watching the progress. When it is done, double-check your calendar(s) and if all is OK, turn back on syncing on your other devices.

Oh, and Apple wants you all to be using Snow Leopard, 10.6.4 at least. See more info at <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4037>

Epsilon email list breach

Worthy of an April Fools joke, on April 1st, Epsilon, out of Texas, admitted an “unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system” on March 30, and that the “information that was obtained was limited to email addresses and/or customer names only.” What does Epsilon do? They handle email campaigns for many large corporations and they have not said who. However, large banks, like JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, U.S. Bank, Barclays Bank and Capital One, and other corporations like Krogers, Home Shopping Network, the College Board, Best Buy, Home Depot, and. Time to learn about “spear phishing”, when email or other contact makes us of trust we have in an institution contacting us by email, phone or in person, while relying on appearing to be something we trust. Now, we have to pay more attention to scam messages with targeted messages trying to trick us into changing login information via a fake page, giving up other information that might give them access to other online accounts. or get us to buy fake or unneeded services and products. .  So, if asked via email for your account number, UserID, PIN or password, don’t reply. Call instead to verify.

Facebook

If you were to see “My Facebook wall has been viewed X times.” coming from a Facebook friend, should you just click on the link to see if you can find out the same information for your Facebook page? Well, the result is likely to be that you end up giving a third party application access to be able to post messages using your Facebook account name. Facebook is a major conduit for spamming and phishing messages, trying to make use of our trust in what appear to be legitimate messages from our friends. However, nothing in the way that email is structured currently can assure you that the sender of a message is really who he/she says. Facebook is not really good at shutting down scammers, so you have to pay more attention. And, while you are at it, you might want to use a different browser for your Facebooking, doing your regular browsing with your normal web browser. If you don’t log out of Facebook and just continue browsing, then all of those websites with a Facebook Like button are letting Facebook know what sites and pages you are looking, even if you don’t click the Like button.

And, by the way, spend a little time learning the Facebook privacy settings at http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php

Keeping it organized, things to think about

February 18, 2011 in advice | Permalink

With modern large hard drives it is very easy to not keep things neat and organized, sort of like when you first move into a larger house.

Folders

Make folders to organize all sorts of things, in email and on your desktop. Move them around as you finish a project, putting them back into Documents or any other place that makes sense to you. Even use folders for organizing things on the fly, like when you are wanting to clean up your Desktop but are not sure if you want to through things away, put them in a folder called “throw away in three months” or whatever you want to call it.

Smart search folders

Almost as good as sliced bread, smart searches are like folders whose contents are defined by an always-on search of your computer. This means that you do not have to worry about exactly where those files are; your smart search folder finds them. More importantly, you keep just one copy of a particular file but it can “show” up in multiple smart search folders.

Bookmarks or favorites

Keep track of websites you want to return to by bookmarking them, rather than search for them each time you want to find them (or using your history of recent sites in the address bar.) You can even organize your bookmarks into folders, and most web browsers have a place just below the address bar where you can put those sites you want to get to often.

Backups

I may harp on this but backups are essential, keeping copies near you and in the “cloud” of the Internet. The basic idea is to first put a price on your data, pictures, music, and videos. And, then use a percentage of that cost up front to backup data to an external hard drive, to the cloud, to DVDs, or flash drives. All the organization in the world won’t help if your data disappears.

Making email work better for you

January 20, 2011 in advice, office, Uncategorized | Permalink

Rule #1, keep your inbox small by using filters and moving messages to folders.

Use rules or filters to move messages, send automatic replies, highlight important messages. Use folders for message groups, immediately put messages there. Highlight with color those must read messages. Set up automatic responses for information requests.

Rule #2, use proper email etiquette.

Understand and use the appropriate addressing fields, including blind carbon copy (BCC). With the “To” and “CC”, all recipients see all other addresses, whereas with “BCC”, only that recipients address shows, not all of the others that you put in BCC.

Hint: You could make a rule/filter that moves messages with your name in BCC to folder called BCC or “not really to me.”

Use good subject line and keep messages to the subject. Remember that email may not stop and stay with the person you sent it to. Try putting questions on separate line, makes it stand out and easier to reply. Send URLs rather than whole web page, or copy and paste the important parts and put links to page at bottom of message. Be careful with attachments, not just because some distrust them, but not all people can view a Word document, for example. Style your message according to your audience and content, think about white space, color, size, etc., but try not to get too fancy.

Rule #3, remember to back up your email and address book.

If you live and die by email, back it up and don’t forget to include your address book. Of course, if you use something like Hotmail or Gmail via the web, then you rely on them to keep backups. But, people have been known to loose email in those systems. So, save it if it is important.

Rule #4, sometimes a phone call is better.

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