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16

One in all PC tips / How To Securely Delete Files From Your HDD Or SSD In Windows

« on: June 21, 2014, 03:29:32 PM »

When you hit the delete button, where does that file go? Does it just evaporate and leave a blank space on your drive? If you’ve been around computers long enough, you know that’s not what happens. But if you’re mostly an email and Facebook type of computer user, you might not know, or not even thought about it.

What Happens To A File When It is Deleted

Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)

When you delete a file it goes to the Recycle Bin. That gives you a chance to recover it in case you accidentally deleted it and need it back. But what happens when you delete it from the Recycle Bin? Actually, not much at all. The file doesn’t move or go anywhere. In fact, when you moved it to the Recycle Bin, it didn’t physically move there either. All that happened was an index got updated to say that the file is in the Recycle Bin, not the Documents folder.
The index is called the Master File Table (MFT) for Hard Disk Drives. It looks like this. The left-most column are the block addresses. The middle column shows data in hex code. the right column shows what that data would like as plain text.

When the file is ‘deleted’ the information stays on the drive, but the MFT is changed to say, “Hey, you know that spot where Secret-File.txt was? Yeah, Computer, you can now put data there if you want. We don’t need it anymore.” Until the computer puts data in that spot, the Secret-File.txt data remains. It could be minutes, days, weeks, or months until that data is overwritten. Kind of like a condemned house sitting on a lot. It’s not usable, but it’s still there until the bulldozer comes and they build something else.

Here’s an example. The left column shows red Xs for MFT locations that have been set to be overwritten, the one with the page icon is marked to stay. The right column shows the data that is still in that location, even though you can’t find it with Windows Explorer. See the problem with ordinary deletes now?

Solid State Drives (SSDs)

It’s not exactly the same for Solid State Drives. SSDs are always shifting files around, randomly. So, figuratively speaking, if you deleted a file from location 2871, the deleted info may, sooner or later, get moved off to another random location, until at some point in time the SSD decides to finally overwrite that file. How do you target the old file for secure deletion on an SSD, then?
Well, you can’t really. A group of engineers at the University of California studied how difficult it is to erase data from an SSD. Trying to securely erase a single file left behind anywhere from 4 to 75% of the information. And it’s tough on the drive. What you can do is make sure you encrypt your SSD, and make sure that you’ve got an SSD drive with TRIM capability.

This isn’t a problem for most people, but you might be concerned that people could still access that deleted information. Maybe you handle sensitive medical documents, or you’re an international art thief, or just a little paranoid like me. How do you securely get rid of that data, immediately and forever?

What is ‘Secure’?

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of secure data deletion, we need to look at what secure means. Secure means whatever you think it means. If you’re happy with the level of security you have, then it’s secure. If the data you don’t want recovered isn’t life threatening, then the measures you take to delete it don’t need to be as severe as deleting the security codes for the last sample of smallpox off the CDC’s servers.

Let’s take a look at the methods in order of  least secure to most secure. Until we get to entire drive deletion, these methods will only apply to traditional HDDs.

Least Secure Method

Simply delete the file in your Windows Explorer and empty the Recycle Bin. Unless you think someone is going to come along with data recovery software and look for that file in the next week or so, that will probably be secure enough. Examples of information like this could be anything from a silly animated GIF to a letter to your Nan. You really should write to her. She misses you, you know.

Mildly Secure Method (HDD Only)

As we talked about, overwriting data is a pretty good way to obscure the old data. You can do this on a file by file basis with programs that are commonly referred to as file shredders. Although the interfaces for these utilities can differ, the method of operation is essentially the same – delete the old file, then write zeroes to the places on the HDD where the file used to be. These tools are only mildly secure, because you have to make sure you use them when you need them. If you want to securely delete a file with your Social Security Number on it, but forget to use the shredder, that info will still be sitting on your drive for awhile.

Examples of use for this method is where the person occasionally deals with sensitive information that pertains only to them. It might be the odd copy of a tax return, or a bank statement that you want to delete. That’s where file shredders are most handy.

Moderately Secure Method (HDD Only)

A more moderately secure method to delete information from your drives is to use software that allows you to wipe free space on your drives. CCleaner is a favourite for this task. When you choose the Wipe Free Space option, it writes zeroes to the blocks where files used to be. The difference between this and the shredders is that wiping free space takes care of ALL deleted files. It’s just that little bit more thorough. The catch is that this method takes a fair bit of time and should be scheduled or you’ll forget to do it frequently enough.

Examples of good uses for this are for people who frequently delete files that are quite sensitive. Maybe they are heavy online bankers or do some online trading. Perhaps they have just backed up their important info to an encrypted external drive and don’t need it on the computer anymore.

Most Secure Method (HDD & SSD)

The most secure methods are really for deleting the entire contents of a drive. Yet again, because of the differences between HDDs and SSDs, the same methods don’t apply to both. Chose the appropriate one for your drive and situation.

Examples where you’d want to go to this level include switching to a new computer which will have the info, but you’re keeping, selling, or disposing of the old computer. Perhaps you are re-purposing a computer from an information-sensitive use to a more day-to-day use.

HDD – Formatting

Formatting is a catch-all term for a few different things. It can mean simply deleting the MFT so it appears like all the data is gone, but it isn’t. It’s still there and intact until overwritten. Or, it can mean true formatting, known as low-level formatting, which overwrites all the data with zeroes. You can’t low-level format your entire hard drive from within Windows. You’ll need a formatting utility that you can boot your computer into, like Darik’s Boot and Nuke.

You might be tempted to choose one of the hardcore multipass methods, but that’s probably going to be overkill. Especially if you want it done quick and don’t want to shorten the life of your hard drive. The RCMP TSSIT OPS-II or DoD Short methods are sufficient. RCMP is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the DoD is the British Department of Defence. Good enough for them should be good enough for you.

SSD – Manufacturer’s Utility

Most SSD manufacturers have a utility for managing and securely erasing their SSDs. Tim Brookes was kind enough to compile a list of links for the top manufacturers in his article, How To Securely Erase Your SSD Without Destroying It.

Download: Intel Solid State Toolbox(https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=18455) / OCZ Toolbox (http://ocz.com/consumer/download/firmware) / Corsair SSD Toolbox (http://www.corsair.com/en/support/downloads) / Samsung Magician (http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html) / SanDisk SSD Toolkit (http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9328/~/ssd-toolkit-support-information)

Paranoid Method (HDD and SSD)

The National Institute of Science and Technology has a policy to deal with the destruction of extremely sensitive data. It’s even more aggressive than what the RCMP or DoD use, so it will destroy your data to the point where not even Sherlock Holmes riding on Hercule Poirot’s back with Frank Columbo leading them around would get anything out of it.

That’s not hyperbole, that’s NIST’s actual standard. Oh, and to meet the grade you have to find a NIST licensed incinerator to do the job. That job in the picture above wouldn’t be good enough.

What Will You Do?

You’ve got the knowledge and some resources now. It’s up to you what you will do with them. However, if you’re not already using several techniques to keep your information safe from prying eyes, secure deletion shouldn’t be your first concern. If someone already has your info, it doesn’t matter how you delete your copy.




Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/securely-delete-files-hdd-ssd-windows/

17

Use of PC / How to Easily Bypass YouTube’s Regional Filter

« on: May 15, 2014, 11:49:03 AM »

Some YouTube videos are restricted by location — BBC’s content is only available to UK residents, while US cable channels are only available online if you’re in the US, and so forth.  Luckily, there are a few tricks to bypass this regional filter, and watch any YouTube videos you want to, regardless of your location.
Earlier, you could adjust the YouTube URL to bypass a regional filter. Since that no longer works, we’ve put together a list that makes it possible to watch those restricted videos. Some of these tricks will also work beyond YouTube, and are applicable to other geo-restricted sites like Hulu, as well as audio content on the likes of Pandora and Spotify.

ProxMate

If you find yourself running into this problem on a regular basis, the best solution is a browser plugin that will run in the background and automatically unblock videos, with no effort on your part whatsoever. ProxMate works beyond just YouTube, and can be used to unblock restricted content on Hulu, Pandora, MTV and more.

You can also choose to switch off ProxMate when you don’t need it in case it slows down loading time on your videos – this is as simple as clicking the ProxMate button in your browser bar.  ProxMate is available for download for Chrome from its website, or from the Firefox Add-Ons library. To install it on Chrome, you’ll have to download the extension, and then drag it onto the open Extensions page in your browser.

Unblock YouTube

The aptly named Unblock YouTube allows you to select the video quality, and player type. For the latter, you can choose between HTML5 or a Flash player, for those of you using older browsers.

