IT HUB

Amresh Anjan

2010-05-20T03:12:00.000-07:00

amresh anjan

Use Google to get Serial No of any Software

2010-05-18T04:52:00.001-07:00

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc

Most of the people downloading trial and using it, only after the expiration of trial they try for crack, Serial No, Keygen, Patch....

But many don't know where to get Serial No, Some websites may be infect your system with Trojan horse, Viruses, Ad ware, Spy ware....

So for beginners this is a simply way to find hack with less effort and it saves time to, But make sure you have antivirus activated before trying to get some Serials, Patches to avoid data loss.

Just follow the steps as instructed below

1) Go to http://www.google.com

2) type this syntax in search bar " 94FBR"

3) Replace Product name with desired software and leave a space then type 94FBR

4) Press enter, that's it

Now you receive Many pages which contains Serial no, Crack, Patches....

Just make a try, this simple trick works for many people...

Compiled By: Amresh Anjan

Source: www.dl4all.com

By Amresh Anjan

Remove that annoying background from your company logo

2010-05-12T22:10:00.001-07:00

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc

Adding your company logo to a presentation seems like an easy enough task. You probably have a special graphic file that's just the logo — how hard can it be to insert it onto a slide? Inserting it isn't a problem, but getting it to look right might be. Quite often, the logo shows up with a background, and unless the slide's background matches the logo's background perfectly, it looks awful. (Please don't flame me for the yellow background; the garish yellow makes the example easy to see.)

If your logo is a bitmap file, the solution is easy, but perhaps not well-known.

In Normal view, right-click the logo image and choose Show Picture Toolbar to display the Picture toolbar.

Click the Set Transparent Color tool (the next-to-last button). The pointer will change to resemble the transparency tool.

Simply click the image's background. If you're lucky, the off-white background will just disappear like magic!

If you're using PowerPoint 2007, do the following:

Click the Format tab.
In the Adjust group, choose Set Transparent Color from the Recolor drop-down list.
Click the image's background.

Of course, you can use this feature to remove more than backgrounds. Just click an area and it'll disappear. If you don't like the look, press [Ctrl]+Z. At the very worst, you might have to delete and reinsert the file to start over. This transparency setting works best with bitmap files. For vector files (most clipart), you'll need special image editing software.

Date: April 30th, 2010
Author: Susan Harkins
www.techrepublic.com

By Amresh Anjan

The 10 biggest failures in IT history

2009-12-22T02:07:00.000-08:00

Author: Jack Wallen

1: Windows Vista

What a disaster! Could Microsoft have assembled a bigger failure if it tried? Well, possibly. But Microsoft wasn't trying to make a failure — it was trying to make the best of the best. The result was the worst of the best.

2: NeXT

I have to qualify this entry, because NeXT did inspire a lot of software for the Linux desktop (such as AfterStep), and the NeXTSTEP did eventually become the foundation of OS X. So NeXT wasn't a complete flop.

3: BeOS

What is it with the capiTalIzaTion? Although BeOS has been resurrected as Haiku, the BeOS (and all the cool hardware it promised) never really got off the ground. The PC that promised to be the dream machine for the media crowd fizzled out before its fuse could really be lit.

4: Cobalt Qube

The Cobalt Qube looked cool. If you're lucky, you can still find one on eBay going cheap. Underneath that tiny blue exterior lay a beefy 64 MB of RAM and an 8.4 Gig HD that was ready and willing to serve up your Web site, your mail, your DNS, or anything else you needed. Ah, but those were the glory days — and short-lived at that. The serious IT crowed quickly realized that function held sway over form, and the cool blue Qubes went nowhere. Even after Sun bought the Cobalt company, these devices did nothing.

5: Y2K

I can't resist including this one. The entire world was supposed to cave under the pressure this little bug promised, wasn't it? I even read plenty of sci-fi books based on that premise. But nothing happened. Banks didn't lose all of your money, the world's security didn't fall to pieces, and all IT professionals woke up the next morning collectively saying, "Was that it?"

6: MP3

I know, I know — it isn't a flop, exactly, but the MP3 format is on this list because of all the licensing issues it has caused. On the Linux operating system alone, MP3 isn't installed on most distributions, by default, because of licensing issues. As a result, users scramble to get MP3 support built into their various tools. This causes as much hair loss as MP3 causes audio quality loss. There are much better formats out there without the licensing issues, people!

7: Richard Stallman

This man was supposed to be the champion of open source — but he endangers open source at every turn. Instead of making ridiculous claims, RMS should stand down and let someone with a modicum of tact and sense to take over as the voice of open source software.

8: WordPerfect

What I should actually place here is Corel, the maker of WordPerfect, instead of the software itself. WordPerfect was an outstanding word processing tool. Corel, however, was not outstanding in its ability to market and sell something as good as WordPerfect. So instead of a piece of software that should have single-handedly toppled the Microsoft juggernaut, WordPerfect died. This should never have happened. Any other company could have pulled off this win.

9: IPv6

Should this already be in place? Should something so simple really be that hard? The 'net could run out of IP addresses and there is no solution in place yet. Why? Because we don't have the problem yet. But didn't everyone panic with claims that the "IP sky is falling"? Wouldn't it be smart to go ahead and put this in place? Maybe the powers-that-be are waiting until that very last IPv4 address is issued and we have to say, "We have no more!" At that point, no one will really know how to implement the solution and it will be Y2K all over again.

10: Mesh networks

At one point, wireless was going to cover the entire planet and everyone was going to have free wireless networking, thanks to wireless mesh networks. It didn't happen. It sounded like a great idea, and sites popped up all over the place trying to get users to set up their own mesh networks to further expand the "net." It was a grand idea, based on a grand ideal, but it just never got off the ground. That's a shame, since a "mesh Wifi" would have enabled anyone to be online anywhere. Of course, I am sure the telecoms had NOTHING to do with the fall of mesh networking.

Your turn

Do you agree or disagree with the items on my list of biggest IT failures? What's missing from the list? Join the discussion and let us know.

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

The 10+ most dangerous words in business

2009-11-13T05:53:00.001-08:00

For more, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc

Author: Jo Owen

Business buzzwords can be annoying — but everyday language can be far more treacherous. BNET UK's Jo Owen lists a dozen seemingly innocuous words that are often used to distract, misdirect, and deceive the listener.

1: Just

This is used to make a huge request or error seem trivial, as in, "Could you just do this (500-page) document by Monday?" — a request best made late on a Friday afternoon.

2: But

Remember, whatever is said before but is b*****ks, as in, "That was a great presentation, but…" or, "I would like to help, but…".

3: From

From is much loved by advertisers, as in "Fly to Rome from £10″ — excluding £100 of taxes and other "optional" extras for a flight leaving at 4 AM and going to an airport about 100kn away from Rome, and only if you book the ticket one year in advance.

4: Might (and any other conditional verb)

Might is used to achieve two thing. First, it sets up a negotiating position, as in, "I might be able to do that if…" Second, it lays the groundwork for excusing failure later on: "I would have done it, if only…"

5: Only

Closely related to just, this is an attempt to make a big request or problem seem small. "It was only a small error…. We only dropped one nuclear bomb over London…".

6: Important (and urgent)

This is used to puff up any presentation: "This important new product/initiative…". Important to whom? And why? Maybe it is important to the speaker, but why is it important to me?

7: Strategic

Important, with bells on. See Strategic Human Capital Division, formerly known as the Personnel Department. It's alternatively used to justify something that has no financial justification at all: "This strategic IT investment (which costs £100 million and has no identifiable payback) is essential to the survival of the business."

8: Rightsize, downsize, best shore, offshore, outsource, optimise, redeploy, downshift, re-engineer

How many ways are there to avoid saying straight up: "We are going to lay off staff"?

9: Thank you

Normally, thank you is good — except when used by automated voices at call centres saying, "Thank you for calling; we value your call… (and we have so much contempt for our customers that we can't be bothered to answer your call promptly, so we will put you on hold until you give up and try to use our impenetrable and useless online help instead)."

10: Interesting

Fear this word. When your lawyer uses it, you are doomed. When your doctor uses it, check that your will is up to date. The recession is certainly interesting. A slightly less interesting time would be preferable.

11: Opportunity

Because the word problem has been banned in business-speak, all problems have become opportunities. This means many opportunities are problems. There is a limit to how many opportunities I can solve. Interesting and strategic opportunities really scare me.

12: Investment

Investment was first hijacked by the British government to justify wild and uncontrolled public sector spending. Spending is bad, but investment is good, so it simply reclassified all its spending as investment in the health, education, and future of the country. The businesses that followed the government's lead by going on a spending/investment splurge are now going bust — unlike the government, they can't print money or raise taxes.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

10 ways IT departments waste money

2009-11-13T05:32:00.001-08:00

Author: Debra Littlejohn Shinder

IT is often a popular target for corporate cost-cutting. So the more you can identify and control unnecessary spending, the better you’ll be able to fend off the budget axe. Here are a few areas where IT dollars often go to waste.

Back in the golden days of IT, when companies had plenty of money to throw around, it didn’t matter so much if there was a little wastage here and there. Today, however, budgets are tight and there aren’t many dollars to spare. That means IT departments need to take a good, hard look at where the money is going and where cuts can be made — before someone higher up does it for you. In this article, we look at 10 ways you might be letting precious dollars slip right through your fingers. Some of these may seem to be just common sense, but there are organizations out there right now that are wasting money in all these ways.

1: Wasting energy

Despite some reduction in power costs over the last year, rates appear to be headed back up. The electric bill is still a large expense for most companies — and the IT department is a big user of energy. You can save more money than you might suspect by adopting some energy-saving policies. Sure, most of the servers need to be accessible all the time. But IT personnel are often careless about leaving workstations running when they aren’t doing anything and won’t be accessed remotely or substituting the use of a screensaver for turning off the monitor (you should do both). With the power settings available in modern operating systems, there’s really no excuse for it, but some IT pros turn off power-saving features in favor of higher performance.

How about the practice of leaving lights on in offices and server rooms when no one is there? Most people don’t think about the cost, but it can add up. Using more energy-efficient lighting and buying Energy Star rated equipment can also save big bucks over the long run.

2: Spending too much on mobile technology

Mobile phones and devices are “fun toys” for IT pros, but company-provided equipment and plans may be costing more than necessary. A recent survey showed that only one out of four employees uses 75% or more of the voice minutes that their companies are paying for and almost half (48%) have services on the plan that they never use at all. As this article explains, many companies don’t have viable policies regarding mobile device use.

3: Not allowing employees to work from home

Company managers sometimes fail to recognize the significant cost benefits — to both employer and employee — of allowing employees to telecommute all or part of the time. One reason they oppose such an arrangement is that they won’t have as much control over workers who aren’t on site. IT departments sometimes support this position for fear that remote workers will present a security threat. However, with modern technologies such as NAP/NAC and DirectAccess, you can ensure that remote systems connecting to the company LAN are properly configured and protected and that the connections are secure.

Allowing more employees to work from home enables the company to save money on office/parking space and heating/air conditioning. Employees save money on clothes, lunches, and transportation. They also often enjoy work more, so they end up putting in extra hours that raise productivity and benefit the company. Many IT-related jobs, such as those of in-house developers and Web designers, can be done from home.

4: Using consultants when the job could be done by staff

It’s a common scenario: Employees have been telling management for months or years that changes need to be made, but they’ve been ignored. Then the company hires a consultant, who charges tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to do a “study” and arrives at the same conclusion, providing the same advice staff members were trying to give away free.

If you have people on staff who have expertise in a particular area and have the time to do a job, it’s generally more cost effective to allow them to do it than to bring in an outsider who has to spend many (billable) hours getting up to speed on how your company operates and what its specific needs are.

If you do find that you need to bring in a consultant, check credentials and references carefully. There are many good, hard-working IT consultants. The field is also a great target for rip-off artists who talk over your head about specialized technologies and try to push the latest and greatest on you — whether you need it or not — or attempt to sell you on specific products that you may not really need.

5: Hiring full-time employees when contractors would be more cost effective

The flip side of the previous item involves being afraid to use consultants or contractors when it’s appropriate. Hiring full-time employees to handle a workload that’s likely to be temporary leaves you with idle workers who end up costing you money because there’s not enough for them to do to warrant their salaries — or forcing you to go through the pains (to those employees as well as to the company) of layoffs. In these situations, when you don’t have the current manpower or expertise on staff to get the job done, it’s often more cost effective to hire independent contractors. Not only can you limit the duration of the commitment, but you don’t generally have to pay for fringe benefits, such as insurance and vacation/sick time. You also don’t have the administrative overhead of withholding taxes and filing the paperwork that’s associated with regular employees.

6: Making unnecessary upgrades

There are good reasons to upgrade your software and/or hardware. When new operating systems or applications provide functionality that your users need or that can help them get their jobs done more easily or more rapidly, it makes sense to upgrade. When existing hardware won’t run those programs you need, it may be necessary to buy new computers.

However, some companies follow a set upgrade schedule whereby they replace old systems every X number of years. Or they migrate to the new operating system or major application version X number of months after it’s released, or as soon as service pack 1 comes out, or in response to some other arbitrary trigger — much like the old timer who “takes a bath every Saturday night, whether he needs one or not.”

It makes more sense to carefully evaluate how the systems and software are being used and whether there’s a real need to upgrade. You can save the cost of new licenses and administrative overhead costs — and often, make users happier and avoid deployment headaches — by sticking with what you have now if it’s still working fine for your company’s purposes.

This applies to servers, too. It’s nice to have the latest and greatest running on the most powerful machines, but will it make a real difference in terms of productivity, security, and other important factors or do you just want it so you’ll have a new toy to play with?

7: Failing to upgrade old, inefficient equipment

On the other hand, some companies are going overboard when it comes to squeezing every last drop of use out of their current systems. If the computers are getting so old that they regularly break down and require repairs, if your servers go down so often that users of the network can’t get their work done or customers can’t access your site, if you’re putting sensitive data at risk because you’re depending on old software that’s full of vulnerabilities, if the hardware costs considerably more to operate than more modern machines because it’s so energy inefficient, it may be time to think about investing some capital to lower operating costs and save money over the long run.

Remember that neither software nor hardware upgrades have to be an “all or nothing” proposition. Some departments or individuals may need to be upgraded while others can get along for a while longer with what they have. And when you’re considering a major upgrade, such as a new OS, it’s often smart to roll it out with a pilot group first so you can work out any unanticipated problems before deploying across the entire organization.

8: Overspending on hardware

While buying new hardware can save you money, too much of a good thing can waste it. Some companies are still not utilizing virtualization to the extent that they could to reduce both capital and operating expenditures. Instead of buying multiple mid-priced servers to run Web services, mail services, collaboration and communications services, etc., you may be able to save substantially by purchasing one or two more powerful machines and consolidating servers with virtualization technologies. Not only is the total capital outlay often less, but you reduce the cost of extended warranties and maintenance contracts since they apply to fewer machines, and operating costs are often lower because the total power usage is less.

Another way some companies waste money is by purchasing equipment for a project that requires very intensive computing resources — but only for a limited time. When the project is over, you’re stuck with the expensive equipment. An alternative is to use services such as Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and similar cloud-based services that allow you to purchase capacity that can quickly scale up or down to fit your needs. Then, at any given time, you’re paying only for the resources you actually use.

9: Not using the training budget effectively

Technology is always changing and it’s important for IT personnel to stay current, but some departments waste money on training that could be done as effectively for much less. Do employees really need to travel to a distant site for training or can it be done on-site less expensively? Perhaps instead of sending several employees, one can attend and then come back and share what he/she learned with the others. Or the same training may be available on DVD or through live online instruction at a fraction of the cost.

Is the department paying for certifications that may not be necessary? Certification provides assurance of a certain level of knowledge and in some cases, having certified employees on staff enhances the company’s reputation or allows it to participate in vendor partner programs. But some IT professionals collect multiple certifications — at company expense — that may not benefit the company at all (although they may benefit the employee in looking for a new job).

Ongoing training is important, and having well-trained personnel can save a company money in the long run. But when budgets are tight, it’s also important to get the most for every training dollar and cut out the waste.

10: Wasting money on travel expenses

Training isn’t the only reason employees travel on the company dime. Members of the IT department may be called upon to attend meetings at company headquarters or give presentations at another branch office or go to a different location to help set up equipment or troubleshoot software problems. In a tight economy, it’s smart to examine whether this things can be done via online meetings or through remote control software.

Sometimes, though, travel can’t be avoided. In those cases, you can still save money by staying in more reasonably priced hotels, putting a cap on meals reimbursements or instituting a per diem, and even taking shuttles instead of cabs for small savings that add up.

When traveling only a few hundred miles, consider driving instead of flying. Given the hassle factor at airports today, it may not take much longer and can be a more pleasant experience, and the savings really accrue when two or more people travel together by car instead of plane.

Compiled By Amresh Anjan

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

7 common lies told by enterprise software sales people

2009-09-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

By Michael Krigsman

Lie 1. My solution is the one that best meets your needs

When I said, "My solution is the one that best meets your needs," what I meant was that I'm going to do my darnedest to shoe horn my product into your world so that you'll buy my stuff versus the competitors.

You [shouldn't] buy products because they have this or that. [B]uy them because of what they'll do for you and the ecosystem you operate within.

Key questions to ask the sales person: What 3 companies are your fiercest competitors and what would they say they do better than you? The last time you lost a deal to your competition, what were the main reasons given?

Lie 2. My solution does not require much of your company's IT resources

When I said, "My solution does not require much of your company's IT resources," what I meant was that with a 95% degree of certainty, your IT department will be the biggest roadblock to success that we'll encounter in this project.

Key questions to ask the sales person: When (not if) you run into smoke screens, road blocks, and obstacles thrown up my IT department, are you prepared to deal with them and how? If we cut through all of the crap, how much time does it really take to deploy this solution, excluding training?

Lie 3. My solution is supported well

When I said that, "My solution is supported well and my company hangs its hat on the best service in the industry," what I meant was that when you call, a human will pick up the phone and get on your problem right away, delaying someone else's due date for customized solution delivery.

The bottom line with custom software in the enterprise is that it breaks. How many times have you rebooted today?

Key questions to ask the sales person: Do you have an automated system or a human system when I call your support line? What bug tracking or trouble ticket solution to you use? What your average time from call in to resolution? What is your process for escalation?

Lie 4. My solution will save you time and money

When I said, "My solution will save you time and money," what I meant was that your company will probably achieve enough Return On Investment to pay for the solution…but you'll end up using 10% of what the solution can do and end up frustrated after the honeymoon period.

Most enterprise solutions have evolved because complex businesses have insisted that new features be built as a condition of sale.

Key questions to ask the sales person: What percentage of features in this system do your clients typically use? If I want to reduce the training required by half to save money, will you let me?

Lie 5. That will take 2…maybe 3 weeks to develop

When I said, "That will take 2 maybe 3 weeks to develop", what I meant was I really don't know how long your customization will take so I'm throwing out a number that will get you to bite…not balk."

If the delivery dates of complex customizations seems unrealistic…even to you, they probably are.

Key questions to ask the sales person: What is your process for documenting change requests? If your development efforts fall behind schedule, what's my compensation?

Lie 6. Here are my prices

When I said, "Here are my prices", what I meant was "My price is totally flexible and within reason I'll probably say yes to lowering them because we need your upfront money and recurring revenue more than I need my pride."

Pricing enterprise solutions is far more art than science. Often it's more about discovering the target's pain tolerance.

Key questions to ask the sales person: How much does the solution cost? What's the typical payback or return on investment you've measured when companies like mine have deployed your solution and can you provide me case studies?

Lie 7. Here are my contract terms and conditions

When I said, "Here are my contract terms and conditions", what I meant was "This is pretty much a boiler plate agreement that no one reads so if you challenge some terms…you'll probably get what you want."

[M]ost enterprise solution firms don't even know what the terms in their own contract mean. If something appears strange to you or is unclear, challenge it. Don't be afraid.

Key questions to ask the sales person: Is this agreement flexible and negotiable? What's the one contract term that clients challenge the most?"

THE PROJECT FAILURES ANALYSIS

If you're contemplating an enterprise solution, read Doug's book to help protect your own hide from evil, miscreant, and wayward sales people. I really enjoy how his sardonic humor matches the subject matter. For example:

On lying:

Is lying requisite? No. Sales people are not lying, they are simply framing the truth in a way that closes the deal and provides a big payday [for the sales person].

On enterprise solution (ES) pricing:

The ES is often quite expensive to buy upfront. This upfront price loading is where the ES software company recovers the immense cost of sales associated with the ES including commissions, bonus payments to company officers, investor dividends, and really nice cars for the President.

On the subject of enterprise sales people:

Better enterprise solution selling organizations send two people on the tactical assault mission: One suit. One techie. The suit acts as translator when the techie…lays out something intelligent for your consumption. That back and forth tech translation orgy is meant to disarm the prospective buyer or baffle him sufficiently into writing a check for the panacea product that will make his boss happy with him…or close out the never ending 6-Sigma project from hell.

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

Six dirty tricks from enterprise vendors

2009-09-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

Author: Michael Krigsman

Here's Dan's list of six tricks enterprise vendors use against customers, but the descriptions are mine:

The magic demo. Using presentation slides and canned demonstrations, the vendor claims to solve the customer's most challenging problems. It's all good, except when there is no real product to back up the promises.
Underbid, then overcharge. A beautiful trick often played elegantly by consulting companies and system integrators. These folks neglect to inform the customer that the initial software purchase price does not include much higher associated costs for equipment and implementation services.
The customer headlock. One of the cleverest tricks in the book, this one uses high switching costs to lock-in customers. The time, cost, and hassle of swapping enterprise systems mean vendors have their customers by the… well, you know what.
The billing "mistake." Really a utility services game, providers over-charge customers with incorrect invoices, knowing few will notice and complain. Sleaze at its finest.
The forced upgrade march. Upgrades make the software business a beautiful thing-for the vendor. The customer's system may work well, but when vendors tell customers to upgrade or lose support, the buyer has little choice but to play sheep.
The clueless customer. Less a trick than an unpleasant fact, remember there are two parties to all these tricks: vendor and customer. Inattentive or inexperienced customers are often their own worst enemy.

The project failures analysis

Strategic enterprise software purchases are complicated to buy and expensive to implement. Since these products automate core business functions, they reflect genuine complexity in the buyer's organization. Some vendors use this complexity unfairly to manipulate potential customers into making uninformed and poorly considered purchases.

In general, the software itself is not to blame; these are human, not technical, issues. It's worth noting that some observers incorrectly believe that faulty software causes most IT failures. That perspective is wrong and misinformed.

Enterprise customers should treat software purchases with the same care and attention as buying a home: research the vendor, talk with other customers, and ask objective, third-party experts for advice. Although enterprise software is a minefield, many customers do buy and implement successfully.

The tricks described in this post range from subtle persuasion to outright deception. However, they all rely on aggressive vendors taking advantage of uninformed customers. In the end, caveat emptor applies and education is the great force for achieving success.

Have you seen vendors play these tricks or others? Please share your thoughts!

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

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2009-09-30T09:52:00.001-07:00

10 things you can do to keep Outlook running smoothly

Author: Erik Eckel

1: Don't click on attachments

It should go without saying, but I still encounter clients every month who infect their machines and cripple Outlook (and other applications) because they absentmindedly click on executable files and other attachments received in email messages. One of the best defenses against email borne viruses and infections is to simply avoid clicking on attachments or hyperlinks received within email messages.

