I recently saw a review for a program called Empathy at Download Squad. It allows you to lock files with a password. They mentioned that this was a free version with the password feature disabled partially. You could only use a one letter password.
What? I try out lots of free apps and I do occasionally recommend CrippleWare if it's still useful. If there are any good alternatives I'll mention those in the same article.
There are many good free apps to let you lock down your PC and it's applications. Below are a few.
WinGuard Pro 2008 - NOT RECOMMENDED to many disabled features in free edition
SaveIt's the one I recommend if you need to lock files.
Tell me if you know of any good freebies to lock files and documents.
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Quote from the website
SaveIt! allows you to password protect any program or document. You can also restrict access based on the windows user account and disable password protection temporarily. When a user attempts to open a password protected application or document, he is automatically prompted for the password (protected files are marked with a special icon in Windows Explorer). SaveIt! is also available from the Windows Explorer SendTo menu, allowing you to quickly protect a file with just a few clicks.
I typically use DriverMax when I need to reinstall Windows. I've struggled lots of times trying to find drivers for old software when someone asked me to help them out. Usually, they've already wiped the system clean and any traces of the original drivers are long gone. Sometimes I use a utility like UnknownDevices to help me locate the correct drivers.
You really need to remember to do this if you don't have the original system restore disk for a PC. Driver Backup 2 is a great way to back up drivers and I'll have a copy of this when I go to a friends house to help them out. It doesn't have as many features as DriverMax, but it seems to be faster. I haven't tried it but I've heard that Driver Backup can help you create unattended (automatic) driver installs. That might be good for system admins and IT departments that have dozens of PCs to restore.
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Quote from the website
Fast and user-friendly free tool for drivers's backup, restoration and removal with command line options, automatic restoration from CD\DVD and path formatting. DriverBackup! includes also an interactive command line builder.
I have a fairly good collection of tools to help me capture screen shots of programs while I'm trying them. The last couple of years, I've been using the last freeware version of FastStoneCapture most often because I like the built in editor. ScreenShotCaptor would be my second favorite because it has almost every feature I could need and more.
This last week I tried PicPick and I believe it's going to stay as one of my most used capture tools. At first, I was a little disappointed that it didn't have a floating toolbar, but I learned the keyboard shortcuts quickly and soon forgot about that. I love the fact that it's a portable application and it's not a big resource hog. You'll never notice it until you need it. The built in editor has most of the markup tools I like to use and it allows me to save in my favorite PNG format with transparency.
If you keep a screenshot tool handy, you may want to try this one.
You can see a few other screenshot tools I've tried here.
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Quote from the website
PicPick is an all-in-one software for software developers, graphic designers and home user.
It has an intuitive interface and simple, elegant operation. After starting the software, you simply select one of the tool from the PicPick Tools trayicon menu when you want.
It features a powerful capture tool, image editor, color picker, color palette, pixel ruler, protractor, crosshair, whiteboard and etc. You can use all these tools freely.
PicPick is portable ware, so you don't need any installation.
And, this is distributed as Freeware. So you may use this software on any number of computers for as long as you like.
I recommended that she try out Recuva. I've always heard good things about it.
more from Lesley:
The software installs very easy and works great. I did the deep scan with it which takes almost 2 hours depending on how big your drive is. It does find files that have been permanently deleted.
Only it didnt help me much :(
The files I deleted were hundreds of image files in folders. The software found them but they were all over the place, not in the folders I had them in. Plus many had been over written and were unuseable.
I have used both PC Inspector and Recuva in the past. I had no problem with either one.
There are a whole bunch of others I haven't tried.
Recuva (pronounced "recover") is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!
Tony at topfreeware.net wrote me to share his latest freeware update. He wants to make sure you know that there are alternatives to expensive Microsoft software like MS Publisher.
Note: I've gotten software from the download site before. You may get a few emails from them when you register but you can either unsubscribe or block them if it gets to be too much.
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Quote from the website
A free alternative desktop publishing program to MS Publisher.
Features include a wide range of preset document layouts, table tool, quick shapes, artistic text, design studio, colour schemes and more. They also have about 500 different free templates you can download from here.
Registration is required after installing but in my opinion this program is worth it. An excellent DTP program
Gary at Internet Fixes continues to amaze me with hundreds and thousands of tips for your PC. Whatever your operating system, or how you use it, a visit to Gary's site will soon have you saying "So that's how you do this!".
What’s the first thing you do when you see a baffling error message in Windows? If you are anything like me you’ll pick out the keywords and look it up on Google. That’s fine when it’s something simple but all too often error messages are long-winded and contain lots of gibberish, which are a pain to type into the search box The temptation, is to try and copy and paste the message, but you will find that this doesn’t work as you can’t highlight the words in an error box, but there is another way.