Each of these services provides a different way to access blocked YouTube content, but hands down the one service that offers the best options is ProxMate. It offers users a native YouTube experience, complete with all of the standard features that you expect to find when watching an online video.

Do you have any services to add to the list? Let me know in the comments.

18

Use of PC / How to easily enter safe mode in windows 8? (One-click series)

« on: May 15, 2014, 10:54:29 AM »

First use your finger to make a sliding motion from bottom to top on the illuminated screen in Modern UI, then click once All Applications. If you are using a mouse, please right click once All Applications.

Then on the command command prompt character use your finger to slide from top to bottom, and click once more Executable by system administrator. If you are using a mouse, click on the command prompt character and right click, then click once more Executable by system administrator.

If there is user account control, please click once yes.

Click to input Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes,when completed press the Enter key on the keyboard. If you need to cancel the prompt to enter options at startup, simply change Yes to No.

Once completed, please restart your computer, then press F8 to enter setup screen upon startup, then press F4 or 4 to enter safemode.

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2809468

19

Use of PC / 10 Common PC Maintenance Errors That You Can Avoid

« on: November 27, 2013, 09:56:54 AM »

PCs still require maintenance, as much as we wish they were magic boxes that did all the work for us. Unfortunately, many people make mistakes when it comes to maintaining their PC. These mistakes could result in hardware damage, security breaches, data loss, money spent unnecessarily, and general system instability.

We generally cover lists of PC maintenance tips you should do, but knowing what not to do can be even more important. We’ll cover some of the most common mistakes so you can avoid them and keep your PC running like new.

Not Updating Your Operating System and Software

Keeping your computer’s software updated is important. Operating systems, browsers, and their plug-ins in particular are frequently updated with security fixes. If you’re running an unpatched version of Windows, outdated version of Firefox, or vulnerable version of Java, your computer is at risk.

Be sure to keep your software updated. Set Windows to automatically install updates or at least inform you of them, leave your browser set to automatically install updates, and ensure Flash, Adobe Reader, Java, and other browser plug-ins you have installed are set to update automatically. Don’t disable these auto-updating features — they help keep your PC secure.

Letting Dust Build Up

Dust builds up inside of your PC’s case over time. This dust clogs up fans, reducing air flow and increasing the temperature inside your PC. A large amount of dust build-up can result in problems with cooling, which could even lead to system crashes as your CPU’s temperature increases too far. If you’re playing demanding games on a PC that’s clogged with dust, the heat will have nowhere to go and may damage your hardware.

To help with air flow, you should open your desktop computer’s case occasionally and clean out the dust using a can of compressed air. Cleaning the dust inside your laptop will likely be more difficult, as laptop’s aren’t generally meant to be easy-to-open. Spraying compressed air into your laptop’s fan vents may help dislodge some of the dust, but you’d have to open your laptop’s case for a serious cleaning.

Not Backing Up Your Files

Your computer’s hard drive will fail eventually. It might even fail tomorrow. If your computer’s hard drive failed tomorrow, would you have backup copies of all your important documents, photos, and other files? Or would you lose lots of important data?

Create a backup strategy to ensure your files won’t go down with your computer, whether you make regular backups on a removable hard drive or cloud storage service. Windows 8 has a built-in backup tool that functions similarly to Apple’s Time Machine, while Windows 7 has its own backup feature.

Many people ignore backups until they lose their files. Don’t become one of them — start backing up your files before you lose them.

Plugging Directly into the Power Outlet

Do you have your desktop computer or laptop plugged directly into a wall outlet? You shouldn’t. You should have your computer plugged into a surge protector and the surge protector plugged into the wall. Many power bars have built-in surge protectors, but the cheapest ones just function as extension cords and provide no surge protection.

A surge protector ensures that power surges — which can occur during bad storms, for example — won’t destroy your computer’s hardware. Plugging your computer directly into the power outlet could result in a power surge damaging it. You can even get portable surge protectors for your laptop.

Defragmenting When Unnecessary

Windows automatically defragments your hard drive in the background, so most people should never need to open the Disk Defragmenter and defragment their hard drives manually. There are some exceptions — for example, if you’ve just installed a large game and you want maximum performance, you may want to defragment before you play the game.

However, most of the time, defragmenting your hard drives is probably unnecessary. On a solid-state drive, it can actually be harmful — you should never defragment a solid-state drive.

Running Multiple Antivirus Programs

You should only use one antivirus program on your computer. Antivirus programs hook deep into the operating system, checking programs before they run. If you have two antivirus programs attempting to do this at once, they can interfere with each other and cause your computer to crash. They may identify each other as malware or prevent each other from working.

Ensure you only have a single antivirus program installed and running in the background. If you want a second opinion, you can use an antivirus program that will just perform a system scan while not running in the background.

Using a Registry Cleaner or “PC Cleaning” App

Everyone wants to sell you a program that will somehow speed up your computer by deleting temporary files and cleaning up your registry. These programs are at best unnecessary, and at worst harmful. Either way, many of them will take a bite out of your bank account.

We’ve already covered why registry cleaners aren’t useful. A registry cleaner won’t speed up your computer, but it could cause damage to your registry.

The “PC cleaning” apps advertised on television at 3 a.m. and on banner ads all over the web are similarly unnecessary. If you want to delete temporary files, you can use the Disk Cleanup program included with Windows or use the free CCleaner utility. Avoid the paid PC-cleaning apps.

Obstructing Air Flow

Your computer needs proper cooling. In addition to ensuring that dust doesn’t clog its vents, you’ll want to ensure that the air vents don’t become obstructed. For example, if you have a desktop PC in a tower, ensure that its air vents aren’t pressed up against a wall. If you have a laptop with an air vent, don’t place it on a bed that it will sink into, causing the blanket to obstruct its air vents. Don’t put your laptop on your lap in a position that will result in the air vents being blocked, either. Always take cooling and air flow into account.

This is particularly important when playing a demanding game or otherwise stressing your PC. If you’re just browsing the web, your computer shouldn’t heat up too much. You can get away with having your laptop’s vents blocked for a short time during light usage, but don’t leave it that way for long.

Installing Dangerous or Annoying Programs

When installing programs on your computer, you should be vigilant. Judge the trustworthiness of each program before you download it. Don’t install programs that look scammy. Be careful when you install software so you don’t end up installing browser toolbars and other adware that will annoy you. Know the types of files that are dangerous and be careful when running them — for example, don’t download screensavers, which can contain viruses.

Using Power-Hungry Graphics Cards

Everyone likes powerful hardware, but most people don’t need it. If you’re building a PC for your parents or upgrading an existing PC, don’t just put the most power-hungry graphics card in it. More importantly, don’t just install two of the most power-hungry graphics cards in an SLI or Crossfire setup. The most powerful graphics cards can suck down a lot of electricity, even if they’re not being used heavily. Even if you got a great deal on that graphics card, it may not be worth installing — if you never play games, it will only increase your electricity bill.

Try to avoid using other hardware that sucks down too much electricity, too. For example, if you still use an old CRT monitor, you should upgrade to an LCD monitor — they take much less electricity to run, in addition to eliminating the CRT monitor flicker that can cause headaches.

We’re sure these aren’t the only widespread errors that people make. Leave a comment and share other bad PC maintenance habits people should avoid!



Image Credit: Serviceman Testing Computer via Shutterstock, versageek on Flickr, Electric Power Bar via Shutterstock, Paul Sullivan on Flickr, foskarulla on Flickr
Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-common-pc-maintenance-errors-that-you-can-avoid/

20

One in all PC tips / How To Copy Data From A Laptop

« on: November 26, 2013, 10:23:36 PM »

Laptops have a particularly short lifetime. If they have not been physically damaged by the time their hardware is hopelessly outdated, they have certainly suffered some serious wear & tear and have probably driven their owner nuts with slow response times and other bugs. Not surprisingly, the average laptop is replaced within less than three years.

While it is possible to upgrade laptop hardware, e.g. add more RAM, or even fix an overheating laptop or repair a broken laptop screen, one day the time will come when that is just not possible or worth it any more. This is when you will want to copy your data from your old laptop to a new device. How you can do this essentially depends on how much data there is to back up and whether or not the old laptop is still booting. And the methods I describe below work equally well when you just need to copy data for any other reason.

Best Case Scenario: Laptop Is Booting

So you decided to move to a new device before it’s too late or you just need to copy some data. The source laptop is booting perfectly fine and you cannot (be bothered to) remove its hard drive. Great, this will be easy!

