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Saturday, June 13, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
New Podcast is up!
The new Live & Breathe Tech show is available for download. I co-host along with Nathan, where we talk about all things tech.
You can subscribe in ITunes by going to iTunes store page, selecting podcasts on the left. Then use power search on upper right menu. Just type in “live breathe tech” and hit subscribe. It will download and you can listen on your PC right in iTunes or transfer to your iPod.
Also by opening www.livebreathetech.com in your web browser, you can click link which will open iTunes right to our subscription page. Or you can download the raw MP3 and play it on any music or cell phone capable of MP3 playback.
I edit the audio and put together the ITunes version ( which has chapters and pictures to accompany the various stories). Nathan does all the feeds and runs the website for our show.
Please take a listen and give some feedback.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Get back Deleted Files Easily
Often PC users accidentally delete files or system crashes wipe out important documents. Many give up or not even try. Just because the operating system tells you it’s not there does not always mean it’s not.
To simplify: When a file is deleted, the hard drive just marks the area it’s physically located as “ free space”. Then , new files can be written to that area of the hard drive. If you can get that data pulled back up before a new file is written, it is technically un-deleted.
This can all be done if your a command line wizard, but there is a utility for every type of user.
Enter Recuva: Recuva Homepage and Download
Another free software utility that can simplify recovering deleted files. It scan the whole hard drive, produces a list of found files, and then lets you select which files to recover and where to write them to.
For all recent Windows Operating systems:
Obviously, the sooner you run this program the better your chances of success. The program looks more complex than it really is. Some files may have odd or incomplete file names. Some files themselves may be incomplete or damaged. I have found that if you run this application soon after files have been deleted, it’s success rate is about 85%. A chance I’d take to get back critical files. This utility will not fix damaged operating system errors. Just deleted files.
One other nifty use is to run this application on new or refurbished hard drives you buy. Often data is deleted but not completely wiped. Refurbished or used drives almost always have a wealth of files to be recovered. You never know what cool things might come up. Even brand new hard drives sometimes contain data leftover from quality tests at the factory. I found some MP3’s on a new drive from Seagate!
Vulnerability Scanning on your PC for Free
It’s not enough to update you antivirus and windows operating system. Vulnerabilities exist in all software on your system. A good example is the Java software and Abobe Flash browser support. Almost every webpage you visit employs these plug-in's but people rarely update them. This is a huge security risk.
Not only that but all other software, free or paid, usually has updates. Sadly, these programs do not always have the ability to automatically check and or download and run updates.
Enter Secunia PSI: Secunia Download page
For all recent Windows Operating Systems:
It is a free program which scans ALL software, antivirus, operating systems, and browser components. It can tell you what needs updates, which programs are at “end of life” ( no longer being updated or supported), and any other system security risks.
It runs in system tray ( or for savvy users you can turn off and run the program once a month) and monitors your PC. It checks with Secunia’s databases to make sure everything is up to date. I leave mine off and run it monthly. It scans the whole system in less than ten minutes- and I have a lot of software installed.
When it finds something, it gives you all information and what is wrong. It will tell you what version of software you have now, what is the new version, where it’s located on your hard drive, gives link to download or update to new version, and some instructions if necessary.
Occasionally it will give a “false positive”. For example, I have a program for making BlackBerry Phone themes. This software is based off of and older version of Java. Secunia wants me to updated the internal Java for this program, but it’s not possible and also not a security risk. You can tell Secunia PSI to not scan any software that produces a false positive. That way it will not notify you about it again.
Secunia is the best and only way to make sure all software on you PC is up to date and running secure. Best of all, it’s free.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Create you Own 60’s command center.
This fun little page makes you desktop look like a 1960’s spy movie command center.
There is no real usefulness other than to make your desktop look cool. Perfect for when you walk away or want to look like your “PC elite”. Best of all, there is no software to install, just load the page. The widgets or screens are random, though they appear they might be from live webcams somewhere.
Control your PC Via Twitter!
This nifty little app lets you do basic commands to your PC via twitter. ( Twitter ).
TweetMyPC is a free download. You also have to create a Twitter account just for the PC, you do not use your own Twitter account. This is cool because of the future possibilities. Not only that, but you can essentially control your PC from ANY cell phone!
Future versions promise: Screenshot, memory usage, IP address, custom commands. Perfect for the Uber-nerd who uses Twitter!
Default Passwords for many PC devices
Most high speed modems and wireless routers have default admin credentials. On older gear, it is sometimes tough to remember or find the user and password for these devices.