Here’s a nifty little tweak. From Windows 2k onwards you have been able to copy the text in error messages to the Windows Clipboard by pressing Ctrl + C, but Microsoft forgot to tell anyone. So the next time you get an indecipherable error message, just press Ctrl + C then open Notepad, WordPad, Word etc and press Ctrl + V, then you can highlight the text, and use it to search for a solution.
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This Tips Are Made Possible Because Of Your Continued Donations!
If your PC is likely to be used or interfered with by others, and you want them to keep their sticky paws off it, here’s a way to create a special message that will appear when anyone other than you tries to logon.
In Vista go Click Start, All Programs, Administrative Tools and Local Security Policy. XP users should go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools and Local Security Policy. In both cases expand Security Options and in the Details pane double-click on Interactive Logon: Message Test for Users Attempting to Logon’. In the box that appears compose your message; make it short, intuitive, or just plain threatening, click OK and after a reboot it’s ready to run.
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This Tips Are Made Possible Because Of Your Continued Donations!
Want to burn (write) a bunch of files to CD? Select one or more files (or folders), right-click any of the selected items and choose Send To then CD-RW Drive (your menu option may be named differently – just look for your CD burner in the Send To list). A balloon will appear in the taskbar letting you know you have files waiting to be written to CD. If you have other items to burn to disc, repeat this procedure until you've queued all the files you want burned.
Your files are not burned yet! This procedure simply places them in a “Files Waiting to be Burned” temporary folder. To finish the burn, click the "You have files waiting…" balloon (or open My Computer and double-click your CD burner's icon) and click “Write these Files to CD” in the CD Writing Tasks pane.
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Question about Vista? Post Them at the Address Below.
The Windows Task Scheduler is an extremely useful but surprisingly under used facility that allows you to launch programs or carry out routine tasks, like backups, at scheduled times. Here’s a quick and easy way to get to know it, by programming it to play a tune, so you could use it as an alarm clock, to wake you up in the morning, or remind you to do something at a particular time.
Open Windows Explorer and navigate your way to the folder you use to store your MP3 or music files then open Task Scheduler by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools. Now all you have to do is drag and drop your chosen MP3 or music file into the Task Scheduler window. Right click on the music file icon, select Properties then the Schedule tab and set your times and dates, click OK and it’s done. Note that if you haven’t set a User Password for Windows it won’t work -- this is a safety feature -- so if you want to use Task Scheduler you will have to set one up, as you can’t leave the password field blank.
Several times a year I hear from distraught Windows users vainly trying to re-install their operating system only to find that they’ve lost their product registration key. The obvious thing to do is keep it in a safe place but if you’ve lost yours and are concerned that wouldn’t be able to carry out a reinstall then all is not lost. Simply download a little freeware utility called Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder and it will display your product key and give you the option to save it to the Windows Clipboard, so you can make a copy of it. Keyfinder works in all versions of Windows (from 98 onwards) and recent editions of MS Office.
Here’s a quick bonus tip for XP users. If for any reason you ever need to find out if your copy of Windows has been activated simply type ‘oobe/msoobe /a’ (without the quotes) in Run on the Start menu and your PC’s activation status will be displayed.
You are probably sick of me twittering on about the importance of using non-guessable passwords, especially for on-line transactions, banking and so on. I’ve mentioned websites that will come up with random assortments of letters and numbers on several occasions but did you know Windows XP can be persuaded to generate a gobbledygook password?
It’s easy; just go to Run on the Start menu and type ‘cmd’ (without the quotes) and a DOS like command prompt window opens. At the flashing cursor type the following:
‘net user administrator /random’
(no quotes and don't forget the space before /random). Press Enter and up one pops and don't forget to make a note of it.
To make up for the lack of keys that comes with a small laptop size (as compared to the big desktop keyboards), early laptops came with a special function key, the Fn key. You used this key in combination with other keys, like the Shift key, giving those keys multiple purposes.
Most modern laptops retain the Fn key, but you use it primarily to activate special laptop functions. These functions share other keys on the keyboard, typically the Function keys. They're marked by special icons, and these icons are color coded to match the Fn key.
Sadly, you can't find a standard for these Fn keys and their functions in the laptop world. But among the many laptops out there, you can find Fn key combinations that do the following:
• Turn the laptop's internal speaker volume up.
• Turn the laptop's internal speaker volume down.
• Mute the laptop's internal speaker.
• Increase or decrease the monitor's brightness or contrast.