Option 1: Cloud Storage

If the laptop has Internet access and in case you don’t have to copy a large amount of data, cloud storage solutions like Dropbox, Google Drive or SkyDrive are a great solution to quickly transfer data to the cloud and later download them to another device.

Advantages

    -> cross-platform compatible
    -> does not depend on external hardware
    -> can be used without installing a third party application

Option 2: External Drive

Should you not have access to an Internet connection (that is fast enough) to copy data, this is probably the simplest solution. You will need an external drive large enough to hold the data you need to copy. This can be an SD card, a USB stick, or an external hard drive.

Check whether the laptop has the necessary ports or you can bring an external card reader. If you want to use an external hard drive, be sure the file system is compatible with the laptop’s operating system; FAT32 is pretty much universal and NTFS (Windows) will be readable on both Linux and Mac computers (but not writeable). I have also discussed the file systems FAT32 and NTFS in this article on how to format a USB drive.

If you are migrating from Windows to OS X, Apple provides a tool which you can install on your Windows laptop that makes the process very simple.

Advantages

    -> quick & easy
    -> no Internet connection needed
    -> secure

Option 3: Network / LAN Share

When both the source laptop and the future home of the data are on the same network, you don’t need cloud storage or hardware to transfer data. You can simply set up a network share between the two devices.

In Windows, home network file sharing is very simple. To make it even easier, we have written a whole guide on home networking in Windows. If you need something that works across platforms, try Nitroshare to share files on your network between multiple operating systems.

Mac users can do this between OS X machines using Finder’s in-built AirDrop feature.

Advantages

    -> fast
    -> convenient
    -> no hardware needed

Option 4: Direct Ethernet or USB Connection

If you don’t have a network set up, there is a hardware solution to directly transfer files from one laptop to another computer. What you need is a Ethernet crossover cable. This cable looks like a regular LAN cable and has the same connectors, but the wiring is different, allowing you to send data between two machines.

When you want to migrate files from Windows XP or Windows Vista to Windows 7, consider using the Windows Easy Transfer tool. In combination with an EasyTransfer USB cable, transferring files becomes a breeze.

Advantages

    -> fast
    -> convenient
    -> no home network needed

Worst Case Scenario: Laptop Is Dead

If the laptop no longer boots, you may still be able to recover the data, provided the hard drive still works.

Option 5: Live CD / USB

A Live CD or Live USB essentially is an external operating system that runs from a CD or USB stick. Live CDs typically run Linux, but you can also create a Windows Live CD or install multiple bootable operating systems on a USB stick. All of these live media give you access to the data on your laptop hard drive when the operating system is no longer working. Combined with the methods above, especially using an external drive, you can then copy the data to a safe location.

Advantages

    -> fool proof
    -> no hardware needed
    -> earn geek credit

Option 6: External Enclosure or Adapter

Last but not least, you can remove the internal drive and transfer it to an external enclosure. In other words, create an external USB drive from the old laptop drive. If you don’t really need an external hard drive, a cheaper alternative is to only get a laptop hard drive adapter. This method requires some skill, as you need to remove the hard drive, identify its connector, i.e. SATA or IDE, and get a suitable USB adapter or enclosure. But it’s really easier than it sounds.

Advantages

    -> upcycle your old drive into an external USB drive
    -> demonstrate your geekiness
    -> aquire some tech skills or apply existing skills


Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-copy-data-from-a-laptop/

21

IT Forum / 5 Tips to Resolve Your Tablet’s Touchscreen Problems

« on: November 26, 2013, 03:51:41 PM »

We’ve all been there. Tapping, swiping or zoom-pinching, there’s often a moment when the touchscreen display on your tablet refuses to respond. How do you overcome this, and achieve tablet-tapping Zen?

Why Your Tablet Touchscreen Doesn’t Respond

As the primary mode of interaction between you and your apps, the tablet touchscreen is vitally important. Any damage inflicted – be it knocks to the device, scratches or worse – will degrade the reliability of the component, and short of paying for a replacement screen and digitiser, you will need to make sure the display is kept safe and intact at all times.

There are several things you can do to help with this, not least applying a screen protector, which is probably easier to do correctly than you think. Employing a case with a soft interior and keeping pens well away from the device is also a good idea, as is never, ever, placing the device face down on hard surfaces. The tiniest bit of dirt can cause all manner of scratches on your display, resulting in problems with the touchscreen’s responsiveness.

The following five tips – which might also help for issues with a touchscreen smartphone – will help you resolve your tablet’s touchscreen responsiveness issues. Note that this should be seen as a general guide for all touchscreen tablet computers, running iOS, Android and Windows 8.

1. Make More RAM Available

Perhaps the best place to start in troubleshooting any screen responsiveness issues is to make more system RAM available. This may take a moment (and in some cases require a restart, see below) but should give you an idea of how bad the problem is.

Android users have a wealth of options for freeing up space on tablets, such as clearing the app cache or using third party apps such as Memory Booster – RAM Optimizer. Chris Hoffman’s guide to spring cleaning your Android should come in handy here.

Memory issues on an iPad can lead to slow responses from your touchscreen. The best way to deal with this is (in iOS 6 and lower) to double-click the Home button to display the currently open apps, then tap and hold one to display the cross in the top right corner. For devices running iOS 7, the process is slightly different – read James’ What’s New in iOS 7 article or our iOS guide. After you’ve closed all the apps you no longer need, your tablet should be more responsive. Jailbroken iPads can run task management apps, meanwhile, which will help you to close any running processes you don’t need.

In Windows 8, close as many desktop apps as is practical can before switching to the Start screen. Display the Modern task switching view, dragging each app into the main screen before closing them (Modern apps are closed by dragging your finger down from the top of the screen to the bottom).

If freeing up some RAM helps with your touchscreen tablet’s responsiveness, then this should be all you need to do.

2. Restart Your Tablet

Further troubleshooting can be performed by restarting your tablet. When the device restarts, the majority of applications will be closed. You can then check the responsiveness of the touchscreen, either finding that all is well or by using the apps suggested below to find out more.

Restarting a tablet isn’t a case of just tapping the power button to turn the screen off. Instead, the whole device must be switched off and back on again.

For Android users, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem – all you will need to do is hold the power button down and select Restart.

Apple iPad owners, however, will need to close each open app before holding the Sleep/Wake button and dragging the slider. If app closing isn’t possible, hold Sleep/Wake together for a few seconds until the Apple logo is displayed.

Windows 8 tablet owners can restart their devices by opening the Charms menu, then tapping Settings > Power > Restart. If the device fails to respond, hold the Windows button and the power button together for a few seconds until it reboots.

3. Realign The Display

To be performed only if you have a device that is out of warranty and don’t have the money to pay for professional repairs!

This step really applies to some cheaper Android tablets rather than any high-end gear like the iPad, and basically involves you removing the screen and replacing it, with the desired outcome of a better response for your touchscreen gestures.

For instance, a knock might dislodge the digitizer; similar, dropping or jarring the tablet might cause a cable connecting the digitizer to the motherboard to come loose (this shouldn’t happen, but isn’t unheard of).

Before you grab your tablet, of course, you should check if you can find the tools and instructions for disassembling your device. The first place you should look is YouTube. We don’t advise taking this step lightly; similarly, perform as much research as possible before you begin to break your tablet open.

4. Use Native Apps To Troubleshoot

Often when a tablet touchscreen is being unresponsive, the problem can be localized to a particular portion of the display.

Knowing which area(s) of the touchscreen are failing to respond correctly can be useful in diagnosing what is wrong; the information would certainly prove useful to any engineer who ends up repairing the tablet.

A useful means of checking which areas of your display work and which don’t is to employ a couple of apps.

With a calculator app you can test simple taps across the display (screen rotate function will let you check the tablet in all orientations)

A maps app, meanwhile, can be used to determine problems with dragging and pinch-to-zoom.

5. Employ A Calibration Tool

Calibrating your tablet display can resolve many touchscreen detection issues.

For iPad users, there is no calibration tool available or required. However, if you are using a jailbroken device and have found that the display is registering your taps and swipes incorrectly, a hard reset to undo the jailbreak is recommended.

On Android, it depends on the version of the OS and the device. Typically, you would find a calibration option in Settings > Display but if none is apparent, there are several apps you might try, such as TouchScreen Tune (requires root) that can be used to resolve many touchscreen issues.

Windows 8 users can tap Start and type calibrate, tap Settings and select Calibrate the screen for pen and touch input, click Calibrate… and follow the instructions.


Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-tips-to-resolve-your-tablets-touchscreen-problems/
Photo Credit: redaleka

22

CWNA(certified wireless network administrator) / WPA2, WEP, And Friends: What’s The Best Way To Encrypt Your Wi-Fi?