2: Empty the trash

Outlook stores messages, including large attachments, in one file (typically known as the Personal Folders File, which uses a .pst file extension, or Offline Folder, which uses an .ost file extension). That storage file includes the Deleted Items folder. When users fail to empty the Deleted Items folder, deleted email continues contributing to gargantuan mailbox sizes. Regularly empty the Deleted Items folder.

Better yet, configure Outlook to automatically empty Deleted Items when exiting the email application. To do so, click Tools, select Options, click the Other tab, select Empty The Deleted Items Folder Upon Exiting, and click OK.

3: Archive mail

Microsoft set default mailbox quotas at two gigabytes in Exchange 2007, which is actually larger than prior platforms. That said, I regularly encounter clients whose Outlook.PST files or Exchange mailboxes exceed five and even six gigabytes. That's a recipe for reduced performance, if not data corruption and disaster (lost information).

Outlook performs optimally when using smaller information stores. Regularly archive mail by clicking File and selecting Archive. Or configure auto-archiving by clicking Tools, selecting Options, clicking the Other tab, and clicking the AutoArchive button to configure appropriate settings. This will create separate, standalone archive files and maintain reasonably sized mailboxes.

4: Minimize add-ins

Incompatibilities introduced by third-party search tools, security applications, and other software frequently cause trouble within Outlook. Worse, these add-ins are often difficult to track down and isolate as the cause of intermittent Outlook errors. Minimize the use of third-party add-ins to encourage better Outlook performance. To manage your add-ins, choose Options from the Tools menu, click the Other tab, click Advanced Options, and then click Add-In Manager. In Outlook 2007, click Tools, select Trust Center, and highlight Add-ins.

5: Avoid large attachments

Whenever large attachments are sent via email, there's a risk that the recipient's email server (or even the sender's server) will refuse to process the message. Messages with attachments larger than five megabytes are often discarded by many email servers. Avoid including attachments, especially those larger than three megabytes. Remember, when messages with attachments are sent, the attached files remain within the Sent Items folder, thereby contributing to larger database stores. Send too many file attachments, and the Sent Items folder alone can quickly grow to an unwieldy size.

6: Abandon stationery

Stationery, or the pretty templates Microsoft includes within Outlook to make messages appear more attractive, only complicates an already complex communications medium. Simplify the process be removing unnecessary graphic elements, which place a processing load upon recipients as well (unless they use text-based email readers, in which case they'll never even see your stationery anyway).

7: Eliminate third-party spam software

I've seen Outlook become so corrupted by third-party spam applications that the only solution was to uninstall the third-party email filtering software, uninstall Microsoft Office, and reinstall the Microsoft suite. Save yourself the hassle. Leverage Microsoft Exchange and Outlook's built-in junk mail filtering tools or turn to a trusted external spam solution, such as that offered by Postini.

8: Perform mailbox maintenance

Occasionally, Outlook's storage file becomes corrupt. Microsoft includes the Inbox Repair Tool with each copy of Outlook. The utility analyzes the mailbox storage file for errors. Scan.pst and Scan.ost (for Personal Folder files and Offline Folder files, respectively) can identify and correct issues with data and directory structures, headers and lost folders, and lost items. Users should consider running the file monthly, if for no other reason than it offers the option of creating a backup file as part of the repair process.

9: Trim/forward multiple accounts

Most users process just one or two email accounts within Microsoft Outlook. Others manage eight to 10 separate email accounts. That means that every time Outlook performs a send/receive operation (and many users configure their machines to perform this operation once a minute), Outlook must initiate and complete communications with 20 servers (10 outgoing servers and 10 incoming servers for each user account). That's a lot of network traffic, especially if most of the email accounts aren't necessary.

Reconsider how many email accounts are really required. If several legacy email accounts are still set up in Outlook but are no longer used, remove them. Choose E-Mail Accounts from the Tools menu, select View Or Change Existing E-mail Accounts, click Next, and then select and remove the obsolete account. In Outlook 2007, click Tools, select Account Settings, highlight the unnecessary account, and click the Remove button.

Alternatively, if multiple email accounts are required, consider whether there's an opportunity to consolidate several using Gmail. Users can create free Gmail accounts and forward several email accounts to a single holding account. For example, if a user receives email for info@ companyname.com, support@ companyname.com, serverstatus@ companyname.com, sales@ companyname.com, customerservice@companyname.com and similar addresses for the same domain, all those separate email accounts could be consolidated by pointing them to a single email address (such as administrative@companyname.com).

10: Simplify signatures

Logos, badges, business cards, and other fancy graphics are unnecessary within email messages. They may display improperly within recipient's email clients, or they may not display at all. Worse, graphical signatures lead to unnecessarily bloated email message sizes.

Stick to fundamentals. Configure Outlook to paste your name, title, company name, and contact information within every message. (Select Tools, choose Options, click the Mail Format tab, and click the Signatures button to access signature settings.) Just do so using simple text. Such contact information is critical and should accompany each email message you send (whether you're creating a new message or responding to another). But don't clutter messages, mailboxes, and server queues with unnecessary graphics and other superfluous elements.

www.amreshanjan.co.cc

10 ways to recover a corrupted Excel workbook

2009-09-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

10 ways to recover a corrupted Excel workbook

Author: Susan Harkins

1: Let Excel try

If Excel's automatic recovery mode fails, there's a manual feature for recovering a corrupted workbook:

Choose Open from the File menu. In Excel 2007, click the Office button and select Open.
Using the Look In control, locate and specify the corrupted workbook.
From the Open button's dropdown list, shown in Figure A, choose Open And Repair.
If this is your first attempt to manually recover the workbook, click Repair in the resulting dialog box, shown in Figure B.

Figure A

Attempt to manually recover a corrupted workbook.

Figure B

You can repair a workbook or extract the data from a corrupted workbook.

If you're lucky, Excel will repair the file. However, this feature recovers files when something goes wrong with Excel, so it won't recover every corrupted file. Once you've made every attempt to recovery the file, you might have to make do with recovering just the data. When that's the case, click Extract Data in step 4.

2: If the corruption occurs while the workbook is open

If corruption occurs while the workbook is open, do not save the workbook. You'll just save whatever corrupted the workbook along with the most recent changes. Instead, revert to the last saved version. Doing so, without saving first should discard the corrupted component. You'll possibly lose data, but often, you can rebuild quickly enough (a good reason to save your work often).

To revert to the last saved version, do the following:

Choose Open from the File menu. In Excel 2007, click the Office button and select Open.
Using the Look In control, locate and specify the corrupted workbook.
Click Open.

You're really just reopening the workbook — there's nothing special going on.

3: Disable automatic calculation

If Excel fails to open the file on its own or via the Open And Repair option, try setting the calculation method to manual and try again. To reset the calculation setting:

Open a new blank workbook.
From the Tools menu, choose Options and click the Calculation tab. In Excel 2007, click the Office button, click Excel Options, and select Formulas in the panel to the left.
In the Calculation section (Calculation Options in Excel 2007), click Manual.
Click OK.

Then, try to open the corrupted workbook. Sometimes Excel can open a corrupted workbook if it doesn't have to recalculate.

4: Try Microsoft Office Tools

If Excel can't open the corrupted workbook, give Microsoft Office Tools a whirl:

From the Start menu, choose All Programs (in Windows XP).
Select Microsoft Office.
Choose Microsoft Office Tools.
Select Microsoft Office Application Recovery.
In the resulting dialog box, shown in Figure C, choose Microsoft Office Excel.
Click Recover Application. The process could take a few minutes.
Respond to the Send Report To Microsoft prompt.

Figure C

Office Tools might recover a corrupted workbook.

The recovery tool will close Excel and then restart it, displaying a list of recovered workbooks (if any). If you're lucky, your corrupted workbook will be in the list. Simply open it and count your blessing.

5: Move the file

Sometimes, a corrupted workbook isn't really corrupted in the traditional sense. It just isn't accessible as usual; networks and servers often mask errors as corrupted files. If you encounter a seemingly corrupted workbook that Excel can't repair, move the corrupted file to another folder, drive, or server.

6: Let the competition try

Some people claim extraordinarily good results using OpenOffice Suite, a free open source alternative to Microsoft Office. This suite's Excel counterpart, Calc, should open a corrupted Excel file. Unfortunately, it means a lengthy download, but if it works, it's well worth the effort.

7: Open the corrupted workbook in WordPad or Word

If you can't repair the workbook, try opening it in WordPad. If it works, WordPad will convert everything to text — but you'll be one step closer to recovering important data. Unfortunately, this method won't recover formulas. On the other hand, unlike many other data recovery methods, WordPad will recover your VBA procedures (macros). Simply search recovered text for Sub and Function to find them.

You might also be able to open the corrupted .xls file in Word, but the results will be limited. For this method to work, you must install the Microsoft Office Excel converter. And unlike WordPad, Word won't recover your procedures.

8: Use external references

Sometimes, you can recover data by referring to the actual cells in a corrupted workbook. You won't recover formulas, formats, charts, macros, and so on, but recovering the data is better than recovering nothing. To recover data by referencing the corrupt workbook, do the following:

Open a new workbook and enter into cell A1 a formula in the following form to reference A1 in the corrupted workbook: nameofcorruptedworkbook!A1. (You don't need to include .xls in the filename.)
Press Enter.
If the corrupted workbook isn't in the same folder, Excel will display the Update Values: nameofcorruptedworkbook dialog box. Use the Look In control to locate the corrupted file. Select the file and click OK.
If the Select Sheet dialog box appears, as shown in Figure D, select the appropriate sheet and click OK. Excel will display the value in cell A1 of the corrupted workbook.
Select cell A1 and drag it across as many columns as needed to accommodate the data in the corrupted file. If Excel displays the Update Values: nameofcorruptedworkbook dialog box, select the corrupted file and click OK.
Repeat step 5, copying row A down as many rows as necessary to accommodate the data in the corrupted file.
Select the data and choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Select Paste Special from the Edit menu and choose Values, as shown in Figure E.
Click OK.

Figure D

If the corrupted file has multiple sheets, specify a sheet.

Figure E

Replace the referencing formulas with data.

9: Try SYLK format to recover data

Microsoft recommends using the SYLK format to filter out corrupted elements, especially if the corruption is printer related. You must be able to open the corrupted workbook for the following to work:

From the File menu, choose Save As. In Excel 2007, click the Office button.
From the Save As Type control, choose SYLK(Symbolic Link) (*.slk), as shown in Figure F.
Give the active sheet a descriptive name, such as corruptedworkbooknameSheet1. If the workbook has only one sheet, this step is unnecessary.
Click Save.
If the workbook has multiple sheets, Excel will ask you if you want to continue because the selected format doesn't support multiple sheets. Click OK.
If Excel prompts you with a warning that the workbook might contain features that aren't compatible with the SYLK format, click Yes.

Figure F

Save each sheet using the SYLK format.

It's important to know that the SYLK format saves only the active sheet. However, you won't notice that the format has stripped all of the pages but the active one until you close and reopen the .slk file. To recover data from all the sheets, you must reopen the corrupted workbook and save each sheet individually. That's why step 3 instructs you to give the sheet a descriptive name. You'll find those names helpful when reconstructing the multiple-sheet workbook.

After saving all the sheets to the SYLK format, open one of the .slk files and rename it using the .xls format. Be careful not to use the corrupted workbook's name. Once you've reconstructed the workbook, you can discard the corrupted file or rename it, freeing up the original name. Don't replace it until you're sure you've recovered as much data as possible. Then, reconstruct the workbook by importing or copying data from the .slk files. It's a tedious process, but worth the effort if nothing else works. This method saves values resulting from formulas, but not the formulas themselves.

10: Recover macros

If you can recover data but not macros via one of the previous tips, you can still save macros — at least sometimes. To try, do the following:

Open Excel, but don't open the corrupted workbook.
Set the calculation mode to Manual (see #3).
Choose Macro from the Tools menu, select Security, and choose the High option. In Excel 2007, click the Office button, click Excel Options, and choose Trust Center in the left panel. Then, click the Trust Center Settings button, select Macro Settings in the left panel, select Disable All Macros Without Notification in the Macro Settings section, and click OK twice.
Open the corrupted workbook. If Excel opens the workbook, you'll see a notice that the macros are disabled. If Excel shuts down, this method won't work.
Press [Alt]+[F11] to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).
Using the Project Explorer (press [Ctrl]+R), right-click a module, and choose Export File.
Enter a name and folder for the module.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 as many times as necessary to export all the modules.
Close the VBE and exit Excel.
Open a new blank workbook (or the newly constructed workbook that contains recovered data from the corrupted workbook) and import the modules.

www.areshanjan.co.cc

New solutions to remotely secure a stolen laptop

2009-01-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

Date: December 12th, 2008
Author: Paul Mah

In the past, a lost laptop automatically meant a compromise of whatever confidential data it contained. This is changing for the better, however. Here are the latest developments on the anti-theft front, featuring remote management or deletion of data for laptops.

————————————————————————————————

I recently wrote about some simple hardware approaches to secure laptops. In the earlier article, I have advocated the use of FDE (full disk encryption) or the use of an encrypted flash volume as means to ensure the security of confidential or private data.

A couple of vendor announcements in the past few weeks show an increased emphasis on data protection. I’ll examine developments on the anti-theft front for the remote management of stolen laptops — once the sole domain of smartphones like the RIM BlackBerry and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile-based devices.

Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian

One proprietary solution that got on my radar a few months ago is the OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian by Alcatel-Lucent. The 3500 is a Linux-based PCMCIA card that emulates a smartcard for authentication. In short, the laptop will cease to work if this PCMCIA card is physically removed. What differentiates the 3500 from a typical smartcard is that it packs an integrated 3G modem, GPS, and its own battery for power.

The wireless link and GPS let the PC be located and have its security policies managed even if the laptop is turned off. The depth of its features, which includes the ability to terminate VPN traffic and store encryption keys, currently represents the holy grail of locking down and managing remote laptops.

Of course, its downside is that it is only available in the PCMCIA form factor - which is fast losing appeal among newer laptops.

Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable

Lenovo recently announced a feature called Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable. Working together with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies, Lenovo integrated the ability for a user to remotely disable his laptop on the hardware level. This is done by means of a text message containing a “kill command” that is sent by text message from designated mobile phones.

Once the kill command is sent, the ThinkPad is either disabled immediately or when the laptop is turned back on - as in the case when a system is suspended or hibernated. Once shut down this way, the only way to get the laptop back on is to type in a preconfigured “resurrection code” when the laptop is started. Obviously, an embedded cellular WWAN (wireless wide-area network) card will be necessary to use this feature, as well as a relevant mobile subscription to allow receipt of text messages.

Lenovo Constant Secure Remote Disable will be available as a free BIOS upgrade expected this month or first quarter of 2009. The technology will work with ThinkPad laptops running on the Intel Centrino 2 platform.

Intel Anti-Theft PC Protection

The first laptop based on Intel’s anti-theft technology, ironically, will also be released by Lenovo this month. Lenovo’s new ThinkPad T400 will ship with Intel’s Anti-Theft PC Protection as well as Computrace technology from Absolute’s Software.

The combination of both hardware and software allows for a robust solution. For example, via the Computrace software, it is possible to set timers to disable logins if the computer has not checked to a central server within a set period of time. It can also help in tracing the location of the laptop or remotely lock it via the Internet in the event of theft.

A machine can also be set to brick upon a certain number of password failures, or a signal from a remote server. When bricking, the chipmaker’s vPro technology can halt the laptop at the BIOS boot screen, effectively rendering the entire hardware useless. It can also permanently erase the encryption keys for a FDE disk, ensuring the guaranteed confidentiality of data.

Conclusion

The advantage of the approach taken by the OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian by Alcatel-Lucent is by leveraging on well-understood smartcard technologies. Building a stand-alone data modem and GPS hardware into a PCMCIA form factor can’t be cheap, but does allow for a comprehensive end-to-end solution for laptops containing extremely high-value data.

Lenovo’s approach allows the use of relatively minor BIOS updates to bestow the ability to remotely shutdown compliant ThinkPads. A built-in WWAN card is still necessary, as with a relevant mobile plan subscription. On the bright side, availability of laptops with built-in WWAN cards can only increase and if popular, should be trivial to incorporate by other vendors.

Finally, Intel’s approach represents a solution involving both hardware and software vectors. The vPro technology gives it a robustness of a hardware-based solution, while the use of software like Absolute Software’s Computrace gives it a versatility and control second to none. The downside appears to be slightly higher complexity in terms of management, though.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

E-mail spam: How to stop it

2009-01-03T08:32:00.001-08:00

Date: December 17th, 2008
Author: Michael Kassner

What if I said I knew of an approach that would definitely reduce the amount of e-mail spam you received? No way? Well, read on. It’s simple, it works, and I’d like to share it with you.

——————————————————————————————————————-

We all know the infamous e-mail spam three step:

A spammer obtains your e-mail address.
The spammer begins to inundate you with e-mail spam.
You receive the e-mail spam and get rid of it.

It’s common knowledge that the easiest way for spammers to obtain e-mail addresses is to purchase them from Web sites that require e-mail addresses for some reason or another. A typical example would be where an e-mail address is exchanged for desired information being advertised by the Web site. After which the host is free to use the e-mail address per the fine print agreement, which all of us typically don’t read.

Recently I read about a unique method that eliminates the risk of being spammed after providing an e-mail address to a Web site. Before I get into that though, I’d like to look at what’s being currently used.

Somewhat successful anti-spam methods

Spam filtering is the technology of choice to reduce/eliminate (depending on your viewpoint) e-mail spam. The only problem with this approach is that it’s after the fact. It’s also a never-ending battle to keep either a black list or white list up to date. There are heuristic spam filters, but they’re known for erratic results, more often than not capturing an important e-mail that you wanted to get through.

Keeping e-mail addresses a secret is another semi-successful method, but doing so is becoming virtually impossible in today’s Internet world. Besides there’s very little difference between keeping an e-mail address secret and not having an e-mail account.

Still that brings up an interesting point. Why not get several Web-hosted e-mail addresses, they’re free. Start getting too much spam, just close that particular e-mail account.

Sacrificial e-mail accounts seems plausible

Sounds like that might work. Even with all the effort to open the accounts, it’s still worth it to eliminate any amount of e-mail spam. At least that’s what I thought, but there’s a gotcha that I hadn’t considered.

Let’s use me as an example to explain the gotcha. I started getting all sorts of e-mail spam from one of my sacrificial accounts so I decided to close it. Great, I’ll show them. The next day I was surfing and wanted information from some Web sites, which happened to require e-mail addresses in exchange for the information. No problem, I used my new sacrificial e-mail account. All is well in my world.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how soon I started getting e-mail spam again. It didn’t take long before I came to the conclusion that my sacrificial e-mail addresses definitely weren’t the answer. Luckily for me, I came across Kurt Wismer’s article “How to Avoid Email Spam” on the anti-virus rant’s Web site.

Wismer explained the flaw in my theory about sacrificial e-mail accounts:

“A number of people are already familiar with the idea of a throw-away email address and often use hotmail or some other free webmail provider to make one. Unfortunately that leaves you with no way to know who leaked your address to the spammers. So when you need to change addresses (because the current throw-away address has gotten too spammy) you’ll have no way of knowing which organizations to not give the new address to.”

I’d go through all the work to change my e-mail address to a new sacrificial one and get caught again.

One-time e-mail addresses

Wismer goes on to explain that there are applications and Web hosts that allow the use of easily disposable e-mail addresses so a different one can be used for each site that’s visited:

“This is where true disposable email addresses come in. You need to use a different address for each site. You give an address to (whether it’s ebay, amazon, or your bank) so you can identify which one leaked the email address simply by looking at which email address got leaked. So that you only have to turn off that one address when it starts getting spammed rather than changing addresses and updating a potentially long list of sites with your new address.”

There are several services that will allow the use of disposable e-mail addresses. They are divided into two different categories. The first type is the most familiar:

A throwaway e-mail address is selected.
Give the address out to Web sites whenever needed.
Check the service’s home page or RSS feed for any responses.
If the return e-mail is spam, just delete the e-mail address.

I know of two services that work this way, mailinator.com and dodgeit.com. I prefer the next type, because the service forwards any return e-mail to my actual e-mail account. The steps used by these services are (courtesy of sneakemail.com):

Instead of typing in your real e-mail address, you select your Sneakemail bookmark, which pops up Sneakemail.com in a small window. You log in and click on Create a New Sneakemail Address.
Here you find a simple form. You label the Sneakemail address so that you will recognize where that particular e-mail address was used. Click Create, and a new and random e-mail address such as jlsjk02@sneakemail.com is created.
Paste jlsjk02@sneakemail.com into the form at the Web site. You never give out your real e-mail address.
Now when mail is sent to jlsjk02@sneakemail.com, it goes to a Sneakemail server where it’s forwarded to your real e-mail address. The e-mail is mostly unaltered, except the From line reads, From: Web sites email address |label you created| jlsjk02@sneakemail.com.
By looking at this line, you can see that it originally came from the Web site that you visited and was sent to the Sneakemail address you specifically labeled in your account.
If you begin receiving spam at this particular Web site and you were careful to give this address out only to that Web site, you know exactly where the spammer got this address. Also, you can go to Sneakemail.com and delete the e-mail address, eliminating any further spam.

I’ve tried two services that use this approach, sneakemail.com and mailnull.com, and had equal success with both. Mailnull.com also has an added feature called Web Contact Form, which is great for Web-site hosts that don’t want to advertise an e-mail address to avoid spam e-mail spiders but would like to give visitors the option of contacting them.

Final thoughts

I like these approaches. There’s a certain satisfaction in deleting an e-mail address knowing that any spam aimed at that address will be eliminated. I realize it’s an added step, but I’m willing to take it just to gain back some control.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

DNS Changer Trojan: Latest variant is certainly unique

2009-01-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Date: December 29th, 2008
Author: Michael Kassner

The developers of the DNS Changer trojan have been busy, three generations just in the past year. The newly released version is the one we need to worry about. Learn how to find and combat it.
——————————————————————————————————————-
As the name implies DNS Changer (Trojan.Flush.M) is a malware application that replaces the correct IP addresses used for the primary and secondary DNS servers with those designated by the attacker. Once that happens, any name resolution that’s required will be directed toward the attacker’s DNS servers. Depending on the circumstances, the attacker’s DNS servers could respond with correct or incorrect DNS records.

Why you may ask? It’s all about deception. If the attackers have their DNS servers respond correctly for a majority of name resolution requests, most users aren’t going to suspect anything. Besides what the attackers really want are name resolution requests for legitimate Web sites that they have created malicious copies of.

If such a request is received, the attacker’s DNS server will then send the name record for the malicious Web site instead of the correct name record. Once the user’s Web browser downloads the fake Web site, it’s relatively easy to use one of several exploits to get personal information about the user or download additional malware.

This trojan has some notoriety in that DNS Changer targets Mac OS X as well as Windows operating systems. Some experts even say that DNS Changer influenced Apple to publically advise (but quickly retract) Mac users that anti-virus software might be a good idea.

What’s also interesting about DNS Changer is the fairly intense scrutiny that it’s received throughout its existence. Security analysts by closely watching are learning right along with the malware coders what works and what doesn’t when it comes to malware propagation.

