Everyone who knows me, knows I’m a bit more than normally interested in Computers. So of course whom do they contact when they have problems with theirs ? Lucky guess. But figuring the problem over the phone isn’t always as easy, and some of my friends being “Twelve O’Clock Flashers” – explaining them what to do isn’t all that easy either.

The best way, sometimes, is using Remote Desktop. But this usually involves getting the already troubled users to download and install a small client of some sort and guide them through that.  And, well… Let’s just say I sometimes hate being the one they call. However…

I’ve come a cross a great tool for the job, which allows me to help without all that hassle – and best of all – it’s free !!

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Yesterday I showed you how to automatically backup your data from any PC across your home network. If Windows Backup and Restore doesn’t give you enough control (i.e. you also want to have the option to backup to a remote location by IP or you want the files more easily accessible without having to open backup and restore to view them, GFI backup may provide what you need. In this guide, I’ll show you where to get GFI Backup and how to use it to make backups of your data from any PC to any PC on your home network.
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Ever since I saw the new ribbon in Office 2007 – I hated it. I looked around and found me a freeware add-in that brought back the old and familiar menu-system. Then came Microsoft Office 2010, and the ribbon had begun to grow on me, don’t get me wrong I still use my old and trusty pre-2007 menu add-In, but not so much any more.

Why, you ask ? First of all, Microsoft has simplified the ribbons, made them more intuitive. Secondly; I can now change them to my liking and need, by adding my custom Tabs, Groups and Commands. In this tutorial I am going to use Microsoft Excel 2010, but the procedure is the same in all Office Programs. Here’s How:

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You may find that, using your ISP’s DNS (Domain Name Servers), sites can take a while to load. OpenDNS is the answer to that! From the mouth of OpenDNS, “OpenDNS is the world’s leading provider of Internet navigation and security. Make your network safer, faster, smarter and more reliable without the cost and complexity of traditional security services.” OpenDNS also has “typo correction”, in which, if you were to type craigslist.og, it’d automatically redirect you to craigslist.org. It also has a phishing site blocker, which wouldn’t let you go to any sites known to be fraudulent. One of the other many features is that, from the control panel online, you can configure it to block different categories of sites (so maybe you want pornography and social networking sites blocked, and it gets done!), even better, it won’t let you through to proxies, so you can’t bypass it!

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This week I’ve showed you how to share files and stream media on your home network. This is pretty cool stuff; however, you may want to take this one step further and share your files anywhere in the world. In this guide, I’ll show you how to do this in one of the most simple ways possible–by using a program called Orb.

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After you’ve had your computer for a while, and have visited a lot of websites, you are (unfortunately) bound to have malware on your system, which can both slow it down, and invade your privacy. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is the most effective anti-malware utility I have ever used!

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