« on: November 26, 2013, 03:33:50 PM »

When setting up wireless encryption on your router, you’ll come across a variety of confusing terms — WPA2, WPA, WEP, WPA-Personal, and WPA-Enterprise. Understanding what these terms mean and how they’re different will help you protect your Wi-Fi network from eavesdroppers, Wi-Fi leeches, and criminals.

We’ll also look at which Wi-Fi encryption standard is the truly secure way to encrypt your Wi-Fi. This is a tough question without a one-size-fits-all answer.

WEP

WEP is the oldest, least secure way to encrypt your Wi-Fi — short of leaving it unencrypted! Its name stands for “Wired Equivalent Privacy,” which is humorous now that so many flaws have been discovered in it. It’s very easy to crack a WEP password and gain access to a WEP-secured network. WEP will only stop the most casual of Wi-Fi users from connecting to your network. Anyone who really wants access to your network can easily gain access if you’re using WEP.

There’s no reason to use WEP. If you have an ancient router that only supports WEP, you should upgrade it right now. If you have an older device that only supports WEP, you should upgrade it, too. Every recent device should support stronger WPA encryption.

WPA vs. WPA2

WPA is the newer Wi-Fi security standard. WPA stands for “Wi-Fi Protected Access.” There are two versions of WPA — WPA and WPA2. WPA was implemented first as a temporary solution for devices that originally only supported WEP. These devices could be upgraded to WPA encryption for additional security, allowing them to escape WEP and its many flaws. The original WPA was always a stop-gap solution and just isn’t as secure as WPA2.

WPA2 is the final version of Wi-Fi Protected Access. It’s the most secure option available and the one you should be using. If you have a router or another device that only supports WEP and WPA, it’s probably very old and you should upgrade. New devices that are properly set up for security should be using WPA2 out of the box. Note that there are two versions of WPA2 you can choose from, which we’ll cover below.

The Wi-Fi Protected Setup — or WPS — method of connecting to WPA-secured wireless networks is fairly insecure, however. You shouldn’t be using WPS along with WPA2.

WPA2-Personal or WPA2-PSK

The PSK in WPA2-PSK stands for Pre-Shared Key. This is also known as Personal mode. It’s intended for homes and small office networks, as it’s a much easier option to set up than the alternative, which we’ll look at below.

Your wireless router encrypts network traffic with a key. With WPA-Personal, this key is calculated from the Wi-Fi passphrase you set up on your router. Before a device can connect to the network and understand the encryption, you must enter your passphrase on it.

The primary real-world weaknesses with WPA2-Personal encryption are weak passphrases. Just as many people use weak passwords like “password” and “letmein” for their online accounts, many people will likely use weak passphrases to secure their wireless networks. A strong passphrase should be used to properly secure the network or WPA2 won’t protect you much.

WPA2 is still fairly secure, but it’s not perfect. Some potential vulnerabilities have been found, but they’re nowhere near as easy to exploit as they are with WEP. Your main concern should be enabling WPA2-Personal on your home network and setting a strong passphrase.

WPA2-Enterprise or WPA2-802.1X

WPA2-Enterprise is also referred to as WPA2-802.1X mode because of the standard it implements. The Enterprise in the name is no joke — this is a solution that’s intended for enterprise networks as it requires more hardware and is more difficult to set up and maintain.

To use WPA2-Enterprise, you’ll need a RADIUS authentication server. RADIUS stands for Remote Authentication Dial In User Service. To authenticate with such a server, a variety of EAP — Extensible Authentication Protocols — can be used. After connecting to the Wi-Fi network, each client would have to log in with a username and password. Traffic to each client would be encrypted with a unique encryption key which isn’t derived from a pre-shared key. This is more secure than simply deriving a key from the same pre-shared key on each device. This also allows network administrators to monitor who’s connecting to the network and revoke access to specific users at any time without affecting other users.

Large businesses should implement WPA2-Enterprise for additional security, but there’s no reason home users and small businesses should set up WPA2-Enterprise. It’s much more complicated to set up and manage a RADIUS authentication server than it is to simply set a wireless passphrase on your router.

So Which Is Truly Secure?

The most secure way to set up a Wi-Fi network is with WPA2-Enterprise, so if you run a Wi-Fi network for a large business, you should be setting up a RADIUS authentication server.

Of course, you probably only have a small Wi-Fi network to manage. For regular people and small businesses, WPA2-Personal is the ideal encryption option to use. WPA2-Personal along with a strong passphrase will provide you with very good security.

WEP is very easy to crack and should not be used for any purpose.

But is WPA2 really good enough? Well, security isn’t about absolutes. Saying WPA2-Enterprise is more secure than WPA2-Personal is like saying a bank vault door is more secure than the door on your house or apartment. It’s true, but that doesn’t mean you should replace your front door with a bank vault door — it’s more expensive and difficult to manage, just like a RADIUS authentication server. For another thing, the bank needs protection from bank robbers, just as Wi-Fi networks at large corporations need more protection from corporate espionage and criminals targeting high-end targets.

In the real world, WPA2-Personal with a strong passphrase is plenty secure.


Image Credit: Keith Williamson on Flickr
Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wpa2-wep-and-friends-whats-the-best-way-to-encrypt-your-wi-fi/

23

CWNA(certified wireless network administrator) / Wireless Networking Simplified: The Terms You Should Know

« on: November 26, 2013, 03:33:19 PM »

Do you know the difference between an “access point” and an “ad hoc network? What is a “wireless repeater” and how can it improve your home network? Is a “wireless router” as simple as it sounds, or is there more to it? There are a lot more wireless networking terms around that encompass more than “WiFi” ever could, and it might turn out to be beneficial for you if you knew what these terms meant.

Not only will these terms help you to be more knowledgeable on the networks at home, at school, or at work; they may even prove useful when you need to troubleshoot issues. Nonetheless, wireless networking is a large component of modern technology, so there’s no downside to clarifying your familiarity with these terms.

Access Point

Before the invention of wireless connections, networks were comprised of long lines of interconnected cables. In order to tap into such a network, you would need to physically connect your device to the network. An access point is a device connected to such a network that allows other devices to tap in wirelessly.

Access points can be either private or public. For example, a home network may have a private access point that’s encrypted and password-protected, allowing only household users to access the network. On the other hand, a café might have a public access point that allows anyone to use their network, otherwise known as a wireless hotspot.

Don’t confuse the term access point with the term wireless router. There is some overlap between the two, but semantically speaking, an access point is different from a wireless router. A wireless router is an access point, but an access point doesn’t have to be a wireless router.

Ad Hoc Network

A wireless ad hoc network is a type of wireless network that doesn’t rely on a preexisting network. The phrase “ad hoc” is used to describe something that’s created for a singular purpose; therefore, a wireless ad hoc network can be thought of as a spontaneous wireless connection between computers for a temporary purpose, such as a file transfer.

The important distinction is that an ad hoc network is decentralized. There is no particular device acting as the hub for wireless activity. In the case of an access point, the access point is the gateway through which all devices must connect into the network. In an ad hoc network, you can think of each participating device as an individual peer.

Wireless Router

A wireless router is a device that acts as both an access point and a network router. In other words, it acts as a wireless gateway into the network and routes incoming network data to multiple connections (e.g., desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, gaming consoles, etc.). Again, all wireless routers will have elements of an access point, but not all access points are wireless routers.

When looking to buy a new wireless router, you should first become familiar with the most important wireless router features to see which ones you would make use of. Then, check out this post on what you need to know when buying a wireless router. For those of you who are more advanced, you may want to look into using DD-WRT to supercharge your router.

Wireless Repeater

A wireless repeater, which can also be known as a wireless range extender, is a device that takes a signal from an existing access point and rebroadcasts it as a second network. Users who connect to the second network will actually be part of the initial network but using the repeater as a sort of gateway. As the name would suggest, wireless repeaters are great for extending the range of a wireless network.

While wireless repeaters are useful for situations where a computer is outside a network’s range, it can also be useful for computers which have a weak signal to a network. The repeater can boost signal strength, allowing for a stronger connection. Similarly, a repeater can prove beneficial in cases where there is a lot of interference from walls, metal, or other wireless signals.

Most modern wireless routers offer a “repeater mode” that you can enable, turning the router into a repeater. This is a great way to utilize old routers that you no longer need to boost signal strengths around the house.

Wireless Bridge

Remember that an access point is a device that connects to a wired network and allows other devices to wirelessly connect to said network. A wireless bridge works in a similar but opposite way. The bridge device first connects wirelessly to a network, then allows other devices to connect to it using wires. In essence, a bridge allows wired devices to join a wireless network.