Even with three different versions of DNS Changer, the results are always the same. Compromised computers are configured to use the attacker’s DNS servers. Like the analysts, it’s a good idea for all of us to understand how the trojan works, simply because increased awareness reduces our risk.

Version 1

Security analysts first noticed version 1 in January of 2008. Version 1 tries to take advantage of users that are attempting to download movies from a Web site. It’s the typical scam where the Web site points out that a special file or codec needs to be installed on the user’s computer in order for the movie to play. In reality, the codec is the dropper that starts the installation of the trojan and after asking the user for admin rights will install DNS Changer on the computer.

Version 1 perplexed security analysts as it was almost totally benign. It changes the DNS settings on the computer under attack and reports back to specified command and control servers and that’s it. Still version 1 made trojan history in that it targeted Apple as well as Microsoft operating systems.

Version 2

Version 2 surfaced around July of 2008 using similar drive-by dropper techniques to get installed. After being installed on a computer, version 2 attempts to determine the management username and password of any gateway routers on the network. If DNS Changer successfully determines the admin credentials, it then has access to the gateway router’s Web-based configuration.

The next step is to change the gateway router’s DNS server settings to that of the attacker’s DNS servers. After which all of the computers that receive DHCP leases from the gateway router will get erroneous DNS server IP addresses and as with version 1 any name resolution requests will be sent to the attacker’s DNS server.

This tactic has merit if you think about it. Even if the trojan is removed from the computer name resolution remains compromised. As the gateway router continues to advertise the attacker’s DNS servers. Still, this version is losing its appeal. People are starting to understand the need to change default setting on their network-management devices, which removes version 2’s attack vector.

Version 3

Version 3 was just discovered this month and the malware coders seem to have gotten it right this time. The trojan sets up ndisprot.sys (NDIS protocol driver) as a registered service which in turn creates a working DHCP server on the compromised computer. The rogue DHCP server then tries to intercept DHCPDISCOVER packets from the remaining computers on the network, ultimately supplying the querying computer with DHCP responses containing IP addresses of the attacker’s DNS servers.

The trick here is for the rogue DHCP server to respond faster than the authorized DHCP server. If the DHCP client accepts the DHCP query response from the rogue DHCP server, it’s all over. The rogue DHCP server supplies an internal network IP address with a very long lease time as well as IP addresses for the attacker’s primary and secondary DNS server.

Version 3 has all sorts of implications. For example, what if a computer compromised with version 3 of DNS Changer connected to an open Wi-Fi hot spot? Any new arrivals may get erroneous DNS information from the rogue DHCP server. This variant also has a much better chance of succeeding, because it doesn’t have to try and guess default management credentials.

Thing to watch out for

SANS Internet Storm Center notes that “it’s probably wise to at least monitor traffic to 85.255.112.0 to .255, if not block it.” For now this appears to be the IP address range that’s being used by the malicious DNS servers. On individual computers, the user can easily determine the IP addresses of the primary and secondary DNS servers by using the ipconfig (Windows), ifconfig (Linux), or system preferences (Mac).

As for rogue DHCP servers on the network, there are applications such as DHCP Find that locate and report all pertinent information about any clandestine DHCP servers that are on the same network.

It appears that most anti-virus applications have signatures for all three versions of DNS Changer and that a good thing. So, make sure your AV application is up to date. Even so, please be cautious as DNS redirection can occur even if your computer is clean.

Final thoughts

All variations of DNS Changer are in the wild, but version 3 is the one to watch out for. If possible, I’d suggest setting up the computer’s working network interface to use static IP addresses for the DNS servers. OpenDNS is highly recommended for this and their Web site explains exactly what to do. OpenDNS also eliminates several other potential problems such as Kaminsky’s bug.

If static DNS server IP addresses aren’t an option, typical of larger networks, the monitoring of traffic destined for the 85.255.112.0 to .255 subnet becomes important. Using some sort of rogue DHCP server monitor is also equally important.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Use a single mailing list to send out two entirely different letters

2008-10-17T04:43:00.001-07:00

Date: August 26th, 2008
Author: Mary Ann Richardson

Thanks to Word’s mail merge fields, you can automate the process of producing different letters based on criteria you specify. This example shows how it works.

When you need to send two or more different letters to your clients based on a value in a field in the client database, you don’t need to compile two separate mailing lists. Using the If… Then…Else rule with the INCLUDETEXT field, you can process both letters at once. For example, say you have saved two documents, one containing the body of the letter for clients located in Missouri and a second containing the body of the letter for clients located in Illinois. To create one mailing that will send the appropriate letter to each client, follow these steps:

Open your mail merge document, which contains the merge fields and text common to both letters.

Click below the greeting, where you want to insert the body of your letter.

Click the drop-down arrow of the Insert Word Field button in the Mail Merge toolbar. (In Word 2007, click Rules in the Write & Insert Fields group of the Mailings tab.)

Click If…Then…Else.

Click the Field Name box drop-down arrow and select State (Figure A).

Figure A

Click in the Comparison box and select Equal To.

Click in the Compare To box and type MO.

Click in the Insert This Text box and type This is the text for MO.

In the Otherwise Insert This Text box, type This is the text for IL.

Click OK.

Right-click the field in the document and select Toggle Field Codes to display all the field codes (Figure B).

Figure B

Select the following text inside the quotes: This is the text for MO. (Do not select the quotes.)

Go to Insert | Field. (In Word 2007, click Quick Parts in the Text Group of the Insert tab.)

Click Field.

Under Field Names, select IncludeText (Figure C).

Figure C

Click in the Filename Or URL box and type the full pathname for the file containing the body of the letter for Missouri clients.

Click OK.

Right-click the field and select Toggle Field Codes.

Select the following text inside the quotes: This is the text for IL. (Again, do not select the quotes.)

Repeat steps 13 through 15.

Click in the Filename Or URL box and type the full pathname for the file containing the body of the letter for the Illinois clients.

Click OK.

When you right-click the field and toggle the field codes, your rule should look like the one in Figure D, substituting your filenames for each of the letters. When you run the mail merge, Word will print the letter that pertains to the value of the State field in each client record. (If you prefer to enter the field codes entirely from the keyboard, be sure to use Ctrl + F9 to enter the brackets.)

Figure D

Note that you can use the If …Then… Else rule with INCLUDETEXT to print out different letters for any number of values in the field. Simply create a different If…Then…Else rule for each value, with INCLUDETEXT as the first variable and blank (nothing between the quotes) for the second variable.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

10 things you should do before, during, and after reinstalling Windows

2008-10-17T04:32:00.000-07:00

Date: October 15th, 2008
Author: Alan Norton

There are some very good reasons why you might want to reinstall Microsoft Windows. Whether it is 2000, XP, or Vista, the registry can become corrupted or it can accumulate settings for programs long-since forgotten, leading to sluggish performance. Or you can find yourself with a stubborn Trojan Horse. The only way to be 100 percent sure that you have rid yourself of some particularly nasty viruses is to reload Windows.

I have wanted to document the steps needed to properly reinstall Windows for a long time now. I always end up missing something after the reload and find myself scrambling to find IDs, passwords, configuration settings, or favorite Web sites lost in the reinstall.

Be sure to set aside a large block of time to do the reinstall. Don’t do it before a term paper is due or your business presentation slide show. A weekend is a good time.

An OS reinstall is also a good time to decide to upgrade. If you want to upgrade to Vista, there are a lot of options available to you. For more information about these options and the pros and cons of Vista, please read Vista Confusion.

This article focuses on Vista but the concepts apply to all versions of Window. This blog post is also available in PDF format in a TechRepublic download.

When you run the Windows Vista set-up program, you will see a window with two options: Update and Custom (Advanced). The Update option is not available when reinstalling Windows Vista. Under the Custom option, you will be doing what is known as a Clean Install. Follow these 10 steps and you will, hopefully, not find yourself having to scramble for files or information that you need after the reinstall.

Please Note: I have gone to great care to test and retest this documentation. It is still possible that there are errors or missing information or that I have not covered your specific reinstallation configuration. Please provide feedback in the forum if you find any issues.

Before reinstallation

1. Document your login IDs, passwords, and settings.

If you are using your browser to store the passwords for Web sites, you will be in for a rude awakening after reinstalling Windows — they will be gone. Your browser is a poor place to keep your Web site IDs and passwords.

One possible option is to store your information in a spreadsheet. However, if you keep your IDs and passwords in a password-protected Excel or OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet, be aware that there are programs that can recover/discover the password for most .xls files. I suggest you use stronger encryption techniques to better protect Excel 2002, 2003, and 2007 spreadsheets.

If you do have Excel 2002 or later, secure your spreadsheet from hackers and then make sure you don’t lose your password! Next, add your IDs and passwords. Create a row in your spreadsheet for your ISP, e-mail, Web hosting company, personal Web sites, and any other password-protected logins. This file is also a good place to keep your e-mail POP3, SMTP, and newsserver name.

If you don’t have Excel you can keep the IDs and passwords on a piece of paper securely locked away in a safe place or you can choose one of the software alternatives available. RoboForm is a popular way to secure your browser login user name and password but is not freeware. GuardID Systems offers a product called ID Vault that is supposed to be a secure way to store your IDs and passwords — for a small price. Do not keep your IDs and passwords in a Notepad or Word document unsecured and “in the clear,” readable by anyone with access to your computer or to a hacker.

2. Export your e-mail and address book, bookmarks/favorites, and cookies.

You can export your e-mail and contacts from Outlook Express, Outlook, MS Mail, and most third-party e-mail programs. I have a folder called Mail Exports under my Archive folder where I export my e-mail. You can export from the various mailboxes. Select the Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, and Drafts. Unless you have a special reason otherwise, you can exclude the Deleted and Junk mail boxes.

I don’t bother exporting my contacts. If I need a contact, I pull it up from an archived e-mail. You might want to export your contacts though, especially if you have a large number.

I used to always forget about bookmarks for my favorite Web sites. I had to spend time searching for a favorite site after Windows was reinstalled. I made a promise that I would export my IE Favorites and Firefox Bookmarks the next time I did a Windows reinstall. You can also export feeds and cookies.

3. Download the latest applications and drivers.

There is a core set of applications that you know you will be using. One good way to identify these core apps is to take a look at your desktop and Start menu. You can save an image of your desktop to a non-system folder and use that as a guide to reinstalling your core apps. You can also look at your installed programs in Programs and Features located in the Control Panel.

I have a logical drive named Documents and on that drive a folder called Downloads. I keep all my apps and drivers downloaded from the Internet there. These add up in a hurry. To keep it organized, I have a lot of subfolders including one for Apps and one for Drivers.

Once you have a list of your core apps, download the latest versions from the Internet and save them to your \Downloads\Apps folder or a non-system folder of your choice.

Some of your core apps may be on DVD, CD, or even floppy. Pull out your media and set it in a stack ready for reinstallation later.

Download the latest version of your favorite anti-virus software. I like Alwil Software’s Avast! The free home version includes real-time protection for e-mail, instant message, Web browser, Outlook Exchange, and four other types of real-time protection. If you can, download a file containing the latest virus definitions.

How do you know what drivers you will need? There are two basic types of drivers. I separate them here because updating them is usually handled differently:

Motherboard Specific Drivers - Auto Update

System and Chipset (usually Intel)
Onboard Sound
Onboard Video (some motherboards)
Onboard LAN

Many motherboard manufactures and computer vendors have an application that will check all the motherboard-related drivers to see if they are current. If your manufacturer or vendor provides this type of application, go to their Web site and download the latest version now.

If you don’t have access to an update utility, you have to manually identify the motherboard-related drivers that you will need:

Other drivers - Manual Update

Sound Card (if your computer has a sound card)
Video Card (if your computer has a video card)
Modem
RAID (Intel Matrix RAID, JMicron RAID, or other if you have a RAID-controller card)
Other Unique Devices

If you do not already know the type of video card, sound card, modem, RAID, or other unique devices in your system, you can identify them by opening the Device Manager (Figure A).

Figure A

The expanded items in the Device Manager show the devices installed on my computer requiring a manual driver download and install.

If you aren’t running RAID, you should not need to identify any Storage controllers. If you are running RAID, you will need to have the driver file available on a floppy disk or CD if installing XP or previous versions of Windows. You also need to know the exact driver/controller name — Intel 82801 GR/GH SATA RAID for my system. Unlike previous versions of Windows, Vista recognizes your hard drives during setup and you can get your RAID drivers from there.

I don’t have a sound card in my system, but if you do, expand the Sound, video and game controllers item to determine the sound card installed in your computer.

Mike Smith has put together a handy Windows Reinstall Checklist (PDF) that you might want to print and use.

After identifying the drivers you need to install, download them and save them to a non-system logical drive. Do not pull them from old floppies or CDs unless you are sure that new drivers are not available.

4. Housecleaning and backing up your data.

Now is the time to clean up your hard drive by deleting unneeded or unwanted files. Cleaning up years of accumulated files that you no longer need or want is no fun. If you want to make it less of a chore, you can start a week or more in advance of the reinstall. Spend one or two hours each day deleting the files you are sure that you want to send to the great bit-bucket in the sky.

This is also an excellent time to do a thorough anti-virus scan of all your drives. You don’t want to back up infected files.

Then do a full backup, which is easy for me to say, right? You can spend hours doing a full backup, but this is a good investment of your time. Back up anything that you don’t want to lose. It is especially important if you are one of the unfortunate ones without a Windows OEM disc or a vendor reinstall disc. Many computer vendors put the Windows setup and installation files on a separate partition or folder on the hard drive. If you have a vendor built computer, Windows Reinstall - OEM Computers is a must-read.

If you will be reinstalling Vista on a different partition, you will need almost 15GB of free space minimum on a logical drive/partition to load Vista. I like to create a partition of 30-40GB for the 32-bit version of Vista and 40-50GB for the 64 bit version. Do a full format of the logical drive/partition that will be your new system partition so that you will have a clean Vista-ready partition.

Warning! If you will be dual booting using XP and Vista, do not use XP to create the partition that you will install Vista on. For a very helpful guide to issues dual booting XP and Vista please read Dual Booting Windows Vista & Windows XP by Bert Kinney.

5. Service packs

As of October 2008, the latest service packs are SP3 for XP and SP1 for Vista. There are five ways to retrieve and install the latest service packs. Some of these methods reduce or eliminate your risk to security vulnerabilities. Some are alternative methods you can use if you are having problems installing the service pack from Windows Update. If you are not concerned about either of these two issues, you can skip this section entirely and move on to item 6.

There are five ways to get the latest Windows service pack:

Download it via Windows Update
Download it from the Microsoft Web site
Order it on CD/DVD disc
Order the latest copy of Windows that includes the latest service pack (should be noted in the product description)
Install Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or the System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) if available and if the computer is networked on a local Intranet

The update is much smaller when done through the Update utility found in the Control Panel. I planned to recommend that it is best to download the latest service pack and install it manually. Doing this would install important security updates in the service pack before connecting to the Internet. After a request for information from Microsoft I received the following response as to why that is not recommended:

“Microsoft strongly recommends using Windows Update to download and install Windows Vista SP1 on single PCs.

If a customer prefers to install Windows Vista SP1 from a DVD and has Internet access, they should first visit Windows Update and install all recommended and optional drivers and updates (the SP1 DVDs will have this advice on their packaging). To order Windows Vista SP1 on DVD, which costs $3.50 for shipping and handling, customers may visit the SP1 order page.

Customers should know that the install program on the DVD does not include the same logic that Windows Update uses to check for device drivers prior to SP1 installation. To make this change, the installer would need to be substantially modified, which would take a significant amount of time. Additionally, one of the benefits of Windows Update is that it can dynamically add or remove filtered devices over time, as is necessary. If the DVD were to ship with the set of filters included, they could not be added or modified as the driver landscape changed over time.

We also want customers to know that if they have any problems during or after installing SP1, they can call Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS) free of charge with questions or for help.”

Note the emphasis added. Both options require connecting to the Internet before installing SP1.

I spoke with a Microsoft technician specializing in Windows Update. He informed me that there are two primary reasons why you might want to manually install SP1. I added reason three as my reason for a manual install.

You cannot download SP1 from Windows Update or it will not install properly.
During high demand times SP1 may not be available to some users for up to a week or possibly longer due to a limitation placed on the number of downloads.
You want the security updates included in SP1 installed before connecting to the Internet.

The technical representative understood why I might want to install SP1 so that my system would be more secure before connecting to the Internet. He said it was possible to do this. However, SP1 does not include all the security patches since its release, even if you download it today. You will still have to start Windows Update to get these security updates.

In case you were wondering, SP1 installs 23 important security updates and 551 hot fixes, and some of those security updates are cumulative. If you want a closer look at the details, you can review Hotfixes and Security Updates Included in Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

The service packs for Vista are large — 434.5 MB for the 32-bit version and 726.5 MB for the 64-bit version. If you are still using dial-up you might be able to download the 32-bit version, but it would be easier to have a friend with broadband download the 64-bit version for you. Read the knowledge base article KB936330 carefully before installing the service pack.

I downloaded the Vista 64 bit SP1, and it took approximately 42 hours over four days. Oh the sacrifices I make for you, my patient reader! Use a download manager if you want to download the Vista service pack. I don’t recommend you do this over dial-up. At $3.50, just order the SP1 CD or DVD.

During reinstallation

6. Load Windows.

Tip: When installing Vista in Windows, the installer takes over the entire screen. But you can still have access to Windows and features like Disk Manager by clicking on the [Windows] key. I have not had problems doing this when stuck and needed information or wanted to delete files on the target partition or format the target partition, but it might be dangerous to do while the installer is busy.

Don’t forget to have your product key handy. If you have a RAID setup you will need to load the RAID drivers (be sure to get the right driver — 32 bit or 64 bit) and know the RAID controller name. For more information about installing Windows on a RAID system see Want Speed and Data Safety? Consider RAID. Rarely, you may have to have drivers for a device where Windows will be installed. As an example, some older motherboards require that you load SATA drivers in order to recognize SATA drives.

Perhaps the best way to reinstall Windows is the simple and straightforward “insert Windows disc into optical drive, format target partition and install to target partition” method. You should, if you can, start with a nice clean partition to install Windows on.

You can reinstall Vista from within your current Vista installation in addition to the traditional CD/DVD bootup install. If reinstalling from within Windows, connect to the Internet so the installer can check online for the latest installer updates.

You can replace your existing installation, even from within the existing installation, or you can load Windows onto a different partition that you prepared in item four. If you do reinstall Windows in a different partition, the original installation must be removed per the EULA. You cannot format the target partition if it is the same as the one with the current Windows installation.

Starting with Vista, the system boot files and boot manager are located in a folder called Boot. Gone is boot.ini, and replacing it is something called a Boot Configuration Data store(BCD). If you are running a dual-boot system the Boot folder may not be located on logical drive C:\. The boot files are system files and will be hidden unless you have unchecked Hide protected operating system files when configuring Explorer. If you want to load Windows onto a different logical drive, be careful that you do not delete the Boot folder when removing the original Windows installation. You also do not want to format the logical drive where the Boot folder is located.

Tip: Microsoft includes a comprehensive help file called Installing Windows. It is a good idea to read this before reinstalling Windows.

After reinstallation

7. Reconfigure personal settings.

I have a routine that I follow — one that I developed over the years. Personal settings are, well personal. I have a list of my personal settings that I like to make immediately upon Windows startup. I offer these changes as suggestions and not recommendations.

Read How to Personalize Windows Vista for a step-by-step how-to guide or click on the specific topic below:

For those of you who are Vista experts, you might notice that there is something conspicuously missing from my list. I do not recommend changing the default settings that leave User Account Control (UAC) turned on, but this is how to turn it off if you must.

If the Windows personalization aren’t enough for you, there is a freeware version of TweakVI for Vista. You can easily spend the better part of a day going through all the tweaks available, and some of them are even useful. If you have kids and they have a computer, there are some tweaks that are useful for hiding administrative tools that you don’t want them to access. Lo and behold, you can even get your Vista product key plus lots of other detailed information about your system.

You no doubt have a list of your own, many of which have long-since been forgotten that you suddenly remember after reloading Windows. You might want to keep a list of these personalized setting so that you will have it the next time you have to reinstall Windows.

8. Enable previous versions and create a “clean install” restore point.

You will need to enable Previous Versions if you are using this feature in Vista Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise for a specific logical drive or folder. If you aren’t using Previous Versions, you should be, especially if you are a programmer. For information about how to turn this feature on in Vista, see Previous Versions in Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise in the #2 Give examples section.

I always like to immediately create a restore point once Windows is installed and personalized. You can create a restore point in the same Window that Previous Versions is enabled.

Warning! If you are dual booting XP or Server 2003 and Vista or Server 2008, XP / Server 2003 will delete the Vista / Server 2008 restore points. If Previous Versions is enabled, the shadow copies of your files will also be gone. There is no simple solution for this. Be sure that Vista is installed properly before booting into XP in case you need to use a system restore point.

XP users with SP1 or greater and Server 2003 users need not feel left out. They have a similar feature called Shadow Copies.

9. Configure network, install service packs, patches, and security updates.

There are other security updates and patches that may be required. For example, I had a Micron Millenium PC that had an atapi.sys patch that had to be installed immediately after installing Windows.

Install all security updates, patches, and fixes before connecting to the Internet.

How you install SP1, your modem drivers, anti-virus, malware, firewall etc. (items 9.a - 9.e below) depends on which method you choose. Please use the instructions column of Table A to get the right order for the method you have chosen. If you skipped item 5, use the instructions for method one.

Table A — The Five Vista SP1 Installation Methods

Method	Instructions	Notes
Method One Windows Update	9.a Install anti-virus, anti-virus definitions, malware 9.b Install modem drivers and set up network connection 9.c Run Windows Update 9.e Create Restore Point	The Windows Update installer will have to download files to update itself, and then it will have to restart.
Method Two Firewall Application Blocking Windows Update	9.a Install anti-virus, anti-virus definitions, malware, and firewall9.b Install modem drivers and set up network connection 9.c Run Windows Update 9.e Create Restore Point	Comodo Firewall ProThe Windows Update installer will have to download files to update itself, and then it will have to restart.
Method Three Windows Update Manual Install	9.a Install anti-virus, anti-virus definitions, malware9.b Install modem drivers and set up network connection 9.c Run Windows Update 9.d Install SP1 manually 9.e Create Restore Point	The Windows Update installer will have to download files to update itself, and then it will have to restart.
Method Four Manual Install Windows Update	9.d Install SP1 manually9.e Create Restore Point 9.a Install anti-virus, anti-virus definitions, malware 9.b Install modem drivers and set up network connection 9.c Run Windows Update
Method Five (Stand-alone) Manual Install	9.d Install SP1 manually9.e Create Restore Point

9.a Install anti-virus, malware, and firewall (optional)

Install your anti-virus, spyware, and adware. Restart the computer if prompted before connecting to the Internet. Don’t forget to configure the anti-virus app to set the scan sensitivity. Set it to High or maximum for a thorough scan and set the real-time protection to High. If you have a file containing virus definitions, load these now.

If you have a third-party firewall you want to use instead of Windows Firewall, install it now.

9.b Setup and configure network connection.

Install your modem/network drivers. Create and configure your network connection(s).

9.c Run Window Update to scan for new drivers and updates.

Next, connect to the Internet and use Windows Update to scan for drivers and updates. Use Windows Server Update Services or the System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) if available and if the computer is networked on a local Intranet. The discussion below is centered on those using Windows Update.