The Default Passwords database: Cirt
It has a listing of many know user and passwords from everything to printers, modems, routers, and external drives. It is not 100% complete, but it is a good starting point.
Better than MSCONFIG- take control of your startup list!
Many of us know that to keep tabs on which programs start up when PC turns on to use MSCONFIG. You can uncheck which programs load to help keep the PC from bogging out. However, MSCONFIG does not show you everything.
For those who are a little more savvy than most, Startuplist allows for a little more control. Startuplist program
with this program you can dig much deeper into what gets loaded and configure your system for optimal performance. It does tell you what each listing is for so you can make a choice on it’s configuration. While most new users might shy away from something this deep, I encourage everyone to at least give it a try. We all know programs like, AIM, yahoo messenger, Anything Adobe, and just about all third party applications do not really need to be started right at boot up.
Find out what your PC is doing.
Sometimes your PC stops responding. OR some program is hogging all the resources making it run slow. Most people are smart enough to use CTRL+ATL+DEL to bring up task manager and see which process is using up all the CPU power. But after that, then what?
Process library from Uniblue offers a few free solutions to this. On the homepage Process Library , you can type in the name and extension right into the black header bar at the top of the page. It will then search and display information on the entry. You can then make a decision on what to do next; such as end the process, change priority, or nothing at all.
Even if you not savvy enough to make huge changes, you are at least armed with some knowledge and can ask better questions to your IT or PC guy.
Also they offer a free download application than scan your system.
It displays a little more information than the default Windows task manager. It can tell which program the process belongs too and if it is a threat to the system. It works on all current Windows systems, 2000, XP, and Vista.
Live is now Bing. Can it compete?
The Microsoft Live search engine has been revamped and renamed to “bing”. www.live.com now redirects to www.bing.com. Microsoft hope to make the Bing search engine more relevant by offering more types of results for each search.
Google is the de-facto and number one search engine- for good reason. It’s simple, loads fast on any browser, and it pretty good at indexing popular sites. However it can be “stupid” at the same time. Because it only give the most popular sites per search keyword, you would never find anything new if you typed the same search terms in every time. Not unless you would go through all 100000 pages. Usually after the 3 page of results it either repeats or becomes irrelevant.
Microsoft Bing aims to change this by mashing the search results. It gives more options on generic search terms.
Example: I typed in blackberry and it gave me the top 10 sites, options for more, images, places to buy it, and related searches to that keyword. That is a bit more diverse info than Google usually give.
Example 2: I tried Blackberry Tour and it gave a more straightforward result page since this is a single product that is not on market yet.
Bing also has choices to narrow searches by category such as, Images, Videos, Maps, ect. It loads pretty quick and result are also listed fast. But unlike Google, it is a little nicer to look at and info is logically placed on the screen. It also works well with mobile and Smartphone browsers.
I have added bing to my group of startup homepages and plan to use it more often. By using different search engines rather than just one, you can diversify your results and often find info you would not normally come across with just one.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Another way to do mobile favorites-Tinyhomepage
Previously I discussed syncing your web favorites across multiple PC’s and mobile devices. Some people might not want to do all of that or are looking for a simpler interface. Or perhaps they do not have a Smartphone.
Enter Tinyhomepage. Get it here: Tinyhomepage
You can create a free account and put in custom web links and icons which display in a very simple format. Easily accessible on even the smallest, simplest, cell phone with minimal loading times. It is best suited to WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) formatted pages. WAP pages are simplistic versions of web pages without all the normal fluff so they display easily on “ dumb phones”.
Even with a Smartphone or PDA’s full featured browser it is useful for quick navigation to your favorite sites. You can create as many links as you want and they can be for any website.
I recommend that you setup the account and links on a normal PC browser to make it easy. Then on your cell phone, type in the tinyhomepage URL and login. All your links are displayed!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Have a Question? Want to see an Article? Ideas for topics? Please Send in your feedback!
Feel free to email me at 
Idea for a future article, comments, or need something answered? Hit me up!
A Browser for all Systems- Opera.
A lot of people use more than one PC in today's busy world. Some of us even use more than one type of operating system. Maybe Windows at work and Mac at home. Add into the equation mobile smart phones and you can have a mash up of various software platforms.
One thing I like to do is sync my Web favorites. But with all different type of operating systems this can be hard to do easily. There are some applications that provide this type of service, but nothing that automates this very easy.