Most modern wireless routers offer a “bridge mode” that you can use to extend your home wireless network to far away wired devices (e.g., a gaming console on the other side of your house) without having to weave long lengths of cabling through multiple rooms. We even have a post detailing how to turn an old router into a wireless bridge.

Wireless Network Adapter

A wireless network adapter allows a device that normally doesn’t have wireless capability to join a wireless network. These adapters are built with the ability to both send and receive wireless signals. Most portable devices, such as laptops and tablets, are manufactured with a wireless network adapter already in place.

Network adapters come in two main forms: the network card and the USB dongle. A network card is installed directly into the motherboard and provides wireless connectivity that way. A USB dongle requires little more than to be plugged into a free USB port, which makes it a more convenient option. In general, though, network cards tend to offer stronger connections and faster speeds than their USB counterparts.



Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/wireless-networking-simplified-the-terms-you-should-know/
Image Credit: Wireless Access Point, Wireless Ad Hoc Network, Wireless Router Via Shutterstock, Wireless Range Extender, Wireless Bridge, Wireless USB Adapter Via Shutterstock, osde8info/flickr

24

Internet / 15 Productive Things To Do Online When You Have 15 Minutes To Kill

« on: November 26, 2013, 10:58:30 AM »

Here’s an incomplete list to get you thinking about the productive things you can do online when you have a few minutes in your hands.

Learn Something New Every Day

The best way to start a new day is to learn something new. It’s also the easiest way to “blow” the minutes as there are umpteen websites for learning new things in bit-sized chunks. Subscribing to Wikipedia’s featured article for the day to using Wikipedia games for fun and exploration are two easy options. Alternatively, you can let services like Now I Know do the hard work with their daily newsletters.

Practice Speed Reading

All that reading could get a little easier with speed reading skills. The ability to rocket through text while understanding it all is an essential skill because there’s just too much to consume. A free online app like Spreeder can take you through the equivalent of 15 A4 sized pages in 15 minutes (@300 words per minute). Removing the vocalization of the words we read comes with practice and the 15 minutes of it every day should help to build up your speed.

Go Around the World on Google Street View

Your boss might disagree, but daydreaming could also be productive. Google Street View is the ideal virtual window for thinking of your next vacation and de-stressing your day . We have seen how you can expand your world view with geeky virtual tours or try out amazing Street View mashups. There are many more places you can visit in 15 minutes or less with Google Street View. And now, we have Photo Spheres as well.

Watch a TED Talk

Fill your time with ideas and inspiration on TED Talks. There are even TED Talks that are just under five minutes. If you are not sure what to watch in the time you have at hand, use the handy Not sure what to watch? guide on the homepage to search out talks that can fill the minutes you have. Academic Earth is also another good one you can visit. I previously had written about other free video lecture sites.

Learn a New Language (Or a Foreign Word)

Learning a single new word a day adds up over the course of a year. If you are learning a new language, it could mean 300+ words at the end of a year. Use a dedicated service like the excellent Duolingo (read our review) or just pick up a language while browsing.

Indulge Your Favorite Hobby

Mine is photography. What’s yours? Finding bite-sized chunks on photography is easy, but whatever yours might be, you are sure to find popular hashtags or tags and use it to find conversations and resources around it. Reddit is a favorite stomping ground for enthusiasts of all kinds.

Operate On Your Operating System

Learn more about your operating system bit by bit. After all, doing something on your own is always better than calling out for help. MakeUseOf.com, is itself a fantastic resource for tutorials on Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can search YouTube for video tutorials and use the Advanced Search Filters to get videos by duration.

Build Your Book List

Write Your Thoughts in a Journal

Surely, we can engineer our Twitter habits to write our own life log. The psychological benefits of journaling are well-documented. My favorite service for keeping an online diary is OhLife. The best part is that it doesn’t even have to take 15 minutes.

Re-build Your Memory

Boost your brain power. Personally, I find it difficult to retain jokes. You never know when you might need a good one. For you, it could be a name or a new word you might have learnt if you followed the previous cue. Memory exercising services like Memorize Now create online flash cards and aid your retention process. Memorize Now is simple, but if you are looking to go beyond look at ones which use spaced repetition. There are mobile flash card apps as well. Justin covered six of the best flash card apps for Android.

Be a Martian

We have covered citizen science projects and free to join crowdsourcing projects. You can pick any from there, or take a bit of the Martian buzz by participating in this one – Be a Martian is the opening you were probably looking for to “join” NASA and go on your own great Mars adventure. Help NASA engineers manage the large volume of data from the Red Planet by taking part in this online project. This is just an example, as there are many more online projects you could contribute your time to.

Return to Humanity on LinkedIn

15 minutes a day can make you a master networker. One of the ways is to move beyond your immediate professional network on LinkedIn and connect to people whose profiles interest you. See if someone in your network can introduce you to an interesting profile. LinkedIn Groups is a good jumping off point for meeting new people. So are other digital town squares like Quora and Google+ communities.

Build Up Your Online Rep

You don’t have to be the product for social media. Give it 15 minutes of your time and turn it around to build a strong online reputation by sharing insights on your industry, art, or niche expertise. Sites like Quora, Stack Exchange, Yahoo Answers, and Twitter are great platforms for sharing knowledge. Be authentic, honest, and meaningful for 15 minutes a day and your name could swim to the top. We should know – a few of my colleagues who are working at MakeUseOf now, started by commenting and participating on the public forum of Answers.

Exercise

The 7-minute workout went viral. It might not buff you up, but some exercise is better than no exercise. Yaara’s 8 exercises to help you stay fit at your desk show that office cubicles are also good enough for impromptu gym sessions.

Meditate

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Meditation is not mystical. Watch the mind-altering TED Talk above. It doesn’t even take 15 minutes.

In the end, 15 minutes is just an arbitrary unit…it could be something as low as five minutes. Doing these fifteen activities, or any of your choice is a surefire way of adding value to the little bits of time that slips between the cracks. We tend to look at the “big picture”, but it is surprising how these minutes can compound over time and really add something substantial to our lives. One of the ways to get the 15-minute chunks of time off the ground is to have a prepared list in hand. That’s where your ideas and contributions come in.


Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/15-productive-things-to-do-online-when-you-have-15-minutes-to-kill/

25

IT Forum / How To Share A Windows CD Or DVD Drive On Your Network

« on: November 26, 2013, 10:05:32 AM »

“How do you share a CD or DVD drive across a network?” This was the question that dropped into my head recently as it became apparent that I would need to access data on some archive DVDs.

If I was using a standard PC this wouldn’t be a problem; as it is, I’ve been the owner of an Acer Iconia W700 for several months now and one of the key drawbacks of a tablet computer is that they don’t come with integrated DVD drives.

Getting Started: Share the Drive

The starting point of sharing a CD or DVD drive across a network requires you to first share the device, so on the computer with the drive you want to share, open Computer, right-click the appropriate drive and select Share with > Advanced sharing….

In the Properties box, click Advanced Sharing… and click check the Share this folder option in the following screen. You should then assign a meaningful name (“CD drive” or “DVD drive” both seem particularly apposite) and click the Permissions button.

The idea here is to ensure that the drive, once shared, can be accessed. Select the Everyone group and check the box to Read under Allow and click OK to confirm. On a home network, this should give you all of the security you need.

Setting Other Security Options

You can change this in the Properties box on the Sharing tab, under the Password Protection setting – here, click Network and Sharing Center and click Home or Work (current profile), expanding the options to find Turn off password protected sharing. Select the option you want (off speeds things up on home networks but you wouldn’t want to make that choice in any other scenario) and click Save changes.

Note that there are many other options here, such as changing the encryption type, but the default options are best left alone unless you understand the effect changing them will have.

Once you’re done here, the Properties box will summarise the current sharing details, such as the network path and whether password protection is in use. Note that you can disable sharing later by opening the Advanced Sharing… screen and clearing the check in the Share this folder box.

Find & Map The Share

With the optical drive shared, you can now map a connection to it from your own computer. The process for this is similar to mapping any network drive.

On your desktop or in the Start Menu, right-click Computer, select Map network drive… and browse for the share you created earlier.

It is possible to map a drive letter that will be assigned to this drive each time you start your computer. Select the letter you want and check the Reconnect at logon box to do this, clicking Finish when you’re done.

When you’re ready to access the drive, load the disc into it and then return to your computer, double-clicking the device to begin reading the disc contents.