It had been so long since I started Windows Update manually that I had completely forgotten about its strange behavior. The Windows Update Window will show that it is looking for updates, and then it will close. It took me awhile to remember that although it appears that Windows Update has died a look at the notification icons on the taskbar shows that Windows Update is busy downloading updates (Figure B).

Figure B

Task Manager shows Windows Update process wuaudt.exe running.

When I ran Windows Update after installing SP1, there were 28 important updates (Figure C) and thirteen of those were security updates (Figure D). I asked if there was a way to get the security updates created after SP1 in a downloadable cumulative security update file and was told that they are available only via Windows Update.

Figure C

Windows Update Window shows 28 important updates, totaling 159.4 MB after manually installing Vista SP1.

Figure D

Clicking View Available Updates reveals the 28 important updates since the release of SP1 — already marked for update.

9.d Install SP1 manually (optional).

Install the service pack from either a disc or a file. A manual install of Vista SP1 (Figure E) requires about 7GB of free space for the 32-bit version and 13GB for the 64-bit version.

Figure E

These updates are installed after manually installing Vista SP1.

9.e Create a new Restore Point.

After SP1 is successfully loaded, I immediately create another restore point manually and call it Clean Install with SP1 or a similar identifiable name. I do this before installing any drivers and apps. I know I will be installing a lot of drivers and apps and some of those, like video card drivers and apps, may be problematic. If I begin to have problems after loading numerous apps and drivers, it is nice to be able to go back to the Clean Install with SP1 point and restart loading the apps and drivers.

Please read Remove All Remnants of the Windows Vista SP1 Installation by Greg Shultz for instructions about how you can recover disk space gobbled up by the SP1 installer.

10. Reload your drivers and apps.

One thing is almost certain now that Windows has been reinstalled — some of the generic drivers that Windows has installed are not optimal. If you are lucky enough to have an auto-update utility from your motherboard manufacturer, install the latest version that you downloaded earlier, connect to the Internet, and fire up the update app.

Do NOT update the BIOS. This option may be available in your motherboard update app and it may be called a BIOS update, but it is more commonly known as a BIOS flash. A BIOS flash is not a driver update. You also want to avoid any option labeled Update All.

Next, pull out your list of drivers requiring manual installation and install them now.

I keep my apps on a separate logical drive labeled Vista x64 Apps. It is a good idea to now go to the logical drive/folder where you keep your app files and wipe it clean. This is the fastest way to clean out the deadwood files that you will never use again. If you have all your apps on one logical drive and nothing else is stored there, it is best to format the logical drive before reloading your apps. Some programs like your newsreader usually store information like group messages on this logical drive. Export this information to your \Archive folder if you don’t want to lose it before formatting the logical drive.

If you are running Intel’s Matrix RAID, install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.

It is finally time to reload all your applications. Take a peek at the desktop JPEG you created earlier or use a list of your core apps to determine what apps you want to install. Install to a fully formatted non-system logical drive.

There are two basic strategies when reloading your apps. You can reload the apps you use the most and load additional apps when needed or load a full list of apps up front. I prefer to load the core apps and load additional apps only when needed.

Take it from experience — it is not a good idea to load a lot of apps requiring a system restart and postpone the restart. Install a few at a time, restart the computer, and see if all is still well. If you do find a problem, you can return to the last known good restore point or uninstall the offending app. If you find no problems, consider manually creating a new restore point.

Don’t forget to reload your e-mail messages, e-mail contacts, browser favorites, and other data that you exported earlier back into your newly reloaded apps.

The final word

Even a casual glance at this list reveals that loading Windows is the easy part of your reinstall project. The prep work and configuration will occupy most of your time; plan the actual date and time of the install accordingly.

There is one more final bit of housekeeping to do. If you reinstalled Windows in a folder with an existing installation of Windows, you should decide what to do with the Windows.old folder. You will not find this folder if there was insufficient space on your system partition during the Windows setup.

If you are reinstalling Vista, the Windows.old folder will be too large for a single-layer DVD but may fit on a dual-layer DVD. You can archive it to a backup drive, or if you have followed the steps carefully in this article and are satisfied that you have all your Windows-specific data, simply zap it into oblivion.

Congratulations! By completing the 10 steps outlined here, you have prepared your computer for years of maintenance-free service. You have also protected yourself from data loss due to a hard drive failure.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

10 quick tips to make Linux networking easier

2008-08-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Author: Jack Wallen

Linux makes networking simple and secure — if you know a few tricks. Jack Wallen shares some pointers to help admins knock out various Linux networking tasks with a minimum of effort.

Networking is a must-have on all levels of computing. Be it home or corporate, networking is the one aspect of computing that is, without a shadow of a doubt, a deal breaker. And with some help, the Linux operating system can be the king of networking, in both ease of use and security. But that doesn’t mean the average (and sometimes even the above-average) user can’t use some help. These tips should help make Linux networking go a little more smoothly.

#1: Make use of your /etc/hosts file

The hosts file is used for static host names and offers a quick way to create networking shortcuts. One of the first things I do on a Linux machine is add various machines to the /etc/hosts file. This saves me from having to type a lot of IP addresses. The format of an address for this file is:

IP_ADDRESS NICKNAME

For example, if I use one machine for a backup location at IP address 192.168.1.101, I could enter:

192.168.1.101 backups

Now if I have to connect to that machine, say with secure shell, I can just type ssh -v -l username backups to make the connection.

#2: Keep out unwanted users with /etc/hosts.deny

Yet another helpful “hosts” file is the hosts.deny file. This file allows you to create access control based on client or server names. This is helpful in many ways. You can block blacklist domains from gaining access to your network or you can block certain users from gaining access to certain machines. But no matter how you use it, the format is the same.

Let’s say you want to block the domain bad.domain.name from gaining access to a machine. To do this, open up the /etc/hosts.deny file (you will need either root or sudo privileges) and add this to the bottom of the file:

ALL: bad.domain.name

Save it and you’re good to go.

#3: Let WICD handle your wireless woes

I can’t tell you how many times I have found myself banging my head against a server rack. For the longest time Linux and wireless networking were simply not good bedfellows. But that is quickly becoming a thing of the past. With modern distributions, wireless card detection has become a no-brainer. The issue now is encryption.

Many of the Linux wireless tools have trouble when any encryption is involved. But the WICD tool takes care of this. Now, connecting to WPA or WPA2 encrypted wireless networks is simple. Add to that the amazingly easy GUI employed by WICD and you can check one nasty headache off your list.

#4: Download and install a front end for iptables

You can’t assume that just because you are using Linux, you are secure. You still need some security. And the best security you can have with Linux is iptables. The only problem with iptables is that it can be challenging (especially for the new user). Fortunately, there are outstanding graphical front ends for iptables. One of the best is Firestarter. This front end makes employing iptables a simple process, so you won’t keep bypassing security out of fear of the learning curve.

#5: Get to know the command-line tools

Let’s face it: If you’re running Linux, there might be an instance where you will need to restart your network and you won’t have access to the GUI. In this particular case, knowing that /etc/rc.d/network restart will do the trick will solve your problem. Of course, that’s not the only networking command-line tool. You’ll also want to know tools like dhclient, traceroute, samba, ping, and netstat.

#6: Hard-code your DNS server addresses

I don’t know how many times I have had networking problems that pointed directly at missing DNS server addresses. To this end, I have made it habit to hard-code my DNS servers into the /etc/resolv.conf file. The format of the entries is:

nameserver IP_ADDRESS

where IP_ADDRESS is the actual address of your name server. You can have as many name servers listed as you need.

#7: Install ClamAV

If you run a mail server, an antivirus is essential. Even though you are running Linux and you know your mail server is immune to 99.9999999% of the viruses in the wild, that doesn’t mean all those clients that download mail from your server are immune. With this in mind, you will make your administrating life far easier if you install an antivirus like ClamAV onto your Linux mail server. It will give you peace of mind and enough security to ensure that your users most likely won’t come knocking at your office door demanding retribution.

#8: Know how to configure an IP address manually

Yes, there are GUI tools for this. And yes, they all work very well. But as you will eventually find if you administer any operating system long enough, it’s never bad to have backup tools to help you do your job. And one of the best backup tools for Linux networking is the ifconfig command. Not only will this command return to you (with no arguments) your network card information, it will also allow you to configure your network card manually. This is done like so:

/sbin/ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255

Of course, you will want to plug in your particular information as it applies to the above.

#9: Get to know your /etc/interfaces (Ubuntu) or /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts (Red Hat/Fedora) file(s)

This file (or files) is where the information for each network interface is stored. The format for this file is:

auto lo

iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0

iface eth0 inet dhcp

auto eth1

iface eth1 inet dhcp

auto eth2

iface eth2 inet dhcp

auto ath0

iface ath0 inet dhcp

auto wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

As you can see above, all of my interfaces are set up for dhcp. This is my laptop, which goes with me everywhere, so dhcp is a necessity. But what if I use the wired interface in only one location? For that, I can hard-code the information here under the eth0 interface like so (for Ubuntu):

iface eth0 inet static

       address 192.168.1.10

       netmask 255.255.255.0

       broadcast 192.168.1.255

       network 192.168.1.104

       gateway 192.168.1.1

Or like so (For Red Hat/Fedora):

DEVICE=eth0

BOOTPROTO=static

BROADCAST=192.168.1.255

IPADDR=192.168.1.10

NETMASK=255.255.255.0

NETWORK=192.168.1.104.0

ONBOOT=yes

Again, you would plug in all the information suited to your network and your device.

#10: Don’t forget smbpasswd when setting up Samba

Nearly every time clients come to me with Samba issues, the problem is that they haven’t added the user and a password with smbpasswd. Without doing this, the user will not be able to authenticate to the Samba server. And when using smbpasswd to add a new user, you have to add the “-a” switch like so:

smbpasswd -a USERNAME

After you hit Enter, you will be asked for the users’ password (twice). NOTE: You must have root access (or sudo) to pull this off.

These 10 quick tips should help make various aspects of Linux networking easier. You never know when you’ll wind up having to rely on the command line or you’ll need to enlist the help of a graphical front end for iptables. Now, if you do, you should be good to go.

By:

Amresh Anjan

Create a title style in Word to save time and mouse clicks

2008-08-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Author: Mary Ann Richardson

It’s easy to define a custom style for your document titles — and it will greatly simplify the task of formatting title text. Mary Ann Richardson explains how to do it.

Are you finding that after you type and format a title or heading and press Enter, you need to manually change the paragraph text back to the Normal style? You can save a lot of time by creating a custom heading or title style that does all the work for you. Follow these steps to create a custom Title style:

Open a blank document and type Title.
Select Title and click the Bold and Center buttons on the Formatting toolbar or Home tab.
Change the font to 22 points.
Click anywhere in your title text.
Go to View | Task Pane, click the arrow in the New Document box, and select Styles And Formatting. In Word 2007, click the Styles dialog launcher in the Styles group of the Home tab.
Click the New Style button in the Task Pane. Figure A shows the New Styles button in Word.)

Figure A

Click in the Name box and enter My Title.
Select Normal from the Style For Following Paragraph drop-down list.
If you want this style available to all documents you work with, select the Add To Template check box. In Word 2007, click the New Documents Based On This Template button (Figure B).

Figure B

Click OK.

The My Title style should appear in your Task Pane. Now when you type your title text, click My Title in the Styles Task pane. Word automatically formats the title text for you. When you press Enter to begin typing the next paragraph, Word will automatically switch back to the Normal style. You can use the same procedure for creating custom headings that save keystrokes.

By:

Amresh Anjan

Import and convert Web text to columns in an Excel worksheet

2008-08-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

Author: Mary Ann Richardson

options, you can bring Web table data into a worksheet in a format you can use. This example walks through the process.

Excel makes it easy to extract table data from a Web page — but to be of use in a worksheet, you will need to convert the text tables into columns. For example, say you need to chart U.S. GDP data from 2002 through 2006. First, you would use a Web query to import the data from the Web. Then, you’d extract the data into two separate columns. Follow these steps:

Open a blank worksheet.
Go to Data | Import External Data and then click New Web Query. In Excel 2007, click the Data tab, click Get External Data, and then click From Web.
Enter the Web page URL http://forecasts.org/data/index.htm (Figure A).

Figure A

Scroll to Gross Domestic Product.
Click the arrow next to the Gross National Product Table. (If there are no arrows next to tables on the page, click Show Icons twice at the top of the dialog box to display them.)
Click the Import button (Figure B).

Figure B

Click Existing Worksheet, if necessary.
Click the cell on the worksheet where you want the upper-left corner of the Web data to appear and click OK.
Select the data cells containing the text you want to convert.
Go to Data | Text To Columns. (In Excel 2007, click Text To Column in the Data Tools Group on the Data tab.)
Select Delimited (Figure C).

Figure C

Click Next.
Click to select the Space check box under Delimiters (Figure D).

Figure D

Click Next.
Click Finish.

The data from the Web is now ready to chart (Figure E).

Figure E

By:

Amre Anjan

10+ legal terms you should know if your company is involved in a lawsuit

2008-07-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Author: Calvin Sun

If your company gets caught up in a lawsuit, you’ll probably need to work with lawyers — even if the matter doesn’t involve something IT did or failed to do. Here are 10 legal concepts that are likely to come into play.

Let’s face it: We live in a society that loves to sue. Because much evidence is created or stored on computers, lawsuits involving companies invariably require work by its IT staff. I understand that most of you are IT pros, not lawyers. However, if your company becomes involved in a lawsuit, chances are you will have to work with lawyers, even if the matter doesn’t involve something you personally did or failed to do. Below are 10 terms that you might encounter during that process, along with their meanings.

To help put these terms in the proper context, let’s say that as part of a “reduction in force” initiative at your company, Stan, a manager there, laid off John, one of his employees. Convinced that his layoff was unlawful, John now has retained an attorney and has filed a suit against the company.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Discovery (electronic discovery, e-discovery)

Discovery is the process by which parties to a lawsuit (i.e., the sides in conflict) show each other the evidence they have and identify the witnesses they’re going to call. You know how, when playing poker, everyone lays down their cards after they’re all finished with their bets? The same principle applies with discovery, except it occurs at the beginning rather than at the end. In other words, that stuff you see in the movies or on television about the “surprise witness” is a total myth.

In our example, John might be seeking copies of his performance reviews, e-mail messages between managers in your company (including Stan) that discussed him, and other information. Because much of this information exists in electronic form, the discovery process is also called “electronic discovery” or “e-discovery.”

#2: Litigation hold

Most companies have a policy regarding retention and destruction of documents. Their IT departments have policies and practices regarding how often they back up computer data and the amount of time before backup tapes are reused, thus destroying data already on that tape.

A litigation hold is a notice to the company that these normal policies should be suspended because litigation is reasonably expected. Continuing our earlier example, suppose a backup tape contained an e-mail from Stan to the director of human resources, and it discussed John’s firing. Suppose that the tape was scheduled to be recycled, thereby erasing that e-mail. The attorney for your company might issue a litigation hold specifying that that particular tape be set aside and kept separate from the normal backup cycle.

A major objective of a litigation hold is to prevent spoliation (see below).

#3: Spoliation

What did we say when we were in grade school about why we didn’t have our homework? “The dog ate it.”

Spoliation refers to the loss of or damage to information that was requested via discovery or that was subject to a hold. Suppose John has asked for particular electronic document. However, for whatever reason, that document can’t be produced, even though everyone knows it existed at one time. As you can imagine, the judge and John will be upset if you tell them that spoliation has occurred. If the spoliation was done in bad faith (that is, a party destroyed evidence despite knowing it wasn’t supposed to), a judge could take even more severe measures, such as imposing sanctions (see below).

#4: Sanction

A sanction is an action that a judge takes (such as imposition of a fine) to punish a side that fails to comply with that judge’s orders. During the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Judge Lance Ito issued a sanction against prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden, and immediately afterward, both of them were seen opening their checkbooks and writing checks payable to the court.

Another sanction is the “adverse inference instruction,” which a judge can give to a jury in certain cases where spoliation has occurred. In such an instruction, the judge tells the jury that it may infer that that evidence did exist, and that it can make decisions based on such an inference. This type of instruction is adverse to one side because it goes against that side’s interests.

Suppose that in the earlier example, Stan kept a diary as a Word document, and it contained an entry that said, “Great! I can use the reduction in force as an excuse to get rid of John next week. I know it’s illegal to do so, but I want to fire John because I don’t like his kind.” Stan then learns of the litigation hold but successfully deletes the diary before John’s attorney can get it. Suppose further that there are no backups and no way to recover the diary electronically — in other words, there’s no “smoking gun.”

Even under these circumstances, John might be able to establish the existence of the diary, using legal rules and principles. For example, John’s former co-worker or a peer of Stan’s could testify that he or she saw the diary entry (and such testimony is admissible because the diary itself is no longer in existence). They could also testify that Stan talked to them about this diary entry. Because such a statement is an “admission by a party-opponent,” it is considered by definition to be “not hearsay” — an important factor because hearsay generally is inadmissible.

John also could introduce e-mail or other documents that referred to this diary — for example, an e-mail from the human resources director to Stan that said, “Don’t delete that diary entry in which you wrote you were going to fire John.” Under these circumstances, if the judge believed the testimony and evidence, and if the judge also believed the spoliation of the diary occurred in bad faith, he or she could give the jury an instruction such as the following:

Even though you never saw the diary, you can infer that it did exist, and you can infer that it said that Stan knew that firing John was unlawful.

Having the jury receive an adverse inference instruction like this one would be the proverbial kiss of death for the company. In this case, the company often will simply settle, rather than have the jury actually proceed to deliberations with such an instruction. To use an analogy from sports: if I commit goaltending while playing basketball, the referee will call it and give the other side the points they would have scored had I not been goaltending.

#5: Attorney-client privilege

Under certain conditions, communications between an attorney and the attorney’s client are privileged. Those conditions are the following: There actually must be communications, the communications must be made for purpose of giving or receiving legal advice, and the communications must have been intended to be confidential and must in fact have been kept confidential. If those conditions exist with regard to the communication, a court can’t compel its disclosure, meaning that the opposing party is not entitled to see it.

Suppose that prior to writing his diary entry, Stan sent an e-mail to the company attorney (and no one else) to ask whether this entry was a good idea. Suppose the attorney responded to Stan that this diary entry, from a legal standpoint, was a horrible idea. Under these conditions, the two e-mails are probably privileged.

If you are responding to a discovery request, be sure to consult with the attorneys for your company as you are doing so. The last thing you want to do is send privileged material to the other side.

#6: Clawback

Sometimes, privileged communications do unintentionally get sent to the other side. One way of addressing this issue is for the parties and their attorneys to enter into a clawback agreement. The parties agree that if one discloses information inadvertently, the other will return or destroy the information and provide verification of the latter. In addition, the receiving party agrees that the disclosure does not constitute a waiver of attorney client privilege.

Consider the e-mail example from the previous section, in which Stan and the company attorney exchange messages regarding the diary. Suppose that even though these two e-mails are privileged, the company inadvertently sent those e-mails to John as part of his discovery request. If a clawback agreement existed between John and the company, John would need to return the e-mails.

Even though you might have such an agreement, you still need to be careful about what you send to the other side. In other words, don’t say to yourself, “Well, if we mess up, it’s no big deal, because we can just use the clawback to get it back.” A judge might rule that because you were careless in what you sent, the clawback doesn’t apply.

#7: Electronically stored information (ESI)

Electronically stored information (ESI) exists within a computer or on storage media associated with a computer (e.g., a CD, DVD or a jump drive). It is distinguished from hardcopy information, that is, information that appears on paper.

Be aware that ESI can exist in at least two forms: native format and image format. The key difference lies in the underlying information about the document, known as “metadata” (see below).

#8: Metadata

Metadata are “data about data,” such as details about when a file was created, who created it, and when the last modification was made. In the case of an Excel spreadsheet, for example, the underlying formula of a cell would constitute metadata. When reviewing files with Windows Explorer, the file properties are also metadata.

#9: Native format

Suppose John has requested a report, as ESI, that was created using Microsoft Word. This document, in native format, would probably be a file with a “.doc” extension, that is, one that a person could modify using Word.

Be careful when sending native format documents to the other side or to the court. Those documents could contain more information than you realize, such as earlier revisions and corrections to a document. Suppose Stan sent a softcopy Word document to the company lawyer regarding the layoff, and the lawyer inserted a comment: “This argument is really weak, but our judge is so stupid he might just believe it.” If the lawyer then sent that document in native format to the judge, and the judge (or his clerk) knew how to view comments and actually saw that comment, it might hurt the company’s case.

#10. Image format

The other alternative for this document would be image format, such as a PDF or TIFF. In this format, the document still could be stored on a computer. However, changes to such a file would be significantly harder to make. In addition, documents in image format generally contain less metadata than documents in native format.

But even in image format, metadata may still exist. As with native format documents, you should be aware of what else you might be sending to the other side. Also, the other side might be dissatisfied with getting files in image format. For example, if you sent them a PDF of a spreadsheet, chances are they would see only the actual numbers, rather than any underlying formulas. They might argue that in this case, you should give them native format rather than image format.

#11: FRCP 34 and the “usual course of business” requirement

Suppose that John’s company used spreadsheets to keep track of employees, and Stan used such a spreadsheet to determine which employees to lay off. Let’s say that this spreadsheet had, for each employee, information about salary, years of service, performance rating, and other data. Furthermore, this spreadsheet contained certain formulas that used this information to produce a ranking of employees. Do you think John would want to see this spreadsheet? Of course. John would want to review the formulas to see whether they made sense and whether they really did justify his layoff.

On the other hand, the company probably would prefer that John not be able to see the formulas. What if the company converted the spreadsheet file to a TIFF file and sent that TIFF instead? Or what if the company printed out the spreadsheet and sent the information as hardcopy? If the company tried either of these methods, John would object, and most likely the court would agree.

Trials in federal courts are governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP). One particular rule, Rule 34, governs how ESI is to be “produced” in response to a discovery request. Under this rule, ESI generally must be produced “as they are kept in the usual course of business.” John would cite this rule, arguing that because it’s unlikely the company keeps spreadsheets as hardcopy and TIFF files, he should not have to receive the information that way. Rather, he should be receiving the files in native format.

Understanding these concepts and working closely with your own attorneys is essential when dealing with electronic discovery.

Quickly copy a column and row in Word table

2008-07-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Blogger: Susan Harkins

Word tables are great tools for listing and comparing values. I use them a lot because they’re so easy to create and manipulate. In addition, I’m always learning new tricks to use with them. For instance, I recently learned that you can copy an entire row or column to create a new row or column, already filled with values. Now, you’ll seldom want to reproduce an entire column or row, but occasionally the data is so similar that it’s quicker to copy all of the values from a row or column and then change a few. Here’s how to copy a column or row in a table:

Quickly select the column or row you want to copy. To select a column, move the insertion point to the column’s top border. When it turns into a thick arrow pointing down (to the column), click to select the entire column. To select a row, click in the margin, just to the left of the first cell in the row.
Press and hold down the Ctrl key.
Click anywhere inside the selected column or row until the insertion point appears.
Continue to hold down the Ctrl key and drag the column or row to where you want to insert the new column or row. Usually, that will be just before the existing value in the first cell of the row or column.
Release the mouse button.