The Opera web browser has a function that saves your favorites to all your PC’s running opera no matter what operating system. Download here: Opera Browser
-- Opera can be installed to: any windows PC, any Mac , Blackberry, Most smart phones, Linux, windows mobile, and even Solaris. By creating a Opera account here : Opera Link you can then sign into the favorites sync in any Opera browser.
The Opera browser has actually been around quite a while. First launched in 1996. For whatever reason they do not advertise as much as other popular browsers like Firefox or Safari.
Example. I have Opera installed on my Vista PC, Mac OS-X Mac book, my MSI wind net book on both the Ubuntu Linux and “hackintosh” OS, my blackberry 8330 curve and Blackberry Storm, and a Old windows mobile PDA I use on Wi-Fi. When I save a favorite or delete a favorite website on any of those, it syncs to all those devices.
Opera Mini on Cell phone.
Not only does it do this well, but it has some decent plug-in features, easy theme customization, and highly configurable security settings. You can choose from thousands of widgets and plug-in's just like other popular browsers. I have mine open a folder of four pages upon startup ( Google, Gmail, yahoo, and zenbe mail) rather than just one homepage. Also I have a facebook and Twitter plug-in that give me updates right through the browser sidebar. It also features tabbed browsing, mouse gestures ( a must have!), download manager, and malware and phishing protection.
--Get Opera mini for your mobile phone here : Opera Mini Unfortunately no Iphone support-natch!
--Even if you do use it as your primary Web browser, it is a simple way to sync favorites from one PC to your mobile device.
Use a Throw Away Email Address
On occasion people ask me to set up untraceable email accounts for them. Other people I know hate giving away their email address to sites that require it for registration or for info purposes. Almost every Web site requires some form of identity registration to access certain functions or information. Unfortunately many of these sites also “sell” your email to companies which then spam you.
Sure you could make as many free webmail accounts as you want. Google, Yahoo, Live mail, ect. offer as many free email address as you care to register for. However, I realize some people do not want to do that either.
The other option is 10 minute email! 10 Minute mail
This is a free service. They ask for PayPal donation if you use it regularly which is acceptable- but not mandatory.
They create a random email the is good to use for 10 minutes by default. You can option to increase the usable time limit. It shows a inbox right on the page so if a sites needs email verification you can view that email. Also you can copy the 10 minute email can paste it in a text file for safe keeping if you need to. After 10 minutes it self destructs and is no longer valid. Perfect for registering onto a forum you need info from for a specific problem but do not plan to ever visit again. Sometimes to download free software or updates, sites require personal info. This would be good for that as well.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
A few Vista Keyboard Tricks
Key commands and shortcuts are becoming a lost art. This is due to super intense GUI ( graphical user interface) menus for programs and such. Keyboard shortcuts are usually quicker than the mouse and great when you walk by and need to do something quick or just multitask better.
Here are a few Vista keyboard shortcuts I like to teach people.
-- Sometimes you may find yourself in a rush but need to go back to your PC to turn it off.
Press “Start” key. Then tap the right arrow key three times. Then hit the letter “ U” . It will shutdown the PC. This key shortcut can be done as fast as you can type. For whatever reason this always impresses people who do not know it when I do it.
You can substitute “R” to reboot machine in the key sequence above.
-- On the bottom left of your taskbar you may see icons that you can click for fast launching of installed programs. In Vista, the first is usually “show desktop” and the second is “aero flip” feature.
By pressing and holding the “Start” key and hitting a number on number pad, it will launch the program in the list. So in the pic above we can see that my Maxthon browser icon is the blue circle with white M. To quick launch that I would press and hold Start and the hit the number “3” since it’s third from left. The seventh icon is the ITunes program. Start + 7 would launch that program.
-- You can also change desktop icon size really easy also.
Just hold CTRL and scroll your mouse wheel up and down to quickly change the icon size.
-- To minimize all open windows and show right to desktop hold “Start” + “D”
-- To lock the system so you can walk away and not have anybody see your work or use your PC hold “Start” + “L”
-- Bring Sidebar gadgets to from and activate the sidebar Hold “Start “+ “SPACEBAR”
-- My two favorites are CTRL+C for copy and CTRL+V for paste since you can do that with one hand and not have to leave control of the mouse with your right hand.
In our fast paced world, sometimes every second counts!
Easy Port Forwarding on your Router
Port Forwarding on a high speed router or modem is pretty hard to explain to a newbie much less have them do it alone.
Some programs that run on any PC platform sometimes need special access through the home router. This may be because of an advanced type of connection like VPN, Torrents, or VOIP. Or for performance issues like lag time on PC games, Xbox, PS3 ect.