Alternatives To Sharing A CD Or DVD Drive

As mentioned, there are other ways of connecting a CD or DVD drive to a device that doesn’t come equipped with one (such as a Windows tablet, a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro or even an OTG enabled Android device). Similarly, you might have removed your DVD drive – perhaps from an older Macbook – but still require the ability to read optical drives from time to time.

While external DVD drives are inexpensive, if you have an old laptop with a standard removable slimline DVD drive you will be able to house this in an inexpensive caddy and connect it to your computer via USB.

Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-share-a-windows-cd-or-dvd-drive-on-your-network/

26

IT Forum / How To Run Old Games & Software In Windows 8

« on: November 26, 2013, 09:52:38 AM »

One of Microsoft’s big strengths — and weaknesses — is their focus on backwards compatibility. Most Windows applications will work just fine on Windows 8. This is especially true if they worked on Windows 7, as Windows 8 is very similar to Windows 7. Some old games and software, particularly ones designed for older operating systems like Windows XP, Windows 98, or DOS, may not work properly out of the box. Whatever type of software you’re dealing with, whether it’s a PC game or a piece of business software, performing a Google search for the name of the game along with “Windows 8″ or the exact error message you received will probably help. The below tips apply to all different types of software, but finding information specific to your buggy program is always a good idea.

Why Games & Software Might Not Be Compatible

There are a variety of reasons why programs and other software may not work properly on Windows 8.

• Bad Programming Practices: Some software may depend on administrator access, which was taken for granted on Windows XP, and break when running as a standard user on newer versions of Windows. Some software may have depended on issues in older versions of Windows that have since been fixed, resulting in the application breaking on modern versions of Windows.
• Dependencies on Old Versions of Software: Some software may depend on old libraries, like the .NET Framework version 3.5, which is not installed by default on Windows 8.
• 16-bit Software: 64-bit versions of Windows no longer contain the compatibility layer for 16-bit Windows applications. If you have a 16-bit application written for Windows 3.1, you’ll need to use the 32-bit version of Windows 8 to run it.
• DOS Software: Windows 8, like all versions of Windows back to Windows XP, no longer runs on top of DOS. While some DOS software still runs, advanced DOS software — like PC games written for DOS — doesn’t work in the Command Prompt environment.

Before Upgrading

Microsoft has some information you can consult before upgrading. You can download and run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, which will scan your computer and let you know if your software and hardware will work properly under Windows 8. This won’t detect all programs that won’t work properly, but it still provides some useful information.

Microsoft also provides a Windows Compatibility Center website that lists whether games, other software, and hardware will work properly on Windows 8. The website also provides a discussion feature so you can see what other users say about their experiences.

Update Your Software

If the software won’t run on Windows 8, you should update it to the latest versions with whatever patches are available. For example, an old game may not run properly on Windows 8 when installed from disc, but the game’s developer may have released a patch that allows the game to run on newer versions of Windows. You should also try updating related software. For example, many games using Microsoft’s own Games for Windows Live don’t run properly on Windows 8 until an update for GFWL is installed.

You may also need to install old libraries that your software depends on. For example, Windows 8 only includes version 4.5 of the .NET Framework. If you receive a .NET Framework-related error, you should visit the control panel and install the .NET Framework 3.5 package, which allows software that depends on .NET 3.5, 3.0, or 2.0 to run.

Run as Administrator

Fixing a problematic application could be as simple as running it in administrator mode. Windows normally detects when applications require administrator access and deals with this, but it may not always work. To run a program in administrator mode, just right-click its shortcut and select Run as administrator.

You could also fix this by disabling User Account Control entirely. We don’t recommend disabling UAC, as it’s an important security feature and it shouldn’t bug you too much — UAC has improved a lot from its sorry state in Windows Vista. Almost every Windows program will work fine with UAC enabled.

Enable Compatibility Mode

Windows 8 includes a Program Compatibility Troubleshooter along with compatibility options you can tweak. Just right-click the shortcut for the program you’re having problems with, select Properties, and click the Compatibility tab. From here, you can run the compatibility troubleshooter to have Windows walk you though choosing settings that my fix your problem. Alternatively, you can try to trick the program into thinking it’s running on a previous version of Windows, such as Windows XP or Windows 98. This may solve problems with programs that worked on previous programs but no longer work. The Compatibility tab also allows you to always start programs in administrator mode — useful if they must be run as administrator.

Use DOSBox

If you have an old DOS application that isn’t working properly in Windows — likely an old DOS game like the original DOOM games — you can run it in DOSBox. DOSBox is a free application that runs a full DOS environment in a window on your computer, allowing you to run DOS software. It’s much more compatible and full-featured than the Command Prompt included with Windows. DOSBox works so well that many game developers bundle DOSBox with their own games — if you buy a game like the original DOOM or Quake games on Steam, they’ll come bundled along with DOSBox.

Use a Virtual Machine

Virtual machines will allow you to run software that ran on previous versions of Windows. With a virtual machine, you can install a previous version of Windows — like Windows XP — and run it in a window on your computer. You can then run your old software in the virtual machine. Windows 8 no longer includes Windows 7′s Windows XP mode, but you can get basically the same feature by installing Windows XP in VirtualBox or VMware Player. Virtual machines aren’t ideal for games, as they’re a bit slow and 3D graphics don’t work amazingly well inside them. However, they do have some limited support for 3D graphics, so if you have an ancient PC game, it may play just fine in a virtual machine. You may also run into problems if your software needs direct access to certain hardware devices — you can connect USB devices to your virtual machine, but software that depends on direct access to certain pieces of hardware may not work.

Tips for Troubleshooting Specific Games

Windows 8 users will likely run into the most issues with games, as so many old games are still work playing, while old software is generally replaced and upgraded. If you’re running into issues with any specific game, try looking the game up on the PC Gaming Wiki. This website provides detailed information for fixing issues with many games — not only on Windows 8 but on other versions of Windows and other operating systems, too.

Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-run-old-games-software-in-windows-8/

27

One in all PC tips / 5 Vital System Tools Every Windows User Should Know About

« on: November 26, 2013, 02:48:09 AM »

Not sure why your computer keeps crashing? Investigate – all while getting to know your Windows system better – using built-in tools that come with Windows. If you’ve been afraid to poke around your system and figure out how to maintain it, don’t fear: it’s simpler than you think.

There are plenty of articles on this very site pointing out third-party tools for maintaining your Windows system. What we occasionally overlook, however, are the tools Windows provides out of the box for doing the same things. Sure, they may be less feature-filled than some of the downloadable options – but they do the job, and are generally not hard to use. Whether you need to quickly check a friend’s machine for problems or look over your own, knowing where to find tools for scanning your hard drive and memory can’t hurt – and neither can some basic diagnostic tools.

Task Manager

Is your computer suddenly slow? There’s probably a new, or recently upgraded, app that’s using up way too many system resources. Find out which one it is and shut it down with Task Manager, an app every aspiring Windows expert should learn to use.

What It Does

-> Shows an overview of resource usage, broken down by process.

-> Allows you to force any application to quit, necessary when an application simply won’t close.
-> Shows overall system performance, from CPU to Memory to the network. Perfect if you want to know which bottleneck is slowing down your system – and what you should perhaps look into upgrading.

-> In Windows 8, allows you to control which apps do and do not load at system startup.
-> In Windows 8, shows you which users are using up the most resources

How To Find It

The easiest way to start up Task Manager, in every version of Windows, is a simple keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Alternatively, you can use Alt + Ctrl + Delete, then select Task Manager.

You’ll also find Task Manager in the Start Menu, under Accessories, for Windows 7 and earlier. Windows 8 users can search for the program using the Search gem.

Resource & Performance Monitor

Know something is wrong with your system, but not sure where to start? The Resource and Performance Monitor could give you hints.

What It Does

-> A powerful diagnostic tool bundled with Windows 7 and 8. Scans your computer and points out potential issues.
-> Automatically scans your system’s major components, including CPU, hard drive and memory (RAM).
-> Shows potential problems with the operating system, including continually crashing services.
-> Points out health of major system components, showing what needs to be replaced or upgraded.

How To Find It

Press and hold Windows, then press R. Type perfmon /report then press OK.

Program will immediately start scanning your system for potential problems.

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Is your computer simply freezing up, constantly, seemingly without cause? The problem could well be your memory (RAM), but if you want to make sure you should check out the Windows Memory Diagnostic.

What It Does

-> Checks your RAM for errors, so you know when to replace a stick.
-> Lets you know which memory modules have problems so you know what to replace.

How To Find It

In Windows 7, you’ll find the Memory Diagnostic under Administrative Tools in the Start Menu.