This technique won’t write over existing data. Instead, it inserts data to create a new column or row.

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

How to keep others from printing an Excel worksheet

2008-07-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Blogger: Susan Harkins

It’s common to share a worksheet with others, but for many reasons you might not want them to print it. Perhaps you’re concerned about data theft or security. Maybe the data is confidential and you don’t want to risk a worksheet lying around on someone’s desk. Whatever your reason, Excel doesn’t offer a built-in feature that inhibits a print request.

The simplest way to inhibit printing of a worksheet is to cancel the print job before it starts using the following macro:

Private Sub Workbook_BeforePrint(Cancel As Boolean)

  Cancel = True

  MsgBox "You can't print this worksheet", vbOKOnly, "Error"

End Sub

If someone tries to print the worksheet by any means, this macro automatically cancels the request. All print options are still visible and available, they just appear not to work. That might be a bit confusing, hence the MsgBox function. A message isn’t strictly necessary, but it certainly is helpful.

To create the macro:

Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).
Display the Project Explorer (if necessary) by pressing Ctrl + R.
Select This Workbook to launch the worksheet’s module.
Enter the macro as shown above.

After entering the macro, return to the worksheet and try to print it. Excel will display the following message:

Depending on your needs, you might also refer the user to a particular person by providing an in-house phone number or e-mail address if they need help. Of course, this won’t stop the truly savvy user from printing the worksheet. Anyone who knows just a little about Excel will know how to bypass a macro, so this isn’t a powerful security measure.

Colorize your Outlook messages to identify e-mail from specific senders

2008-07-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

Author: Susan Harkins

A simple but highly useful way to stay on top of important e-mail is to have Outlook display messages from different people in different colors. Here’s a quick rundown of how to set this up.

Expecting important mail? Identify it as soon as it comes in by displaying it in a distinctive color. Start by select an existing message from the sender in question, if you have one. If you don’t, that’s okay; you can enter the sender’s name manually in a minute. Now follow these steps:

In Mail, choose Organize from the Tools menu.
In the Ways To Organize Inbox pane, click Using Colors on the left side (Figure A).

Figure A

In the first condition statement (we won’t use the second), choose From in the first drop-down list (Figure B).

Figure B

If you chose a message before starting, the sender’s name will appear in the text box to the right. If it’s the wrong name, enter the right name or the person’s e-mail address.
Choose a color from the second drop-down list (Figure C).

Figure C

Click Apply Color and close the pane.

Afterward, Outlook will display all messages, existing and new, from the person you specified in the color you selected.

Seven keyboard shortcuts to help make your PowerPoint slide shows glitch-free

2008-07-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Author: Jody Gilbert

You don’t need to get distracted by the mechanics of presenting a slide show. Learn just a few shortcuts and you can focus on your audience and your message instead.

Remembering keyboard shortcuts is tough enough when you’re working on some no-pressure project at your desk. Get in front of an audience, and your mind may go totally blank. Your focus needs to be on the material you’re presenting and how you’re connecting with your audience — not on ” How do I back up to the previous slide?” That’s why it’s a good idea to pick a handful of the most useful shortcuts and make them second nature. When you find yourself delivering a presentation via the keyboard, these shortcuts will see you through.

Action	Shortcut
Start a presentation from the first slide	F5
Run the next animation or advance to the next slide	Enter or Spacebar
Return to the previous slide	Backspace
End a slide show	Esc or - (hyphen)
Jump to the first (or last) slide	Home (or End)
Jump to a particular slide	Type the slide number and press Enter
Go to a black (or white) screen or resume the slide show from a black (or white) screen	B (or W)

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Create a custom Flags toolbar in Outlook 2003

2008-07-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

Author: Susan Harkins

Outlook 2003’s Quick Flags feature is a handy tool — if you can develop a logical system for using it. One solution: A custom toolbar that makes it easy to flag and organize messages.

Quick Flags help you categorize your messages, usually by some level of importance or by task. For instance, you might use a red flag to mark messages that need a quick response and a blue flag to mark messages on which you’ve acted and are waiting for a response.The problem with Quick Flags is that there’s no way to customize their descriptions. Outlook identifies them only by color. You can’t change the name of Red Flag to Critical. Remembering what each color represents can become burdensome.

An easy way to remember what each flag represents is to create a custom toolbar that displays each flag with text that means something to you. Fortunately, the process is easy:

From the Tools menu, choose Customize.
On the Toolbars tab, click New (Figure A).

Figure A

Name the new toolbar appropriately — for instance, you might name it Flags, as shown in Figure B — and click OK.

Figure B

Still in the Customize dialog box, click the Commands tab.
Select Actions from the Categories list box (Figure C).

Figure C

Scroll down through the Commands list box to find the flag entries. Then, drag the appropriate flag color buttons onto your custom toolbar. (If you can’t find the toolbar, look behind the dialog box.)
After adding all the flags you want, change the text for each flag button. Right-click a flag button on the toolbar and replace the Name setting, e.g., &Red Flag (Figure D), with something more helpful, such as Critical. Select the Image And Text option so that Outlook will display the button’s name on the toolbar (Figure E).

Figure D

Figure E

Complete steps 6 and 7 for each flag button in your new toolbar.

Figure F shows an example of the finished toolbar.

Figure F

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Build related tables with the Access 2007 Lookup Wizard

2008-07-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Author: Mary Ann Richardson

The Access 2007 Lookup Wizard makes it easy to create a related table. This walk-through demonstrates how it works.

You’ve just created an Employee Records table for your Employees database that lists personal information (such as Address, Phone Number, and Birth date) for each employee. Now you need to create a second table that lists each employee’s work location and job title. This new table will use the Employee ID field in the Employee Records table as its foreign key field, a field that refers to the primary key field in another table. Follow these steps to create the related table:

Click the Create tab and then click the Table Design button in the Tables group.
Enter the Location and Job Title fields as text fields with a Field Size of 20.
Switch to Datasheet View.
Click Yes.
Enter Job Assignments as the table name and click OK.
Click No to create a primary key.
Display Tables in the Navigation pane.
Click the Datasheet tab under Table tools and click the Add Existing Tools button from the Fields & Columns group.

Figure A

Click + to display the field names for the Employees table in the Field List.
Click and drag the Employee ID field to the left of the Location field in Datasheet View.

Figure B

Figure C

Click Next
Click Next twice moreand then click Finish.

To add a record, the user selects the Employee ID number from the list and then enters his or her location and job title.

Figure D

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

When Excel’s AVERAGE function doesn’t give true results, try AVERAGEA

2008-07-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Author: Mary Ann Richardson

If your data includes text values, Excel’s AVERAGE function won’t give you an accurate picture. See how AVERAGEA can solve this problem.

Sometimes, the AVERAGE function does not give a true picture of your data. AVERAGE can only find the average of a range of numerical values; it skips any text values. For example, the results of a monthly mailer for donations to a nonprofit organization are listed below. If you want to know the amount of the average donation that came in, you would use the AVERAGE function, as shown in B20. The results would not include those who received the mailing but did not send a donation.

If you want a better picture of how your donors responded to the mailing, you would use the AVERAGEA function, as shown in B21. AVERAGEA evaluates the text value None as 0 and includes that value in its calculation.

Figure A

Thus, of those who responded to the mailing, the average donation was $145.45. However, if we are to count those who gave $0, the overall average response to the mailing was $106.67.

Figure B

Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Remove your name from the Start menu in Windows XP

2008-06-05T10:52:00.001-07:00

Takeaway: You know who you are—and so does your Windows XP system. But if you're the only person using the computer, it's easy to remove your name from the Start menu. In this Windows XP tip, Greg Shultz tells how to use Group Policy to remove your name when you're a group of one.

Windows XP places the name for the person currently logged on to the system at the top of the Start menu. The reason for this is to make it easier to tell which user is logged on to a Windows XP system set up with multiple users. However, if you're the only person using the computer, you don't really need to have your name at the top of the Start menu. You can remove it using the Group Policy console (the Microsoft Management Console snap-in used to edit Group Policy objects).

Launch the Group Policy console (Gpedit.msc).
Go to User Configuration | Administrative Templates | Start Menu And Taskbar.
Locate and double-click the Remove User Name From Start Menu setting.
Select the Enabled option button and click OK.
Exit the Group Policy console. The change will take place immediately.

Note: This tip applies only to Windows XP Professional.

Handle Windows Vista like a pro with these tricks

2008-06-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Date: June 4th, 2008
Author: Greg Shultz

As I’ve been using Microsoft Windows Vista, I’ve discovered a handful of useful tricks that I use every day to make things a bit easier. In this edition of the Windows Vista Report, I thought that I would pass on some of these tricks.

Keep track of multiple Time Zones

If you’re like most folks in this day and age, chances are good that you regularly communicate with people or businesses in cities in other time zones. As such, you’re always wondering what time it is where these people or businesses are, so that you know when to call or expect an e-mail response.

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could tell at a glance what time it is in those other time zones? Well, that’s the whole idea behind Windows Vista’s Additional Clocks feature, which can display up to three clocks: one for the local time, and two for other time zones.

This blog post is also available in the PDF format as a TechRepublic Download.

Fortunately, using and configuring Vista’s Additional Clocks feature is easy; just right-click the time display in the notification area and select the Adjust Date and Time command from the context menu. When you see the Date and Time dialog box, select the Additional Clocks tab. You can then select the Show This Clock check box, choose a time zone, and enter a name that you want to associate with the additional clock, as shown in Figure A. To activate your new clocks, just click OK.

Figure A

You can keep track of other time zones if you enable additional clocks.

Now, when you want to see what time it is in the other locations, you can just hover your mouse pointer over the time display in the notification area and you’ll see a pop up showing the time in the other time zones. If you click the time display, you’ll see a larger pop up showing you the clocks along with the calendar. Both of these pop ups are shown in Figure B.

Figure B

There are two displays that you can use to view other time zones.

Instantly access Task Manager

As you know, in Windows XP, you can press [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] and instantly get to Task Manager. In Windows Vista, that same keystroke combination will blank your display and display a full screen menu from which you can launch Task Manager.

In order to get directly to Task Manager in Windows Vista, you need to press [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[Esc].

Toggle Aero off and on

As you know, Aero is the fancy visual interface in Windows Vista that features the transparent glass design with cool window colors and neat animations. However, there are times when you may want to disable Aero to improve system responsiveness. For example, some games or other graphics intensive application may perform better with Aero disabled. Fortunately, you can easily do so with a shortcut.

To begin, right-click anywhere on the desktop and select the New | Shortcut command from the context menu. When the Create Shortcut wizard appears, type:

Rundll32 dwmApi #104

in the text box, as shown in Figure C, and click Next. Then, name the shortcut Turn Aero Off and click Finish.

Figure C

Create this shortcut to turn Aero off.

You can then create a second shortcut to re-enable Aero. To do so, launch the Create Shortcut wizard again and this time type:

Rundll32 dwmApi #102

in the text box. Name this shortcut Turn Aero On and click Finish.

Keep in mind that when you turn Aero off, the process will happen without any fanfare. However, when you turn Aero back on, the screen will blink momentarily as Windows readjusts the screen display.

Using Shell command shortcuts

While you can use Explorer, the Control Panel, or the Start menu to access key features in Windows Vista, sometimes a shortcut can be more useful. Hidden underneath the Windows Vista architecture are a whole host of special shortcuts known as Shell commands. To use a Shell command, all you need to is press [Windows]+R to access the Run dialog box and the word shell followed by a colon (:) and then the command as in:

Shell:command

As you can see there are no spaces between the word Shell and the colon and the command — it is essentially one word.

While there are close to 100 Shell commands, not all of them are very useful. As such, I won’t actually list them all. I’ll just list the ones that I find most useful in everyday situations first and then list the other ones that I find occasionally useful.

Keep in mind that not all of these Shell commands will work in all versions of Windows Vista.

Most useful Shell commands

shell:ChangeRemoveProgramsFolder - opens the Programs and Features (Add/Remove Programs) window.
shell:Sendto - opens the SendTo folder so that you can easily add more locations to the Send To list.
shell:Common Administrative Tools - opens the Administrative Tools menu as a folder
shell:Desktop - opens the Desktop as a folder.
shell:Downloads - opens your Downloads folder.
shell:Quick Launch - opens the Quick Launch folder.
shell:Searches - opens the Search folder showing all your saved searches.

The other useful Shell commands

shell:AppUpdatesFolder - opens the Installed Windows Updates location in Program and Files.
shell:Cache - opens Internet Explorer’s temporary internet files folder.
shell:CD Burning - opens the folder where Windows Vista temporarily stores files to be burned to a CD.
shell:Common Desktop - opens the Public Users Desktop folder.
shell:Common Documents - opens the Public Users Documents folder.
shell:Common Programs - opens the Start menu shortcuts folder.
shell:Common Start Menu - opens the Start Menu as a folder.
shell:Common Startup - opens the Startup folder.
shell:Common Templates - opens the Templates folder.
shell:CommonDownloads - opens the Public Users Downloads folder.
shell:CommonMusic - opens the Public Users Music folder.
shell:CommonPictures - opens the Public Users Pictures folder.
shell:CommonVideo - opens the Public Users Video folder.
shell:ConflictFolder - opens the Sync Center Conflicts folder.
shell:ConnectionsFolder - opens the Network Connections folder.
shell:Contacts - opens your Contacts folder.
shell:ControlPanelFolder - opens the Control Panel.
shell:Cookies - opens the cookies folder
shell:Favorites - opens your Favorites folder.
shell:Fonts - opens Vista’s Fonts folder.
shell:Gadgets - opens your Windows Sidebar Gadgets folder.
shell:History - opens the Internet Explorer history folder.
shell:InternetFolder - opens Internet Explorer.
shell:Links - opens your Links folder location.
shell:MyMusic - opens your Music folder.
shell:MyPictures - opens your Pictures folder.
shell:MyVideo - opens your Video folder.
shell:MyComputerFolder - opens Computer window.
shell:NetHood - opens Network Shortcuts folder.
shell:NetworkPlacesFolder - opens the Network Places location.
shell:Original Images - opens Windows Photo Gallery Original Images folder.
shell:Personal - opens your Documents folder.
shell:PhotoAlbums - opens your Slide Show folder.
shell:Playlists - opens your Playlists folder.
shell:PrintersFolder - opens Printers in the Control Panel.
shell:Profile - opens your main folder.
shell:ProgramFiles - opens the Program Files folder.
shell:Public - opens the Public User folder.
shell:Recent - opens the Recent Items folder.
shell:RecycleBinFolder - opens the Recycle Bin folder.
shell:Start Menu - opens Start Menu folder.
shell:Startup - opens the Startup folder
shell:System - opens the System32 folder location.
shell:Templates - opens the Templates folder location.
shell:UserProfiles - opens the Users folder.
shell:UsersFilesFolder - opens your main folder.
shell:Windows - opens the Windows folder.

By:
Amresh Anjan

Automatically generate and assign strong passwords in Windows XP

2008-06-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

Date: May 21st, 2008
Author: Greg Shultz

Computer users consistently use very simplistic logic when creating passwords. For example, many of us choose meaningful words, personal dates, or a word commonly found in the dictionary because it makes the password easy to remember. These common practices cause us to sacrifice the security that passwords are intended to provide.

If you’re really at a loss when it comes to thinking of a strong password, you can let Windows XP create and assign a random password to your account. To let Windows XP generate your password, follow these steps. (Warning: Before you follow these steps, please be sure that you are paying careful attention and are ready to actually use a password that might not be as memorable as you’re accustomed to! Also, you cannot use this tip on a Windows Server domain.)

Open a Command Prompt window and type:

net user username /random (username is your login account name)

Press [Enter]. Windows XP will randomly generate a secure password, as well as assign that strong password to your account. Windows XP will also display the strong password so you can remember it.

At your discretion, you may want to create a Password Reset Disk at this point. This disk will allow you to gain access to your computer in the event you forget your password. Here’s how to create the disk:

Open the Control Panel and double-click the User Accounts tool.
Click your account icon.
Select Prevent A Forgotten Password under Related Tasks.
Follow the instructions provided by the wizard.

Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional systems in either a standalone or peer-to-peer workgroup configuration.

By:

Amresh Anjan

Choosing a free alternative to Microsoft Office

2008-06-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Date: May 9th, 2008
Author: Tricia Liebert

Once upon a time, if you were using software that you had acquired free, you were a pirate and doing something wrong. Those days are gone forever as people have begun to embrace a new concept. Free is good. And it’s legal.

While this is not a new concept to Linux and BSD users, it is a shift in thinking for most. A slow shift, perhaps, but one that seems inevitable.

Take Massachusetts’ Pierre Avignon. To his thinking, it makes no sense to purchase a product like Microsoft Office when he can download Symphony free from IBM. And IBM isn’t the only player in this growing market.

Google provides an online collaborative environment with its Google Docs- a suite similar to Symphony that also provides the ability to synchronize your online documents with your computer allowing you to access and modify your documents while offline. Smaller Zoho offers a similar service but is restricted to online storage only.

While these offerings are somewhat limited, average users are able to do all that they need to do using an online solution.

From Reuters:

You can’t set up mass mailings or run sophisticated data analysis using most free Web-based software, says Rebecca Wettemann, an analyst with Nucleus Research. But she says few people actually use such features.
Google Docs and other free programs are looking increasingly attractive to businesses, she said, as they seek ways to keep down their information technology budgets.
Microsoft’s entry-level business version of Office costs $325 USD at Amazon.com, about triple the price of its version targeted at home users.

“Ninety percent of the users don’t need all the functionality that Office provides,” Wettemann said. “Ninety percent of people basically just use Excel to make lists.”

Power users, the people who fall into that remaining 10%, may want to consider Open Office as an alternative. But unless you specifically need the database and drawing capabilities of Open Office, a smaller package may be your best choice.

But how does this alternative work in the average business environment?

While providing all the tools that the average business environment needs, it may not be the best alternative from a support standpoint.

From Canadian Business:

But there absolutely is a price to be paid for migrating to any new productivity suite, regardless of its initial cost. “The savings are never as great as people would like to believe,” says Fen Yik, an analyst with Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont., who frequently fields questions from clients about Office alternatives. “There is an increased maintenance cost, increased support costs associated with switching over to an unfamiliar interface, as well as possible customization work that will have to be done.”

Yik says companies must focus on compatibility and integration, both within their own companies and with outside partners, when considering a change. The alternative suites come with some built-in conversion capabilities, but there are always imperfections. “In terms of functionality, an alternative would be fine for a small company with a very simple IT environment that has no interactions with other companies,” says Yik. “The problem is that productivity apps don’t run in a vacuum. The Office suite isn’t the kind of software you can just rip out and replace.”

So while office productivity tools in online solutions or as downloadable executables are a great alternative for home and small business users, it appears that they may not be ready for the enterprise environment. Having said that, IT support should at least be looking at them. As online collaborative and productivity tools become more pervasive, it may only be a matter of time.

By:

Amresh Anjan

A scalpel specially designed for PDFs

2008-06-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

Date: May 12th, 2008
Author: William Jones

A few months back, I posted an article detailing some of the software tools that I use to provide support for PDFs in my office. My goal was to avoid shelling out big bucks for the expensive, bloated, and buggy packages from Adobe. Turns out that many of you have had similar problems with Acrobat, because the comments on that post are filled with suggestions of programs that you guys have found useful as Adobe replacements.

This time, I’m going to introduce you to a program that I learned about while going through the responses to that original post. TechRepublic reader Lost4now suggested that I take a look at his program of choice, PDFill. I’ll be honest; I haven’t paid for the full version of PDFill Editor, because the free tools that the developers offer have met my needs so well.

That’s right. I said “free tools.” The developers of PDFill have packaged their simple PDF manipulation applications together with a PDF print driver and offer these tools to Windows users, absolutely free — even for corporate clients. That caught my attention.

The PDFill PDF Tools are a scalpel because while they don’t offer a lot of frills, they perform their function with surgical precision. The free Ghostscript package is required for PDFill to work, and that’s basically because the PDFill PDF Tools interface is a simple button-based GUI front-end to the powerful Ghostscript engine.

“Why do I need the PDFill Tools if I can use Ghostscript?” you ask. I don’t know about you, but I have better things I can be doing with my time than supporting the intricacies of Ghostscript’s command-line interface. The PDFill Tools streamline my users’ workflow by putting the power of Ghostscript right at their fingertips, in a clear task-oriented way.

One thing that’s been a problem in my office has been supporting users who want to use graphics from our PDF publications in a PowerPoint slide show that they’re putting together. PDFill PDF Tools makes it trivial for anyone to grab a high-quality raster graphic from any of our PDFs and have it be completely compatible with PowerPoint. PDFill has proven its value in my department with just that single use case.

I love it when I can recommend a small, simple software scalpel; a tool that does one thing but does it better than anything else. PDFill PDF Tools is even better, because it does several things, and it’s completely free.

By:

Amresh Anjan

Build a computer for a Vista 5.9 Performance Rating

2008-06-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Author: Joe Rosberg

The Vista Performance Index provides a visual and numerical representation of how well your computer might perform. Having to support users in a graphics-extensive environment, I’ve found it useful to help grade various computer components. It’s not a coincidence to see the sluggish computers return a low performance score, 2.8 for example, and the real barn-burners consistently score at or near the 5.0 range. I realize it’s not the most detailed and telling performance monitor, but it does provide a pretty good snapshot of what you might expect from your computer.

Because of a major software upgrade, I’ve had to recently replace quite a number of computers for my users. Their old ones just didn’t have the computing horsepower to meet even the minimum software requirements, much less the recommended — which I always increase as much as realistically (and financially) possible. I wanted to get as much computing bang for the buck, so to speak, so I paid particularly close attention to how I specified my next generation of computers. I update my standard computer specification probably once a year, and it’s been a while since I’ve last written about it, so that time has again arrived.

All (or most) of my P4 generation of computers had to be replaced, especially for the power-users who relied heavily on our graphics software. I had a scattering of Core 2 duo computers, and even a Quad Core, but not even those reached the 5.9 level on Vista’s performance rating. That was my target — 5.9 — without breaking our bank.

I started with the processor and decided on the Intel Core 2 Quad, Number Q9450. It’s the 2.67 GHz processor @ 1333 MHz FSB. I almost spent the extra $200 for the 2.8 GHz but suspected that those dollars could be better spent elsewhere. Of course, I could have selected a Core 2 Quad Extreme (3.2 GHz @ 1600 MHz FSB), but a $1,500 price tag put that one entirely out of reach. Besides, my target performance rating was a 5.9, and Vista can’t report anything higher, so although that Extreme processor would have much greater computing power, it wouldn’t necessarily show up in the rating score.

I was talked out of my preference for Asus motherboards (by a sales adviser) and settled on the Gigabyte S-Series GA-EP35C-DS3R motherboard. I always consider room for growth when it comes to motherboards, and this one will somewhat allow for future expansion. If I ever want to upgrade the processor, it will support the Quad Core Extreme and the faster 1600 MHz FSB speed and it will have slots for either DDR3 or DDR2 memory, but it can’t use both. The downside is that it will have a maximum capacity of only 4GB of DDR3 RAM, or 8GB of DDR2. Considering the cost of a more expandable board, however, I settled for this. Besides, I was overspecifying the amount of RAM I really needed, so it should be good for several future software releases (I hope).