A port forward direct internet traffic directly to the host PC or game system or whatever. It bypasses all the firewall protocols that would stop or slow it down. Most applications that require this will tell you. Most gamers would know to research which ports to use but may not know how to do it.
Enter http://www.portforward.com/
It can automatically do this process for you by answering a few simple questions. Or there are instructions on almost all of the commercial home routers and modem router combo’s.
FYI* if you had your home network setup by someone else make sure you have user name and password for router! Not the same thing as a wireless password. Some people change this on setup and others leave it alone. For safety, it should always be changed from factory default.
Confirm Email Delivery to a Blackberry
I love My blackberry and also working with other people’s BlackBerry's. “There’s an app for that”. Ok iphone, we’ve had most of the useful stuff and we can run more than one app a time, ect.. But that’s a fight for another day.
Sometimes you just want to make sure a important email get delivered so the recipient can’t wiggle out with any excuse. With this little trick you can.
In your subject line just type “ <confirm> “ – without quotes of course. When email hits the blackberry you will get a return receipt in your email inbox. Now if they read it is a whole other story..
This is good for BlackBerry's on personal use ( BIS ), corporate (BES), or even email accounts they may have pushed to their blackberry like Gmail, hotmail, Zenbe, ect.
10 Things Your IT Guy Wants You to Know
I read this from a Blog, who copied it from another Blog, who coped it from a site that does not exist anymore. However, it is so true and bears repeating. I could not put it into words better!
1. If you ask me technical questions please don’t argue with me because you don’t like my answer. If you think you know more about the topic, why ask? And if I’m arguing with you…it’s because I am positive that I am correct, otherwise I’d just say “I don’t know” or give you some tips on where to look it up, I don’t have the time to just argue for the sake of it.
2. Starting a conversation by insulting yourself (i.e. “I’m such an idiot”) will not make me laugh, or feel sorry for you; all it will do is remind me that yes, you are an idiot and that I am going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me; you don’t want to start a call that way.
3. I am OK with you making mistakes, fixing them is my job. I am not OK with you lying to me about a mistake you made. It makes it much harder to resolve and thus makes my job more difficult. Be honest and we can get the problem resolved and continue on with our business.
4. There is no magic “Fix it” button. Everything takes some amount of work to fix, and not everything is worth fixing or even possible to fix. If I say that you just need to re-do a document that you accidentally deleted 2 months ago, please don’t get mad at me. I’m not ignoring your problem, and it’s not that I don’t like you, I just can’t always fix everything.
5. Not everything you ask me to do is “urgent”. In fact, by marking things as “urgent” every time, you almost ensure that I treat none of it as a priority.
6. You are not the only one who needs help, and you usually don’t have the most urgent issue. Give me some time to get to your problem, it will get fixed.
7. Emailing me several times about the same issue in the same day is not only unnecessary, it’s highly annoying. Emails will stay until I delete them. I won’t delete them until I’m done with them. I will typically respond as soon as I have a useful update. If it is an urgent issue, let me know (see number 5).
8. Yes, I prefer email over telephone calls. It has nothing to do with being friendly, it’s about efficiency. It is much faster and easier for me to list out a set of questions that I need you to answer than it is for me to call and ask you them one by one. You can find the answers at your leisure and while I’m waiting I can work on other problems.
9. Yes, I seem blunt and rude. It’s not that I mean to, I just don’t have the time to sugar coat things for you. I assume we are both adults and can handle the reality of a problem. If you did something wrong, I will tell you. I don’t care that it was a mistake, because it really makes no difference to me. Don’t take it personal, I just don’t want it to happen again.
10. And finally, yes, I can read your email, I can see what web pages you look at while you are at work, yes, I can access every file on your work computer, and I can tell if you are chatting with people on an instant messenger or chat room (and can also read what you are typing). But no, I don’t do it. It’s unethical, I’m busy, and in all reality you aren’t all that interesting. So unless I am instructed to specifically monitor or investigate your actions, I don’t. There really are much more interesting things on the internet than you.
The point of that article is one that everyone wants to make, whether they are in IT, or are testers, consultants, or engineers. The point is we are all trying to do our jobs the best that we can and it’s easiest to do that if we all work together, stop pointing fingers and give other people the space that we would like to get as well. If we can do that more often than not, things will go well and work out.
More free music!
Check this link over at Amazon which lists all the free mp3’s.
Sure it’s a real random mix and a lot of unknown artists; but you never know when you might find something you like. Plus it’s a great way to boost your music collection or fill a mp3 player your giving to someone as a gift.
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