Windows 8 users can find the application in the Control Panel, under Administrative Tools. Either way you’ll need to restart your computer in order to use the program – Windows cannot scan memory that’s currently in use.

Scan Hard Drive

Is your hard drive slower than it used to be, or louder than before? The storage in your computer is surprisingly mechanical, regularly spinning at speeds between 4,000 and 15,000 RPM. Hard Drives can, and ultimately will, break down – and you can find out what state your drive is in by scanning it with a tool called Check Disk.

What It Does

-> Checks your drive for bad sectors, possibly recovers files stored on them.
-> Automatically fixes file system errors that could be causing crashes.

How To Find It

Right-click your hard drive in Windows Explorer. Click the Tools tab, then click “Check Now” under Error-checking. From here you can automatically fix file system errors, scan for bad sectors, or both.

If the disk you’re scanning is in-user, you’ll be prompted to restart your computer and scan before startup.

Device Manager

Is one of the devices plugged into your computer not working? It might be lacking the drivers it needs. Happily, there’s a place in Windows to check.

What It Does

-> Lists every piece of hardware connected to your computer – built into the computer or plugged in via USB
-> Show which devices currently lack drivers – yellow question mark icon – or aren’t functioning properly – red X icon.
-> Allows you to manually install drivers, if you know where to find them.
-> Attempts to find online drivers for a variety of devices (though this usually doesn’t work)

Where To Find It

Check the Control Panel – you’ll find Hardware Manager there. You’ll also find a link by right-clicking My Computer and checking the left panel, at top:

Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-vital-system-tools-every-windows-users-should-know-about/

28

One in all PC tips / 5 Laptop Maintenance Tips To Extend Its Life Expectancy

« on: November 26, 2013, 01:59:28 AM »

Laptops are replaced every few years. We crave fancier hardware, novel features, and maybe our old device has become unresponsive and suffered some damage over time. Consequently, most laptops get thrown out prematurely.

Unless you are looking for a silly excuse to buy a new and shiny device, you will love to hear that there are many ways to make your laptop last longer. Apart from delaying the headache of setting up a new computer and moving all your files over, this will also save you money in the long run. So let’s see what you can do to turn your laptop into an electronic Methuselah.

Treat Your Laptop With Care

Laptops can be fragile. I should know; not long ago I broke my laptop screen (and fixed it). Besides this unfortunate accident, I have had my fair share of worn out keyboards, broken power supplies, and failed hard drives. Most components can be easily replaced, but something like a broken hard drive, with all your precious files on it, is a whole different story.

Some wear and tear can be avoided simply by handling your hardware with care. Next to the display, the hard drive is the most fragile part of your laptop. As Matt writes in his article on how to utterly destroy your laptop, move your laptop gently and try not to move it when the hard drive is performing intensive operations. Your hardware will thank you and last longer.

Regularly Clean Your Laptop Hardware

Computers are dirt magnets. Laptop fans seem to accumulate dust better than any vacuum cleaner and apparently keyboards are dirtier than toilet seats. So what do you do? You should give your laptop’s hardware a thorough cleaning every once in a while!

Cleaning your computer hardware is not just a matter of hygiene. Especially when it comes to internal fans and heat sinks, it also prevents your laptop from overheating. Keeping the hardware cool significantly increases its lifespan.

Keep The Operating System Snappy

The most common complaint about old computers is that they are slow. This is only mildly related to age and more likely due to bad maintenance or — as Apple fans will attest to — poor operating system and software design. Fortunately, you can speed up an old installation of Windows and with a few tricks, you can prevent a fresh installation from going stale too quickly. Conveniently, we have articles on how to speed up Windows 7 and make Windows 8 work faster.

A lean operating system that responds quickly and doesn’t get in the way of you trying to get work done can go a long way. You won’t worry about the age of your laptop at all.

Run Regular Software & Operating System Updates

No operating system or program is perfect. But with every upgrade, issues get patched and new features are added. That’s why you need to run Windows updates and also make sure your installed software is up to date. The latter is not so easy because few software updaters support every program available. Aaron recently reviewed OUTDATEfighter, which can handle both Windows and software updates for you.

If your operating system and your software are always up to date, you reduce the chances of security exploits. If you also run anti-virus and anti-malware scanners and checks, you should be able to keep your computer clean. Less junk and malware will ensure a smooth running system.

Upgrade Your Laptop Hardware

To most people, upgrading laptop hardware sounds impossible. But it’s not so difficult to install a bigger hard drive — or better yet a solid state drive (SSD) –, add more RAM, or even put in a new display. When you can pinpoint the exact component that’s slowing you down, chances are there is an easier and cheaper fix than buying a new laptop. Here is a little laptop troubleshooting guide to get you started.

Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-laptop-maintenance-tips-to-extend-its-life-expectency/

29

One in all PC tips / 10 Common User Errors & How To Fix Them In Windows 8

« on: November 26, 2013, 01:33:38 AM »

If you’re using Windows 8′s desktop, you’ll still be facing many of the issues you faced on previous versions of Windows. It’s possible to delete files, fill your computer’s system tray with startup programs, and experience other Windows system issues.

We’ll cover some common problems users will face and how to fix them on Windows 8. Some of these tricks may work on previous versions of Windows, but Windows 8 adds many new tools to help with these sorts of problems.

Accidentally Deleted Files?

Windows 8′s File History feature automatically makes copies of your files if you enable it. After enabling this feature, you can restore a file you’ve deleted or restore a previous copy of a file — ideal if you’ve made some changes to a document and want to get the old version back.  File History runs frequently, making backup copies of your files every hour.

After enabling file history, just click the History button on the ribbon in the folder that once contained the file to start restoring it.

Forgot to Set Up File History?[/b][/size]

If you use a traditional magnetic hard drive instead of a modern solid-state drive, you may also be able to restore deleted files with a file recovery program like Piriform’s Recuva. Such programs scan your hard drive, looking for bits of deleted files and offering to restore them.

They won’t work on solid-state drives because files deleted from SSDs are typically erased immediately, unless TRIM was disabled. If you’re using an SSD, be sure to enable File History before you accidentally delete a file!

Got Too Many Startup Programs?

Windows 8′s Task Manager allows you to manage your startup programs. If you’ve installed too many programs that are automatically starting with your computer and they’re slowing down your startup process and cluttering your system tray, there’s finally an integrated way to manage these properly.

Just right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager. Click the More details link and use the options on the Startup tab to disable your startup programs. Windows 8 even tells you how much time each program adds to your startup process.

Have You Messed Up Any Settings?

You can restore the default options in many Windows programs if you’ve changed them and want to get back to how they were before you messed around with them. If you’ve…

    -> Deleted a library: Right-click the Libraries header in the File Explorer application and select Restore default libraries.
    -> Messed up your folder display settings: Click the View tab in File Explorer, click the Options icon, and select Change folder and search options. There’s a separate Restore Defaults button on each tab here — each one will restore the options specified on the tab to their default settings.
    -> Hid too many system tray icons: Right-click the taskbar, click Properties, click the Customize button next to Notification area, and select Restore default icon behaviors.

Experiencing Problems With Internet Explorer?

The desktop version of Internet Explorer can experience problems if you install too many browser add-ons, such as toolbars. You may also experience problems if you’ve tweaked too many of the advanced settings in Internet Explorer and disabled things you shouldn’t have.

Luckily, Internet Explorer gives you a way to reset it to its default state. To do so, open Internet Explorer, click the gear icon, select Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and click Reset.

You’ll lose your toolbars, add-ons, browser settings, and most other browsing data. However, you won’t lose your Internet Explorer favorites.

Suffering From Frozen or Resource-Sucking Programs?

It’s not an error on your part, but occasionally a program will freeze and become unresponsive. Worse yet, sometimes a program may stay running in the background, sucking up CPU and memory resources to do nothing at all. In cases like this one, you can use the Task Manager to end the program.

Either Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and click Task Manager or right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager to open the Task Manger. From here, you can right-click a program and select End Task to forcibly stop it. The Windows 8 task manager color-codes programs by resource usage, so it’s easy to see if a program is malfunctioning and consuming too much resources in the background.

It’s possible that your computer may become frozen completely. If it’s not responding at all, you should press Ctrl+Alt+Delete at the same time. If you’re lucky, your computer is still responsive and you can use the Ctrl+Alt+Delete screen to open the Task Manager and kill programs or just click the Power button and reboot your computer.

If your computer isn’t responding at all, you can press and hold the physical power button on your computer. After a few seconds, it will stop completely. This method shouldn’t be used to turn off your PC regularly, as it’s a forcible, hard reset that doesn’t allow your computer to shut down cleanly. However, it’s necessary if your computer isn’t responding.