Although 4GB RAM would be more than enough for my application’s recommended amount, I opted to bump it up to 8GB — the DDR2 flavor.

When it came to hard drive(s), I noticed several things with my current computers. SATA drives did, in general, provide higher performance scores than IDE drives; and ones with a lot of available disk space rated higher than those with limited space (the 500GB drives rated higher than the 160GB drives). However, the Vista rating for the Disk Data Transfer Rate was less than a 5.9 on all my machines except for two. Those were the ones with two drives (400GB each) installed in a Raid 0 configuration. I therefore decided to install two 500GB SATA drives in a Raid 0 configuration. I opted for the Hitachi Deskstar model. (I’ve come to prefer Seagate, but there were none available at the time — and I got a pretty good deal on these Deskstar models.)

Graphics was the weak link on all my existing computers. Since the Vista Performance Rating is only as high as the lowest scoring component, in almost all cases, my graphics capabilities brought it down — in some cases, as low as a 1.0, but in most cases, to the 3.0 range. The first card I tried with my prototype system was the Diamond ATI PCIe card with 1GB DDR2 - model HD3650. However, it only scored a 5.4 on the Vista Rating. I exchanged that card for the Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT with only 512MB memory – but it has the faster DDR3. I was pleasantly surprised that the card with less memory, but running at a higher speed, outperformed the one with more memory. And at a price of only $160, it seemed like a great way to go.

I’ve always liked the Antec Sonata cases, and for my new computer specification I selected the Sonata III model. Quiet fans and a 500w power supply will do quite nicely, and it has front ports for audio, two USB devices, and an eSATA connection.

I selected an inexpensive OEM 20x DVD R/W (branded Optiarc, but made by Sony). And for the first time ever, I put these together without a 3.5″ floppy disk drive. If I ever need one for a BIOS upgrade or something, I have plenty of extras on the shelf.

· Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad, Number Q9450 ($300)
· Motherboard: Gigabyte S-Series GA-EP35C-DS3R ($160)
· Memory: 8GB - Two Corsair XMS2-6400 4GB Kits ($220)
· Hard Drives: Two 500GB SATA configured Raid 0 ($180)
· Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT PCIe ($160)
· Case: Antec Sonata III ($130)
· DVD: OEM brand ($40)

Total cost: $1,190

Operating System: Vista Ultimate 64-Bit. I didn’t have to buy it, but add about $220 for the OEM product if you do. The same goes for an Office Suite. I currently have Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, so there was no need for me to buy that, but add another $350 to the cost of your system if you do. (Or better yet, consider the free Office Suite from OpenOffice.org — I’ve looked at it, and it’ll do nicely for the basic stuff.)

Vista Performance Rating: 5.9

There ya’ go. That’s my Vista 5.9 Performance system for about $1,200 (not including operating system, Office Suite, and monitor). I’m sure we’ll get plenty of suggestions and ideas on how to either improve on this system or build it for less — or both!

By:

Amresh Anjan

Excel Sheet - Update.

2008-05-28T22:44:00.000-07:00

Save time reformatting by using Excel’s Fill function across worksheets

Date: May 27th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

You have three worksheets in your workbook. They are all formatted the same; only the data is different. Each worksheet tracks the sales for all 12 months of the year for one of your three divisions. You’ve just made some changes to the font color and the background of the cell range B1:M1 in Sheet1, as shown below. You would like to copy that formatting to the other sheets. Follow these steps:

Select the range B1:M1 in Sheet 1.
Click Sheet1. Press and hold Shift and then click Sheet3. (All three sheets should be selected.)
Click the arrow of the Fill button in the Editing group of the Home tab. (in Word 2002/2003, go to Edit | Fill.)
Click Across Worksheets.

Click Formats and then click OK.

Right-click any worksheet tab, and select Ungroup Sheets.

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Use an array to add time components in Excel

Date: May 26th, 2008
Blogger: Susan Harkins

I recently acquired a worksheet with time components entered separately. I have no idea why they did this, as doing so seems inefficient and unnecessary to me. Just the same, I had to work with it.

The first problem was getting Excel to recognize integer values as time values. Fortunately, that’s not so difficult. I just used the TIME function to add the hour and minute components using the formula

=SUM(TIME(hour,minute,second))

In this case, there are no seconds, so I used 0 for the seconds. After combining hours and minutes for each row, it was a simple step to add the individual times using this formula

=SUM(firsttime:lasttime)

Then it hit me — I didn’t need intermediate (or subtotal) formulas. An array would return the cumulative time value with just one formula. (An array formula performs multiple calculations on one or more sets of values.) The following array formula returned the same cumulative result:

=SUM(TIME(firsthour:lasthour,firstminute:lastminute,firstsecond:lastsecond))

Again, I used 0 for the seconds. When using the array formula, be sure to apply an appropriate time format. In my case, I applied the hh:mm:ss format. (Be sure to accommodate your regional time settings.)

Quickly add text to your Excel 2002/2003 charts

Date: May 20th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

To add text outside your chart titles, you usually have to create a text box. But with Excel 2002/2003, you can just type it in. Follow these steps:

Select the chart you want to add text to.
Start typing the text. As you type, the text will appear in the formula bar.

Press Enter.
Move and format the resultant text box.

The text will be displayed in a text box that can be moved and formatted as required.

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Prevent embedded charts from printing in Excel 2002/2003

Date: May 13th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

You have a number of embedded charts in your worksheet, and you don’t want them to appear when you print it. With Excel 2002/2003, you don’t have to select your data first and print the selection before you print the worksheet to avoid printing the charts. You just have to disable printing for the charts. Follow these steps to disable printing for each chart in your worksheet:

Press Ctrl and click the chart to select its container.
Go to Format | Object.
In the Format Object dialog box, click the Properties tab.
Deselect the Print Object check box.

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Deleting range names in Excel

Date: May 12th, 2008
Blogger: Susan Harkins

Even a simple worksheet can generate a huge pile of range names. As long as they’re necessary and active, name away! However, consider deleting inactive range names. They crowd the list and make you work harder than necessary to find valid names. In addition, they can be confusing to people sharing the worksheet.

Before you start deleting, you’ll need a comprehensive list of names to review. The Define Name dialog box displays only a few at a time (you must scroll to see all of the names). An easier way to view all of the names is to paste a list into a worksheet:

Select a cell in an out of the way place.
Press [F3].
Click Paste Link.

You’ll find viewing a pasted list easier than viewing names in the Define Name dialog box.

Once you’ve checked the list, you can begin deleting inactive ranges. To do so, press [Ctrl]+[F3], select the range, and then click Delete.

Use the new Excel 2007 WordArt feature for your Word documents

Date: May 6th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

Office 2007 includes an enhanced version of WordArt. However, it is available only in Excel 2007 and PowerPoint 2007. Word 2007 uses the older version. But this doesn’t mean you can’t use Word Art objects created in Excel or PowerPoint in your Word 2007 documents. For example, say you want to use the new WordArt to create a company logo for your Word document header.

Follow these steps:

Open a blank workbook in Excel 2007.
Click on any cell.
Click the Insert tab.
In the Text group, click WordArt.
Click Fill-Accent 2, Warm Matte Bevel. (It’s in the middle of the fifth row.)
Type XMZ Technology.
Click the Format tab under Design Tools.
In the Shape Styles group, scroll to and click Moderate Effect, Dark 1.

Right-click the logo and select Copy.
Click where you want the logo to appear in your Word document.
On the Home tab, click the Paste button down arrow and then select Paste Special. Select Microsoft Graphic Office Object, if necessary.
Click OK. The logo will appear in your document.

If you later want to make changes to the logo, you will need to go back and edit it in Excel 2007.

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Copy an Excel chart to the desired spot in a Word document

Date: April 29th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

You want to place an Excel chart in the top-left corner of the first page of your Word document. However, you don’t want to spend time adjusting it so that it doesn’t interfere with the rest of the page formatting. One solution is to create a table cell as a placeholder for the chart in your Word document.

Follow these steps:

Open your Word document and insert a 2-inch high and 3-inch wide table in the top-left corner of your page.
With the cell selected, click the No Border tool to remove the borders from the cell.
Open the Excel workbook that contains the chart and select it.
Resize the chart object to 2 inches by 3 inches. (For Excel 2007, in the Chart Tools Format tab, enter the placeholder table cell’s height of 2 inches and width of 3 inches in the chart’s Height and Width boxes.)
Select the chart area and press Ctrl + C.
Click in the table cell in the Word document, choose Paste Special from the Edit menu, select a Picture option, and click OK. (In Word 2007, press Alt + Ctrl + V, choose Picture (PNG), and then click OK.)
Right-click the chart, choose Format Picture, and click the Layout tab. Under Wrapping Style, select In Line With Text. (In Word 2007, right-click the chart, choose Text Wrapping, and then click In Line With Text.)

The chart will appear in the top-left corner of the page as shown here:

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Add data labels to your Excel bubble charts

Date: April 22nd, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

When you create a bubble chart in Excel, you do not select the labels, as Excel would not know what to do with them. Instead, you need to add the chart labels after you create the chart. Adding the x-axis and y-axis labels can be done in the usual way. However, Excel has no specific tools for adding individual data labels to each bubble. You will need to add each data label separately.

For example, say you have just created the following bubble chart from the range B2:D7.

Follow these steps to add the employee names as data labels to the chart:

Right-click the data series and select Add Data Labels.
Right-click one of the labels and select Format Data Labels.
Select Y Value and Center.
Move any labels that overlap.
Select the data labels and then click once on the label in the first bubble on the left.
Type = in the Formula bar.
Click A7. (A7 is the name of the employee whose current Salary is represented by the bubble.)
Press Enter.
Repeat Steps 5 through 8 to add the name of the employee whose salary is represented by the bubble.

The completed data labels are shown below.

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Use Excel 2007’s Top/Bottom rules for quick data analysis

Date: April 15th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

You can use Excel 2007’s data visualization feature to keep tabs on when the data in a worksheet attain a certain value. For example, to discover which regions have achieved above-average sales this quarter, follow these steps:

Select the cells you want to analyze.
Click the Home tab.
In the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting, then select Top/Bottom Rules.
Click Above Average, then click OK.

Now all cells with above-average sales values will appear marked in red. To find out who the top 10% of your performers are, follow these steps:

Select the columns of cells you want to analyze.
Click the Home tab.
In the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting and then click Top 10%.
Click the drop-down arrow in the With box and select Custom Format.
Click the Fill tab and select Yellow under Background Color.
Click OK twice.

Now all values in the upper 10% of the range appear highlighted in yellow. You can set an entire spreadsheet with conditional formatting rules and watch the results change each time you enter new data.

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Use Excel’s conditional formatting to mark values that meet your target goals

Date: April 8th, 2008
Blogger: Mary Ann Richardson

Excel 2007’s data visualization feature automatically gives every cell in a range a color, icon, or data bar according to its value. If you are analyzing a small number of values, this makes it easy to see which ones met your target goals. But what if you are examining a list with 100 rows of data? In this case, you will want to use Excel’s conditional formatting feature to build rules for marking only the cells outside your target range of values.

For example, say you want to mark only those cells that have a value greater than 100 with an X. Follow these steps:

Select the range of data.
On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting, then click Icon Sets.
Click 3 Symbols (Uncircled).
Click Conditional Formatting, then click Highlight Cell Rules | Less Than.
In the Less Than dialog, enter 100.
Click the arrow in the With drop-down box and select Custom Format, then click OK twice.
Click Conditional Formatting, then click Manage Rules.
Click the Stop If True check box for the rule Cell Value <>
Click the Icon Set rule, then click the Edit Rule button.
In the Edit Formatting Rule dialog, click the Reverse Icon Order check box at the bottom of the dialog window.
Click the >= drop-down arrow of the first Value list and select >.
Click the Type drop-down arrow of the first Value list and select Number.
Click in the first Value text box and enter 100.
Click the Type drop-down arrow of the second Value list and select Number.
Click OK twice.

Now, an orange X denotes all values above 100. An exclamation point denotes values equal to 100, and values below 100 remain unformatted.

By: Amresh Anjan

Automatically generate and assign strong passwords in Windows XP

2008-05-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Date: May 21st, 2008
Author: Greg Shultz

Open a Command Prompt window and type:

net user username /random (username is your login account name)

Press [Enter]. Windows XP will randomly generate a secure password, as well as assign that strong password to your account. Windows XP will also display the strong password so you can remember it.

Open the Control Panel and double-click the User Accounts tool.
Click your account icon.
Select Prevent A Forgotten Password under Related Tasks.
Follow the instructions provided by the wizard.

Note: This tip applies to both Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional systems in either a standalone or peer-to-peer workgroup configuration.

By: Amresh Anjan

How do I configure SQL mail in SQL Server 2000?

2008-05-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

How do I configure SQL mail in SQL Server 2000?

Date: May 21st, 2008
Author: Steven Warren

As a database administrator, I like automation. When it comes to my backups, I like to automate as much as possible. SQL Mail gives me the ability to know when my backups are successful and when they fail.

SQL Mail is a component of SQL Server that allows you to send mail. Some of its functions include the ability to send messages to an e-mail pager and to send results via the extended stored procedure (xp_sendmail).

SQL Mail allows you to send and receive e-mail by working side by side with a mail server. There are two services that handle SQL Mail with SQL Server 2000: MSSQLServer and SQLServerAgent. I am going to explain how to configure and take advantage of this hidden gem.

Setup

Before you configure SQL Mail, you will need to configure a mailbox, mail profile, and a Windows 2000 account to start SQL Server. If you are using Exchange, you need a domain account. If you are using a basic POP3/SMTP mail server, you need a local or domain account. For the purposes of this article, I will show you how to configure a POP3/SMTP mail server.

You will begin by creating an account on your domain that will be used to configure SQL Mail, as shown in Figure A.

In order to configure your Microsoft Outlook client, you first need to make sure you have Microsoft Outlook installed. You can install this client from the Microsoft Office CD. Once you have it installed, click Control Panel from the Start Menu, then double-click the Mail icon, as shown in Figure B.

Next, click Show Profiles, and then click Add, to add a new profile, as shown in Figure C.

You will now be prompted with a wizard to add a new e-mail account, as shown in Figure D. Once you complete this step with the appropriate information, you are ready to configure SQL Mail.

Next, you need to log in to Windows with the newly created account. Once you are logged in, your next step is to start your MSSQLServer service and SQLServerAgent service.

In order to configure your MSSQLServer account to run under this newly created account, open Enterprise Manager from Start | Programs | Microsoft SQL Server | Enterprise Manager. Next, right-click on your SQL Server and choose Properties, as shown in Figure E, then choose the Security tab. Under the Startup Service Account, choose This Account and type the name of the account you created for use with SQL Mail.

Now that you have configured the MSSQLServer service account, you will need to configure the SQLServerAgent service account. In order to do this, expand SQL Server and Management, then right-click on SQL Server Agent and choose Properties (Figure F). On the General Page, enter the Service Startup Account by choosing This Account and enter the account name and password you created to start your SQLServerAgent service.

Next, click Show Profiles, and then click Add, to add a new profile, as shown in Figure H.

You will now be prompted with a wizard to add a new e-mail account, as shown in Figure I. Once you complete this step with the appropriate information, you are ready to configure SQL Mail.

Next, we will show you how to Configure SQL Mail now that you have configured the Outlook client.

Configure SQL Mail

In order to configure SQL Mail, you must open the SQL Server Enterprise Manager from the Start menu, then explore your SQL Server and expand your Support Services folder, as shown in Figure J.

Now right-click on Support Services and choose Properties. From the dropdown menu, choose the profile you just created (Figure K).

If for some reason, you do not see the profile you created in the dropdown menu, you have configured your Outlook mail settings incorrectly. Please go back and check your work for something that you may have missed.

Click Test to verify that your settings work correctly (Figure L). The test starts and stops the MAPI profile you created.

Our next test is to create a SQL Server Operator and test the SQL Mail functionality. To create an Operator, expand SQL Server | Management | SQL Server Agent | Operators and highlight Operators, as shown in Figure M.

Next, right-click on Operators and choose New Operator (Figure N).

Now, type the name of the operator and the operator’s e-mail address for SQL Mail to use. Next, click Test to send a test e-mail (Figure O). A dialog box will display a message that you have sent your e-mail successfully.

Your next step is to open up Outlook and check your e-mail to see that you are receiving these messages, as shown in Figure P.

Now that you have configured SQL Mail, you can take advantage of the xp_sendmail stored procedure that allows you to send messages through T-SQL. In my example, I am going to send an e-mail that will tell me which version of SQL Server I currently have running. Figure Q shows how this would break out.

The parameters for using xp_sendmail are as follows:

xp_sendmail {[@recipients=] ‘recipients [;…n]’}

[,[@message=] ‘message’]

[,[@query=] ‘query’]

[,[@attachments=] ‘attachments [;…n]’]

[,[@copy_recipients=] ‘copy_recipients [;…n]’

[,[@blind_copy_recipients=] ‘blind_copy_recipients [;…n]’

[,[@subject=] ’subject’]

[,[@type=] ‘type’]

[,[@attach_results=] ‘attach_value’]

[,[@no_output=] ‘output_value’]

[,[@no_header=] ‘header_value’]

[,[@width=] width]

[,[@separator=] ’separator’]

[,[@echo_error=] ‘echo_value’]

[,[@set_user=] ‘user’]

[,[@dbuse=] ‘database’]

With the above method, you can create triggers in your SQL code to notify administrators, including yourself, via e-mail if certain conditions occur. For example, you might set up notifications for long running queries, the deletion of certain tables, the rebuilding of indexes, backups failing, and a host of other database-related inquiries.

As you can see, SQL Mail can be very powerful. I have introduced you to the possibilities of SQL Mail and how to incorporate it into your infrastructure. In addition, I walked you through the process of configuring SQL Mail and testing it to make sure the necessary pieces work.

Your next step will be to continue testing with various options, and then begin using this solution in a production environment to automatically notify you of any SQL Server problems, issues, or disasters.

Stay tuned for how SQL Mail has changed in SQL Server 2005/2008 with all new tutorials.

By: Amresh Anjan

How do I… Add music and narration to a PowerPoint presentation?

2008-03-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

How do I… Add music and narration to a PowerPoint presentation?

Date: March 4th, 2008
Author: Susan Harkins

The best presentations engage the audience using a number of creative tools. Sound effects, such as music and voice recordings can mean the difference between a good presentation and an outstanding presentation. You can energize your audience with a quick tempo, play your company’s latest jingle, or add narration to an on-demand presentation. At the very least, you can play music at the beginning and ending of a presentation as the audience enters and leaves the room. The only limits are good taste and your imagination.

This blog post is also available in PDF form as a TechRepublic download.

About sound files

Microsoft PowerPoint supports media clips, which include sound and video files. The computer playing your presentation will need a sound card and speakers. That doesn’t mean just the system you use to create the presentation, but any system on which you might play the presentation. Today, most systems come with everything you need, but older systems might need an upgrade. (It’s highly unlikely that you’ll encounter such an old system, but don’t rely on that — check it out first!)

Table A lists the media files PowerPoint supports, although this article deals only with sound files.

Table A: Media support

File	Explanation	Attributes
MIDI	Musical Instrument Digital Interface	Sound
WAV	Microsoft Windows audio format	Sound
MPEG	Motion Picture Exerts Group	Standard video format with a constant frame per second rate
AVI	Microsoft Windows video format	Video format with a constant frame rate per second
GIF	Graphical Interface Format	256 color picture that supports animation.

Like most special effects, sound can catch the attention of your audience and convey a message or emotion in a way words or pictures can’t. On the other hand, used poorly, sound can be distracting or even annoying. As always, your purpose will determine how much, if any, sound your presentation needs.

The basics — inserting sound

Including sound is as simple as selecting a file:

Use existing clips by double-clicking one of the Title, Text and Media Clip layouts from the Slide Layout task pane. Double-click the media clip icon shown in Figure A to launch the Media Clip dialog box.

Figure A

Choose a media slide from the Slide Layout task pane

When you double-click a WAV or MIDI file, PowerPoint displays the prompt shown in Figure B. The options Automatically and When Clicked are self-explanatory.

Figure B

PowerPoint will play the sound file when the slide is current, or you can click the icon to play it

Work with unique sound files by choosing Movies and Sound from the Insert menu and then selecting Sound From File or Sound From Clip Organizer. You can also record sound or play a track from a CD. After selecting a file, PowerPoint prompts you to specify how to execute the file (see Figure B).

If PowerPoint doesn’t support a clip’s format, choose Object from the Insert menu and choose the appropriate object type. Alternately, you can convert the file to a supported type. Use a search engine to search for “video file conversion.” However, don’t be surprised if the converted file is less than satisfactory. It’s difficult to maintain quality when converting media files.

In PowerPoint 2007, you’ll find the Sound option in the Media Clips group on the Insert tab.

PowerPoint displays a sound clip as a small icon, which shows during Slide Show view. When the presentation plays the clip automatically, you might want to hide the icon. There’s really no good reason to display it.

To hide the icon, right-click the icon and choose Edit Sound Object from the resulting submenu. In the Sound Options dialog box, shown in Figure C, check the Hide Sound Icon During Slide Show option, and click OK. Double-click the icon in PowerPoint 2007 to find these options.

Figure C

Edit the file’s attributes

If you choose the click option, it’s worth mentioning that clicking the icon a second time doesn’t disable the sound — the file plays from beginning to end once you click it. In PowerPoint 2007, clicking the icon restarts the file.

To learn just how long a file lasts, right-click the icon and choose Edit Sound Object. The file’s playing time is in the Information section at the bottom (see Figure C). If you want the file to play continuously, while the slide is current, check the Loop Until Stopped option. Moving to the next or previous slide will cancel the loop.

Narrating a presentation

To record a unique sound or message, you’ll need a microphone. Unfortunately, some microphones that come with today’s systems aren’t very sophisticated. If you record someone talking, it may sound distorted when played. Suddenly, you may have a lisp or an accent! Specialized software can clear up some problems, but they’re expensive and that’s just one more piece of software you’ll have to learn. It might be more efficient to invest in a better microphone.

PowerPoint makes it easy to narrate a presentation, which is a plus in a Web-based, automated, or on-demand presentation. You might also use this feature to include a statement from an individual, such as a celebrity or your company’s CEO.

Don’t jump right into recording. First, write a script and rehearse it. Once you’re comfortable with your speaking part, you can record your narration:

Choose Record Narration from the Slide Show menu to open the Record Narration dialog box. In PowerPoint 2007, this option is in the Set Up group on the Slide Show tab.
Click Set Microphone Level to check your microphone. Read the sentence that appears in the Microphone Check dialog and let the Microphone Wizard adjust your microphone automatically. Click OK.
If you need to adjust the quality to CD, radio, or telephone, click Change Quality to open the Sound Selection dialog box. Just remember that quality increases the file’s size. If file size is a concern, you may have to compromise quality just a bit.
By default, PowerPoint stores the narration with the presentation. To store the sound file in a separate WAV file (in the same folder) check Link Narrations In. Click Browse to change the location of the separate WAV file, but use caution when doing so — only store the two separately when you have a good reason for doing so. If a sound file is over 50MB, you must link it.
Click OK and start recording. As PowerPoint displays your presentation, you narrate just as you want the message played. Continue to narrate each slide until you’re done.
At the end of the presentation, PowerPoint will prompt you to save the timings with each slide. This can be helpful if you didn’t get each slide just right and you need more practice.

