Predator, let you do exactly that !

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with
4 out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

PROGRAM: PREDATOR PROS: PREDATOR locks your PC when you are away, even if your Windows session is still opened. It is very easy to use and the security seems to be very good. CONS: Dark interface, makes it hard to read. Tho several users can have their own key it cannot be used to Log In to different User Accounts, which would have been a great asset. VERDICT: If you are looking for a simple way to protect your Computer while you step away from it. This what you need. PRICE: Freeware and Paid Version ($29) VERSION REVIEWED: 2.1.0.468 Download Link in the Article

Security Required

Security is always an issue wetter you are working on your Home Computer or you are at work. This is why password protection was invented – to prevent unauthorized access to computers and systems. This is why most Company Networks have the message “This Computer is Locked!” when you are away from your workstation.

If the network requires many users with passwords and security it is a daunting and tiresome task to maintain the ever-changing usernames and passwords. Now, this can be done easier and simpler, using Predator.

PREDATOR locks your PC when you are away, even if your Windows session is still opened.

Simple User Control

Predator allows you to lock or unlock a computer by inserting or removing a USB Flash Drive. Once installed you can control who has access to the computer by administering Flash Drives.

It uses a regular USB Flash Drive as an access control device, and works as follows:

• you insert the USB drive and run PREDATOR (autostart with Windows is possible)
• you do your work…

When you’re away from your PC, you simply remove the Flash Drive. Once removed, the Keyboard, Mouse and Windows Task Manager are disabled. If you want, you can set the screen to dim down, making it obvious that the computer is locked, or you may also make it appear turned off all together.

When you return to your Computer, insert the Flash Drive and your Computer goes back to normal.

One on Several or Several on One…

One Flash Drive can be set to access several computers and Several Flash Drives can be set to access one computer. The system checks the inserted Flash Drive on a custom interval and even changes the access key on a regular basis, thus preventing unauthorized people to gain access by copying the Flash Drives .

Warnings and Logs

A new feature (for those who have used this a while) is the ability to send warning of unauthorized access attempts by SMS or Email. This function require that you have a Twitter Account.

If someone attempts to breach your security you can also make your Computer go haywire with your optional sounds or alarms, which is useful for computers in a public area.

Conclusion

I like it!

Within one minute of installing Predator, I was protected. The software feels light, it takes no CPU what so ever and the only visible proof of its existence, is a small green pulsating dot in the Taskbar. Which in Windows 7 disappears in the “hidden Icon” section after a few minutes.

I plugged out my Flash Drive and after about 30 seconds My computer was locked down. The time it takes to completely lock depends on two things. How often you set Predator to monitor your Flash Drive, and how long ago it checked it.

Suggested Improvements

As with everything else, there are a few things I would like to change or add. The Graphics Designer in me, would love to see the product in a more user-friendly color scheme. The software GUI is dark and not very inviting and it could use a few touches here and there. I do keep in mind that it’s a settings panel and not an environment of which you are going to stay much.

As function goes, if Predator would take a step up, and also include User Account Control. You could let people access their own User Account when plugging in their own Flash Drive. Then you would get the total Network Security Solution. And then it would truly be what we see in Hollywood…

Download Predator

Predator comes in two versions; a Free Version and a Professional version. It also supports 32-bit and 64-bit architecture. You can read more about Predator by Clicking Here!

Download Predator

Further Reading

• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Clean Up old Windows System Restore Points [How To]

NOTE!
I am writing this with the Home User in mind. Therefor I will throughout this article refer to all network activity or connections as Internet Connection. Even though it can also apply to Networks in general, being in the Office, or at home (Wlan, Wan, Lan). The usage of DNS within a Local Network can greatly increase or decrease the Network experience, no matter where you sit.

What is DNS

DNS is short for Domain Name Server and is a very important part of your daily Internet Usage. Every time you type a website address or send an email you make use of DNS.

a DNS is actually nothing more than a large database that allows us to use real text addresses, which is easy to remember. It is much easier to remember: www.mintywhite.com than 70.32.91.32 which is the correct address for our site.

What if you were to go around remember all those IP addresses – No one would use the Internet for very long.

Why would you change it ?

First Issue: SPEED!
Most people use the DNS provided by their ISP and are quite happy with it. However, different Internet Service Providers, maintain their DNS differently. If the DNS you are using aren’t updated on a regular basis, or if it’s not maintained properly, your Internet-access gets clogged up and slow.