Facing General PC Issues?

Windows 8 allows you to “Refresh Your PC,” which is essentially an easy way to reinstall Windows. Windows will automatically refresh itself, restoring itself to its default state. Windows will preserve your personal files and Modern apps from the Windows Store, but you’ll have to reinstall any desktop apps you have installed after this.

This is a quick way to get Windows back to a fresh state without losing your files or going through the traditional Windows install process. You’ll find this option in the PC settings app under the General section.


Experiencing System Issues?

You can also use the System Restore feature to partially restore your system without performing a Refresh. System Restore won’t erase the desktop programs you have installed, so this can be a faster method. System Restore automatically creates “restore points,” which make a backup copy of important system files.

This can be useful after system files have become damaged somehow — perhaps you installed unstable drivers on your system or accidentally uninstalled a device driver. System Restore can fix such problems without needing to perform a Refresh and lose all your desktop programs.

Accidentally Deleted System Files?

Windows includes the System File Checker (SFC) command, which you can run manually. Run this command and Windows will scan the computer’s system files, ensuring they’re all present and in working order. If a file has become deleted or corrupted, the System File Checker will notice and automatically replace it. This all happens without needing to use the Refresh or System Restore features.

To use this command, press the Start button, type Command Prompt, right-click the Command Prompt shortcut, and select Run as administrator. In the Administrator Command Prompt window that appears, run the following command:

_{sfc /scannow}

Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ooops-10-common-user-errors-how-to-fix-them-in-windows-8/

30

One in all PC tips / How To Upgrade To Windows 8.1 & How To Downgrade Back To Windows 8

« on: November 25, 2013, 12:37:42 PM »

Windows 8.1 is here and brings many new and improved features. The update is free for current Windows 8 users, it’s available from the Windows Store, and the installation process, if not quick, at least is easy. If you would like to boot to the desktop, take advantage of the improved SkyDrive integration, or run multiple apps next to each other with the new dynamic Snap feature, you should consider upgrading.

Just in case you don’t like Windows 8.1 or run into issues, note that the only way to roll back to Windows 8 after upgrading to Windows 8.1, is to restore a previously made system image. Unfortunately, a Windows 8 system image can only be restored to Windows 8, meaning you will need Windows 8 installation media. Fear not, we outline the entire Windows 8.1 upgrade and downgrade process here.

Why Should You Upgrade To Windows 8.1?

Microsoft has made several changes to the user interface (UI). Not only does the Start screen no longer get cluttered with tiles when you install new apps, you can also share your desktop wallpaper with the Start screen, which makes the transition from one view to the other more natural. If you’re a multitasker, you will love that you can now snap more than two apps to display next to each other and dynamically change how much screen space each of them takes up.

The most significant novelty is the deep integration of SkyDrive, offering native and free cloud storage, accessible throughout the operating system and syncing files across devices.

In Windows 8.1 you can finally boot to the desktop. Many users were also anticipating the return of the Start button, but were hugely disappointed to find that it’s merely a shortcut to the Start screen. If you’re one of them, check out what you can do with the Win+X Menu & Editor instead (http://forum.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/index.php?topic=17442.0).

In summary, you should upgrade to Windows 8.1 if you would like to enjoy the following key features:

    -> boot to desktop
    -> native SkyDrive integration
    -> dynamic Snap multitasking to run multiple apps side-by-side and resize them

And there are more new or improved features you might be interested in:

    -> improved Mail app, including drag-and-drop support and a toolbar to sort messages
    -> universal search of apps, settings, and files
    -> new modern style apps like Reading List or Food & Drink
    -> an improved version of modern Internet Explorer 11
    -> Tutorials; apparently Windows 8.1 is still not intuitive, at least there is help now.

Read This Before You Upgrade To Windows 8.1

If you are eager to take advantage of Windows 8.1′s new features, hold on for a moment. You can not roll back the upgrade and return to Windows 8 in case you do not like it! The only way you can “downgrade” from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8, is if you prepared a system image before you upgrade.

What To Prepare Prior To Upgrading

Run a Windows Update and install all important updates before you upgrade. You won’t be able to see the Windows 8.1 file until all key updates have been installed. Next, make sure you have sufficient storage space on your system drive; the upgrade file is between 2 and 4GB. After you cleaned up, create a backup of your files. Better yet, if you want to be able to downgrade or restore your system in case something goes wrong during the upgrade, create a system image.

You can restore, refresh, or reset Windows 8, but the option to create a backup of your data or a full system image is kind of hidden. In Windows 8, open the Charms bar and do a Search for recovery in Settings. The option you are looking for is called Windows 7 File Recovery.

This feature was added so you could restore backups made in Windows 7. Windows 7 File Recovery might seem familiar. Indeed, it looks the same as the Windows 7 Backup and Restore feature. Not only does it look the same way, it also works the same way, meaning it has retained the capability to create backups and system images. So go ahead and create that Windows 8 system image, which is your only chance to restore your personal Windows 8 setup, after an upgrade to Windows 8.1.

Since Windows 8.1 won’t allow you to restore a system image of Windows 8, you will have to re-install Windows 8 before restoring your system image.

If you do not have Windows 8 installation media, you should create them now. This is something Microsoft has actually made fairly easy. Have your product key ready, navigate to this Upgrading Windows page, click the Install Windows 8 button, run the .exe file, and after entering your product key select Install by creating media. See the entire process with screenshots on the Supersite for Windows.

Finally, to be able to upgrade to Windows 8.1, you must use a Microsoft account to log into Windows, not a local user account. Chris has explained how to set up a Microsoft account in his article on how to prepare Windows 8 for the upgrade.

Upgrade To Windows 8.1

This is the easiest part of this whole endeavor, although not necessarily the quickest; it can take more than 3 hours, so don’t plan on doing anything with that computer for a while.

Whenever you can spare the time, navigate to the Windows Store on the Windows 8 device you wish to upgrade.

If you don’t see this huge purple Update Windows tile shown above, then you probably have a few important updates to install. Just go to Windows Update (open Charms bar, search Settings for update, and launch Windows Update), check for updates, force pending updates to download and install immediately, then come back and try again.

If you do see the purple tile, click it, download the Windows 8.1 update…

…and initiate the installation process.

Your computer will automatically restart several times.

As part of the installation process, you need to accept new license terms, choose express or custom settings, sign into your Microsoft account, verify your account with a security code sent to the registered email address, and OK the SkyDrive setup.

Once setup has completed, you will land on the improved Windows 8.1 Start screen. If you upgraded from Windows 8, your files and previously installed applications will still be there. If you upgraded from Windows 8.1 Preview, however, you’ll have to re-install your desktop programs and apps, although the download links for modern apps will be waiting for you on the Start screen. Enjoy exploring the updated environment.

Downgrade to Windows 8

Are you disappointed in Windows 8.1? Don’t like how it works compared to Windows 8 or did something go wrong during the upgrade? This is the time to use your previously created system image to “downgrade” to Windows 8.

As mentioned previously, you can’t use your Windows 8 system image on Windows 8.1 because essentially, it’s a different operating system. So this is not a downgrade at all, but rather a very time intensive brute-force system restore. And here is how you do it…

First, you have to replace Windows 8.1 with a fresh installation of Windows 8 using your original installation media or the ones you created prior to upgrading. Once you’re back in Windows 8, use a Windows 8 recovery disk or restart to recovery options from the Power menu. Hold down the left [SHIFT] key and select Restart. A moment later you should find yourself in the recovery environment.

Within the recovery environment, go to Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, and finally System Image Recovery. You will need to choose the target operating system; select Windows 8.  Make sure the drive containing the system recovery image is connected, select the image you want to restore, proceed to the Next window, click Finish and confirm that you want to continue.

Windows should now re-image your computer and if all goes well, you will be back in your old Windows 8 setup in just under a day. Well, nobody claimed it was fast or easy, but with some tedious detrous, at least it’s possible.

Final Destination: Windows 8.1

No doubt, Windows 8.1 is an improvement. It’s more stylish and user friendly than its predecessor. The sad part about this whole story is that it is near impossible for the average user to “downgrade”.

Although Microsoft is trying hard to simplify and build a smooth user experience, they keep failing in the details. Users have become used to certain features and still expect Windows to be somewhat customizable and controllable. This collides with simplicity and flexibility, which in this case makes preparing for a “downgrade” — which really isn’t a downgrade, but a full system restore — such a tedious process.


Reference: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-do-upgrade-to-windows-8-1-how-to-downgrade-back-to-windows-8/