Step five mentions linked files. If you’re using the same system to both create and show the presentation, linked files are fine, but not necessary. Linked files are a good choice if the sound files are large or if you plan to change the source file. By default, PowerPoint automatically links sound files that are larger than 100KB.

To change this setting, choose Options from the Tools menu, and then click the General tab and update the Link Sounds With File Size Great Than option. PowerPoint 2007 users will find this option by clicking the Office button, clicking the PowerPoint options button (at the bottom right) and then choosing Advanced. The option is in the Save section.

Use the Package for CD (PowerPoint 2003) or Pack And Go Wizard (PowerPoint 2002) to make sure you save linked files with the presentation. Names can be problematic: A linked file’s path name must be 128 characters or less.

More options

Narration is only one type of recoding you might consider. If you can record it, you can include it in your presentation. To record a single message or unique sound, choose Movies and Sound from the Insert menu and choose Record Sound. In PowerPoint 2007, this option is in the Sound option’s dropdown list, in the Media Clips group on the Insert tab.

In the resulting Record Sound dialog box shown in Figure D, enter a description and name. Click Record when you’re ready to begin. Click Stop when you’re done. Use Play to listen to the new recording. Click OK to save the sound with the presentation. Or, click Cancel to exit and try again. If you save a sound, it appears as an icon, which you can use anywhere in the presentation you like. Mix this capability with action settings for a unique effect. Just don’t over do it!

Figure D

You can record sounds inside PowerPoint

Playing a CD

Playing music is a great way to begin or end a presentation. However, the music doesn’t have to be a top 10 tune. It only needs to be appropriate. For example, you might play Mendelssohn’s Wedding March if your presentation is about catering receptions. Or, pleasing dinner music might be the way to go. It’s really up to you; just keep your audience in mind. To include a song from a CD, do the following:

Insert the CD.
From the Insert menu, choose Movies and Sound. Then, select Play CD Auto Track to open the Insert CD Audio dialog box. In PowerPoint 2007, choose Play CD Audio Track from the Sound option’s dropdown list. You’ll find this option in the Media Clips group on the Insert tab.
- The Start At Time and End At Time fields let you capture just part of a track instead of using the entire track.
- Use the Sound Volume button to control the audio’s volume.
- Check the Hide While Not playing option in the Display Options section if you don’t want the audio’s icon to show when the music isn’t playing.
Click OK when you’re done. PowerPoint lets you play the track by clicking or displaying the slide.

Like other sound files, Power Point displays a CD icon on the current slide. Just be careful that you don’t violate any copyright laws when including someone else’s music in your presentation.

A word on animation

You can use custom animation to control sound files to add a unique and creative dimension to your presentation. To get started, select a sound icon and display the Custom Animation task pane. PowerPoint offers a ton of options, and does a good job of disabling inappropriate choices for the selected clip.

Creating custom animation can be complicated and the truth is most presentations won’t need that much energy. However, the feature’s there and you might as well learn a bit about it. There’s an entire tab dedicated to animation in PowerPoint 2007. Click the Custom Animations option in the Animations group to create custom effects.

Design for effect

Multimedia files can liven up any presentation and sound is definitely part of that mix. You can play an appropriate tune or your company’s jingle. With one click, you can play your company’s latest radio ad for the head honchos. Whether you’re pitching a new product or sharing photos of your new baby, use sound to set the mood.

Susan Sales Harkins is an independent consultant and the author of several articles and books on database technologies. Her most recent book is “Mastering Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express,” with Mike Gunderloy, published by Sybex.

By:
Amresh Anjan

Assemble the perfect system administrator’s toolkit

2008-03-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Assemble the perfect system administrator’s toolkit

The Job

Picture this: You’ve been in IT for the past 15 years. The IT manager of a big firm, you manage a team of 10 IT staff that serves the in-house needs of more than 500 employees, and you know you do a great job at it.

After another day hard at work planning the new PBX migration project, your mobile phone rings. It’s your CEO on the line. There’s a problem with his home PC, which refuses to boot. He needs to retrieve a critical document from it for a keynote presentation the next day. He lives down the road from you.

So what do you do now?

A) Tell him you’re an IT manager, and you don’t do PC servicing anymore.

B) Tell him that you’re at as much of a loss as he is.

C) Tell him not to worry and show up at his house an hour later with the team leader.

D) Tell him not to worry and that you’re be right over in 5 minutes yourself.

If your answer is option A, B, and maybe even option C, then I suggest you head down to Toni’s excellent Career blog for some advice on getting a new job.

If your answer is D, then perhaps this Right Tool post is for you.

Sometimes, there’s no other way but to rollup your sleeve and get your hands dirty. Nothing beats being prepared, however. To help you along, I have put together a list of items that you can assemble into your very own system administrator ~~survival~~ toolkit.

The list is presented in no particular order.

The Tools

As you might have noticed by now, today’s Right Tool post is somewhat different. Instead of the tool, I’m presenting you with a list of 20 tools that you might want to consider throwing into your own system administrator’s toolkit. (Come on, you know real IT pros builds their own kits.)

Cable tester
Portable labeler
Bluetooth mouse
Anti-static strap
Releasable cable ties
Portable hard disk drive
Encrypted USB flash drive
Crimping tools
Hard disk wiper
Hard disk to USB adapter
USB hub
RJ11 cable
Patch cables
Multimeter
Screwdrivers
Multi-plug adapter
Original disc media
Serial to USB adapter
RJ-45 extender
Wireless modem

The Right Tool for the Job?

How well does this lineup represent your needs? Please let us know what you would put in your toolkit. And yes, it should be something you can lug around relatively easily, so you can leave out that 42-U server rack and SAN array.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

10 things you should do to protect yourself on a public computer

2008-03-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Author: Kris Littlejohn

Most of us will occasionally have to use a public computer for one reason or another. Maybe it’s an emergency situation (your own computer crashes or you get caught without your laptop when traveling) or perhaps the opportunity is just too convenient to pass up. But whatever your reasons, using public computers will always carry an inherent risk of exposing your personal data. Here are some things you can do to protect yourself and lessen that risk.

#1: Delete your Browsing History

This should be the first step you take to protect your privacy when Web surfing on a public computer. When you’ve finished browsing, it’s a good idea to delete your cookies, form data, history, and temporary Internet files. In Internet Explorer 7, you can do this all at once under Tools | Delete Browsing History. In older versions of IE, each of these must be deleted separately, under Tools | Internet Options.

In Mozilla Firefox, go to Tools | Options, click the Privacy tab, and select Always Clear My Private Data When I Close Firefox. By default, this erases your browsing history, download history, saved form information, cache, and authenticated sessions. Click the Settings button and select the options to erase your cookies and saved passwords, too.

#2: Don’t save files locally

When you’re using a computer other than your own, even if it’s a trusted friend’s machine, it’s polite to avoid saving files locally if you can help it. This is basically equivalent to not cluttering up another person’s home with your junk. On a public machine, though, this goes beyond politeness and is an important security practice. Many of the files you would normally save locally, such as e-mail attachments, can contain private or sensitive information. An easy way to protect this data is to carry a flash drive and save files there when necessary. It’s also a good idea to attach the flash drive to your key ring so you’ll be less likely to misplace it and create a new security problem.

#3: Don’t save passwords

This should be obvious when using a public computer, but if the option is already turned on, you might forget about it. To make sure passwords are not saved in Internet Explorer 7, go to Tools | Internet Options | Content. In the AutoComplete panel, click the Settings button and verify that the Prompt Me To Save Passwords check box is deselected. None of the other AutoComplete features needs to be enabled either, so deselect them as well. In Firefox, choose Tools | Options | Security and deselect Remember Passwords For Sites.

#4: Don’t do online banking

You should remember that ultimately, a public computer is never going to be anywhere close to completely secure, so there are some things you just shouldn’t use them for. If you really need to check your balance on the road, you’re much better off finding a branch office or ATM or using your phone.

#5: Don’t enter credit card information

As with online banking, public computers are not the place for online shopping. Your purchases from eBay or Amazon.com can and should wait until you can browse from a more secure location. A little added convenience isn’t worth the trouble of having your credit card hijacked.

#6: Delete temporary files

Temporary files (often abbreviated to “temp files”), as opposed to temporary Internet files, are created when you use programs other than a Web browser. For instance, when you create a Word document, in addition to the actual document file you save, Word creates a temporary file to store information so memory can be freed for other purposes and to prevent data loss in the file-saving process.

These files are usually supposed to be deleted automatically when the program is closed or during a system reboot, but unfortunately they often aren’t. To find these files, do a search on all local drives (including subfolders, hidden, and system files) for

*.tmp,*.chk,~*.*

This will bring up all files beginning with a tilde or with the extensions .tmp and .chk, which are the most common temp files. Once the search is complete, highlight all and Shift + Delete to remove them. (If you don’t hold down Shift, they’ll usually be sent to the Recycle Bin, which you would then have to empty.)

#7: Clear the pagefile

The pagefile is the location on the hard disk that serves as virtual memory in Windows. Its purpose is to swap out data from RAM so that programs can operate as if they have more RAM available than you actually have installed in the computer. Anything that can be stored in memory could also be stored in the pagefile. To have this automatically cleared on shutdown, you need to use Local Security Policy.

To access Local Security Policy, open Control Panel, double-click on Administrative Tools, and double-click on Local Security Policy. Then, click Security Options in the right-hand pane and scroll down to Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile. Double-click that item and make sure it’s enabled.

Note: On many public machines you won’t have the rights to get to Local Security Policy, and while this task can also be accomplished from the registry, on these machines you likely won’t be able to use regedit either. In this case, you can delete the page file manually. First you’ll have to change the settings in Windows Explorer. Click View | Folder Options and the View tab, then scroll down and click Show Hidden Files And Folders. Deselect the Hide Protected Operating System Files check box. Now, find the file named pagefile.sys. It is usually (but not always) on the C: drive. Delete it; a new one will be created when the system reboots. Speaking of which…

#8: Reboot

When you’re finished using the public computer, the final thing you should do is a hard reboot. This will not only clear the pagefile, if you’ve enabled that option, but it will also clear out everything you did from the physical memory (RAM).

#9: Boot from another device

This is a fairly advanced option, and one that is often overlooked. If you boot from either your own USB drive or from a CD, many of the problems mentioned above can be avoided. Today, many Linux distributions have the option of running completely in memory after booting from a CD. If a public computer has had its BIOS options left at default (which happens more often than you would think), this could be an option. If you are able to do this and remember not to save any other files to the local hard drive, everything will be gone when you reboot.

#10: Pay attention to your surroundings and use common sense

Finally, you need to remember to pay attention to things outside of the actual computer that could be a risk. Be aware of strangers around you (potential shoulder surfers) and remember that a public computer is just that — public. Don’t view any truly sensitive documents you couldn’t bear for others to see. Remember the security camera over your shoulder. Cover your hands from view when entering any login information to prevent any casual spying.

Most important, remember that there is nothing you can do to make a public computer completely secure. A truly malicious owner or user could install a hardware keystroke logger that would be impossible to detect without actually opening the case and inspecting it. With that less-than-comforting thought, use common sense and use public computers only for nonsensitive tasks.

Kris Littlejohn is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, distinguished by its large population of nerds and lack of a football team (almost unheard of in Texas). He builds computer systems, does network consulting for small businesses, and teaches chess. He grew up in a home that had four times as many computers as people and has been trying to tame the beasts for most of his life.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

How do I… Create an animated image in Flash for my Web page?

2008-03-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Author: John Lee

Because Flash has evolved into a ubiquitous multifaceted tool for deploying all kinds of content to the Web, it is easy to overlook its streamlined and easy-to-use Timeline animation features. Flash’s Timeline allows you to create smooth and smart animations that can be as simple or as complex as you would like them to be.

In this document, I’m going to show you how simple it is to create the illusion of depth in a Flash animation using nothing more than the Timeline palette and the Oval tool — without a hint of ActionScript code. Mind you, most professional Flash animators do rely on (rather complex) ActionScript for their animation effects, but we’ll work up to that later.

This blog post is also available in PDF form as a TechRepublic download, which includes a sample Flash file created using the technique described.

If you don’t own a copy of Flash CS3, you can download a fully functioning 30-day trial.

Creating a file

Let’s start by opening Flash CS3 and creating a new file. From the File menu, select the New option. In the dialog box that appears, select Type: Flash File ActionScript 3.0. Even though we won’t be using ActionScript at all in this example, let’s keep the file compatible with the most recent iteration.

Your layout should look like Figure A.

Figure A

The default layout of the Flash CS3 workspace

Lots of animation tutorials get you started by having you animate a bouncing ball, but we’ll go a little farther than that. We’re going to animate a moon coming out from behind a planet, revolving around to the front, and then disappearing behind the planet — while increasing and decreasing in size as it comes toward and moves away from the camera on its orbit.

The orbiting idea came from a TechRepublic member who is trying to perform the same function using JavaScript. Can you describe how to accomplish this animation using JavaScript? Submit your answer using our new Blog Submission Tool.

Start by saving your file. It’s always a good idea to save your file as soon as you create it, because as you work and save every few minutes, a fast hit on [Ctrl]+[S] will be a habit that you’ll form quickly.

Let’s start by changing the color of the stage to black so that our planet and moon will be living in outer space instead of on a boring whiteboard.

Go to the bottom of the screen and in the Properties palette, click the Background color box and choose a black swatch. While you’re in the Properties palette, click in the field labeled Frame Rate and change the number from 12 to 24. Since most film animation displays 24 frames per second, this setting will look much more pleasing to the viewer. Refer to Figure B to see how these changes should appear.

Figure B

Making the background of the Flash movie black and changing the Frame Rate to 24 frames per second (FPS)

Next, go to the Layers palette at the top of the screen. It’s tied directly to the Timeline window, so as you add layers to your file, you add layers to the working Timeline. Double-click the first layer and rename it “Planet.” Click the Insert Layer button again and rename the new layer you create “Moon.” Finally, click the Insert Layer button one more time and name the third layer “Mask.” Your Layers palette should resemble Figure C.

Figure C

Creating the layers for the animation

Now let’s get drawing.

Start by selecting the layer named Planet in the Layers palette to ensure that the planet you’re about to draw is on the correct layer. Then, select the Oval tool from the Toolbox on the far left, and for the Fill color, choose a pleasant blue. Also, make sure that no Stroke option is selected; otherwise, when you draw the planet on the stage, it will have a line around it. Refer to Figure D if you are unfamiliar with the Toolbox.

Figure D

Selecting the Oval tool with a blue fill and no stroke in the Toolbox

Go to the Black stage and while holding down the [Shift] key (to constrain our Oval tool into drawing a circle), click and drag to draw a circle on the stage that will represent our planet. Don’t draw the planet too large, or there will not be enough room to animate the moon in orbit.

Next, lock the Planet and Mask layers and select the Moon layer in the Layers palette.

This step is important!

The Timeline can animate only one object on a layer, and it will be much easier for you to create your animations if you keep all of your stage objects on separate layers. Figure E shows you how to lock a layer.

Figure E

Locking the Planet and Mask layers and selecting the Moon layer

Now, go back to the Toolbox and select the Oval tool again. For the fill color, choose an orange-yellow hue. Then, go back to the stage and draw a smaller circle that will represent the moon. Your stage should look like Figure F.

Figure F

The stage with the planet and moon in place

The planet and moon are on the stage, so it’s time to animate the moon. Flash can put an object in motion only if it exists as a Symbol. So before we can put the moon in orbit, we have to turn it into a Symbol.

Click on the moon to select it, then right-click on it to bring up a contextual menu. From that menu, choose Convert To Symbol. A dialog box will appear, as shown in Figure G. Give the Symbol a name of (you guessed it — Moon) and select the Movie Clip option. Click OK to return to the stage, where you’ll notice that the moon has a blue bounding box around it.

Figure G

Converting the Moon object to a Symbol

Rather than painstakingly animating the moon in orbit by hand, you’re going to rely on Flash’s Motion Guides and keyframes to do all of the heavy lifting.

A Motion Guide is exactly what it sounds like: a line that will guide a symbol about the stage. Keyframes are specific frames in the Timeline in which you can change the position or properties of a symbol and have Flash animate the transitions between the frames.

Right-click on the Moon layer and from the contextual menu, select Add Motion Guide. Click on the Motion Guide layer to select it, as shown in Figure H.

Figure H

Selecting the new Motion Guide layer for the Moon layer

The Motion Guide layer is where you will create your orbit path for the moon. Select the Oval tool from the Toolbox again, but this time, select a White stroke and no fill. Then, go back to the Stage and draw a narrow, horizontal oval around the center of the planet, as shown in Figure I.

Figure I

Creating the Motion Guide for the moon’s orbit

Motion Guides work best when they have a beginning point and an end point, but right now our orbit is a closed circle. Choose the Selection tool from the Toolbox and click and drag to select a small segment of the orbit path near the top center. Press the [Backspace] key to delete it. Your Motion Guide should look like Figure J.

Figure J

Breaking the oval to give the Motion Guide a beginning and ending point

Select the Moon Symbol and place it at the left-hand open end of the Motion Guide. It should snap into position via an anchor point in the center of the Moon Symbol. Then, choose the Free Transform tool from the Toolbox and reduce the size of the Moon Symbol to about half of its current size. Your stage should look like Figure K.

Figure K

Reducing the size of the moon and placing it at the start of the Motion Guide

Here’s where keyframes come into play. Go up to the Timeline and click and place your mouse into the 48th frame at the top layer (the one labeled Mask). Click and drag straight down to the bottom layer to select the frame across all four layers. Then, right-click in the selection and from the pop-up menu, choose the Insert Keyframe. Your Timeline palette should look like Figure L.

Figure L

Inserting keyframes at the end of the animation

Now, go back to the Stage and select the Moon symbol. Click and drag it to the opposite end of the Motion Guide, allowing it to snap into place, as shown in Figure M.

Figure M

The Moon at the ending position of the animation

Here is where the magic happens. Go back to the Timeline and select Frame 1 of the Moon layer. Right-click the frame and choose Create Motion Tween. The Moon layer will turn blue, with an arrow leading from keyframe 1 to keyframe 48. If you press the [Enter] key, you will get a preview of the animation, as the moon revolves around the planet.

But our animation lacks depth. Let’s start by making the moon appear bigger as it revolves toward us. Use your mouse to select Frame 24 in the Moon layer and right-click on it. Select Insert Keyframe again, making your Timeline look like the example in Figure N.

Figure N

Inserting a new Keyframe into the middle of the timeline

Now, select the moon on the stage and choose the Free Transform tool from the Toolbox again. This time, increase the size of the moon by about 100 percent (Figure O). Hit [Enter] again to preview the animation and see the moon increase and decrease in size as it moves to and from the camera.

Figure O

Increasing the size of the moon at the new Keyframe

We’re almost there. All we need to do now is make it look as if the moon disappears behind the planet at the back of its orbit.

Lock the Moon layer and the Motion Guide layer and then unlock the Planet layer and the Mask layer. Select the planet and copy it to the Clipboard. Go back to the Timeline and just as you did before, select Frame 6 of the Mask layer and insert a Keyframe. Then, in the same layer, insert another Keyframe at Frame 43. Your Timeline should look like Figure P.

Figure P

Inserting new Keyframes in the Mask layer

Select Frame 1 of the Timeline in the Mask layer. From the Edit menu, choose Paste In Place to drop a copy of the planet in the exact position as it exists on the Planet layer. Repeat this process at Keyframe 43 of the Mask layer. Finally, select Keyframe 48 of the Mask layer, right-click and then select Clear Keyframe to remove the empty Keyframe and extend the mask to the end of the movie.

Press [Ctrl]+[Enter] to test your movie. You’ll see that the Guide layer is not visible in the final SWF file.

That’s all there is to creating an animated 3-D effect with 2-D objects in Flash. Keep the Flash Timeline in mind the next time you need to quickly create a simple, attention-grabbing animation.

John Lee is a consultant specializing in design and illustration and a freelance technical writer. You can visit his Web site at johnleestudio.com.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

Convert an MPEG video file into Flash video?

2008-03-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

Date: September 27th, 2007
Author: John Lee

Converting an MPEG, AVI, or QuickTime video is a simple process that involves using Adobe’s Flash Video Encoder, a separate program that installs on your hard drive in conjunction with the installation of Flash CS3 itself. If you already have Flash CS3 on your computer, you can open the Flash Video Encoder from the Start Menu.

If you don’t own a copy of Flash CS3, you can download a fully functioning 30-day trial from Adobe. If you don’t have multiple MPEG, AVI, or QuickTime files of your own to use in this exercise, you can download a couple of low-resolution stock QuickTime files from FreeStockFootage.com and save them to your hard drive.

Oddly, Flash CS3 does not provide a stand-alone FLV viewer for watching FLV files from your hard drive. But you can download a free FLV player if you need one.

This blog post is also available as a TechRepublic gallery and TechRepublic download.

Converting files

Begin by opening the Flash Video Encoder if you haven’t already. You should see a screen resembling Figure A.

Figure A

The Flash Video Encoder

Click on the Add… button in the upper-right corner. This will open a dialog box that you will use to locate one of the MPEG, AVI, or QuickTime files on your hard drive that you will be converting to FLV format.

After you have added a source video file, it will be listed at the top of the Encoder’s Queue, with a default setting of Medium Quality. (Figure B)

Figure B

The first source video added to the Queue

The Flash Video Encoder is set up for batch processing of videos, so if you had a large number of videos you wanted to convert to FLV format, you would simply add them to the Queue by clicking the Add… button and listing an unlimited number of source videos so that the Encoder could process them all automatically in the order you listed them.

Let’s add a second video to the Queue now. Click the Add… button again and locate another source video you wish to convert to FLV format. When you are finished, the Queue should resemble Figure C.

Figure C

The second source video added to the Queue

Many people convert their source videos to FLV format for posting on video-sharing sites such as YouTube. However, most of these sites will automatically downgrade the quality of the video to help conserve their bandwidth. If you want to ensure a high-quality FLV file makes it online intact through one of these video-sharing services, you will need to change the default Quality Settings before you convert your source video.

For the sake of comparison, let’s just change the settings for the second video in the Queue. Select the second video in the Queue window and then click on the Settings button on the right side. A dialog box will appear that shows the first frame of the video with several settings tabs underneath. Click on the Encoding Profiles tab and from the drop-down list, choose the option named Flash 8 — High Quality 700 kbps. (Figure D)

Figure D

Setting the second Source video to a High Quality setting

Next, click on the Video tab and from the “Quality” pull-down menu on the right, select the option labeled “High” (Figure E). These settings should work fine. Click the “OK” button to close the Settings dialog box.

Figure E

Adjusting the video quality of the second source video

Now you’re ready to process the Queue and convert your source videos to FLV format. Click the Start Queue button on the right and let the Encoder get to work. As the Encoder converts the videos, you will see a preview play in the bottom-right of the screen. (Figure F)

Figure F

Processing the Queue

When the conversion is complete, the videos in the Queue will be marked with a green check mark (Figure G), and the FLV version of your source videos will be in the same directory as their source videos.

Figure G

Both source videos have been converted to FLV format

Now, open the stand-alone FLV player you downloaded earlier and preview your new FLV movie. (Figure H) These FLV files can be used in the creation of your Flash content, or they can be uploaded to any video-sharing site that accepts videos in FLV format.