Another issue: SECURITY!
Most DNS are open for all kinds of sites and domains, thus making it up to you to filter out what you don’t want to see. By switching your DNS to another provider like OpenDNS (Free) you can subscribe to services like Block Pages Customization, White-/Blacklists, Web Content Filtering and so on.

A very good reason to use a specially customized DNS is that is can be setup on all the computers in your household or company – setting global rules – thus avoiding your kids (or employees) to access material they shouldn’t. Let’s face it, filters and other software installed on your computer can easily be overridden (and kids especially are good at that). Setting the rules on a remote server is a bit trickier to override.

Security an Issue? Change it Once!

If you only want to add extra security and control to your Internet Connection you’ll be happy to change the settings once on each computer.

Once you have set up an account with a DNS provider you need to change (each) computers DNS settings. The Procedure is different on Windows XP and Windows Vista/Seven.

You can find good tutorials here:

• Change Your DNS Server in Windows 7
• Change Your DNS Server in Windows XP

SPEED an issue? Change it Often!

If you are more concerned with speed and are constantly tweaking your system to squeeze more juice out of your connection then you should also look to your DNS provider.

A great tool (which is not new by any means) is DnsJumper. The developers recently released a new version (1.0.3 beta).

With several new improvements, DnsJumper has become what I always expected it to be.

The two most important changes; is the ability to add your own DNS settings, and the ability to test all given DNS’s to find which one is faster for your current system (Google also has a tool for this (see here), but having the ability inside this program is way better if you ask me).

Download DnsJumper

DnsJumper does not need any installation. Simply unpack the RAR file and copy the utility to a folder of choice.

DnsJumper, Speed Test

Start up DnsJumper and click on “Fastest Dns”. This will invoke the speed-test where DnsJumper test the connection speed for each DNS-setting in your list (even your custom ones). After it is done, you can choose to change your DNS accordingly. As simple as it gets.

Override ability

For me the possibility to change the DNS on the fly has another great advantage. I want my kids to be safe when they use Internet so I’ve set my OpenDNS account very restrictive. Much so, that my own research abilities gets very limited. After all, many sites that offer free information, software etc. rely on ads to survive – and some display ads I don’t want my kids to see.

By using DnsJumper I can switch to a less restrictive DNS while working, then switch back to the family safe DNS when I’m done, and even, when I leave my computer on, to do other chores. All in a Click.

Further Reading

• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Protect your Computer with a USB Flash Drive [Freeware]
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• Clean Up old Windows System Restore Points [How To]

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with
4 out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

PROS: Free, feature-filled graphical editing CONS: Not made by Adobe? VERDICT: Almost all of the tricks at none of the price. Unless you are a professional, GIMP will be a great all-inclusive tool for you. PRICE: Free VERSION REVIEWED: 2.6.7 DOWNLOAD: GIMP

GIMP Features

Overview

GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open-source Photoshop alternative. I’ve used GIMP on many occasions and find it to be a powerful tool for “the rest of us”; meaning those that can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on graphical editing software we’ll only use some of the time. It only takes a minute to download and with the amount of help available on their website only takes a couple uses to learn fairly well. I’ve been able to edit and retouch digital photos with GIMP along with creating my own images from scratch – including images with advanced shadow and lighting effects.

Storyboard animation

This is a cool feature I just learned about. You can create different images and arrange them in a storyboard and use this tool to animate them. Can anyone say stop-motion photography?

Photo editing

GIMP has great tools for photo retouching including red-eye correction, color balancing, advanced cropping, among other advanced tools to correct barrel distortion and vignetting. You can also use the channel mixer to create stunning black and white pictures where you can choose one color to stand out. GIMP also has a magic-wand-esque tool to match colors and cover up imperfections in photos (or the people in them!)

Graphical authoring

Not only can you edit pictures, you can use GIMP to create your own images.

Extensive online documentation

Because GIMP is open-source, there is no user’s manual. Instead, they have created online tutorials to help beginners and even advanced users of GIMP learn new “tricks”. These are a great place to start, as they teach all of the basics and help uncover hidden features you didn’t even know GIMP had.

File format support

In addition to being supported on various versions of Linux, Mac OS X, and almost all versions of Windows, GIMP supports a huge number of file formats. You can even open and edit Photoshop .psd files!

Conclusion

It’s not a mistake that GIMP has been included on list after list of “must-have” freeware for your PC. It’s a powerful program that will help you accomplish many things. I highly recommend you download it and give GIMP a try!