• Activate an external monitor for giving a presentation.
• Activate Stand By mode.
• Hibernate the laptop.
• Lock the keyboard.
Take a moment to peruse your laptop and look over the Fn keys available. You may find some Fn keys fun - play around with them and see what you find.
XPS or the XML Paper Specification is a new feature in Windows Vista that makes it easier to share, print and archive illustrated documents and if that sounds a bit like what Adobe’s PDF or Portable Document Format already does, you wouldn’t be far wrong. Microsoft is avoiding such comparisons but the intention is clear and given the company’s clout and the likely impact Vista is going to have in the next few years you would be well advised to get to know this feature.
In fact it is very easy to use, it works in virtually any application running under Vista, all you have to do is select the Print option and on the printer selection menu that opens select Microsoft XPS Document Writer and Save the file. To read the file simply double click on it and it opens with the XPS Viewer. This is a component that works inside Internet Explorer and it is just like Acrobat Viewer, displaying a perfect image of your document, which you can navigate around and scale to size, just like a pdf in fact.
You might think you are well protected with your anti-virus software, firewall, malware scanner and all of the other bits of software designed to protect your PC but the fact is malicious programs can still slip past your defences but there is something more you can do to safeguard your programs. Windows XP has a built in facility called Data Execution Protection that keeps a watchful eye on System files but its coverage can be extended to monitor for suspicious activity in all of the programs on your PC.
To switch it on open System Properties by pressing Winkey + Break (or right-click My Computer on the Start menu and select Properties) Next select the Advanced tab, under Performance click the Settings button then select the Data Execution Protection tab and check the option ‘Turn on DEP for all programs and service…’ Click OK and after a restart it’s done.
I haven't played this one, but I've seen it in action. It's very nice looking. I just don't care about golf much. Maybe you do?
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Quote from the website
San Francisco-based World Golf TourTM (www.wgt.com) (WGT) is the world's most authentic online golf experience. WGT's mission is to bring the golf lifestyle and game to everyone via the Web, making the sport accessible and affordable for all. The World Golf Tour experience allows golf enthusiasts to play the world's most challenging and exclusive courses through superior HD graphics on a PC or Mac platform – for free, no download or software needed. WGT's online community allows friends, families and golf fans to play a round of golf simultaneously, competing in tournaments for prizes, sharing scores, testing out the newest equipment and reading the latest news in the golfing world.
I found this video a few years ago. I'm a big sci-fi fan and stuff like this really fires my imagination. I hope it provides a little inspiration to you all as well, even if you don't care for the music.
Quote from Joememo, the author of the video:
Hubble Space Telescope Images W/ "Lateralus" a Song by Tool.
I' m fascinated, how so many people like this video since it was the first video i edited on a laptop. I was inspired by the song - to reach out spiritually higher into the unknown.
I know its not a perfect video, i like the imperfections, we all have imperfections but they do not make us less Human.
You'd think I'd have learned by now. I still occasionally give out geeky gifts to friends and loved ones who have to pretend they like what I've given them.
Now that Xmas will be upon us, here's a reminder of what can happen if you don't learn to give what's expected ...
Have you given some bone-headed gifts? Go ahead and tell us what happened.
• Kantaris Media Player can play almost anything you can throw at it - AVI, MPEG, MGEG-AVC, WMV, MOV, MKV, QuickTime, Matroska, DivX, Xvid, H264, MP3, WMA, OGG files, and more. It can also play DVDs and audio CDs: http://www.kantaris.org/
COOLSITES is a list of safe, fun, useful, informative and just plain cool websites and programs that are FREE, FREE and FREE. All of the programs and websites I list are free. If I list anything that is so good but isn't free I will list the price with it.
Wow! Over 900 people and still growing! I invite all of you to record your locations on this map. You can include as little or as much information as you wish. I think you'll enjoy seeing yourself there.
Here's a small look at my frapper map.
Get Gmail! and Get Firefox!
You need a free 6 GB Gmail account to access many of the cool features at Google. After more than two years in beta testing Gmail is open to the public. Just go to http://gmail.com and sign up for an account.
I think Gmail works best in the awesome Firefox browser. It's free, easy to use, and it's way more secure than Internet Explorer. My favorite thing to do is to customize Firefox so that it does much more than IE ever could. You can select new button controls for your toolbars, install extensions to add new features, or change the look of your browser with themes - the way Firefox looks and works is under your control.
I get many of the reviews in the newsletter from the readers. You don't have to be a genius or computer guru. Just answer a few questions and send me a review. I'll probably put you in the newsletter.
What do you have to say?
Just tell me what article you are talking about and leave me your comment.
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