Figure H

Viewing the new FLV files through the stand-alone FLV player

John Lee is a consultant specializing in design and illustration and a freelance technical writer. You can visit his Web site at johnleestudio.com.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

How to protect private information stored by Word

2008-03-22T14:05:00.000-07:00

How to protect private information stored by Word

Date: February 25th, 2008
Author: Susan Harkins

Word automatically stores a few pieces of information about your computer’s identity (or you) when you create a new document. You can get a glimpse by opening a document, even a blank one, and choosing Properties from the File menu. The Summary tab will display, at the very least, your Windows logon name (which might not be your real name).

Word documents also store a randomly generated number that someone can use to trace a document back to your computer, if they have access to your computer. Within most organizations, a file is easy to trace this way.

Most of the time, this information is helpful, but it can be intrusive and even abused by others. You can inhibit this information but it’s an all or nothing venture because you must disable these properties via your document template. For most of us, that’s Normal.dot. The first trick is to find and open Normal.dot (or the appropriate template). Most likely, your Word templates are in the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

If that path doesn’t seem to exist for you, you’ll need to take a few extra steps to view hidden folders:

From the Start menu, choose My Documents.
Choose Tools and then select Folder Options.
Click the View tab and click Show Hidden Files And Folders in the Hidden Files And Folders section.
Click OK.

Once you find the template, open it in Word and follow these steps to disable the appropriate properties:

Choose Options from the Tools menu and click the Security tab.
Select the Remove Personal Information From File Properties On Save option in the Privacy Options section.
Deselect the Store Random Number To Improve Merge Accuracy option.
Click OK.
Save the template file and close it.

There’s one drawback to disabling the random number option. If you merge revised documents, Word will no longer prompt you to merge changes when you open a revised document. Fortunately, you can perform the merge manually by choosing Compare And Merge Documents from the Tools menu.

Another possible drawback might be the trouble you get in with your system administrator. If you really feel you need to make these changes to your template, check with your administrator first. I don’t want you to get in trouble. It’s also possible that you can’t change your template — kudos to the administrator who’s in control. Now, as a user you might not like that much control, but you might have to negotiate your needs with your administrator.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

Basic e-mail security tips

2008-03-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Basic e-mail security tips

Date: February 25th, 2008
Author: Chad Perrin

There’s a lot of information out there about securing your e-mail. Much of it is advanced and doesn’t apply to the typical end user. Configuring spam filters such as SpamAssassin, setting up encrypted authentication on mail servers, and e-mail gateway virus scanner management are not basic end-user tasks.

When one can find end-user e-mail security tips, they’re usually specific to a single mail client or mail user agent such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Mutt. This sort of information is of critical importance to many users of these applications, but there are few sources of more general security information for e-mail users that aren’t specific to a given client application.

The following is a short list of some important security tips that apply to all e-mail users — not just users of a specific application. They are listed in the order one should employ them, from the first priority to the last. This priority is affected not only by how important a given tip is, but also by how easy it is to employ; the easier something is to do, the more likely one is to actually do it and move on to the next tip.

Never allow an e-mail client to fully render HTML or XHTML e-mails without careful thought. At the absolute most, if you have a mail client such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird that can render HTML e-mails, you should configure it to render only simplified HTML rather than rich HTML — or “Original HTML” as some clients label the option. Even better is to configure it to render only plain text. When rendering HTML, you run the risk of identifying yourself as a valid recipient of spam or getting successfully phished by some malicious security cracker or identity thief. My personal preference is, in fact, to use a mail user agent that is normally incapable of rendering HTML e-mail at all, showing everything as plain text instead.
If the privacy of your data is important to you, use a local POP3 or IMAP client to retrieve e-mail. This means avoiding the use of Web-based e-mail services such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail for e-mail you wish to keep private for any reason. Even if your Webmail service provider’s policies seem sufficiently privacy-oriented to you, that doesn’t mean that employees won’t occasionally break the rules. Some providers are accused of selling e-mail addresses to spamming “partners.” Even supposedly security-oriented Webmail services such as Hushmail can often be less than diligent in providing security to their users’ e-mail.
It’s always a good idea to ensure that your e-mail authentication process is encrypted, even if the e-mail itself is not. The reason for this is simple: You do not want some malicious security cracker “listening in” on your authentication session with the mail server. If someone does this, that person can then send e-mails as you, receive your e-mail, and generally cause all kinds of problems for you (including spammers). Check with your ISP’s policies to determine whether authentication is encrypted and even how it is encrypted (so you might be able to determine how trivial it is to crack the encryption scheme used).
Digitally sign your e-mails. As long as you observe good security practices with e-mail in general, it is highly unlikely that anyone else will ever have the opportunity to usurp your identity for purposes of e-mail, but it is still a possibility. If you use an encryption tool such as PGP or GnuPG to digitally sign your e-mails, though, recipients who have your public key will be able to determine that nobody could have sent the e-mail in question without having access to your private key — and you should definitely have a private key that is well protected.
If, for some reason, you absolutely positively must access an e-mail account that does not authorize over an encrypted connection, never access that account from a public or otherwise unsecured network. Ever. Under any circumstances.

Be aware of both your virtual and physical surroundings when communicating via e-mail. Be careful. Trust no one that you do not absolutely have to trust, and recognize the dangers and potential consequences of that trust.

Your e-mail security does not just affect you; it affects others, as well, if your e-mail account is compromised. Even if the e-mail account itself is not compromised, your computer may be if you do not take reasonable care with how you deal with e-mails — and that, in turn, can lead to affecting both you and others adversely as well.

Don’t be a victim.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

5 of the best desktop operating systems you never used

2008-03-22T13:52:00.000-07:00

5 of the best desktop operating systems you never used

Date: March 19th, 2008
Author: John Sheesley

Bill Gates’ original dream when he created Microsoft was to have “a computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software.” Clearly, he accomplished that goal. Depending on whose statistics you want to believe, Windows has a market share in the high 80% - low 90% range. So, unless you run Linux or prefer Mac OS X, chances are you’re a Windows user.

When it comes to desktop operating systems, your choices are really pretty narrow. You either run Windows, or you do some Unix-like OS. There are the 12,000 different Linux distributions. There’s always FreeBSD if you prefer your Unix without a Finnish flavor. You could go the vendor route and run AIX or HP-UX. Sun has Solaris, and as much as you might want to, you can’t forget SCO. And of course, there’s always Mac OS X. Although it may sound like variety when it comes down to it, it’s still Windows vs. Unix.

There are other options, or at least there USED to be. Here are a list of five of the best operating systems that you probably never used.

OS/2

No discussion can be had of Microsoft alternatives without mentioning OS/2. Until Microsoft shipped Windows 2000 Professional, OS/2 4.0 was probably my desktop OS of choice. For the purposes of this section, I’m referring to OS/2 2.0 and later, not IBM and Microsoft’s ill fated OS/2 1.x series.

IBM billed OS/2 as being a “Better DOS than DOS” and a “Better Windows than Windows”. Anyone who ever ran OS/2 knows that IBM largely succeeded. From a technical perspective, OS/2 was much more solid than DOS, Windows 3.x or even Windows 9x.

OS/2 had many innovations that we come to view as standard equipment in an OS today. OS/2 was the first major 32-bit operating system. It was completely multi-threaded. Its HPFS file system resisted fragmentation and could natively support large filenames. OS/2 was the first major OS to integrate a Web browser into the operating system. It was also the first operating system to offer voice-control.

There are many reasons why OS/2 failed. Windows 95 came out and even though OS/2 was more stable, its inability to run Win32 API-based programs doomed it. It ran DOS and Windows 3.1 programs so well, ISVs never had an incentive to create native OS/2 programs. Microsoft’s licensing scheme with OEMs discouraged hardware vendors, including IBM itself, from bundling OS/2. It didn’t help that IBM couldn’t market OS/2 to save its life.

Even though the last version of OS/2 shipped in 1996, IBM continued to support OS/2 until December 31, 2006. Many OS/2 supporters have tried to get IBM to release OS/2’s source code for open source development, but IBM refuses. Supposedly this is due to some of the Microsoft code that still exists in OS/2 that IBM has exclusive rights to. At the same time however, IBM licensed OS/2 to Serenity Systems who continue to support, upgrade, and extend OS/2 in their own product called eComStation. Below is a screen shot of eCS from my test machine:

One final bit of OS/2 trivia. Microsoft co-developed OS/2 1.x with IBM. When IBM and Microsoft got ‘divorced’ in the late 80’s, Microsoft took its part of the code for what was to become OS/2 3.0 on the IBM/Microsoft product roadmap and created Windows NT 3.1, which today lives on as Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Every OS/2 user’s favorite quote from Bill Gates is, of course: “We believe OS/2 is the platform for the 90’s.”

The NeXTSTEP OS is one that even I never used. It came up in conversation with Jason Hiner who had used it while a student at IU. NeXTSTEP has a important place in history that can’t be overlooked.

Today, Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs is Apple. You can’t really think of one without the other. It wasn’t always that way though. In 1985, in grand Greek Tragedy form, Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple by John Sculley, the executive that Jobs himself brought in from Pepsi to save Apple from financial disaster. When Jobs left Apple, he went on to form the NeXT Computer Company.

NeXT’s initial goal was to create powerful workstations for education and business. The NeXT workstation’s major innovation at the time was its 256Mb WORM drive that it used for removable storage rather than a traditional floppy drive. The NeXT came with the entire works of Shakespeare on a single CD-ROM which was one of the ‘cool factors’ about the box when it was introduced. The NeXT workstation also continued Job’s history of thinking different when it came to design, because the NeXT workstation was a simple Borg-like cube.

At the heart of the NeXT workstation was the NeXTSTEP OS. This OS was based on the Mach Unix kernel. It was originally developed for NeXT’s PowerPC CPU, but Jobs also created a version of it that ran on the Intel 486 CPU called NeXTSTEP 486. Here’s a screenshot of NeXTSTEP from Wikipedia:

NeXTSTEP is significant because when Jobs finally retook his rightful place as the head of Apple in 1996, he did so by arranging Apple to buy NeXT. In doing so, the NeXTSTEP OS came along as part of the package and ultimately became Mac OS X.

BeOS

The BeOS was an interesting, powerful, and probably the most jinxed OS that was ever created. It debuted in 1991 and some of its innovations such as a 64-bit journaling file system in BFS, still haven’t found their way into current operating systems.

BeOS came very close to becoming the operating system that we use on the Mac platform today. BeOS started out as an proprietary operating system for the BeBox which was a workstation that ran PowerPC CPUs. When the BeBox failed to go anywhere in the marketplace, Be tried to sell the company to Apple to replace MacOS, which by 1996 was starting to show its age in the face of Windows 95. Apple nearly did it, but decided to buy NeXT and bring back Steve Jobs as mentioned above.

Be then continued its desperate bid to find a home and purpose for the OS. It started by trying to peddle BeOS to the makers of Mac-clones who were cut off from Apple when Steve Jobs returned. That didn’t work. (Yes, in the mid-90’s you could actually buy clones of the Mac. Apple licensed the OS and the Mac ROMs to OEMs. One of Steve’s first actions upon getting back in at Apple was to squash the Mac-clone market.)

Be then tried to port the BeOS to the Intel platform and get some traction against Windows. That didn’t work either. Be next tried to create a version of BeOS for Internet appliances. When that failed as well, Be sold out to PalmSource who wanted to include BeOS technology in their next OS. Guess how that turned out? PalmSource subsequently crashed and burned, selling the rights to BeOS to Access Co, a maker of mobile devices.

I never used BeOS other than to install it and kick it around a little to see how it worked. I have a copy running in Virtual PC on my test machine, but due to limited hardware support of the virtual machine environment, BeOS won’t come up in color and won’t talk to the network card. The screen shot below comes from jfedor.org.

DESQview

The last two I want to mention aren’t really operating systems per se, but rather operating environments. But, if Windows 9x can qualify as an operating system, so can these. The first is DESQview.

DESQview was a program that ran on top of DOS that allowed you to multitask DOS programs. As a matter of fact, until Microsoft introduced Windows 95, with the exception of OS/2 the best way to run multiple character based DOS programs was through the use of DESQview.

DESQview didn’t multithread programs, because such technology didn’t exist at the time. Rather, through the use of QEMM, DESQview used expanded memory on your computer if it had an 80386 CPU to run DOS programs simultaneously. If you only had a 286, you couldn’t use expanded memory, but DESQview would still task-switch programs through extended memory. It wasn’t as efficient as running on a 386, but it still got the job done.

Of course, Windows 3.x could multitask DOS programs. Compared to DESQview however, Windows 3.0 it had so much overhead, that it was slower and often wouldn’t leave enough lower 640Kb memory behind for DOS programs to run. If you had enough extended memory in your computer, QEMM, DESQview’s memory manager, could actually free almost the entire lower 640Kb memory area for program use.

DESQview was one of the first victims in the PC tradition of Good Marketing Beats Better Technology. Even though DESQview multitasked DOS programs better than Windows, Microsoft ultimately won the day. Quarterdeck, the maker of DESQview, tried creating a GUI-version of it called DESQview/X, but this never went anywhere. Ultimately, Quarterdeck sold out to Symantec. Symantec still owns the rights to DESQview, but doesn’t market it.

I used DESQview extensively in college. Even on a 80286 without QEMM, you could still multitask programs very well using DESQview. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my copy of DESQview to grab a screenshot for this blog post. I’ll see if I can find it and get one. For now, I found this very grainy image from Charles Petzold’s Web site.

GEOS / GeoWorks

In early 90’s if you wanted to get on the GUI bandwagon and didn’t want to use a Mac, your only choice was really Windows 3.0. But to make Windows 3.0 work properly, you really needed to have 386 with EGA or VGA graphics. If you had an ‘older’ computer, you were pretty much out of luck. That’s where PC/GEOS came in.

GEOS was a GUI that ran on Atari and Commodore 64 computers. In 1990, GeoWorks created a version of GEOS called PC/GEOS which would support a GUI and limited multitasking on 286 and even some XT machines (8088-based PC clones). GEOS was lightweight, fast, and easy to use but never got traction from software developers because it was hard to program for and the developer kit was expensive.

GEOS included Ensemble which was its own office suite program consisting of a word processor, spreadsheet, dialer, database, and calendar. This was in an era where Microsoft Office didn’t exist and if you wanted these applications you had to buy them separately. GEOS was also used by AOL for the DOS version of their connection software.

Once Windows conquered the desktop and hardware caught up to Windows’ appetite, GEOS fell out of favor. GeoWorks ultimately sold out to NewDeal Inc, which tried to market the OS as a Windows alternative to those with older machines and for schools. When this didn’t work, NewDeal ultimately failed and sold its business to BreadBox who continue to make, support and update a version of GEOS called BreadBox Ensemble.

My copy of GEOS is long gone, but I ran it for a while on my Tandy 1000. It did the job, but I needed more power than what was in the supported applications and it didn’t run DOS programs very well. The attached screen shot is from the Guidebook Gallery.

All that and more

So there you have 5 of the best operating systems you probably never used. Each introduced innovations that we still use today, as well as some we’re still trying to catch up with even though the programs debuted in the 20th century. In each case, they were overlooked, underrated, and ultimately crushed by the Microsoft steamroller.

There are plenty of OSes I left off the list: CP/M, TRS-DOS, LDOS, DR-DOS and others (which I encourage you to remind me of.) We’ll try to cover those in the future as well.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

USB Disk Security (exe)

2008-03-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

USB Disk Security (exe)

Overview: USB Disk Security provides 100% protection against any malicious programs trying to attack via USB drive. Compare USB Disk Security against other antivirus solutions, you will find out its highlights: USB Disk Security provides 100% protection against any threats via USB drive, however, the majority of other products are unable even to guarantee 90% protection. USB Disk Security is the best antivirus software to permanently protect offline computer without the need for signature updates, but other antivirus software should update signature database regularly, and they cannot effectively protect offline computer. This light and easy to use solution is 100% compatible with all software and doesn't slow down your computer at all. You pay USB Disk Security once and get it all, however, other antivirus products should be paid for updates every year. Version 5.0.0.18 improved detection of threats.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

Secure temporary files in Linux

2008-03-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

Secure temporary files in Linux

Date: February 25th, 2008
Author: Vincent Danen

On a typical Linux system there will be at least two, if not more, directories or partitions meant to hold temporary files. There is always the /tmp directory, and often a /var/tmp directory as well. With newer Linux kernels, there can also be /dev/shm, which is mounted using the tmpfs filesystem.

One problem with directories meant to store temporary files is that they can often be targeted as places to store bots and rootkits that compromise the system. This is because in most cases, anyone (or any process) can write to these directories. Insecure permissions are problematic as well; most Linux distributions set the sticky bit on directories meant to contain temporary files — this means that user A cannot remove a file belonging to user B, and vice versa. Depending on the permissions of the file itself, user A may be able to view and/or modify the contents of that file, however.

A typical Linux installation will set /tmp as mode 1777, meaning it has the sticky bit set and is readable, writable, and executable by all users. For many, that’s as secure as it gets, and this is mostly because the /tmp directory is just that: a directory, not its own filesystem. The /tmp directory lives on the / partition and, as such, must obey its mount options.

A more secure solution would be to set /tmp on its own partition, so that it can be mounted independent of the / partition and have more restrictive options set. An example /etc/fstab entry for a /tmp partition might look like:

/dev/sda7 /tmp ext3 nosuid,noexec,nodev,rw 0 0

This would set the nosuid, noexec, and nodev options, meaning that no suid programs are permitted, nothing can be executed from that partition, and no device files may exist.

You could then remove the /var/tmp directory and create a symlink pointing to /tmp so that the temporary files in /var/tmp also make use of these restrictive mount options.

The /dev/shm virtual filesystem also needs to be secured as well, and this can be done by changing /etc/fstab. Typically, /dev/shm is simply mounted with the defaults option, which isn’t enough to properly secure it. Like the fstab entry shown for /tmp, it should have more restrictive mount options:

none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults,nosuid,noexec,rw 0 0

Finally, if you don’t have the ability to create a fresh /tmp partition on existing drives, you can use the loopback capabilities of the Linux kernel by creating a loopback filesystem that will be mounted as /tmp and can use the same restrictive mount options. To create a 1GB loopback filesystem, execute:

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/.tmpfs bs=1024 count=1000000

# mke2fs -j /.tmpfs

# cp -av /tmp /tmp.old

# mount -o loop,noexec,nosuid,rw /.tmpfs /tmp

# chmod 1777 /tmp

# mv -f /tmp.old/* /tmp/

# rmdir /tmp.old

Once this is complete, edit /etc/fstab to have the loopback filesystem mounted automatically at boot:

/.tmpfs /tmp ext3 loop,nosuid,noexec,rw 0 0

Little things like ensuring proper permissions and using restrictive mount options will prevent a lot of harm coming to the system. If a bot lands on a filesystem that is unable to execute, that bot is essentially worthless.

BY:
Amresh Anjan

How do I… Create a 3D logo in GIMP?

2008-03-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

How do I… Create a 3D logo in GIMP?

Date: March 18th, 2008
Author: Jack Wallen

The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is the open source answer to Photoshop. There are many who would disagree with that statement, but when you really get into it, GIMP can do pretty much everything Photoshop can do and do it just as easily.

One thing GIMP does very simply is create 3D logos. The application does this with the help of what is called “Script-Fu,” which is GIMP’s scripting extension. One of the default extensions is Logos. We are going use Logs to create various 3D logos.

A note on fonts

One of the first things you are going to want to do is find yourself some good fonts to use. The default fonts installed in Linux are not the greatest (especially if you are trying to create a groovy logo for yourself or a company.) The fonts need to be .ttf (or .TTF) format. After you have rounded up enough fonts to satisfy your creative needs, place them in the ~/.fonts directory and restart. Once you have logged back in, GIMP will see all of the new fonts and be able to use them. You are ready to start creating.

The GIMP UI

If you are not terribly familiar with the GIMP UI fear not, most everything you are going to do can be done via menus. The first menu you will be looking at is the Xtns menu (Figure A)

Figure A

The Logo menu is found quickly in the Script-Fu submenu in the Xtns menu. Xtns = externals.

Once you are in the Logo menu you will see 29 possible choices. Each of these choices will render a very different type of logo. The choices range from an Alien Glow to a Web-Title Header. There are some very fun choices and some very standard choices. Let’s take a look at something fun.

From the Logo menu let’s choose Bovination. This type of menu, as you can probably guess, is all about Cows. This will create a logo that has a nice bovine print in the lettering. So click Bovination to bring up the options window (Figure B).

Figure B

The text “Fear The Cow” is the default text. You’ll want to change that.

So the first thing to do is to change the text to suit your needs. Once you have done that edit the pixel size. This can be tricky because you’ll need to make adjustments up or down depending upon your needs. Obviously a smaller font size is going to render a smaller image. Get too small and the clarity is sacrificed.

Now with many of the Logo Scripts the choice in font will have a drastic impact on the quality of the logo. For instance, with Bovination you will need a fatter font to render the pattern. Figure C shows a Bovinated logo with a too-skinny font whereas Figure D shows a Bovinated logo with a font better suited for the pattern.

Figure C

Not enough beef to this font.

Figure D

Now that’s a side of beef!

Before saving the image, there are some interesting tricks to play. Let’s say, for example, you want to use the second bovinated logo but you want to place it on another image where the background is not white. This is most certainly possible by extracting layers. Take a look at Figure E. This is a screen shot of the layers that make up the image from Figure D. What we want to do is remove the background layer so the text and the text effects are the only thing remaining.

Figure E

Of the three layers, the top two make up the text and the text effects.

Once you remove the background, what you have left is the text (and text effects) on a transparent background (Figure F).

Figure F

Now your cow logo is almost ready to copy and paste as a new layer on an image.

Before you can actually copy and paste this image you have to merge the two remaining layers together. You can merge two ways: The first is to hit [Ctrl]-[M] and the second is to right click the image, go to the Image menu, and then select Merge Visible Layers.

When you merge layers there are three options:

Expanded as necessary
Clipped to image, and
Clipped to bottom layer

The first option works in most cases. Once the layers are merged you can copy and paste that logo to your hearts content.

Another logo

Let’s take a look at another type of logo that gives you an even more 3D appearance. The “Glossy” logo is one of my favorites. I use it all the time. Once you start the Glossy logo Script-Fu you will have a number of options to play with. There are only a few that are really necessary. Take a look at Figure G which illustrates the options for Glossy.

Figure G

I have no idea why the text “Galaxy” was chosen, but there you have the default text.

The two most important options in Glossy are the Font and the Blend gradient.

There are two different types of blend gradients: Text and Outline. I generally make them the same gradient. You can choose different gradients but it will most often muddy up your work. I am going to work with a fun font and work with the Abstract 1 gradient. Other than the font and the gradient, I am leaving everything else set to default. Take a look at Figure H for the final results.

Figure H

Pretty groovy for such quick work

The various types of logos have plenty of different options. You can spend the better part of a day playing around with the options tweaking your logo to perfection by changing fonts, altering gradients, and adding or removing patterns. With The GIMP, the sky is the limit.

Final thoughts

As you have seen, creating a 3D logo in The GIMP is simple. But don’t stop yourself short of creating the perfect logo. Remember, once you have created the logo with the help of Script-Fu, you can always take that logo two or three steps higher using the standard GIMP tools.

BY:
Amresh Anjan