Download GIMP

Download GIMP

Further Reading

• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Protect your Computer with a USB Flash Drive [Freeware]
• Nitro PDF Professional: An Affordable PDF Suite Packed with Features ($99)
• Best Windows Freebies and Guides 18 [September 2009]
• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?

There are many different providers of DNS (Domain Name Servers) available on the Internet, from the one you get using your ISP, to Google, UltraDNS, OpenDNS etc.

In this tutorial I am going to show you how to change your DNS settings in XP, no matter which DNS provider you choose. In the tutorial I am however going to assume that you have set up an account at OpenDNS.

Changing DNS settings

1. Click Start-Button and Open The Control Panel.
2. Locate and open Network Connections
3. Double-Click your default Network Connection from the available list
4. Click Properties
5. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties again
   
6. Click on: “Use the following DNS server addresses”
   The text fields below will be enabled
   Type in DNS IP addresses you have obtained from the DNS provider
   
   Example:
   Preferred DNS server address for Open DNS is: 208.67.222.222
   Alternate DNS server address for Open DNS is: 208.67.220.220
7. Click OK
8. Close any open dialogue window and Control Panel
9. Restart all Browsers

Further Reading

• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• FlashHacker, Watch FullScreen Flash Videos without Interuptions [Freeware]
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with
4+ out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

PROS: The program is simple and very easy to use. It has all the necessary functions you would expect and a few more. ImgBurn is not just for the Novice User, but also for the Experienced Tweaker. CONS: No direct MP3 to CDA conversion VERDICT: Get it while it’s free :) Some day they’ll discover they can make money on it. PRICE: Freeware VERSION REVIEWED: 2.5 Download Link in the Article

My first impression

I have always been partial to use Nero Burning Rom – the all time best – in my book. Until, that is, I discovered ImgBurn. Not only is it a great freeware, but it is also easy to use and handle. Where as Nero has grown to be this gigantic Software Suite with tools I would never even consider using, ImgBurn has kept it simple and neat. All the important functions is a tiny interface.

Overall I love it from the very beginning.

Discovery and Burning

First time I boot up a program I try to use it without tweaking anything. Sometimes that is a good idea and sometimes it’s not. This time it was. The default settings works like a charm. I chose some DivX files I had lying around and told ImgBurn to burn the DVD.

ImgBurn then prompted me; it had discovered that my disk contained DivX files and therefor should be burned using  another setting, than the default. Talk about smart. One thing I didn’t get ImgBurn to do, was to detect MP3 files and ask me if it should be converted to CDA (Music CD) or burn as ISO.

Calculate Space

Once you have put a blank disk in your drive, ImgBurn let you calculate necessary Disk Space and available Free Space, after Burn. The Calculate Function is not on by default, but it remembers the Auto Feature if you leave it on when you close the application.

Backup

If you have expensive DVD’s or CD’s lying around being in danger from kids, girlfriends, dog, your cat etc. Then ImgBurn can help you. ImgBurn has the ability to create ISO-Files from an existing Disk (even commercial ones), it can also create ISO-Files from files and folders and of course write ISO-Files to disk.

Just insert your disk into the drive and click on Create Image File from Disk, and press the Action Button.

For the Tech Savvy, as well…

ImgBurn isn’t just for the novice users who need a simple program to burn their files on a disk. It allows you to control ever aspect of the burning and ISO-Creating session.

In the Settings Dialog you are allowed to control How ImgBurn should interact with Windows, with your Registry and how your Disk Drive should behave. So if you love to tweak your applications, squeezing every ounce of performance out of it – you should really give ImgBurn a try.

Download ImgBurn 2.5

Download ImgBurn

Further Reading

• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware

I have found two freeware applications for you that will do the trick. One plain and simple and one with a few more options.

This is also for those of you who desperately miss your MAC taskbar, but have to use XP at work or whatever. Curious? Read on!

Visual Task Tips (What you expect, is what you get)

Visual Task Tips is a straightforward little application that gives you exactly what you’d expect. A Thumbnail Preview. Nothing more, nothing less. Just Download and install.

Visual Task Tips Supports both 32bit and 64bit platforms.

Download here!

Visual Tooltip (The one for MAC lovers)

If you want more than just a preview, then Visual Tooltip is for you. Not only do you get the pretty Taskbar Thumbnails, you also get more.

You can control where the thumbnails appear as well as  how they appear.

With Visual Tooltip you can also replace your Windows Taskbar entirely with a
MAC-Look-A-Like Taskbar similar to the one found i OS X.

We previously covered this program here a couple of years ago and it seems to be running even more smoothly now.

Download here!

The MAC Cloned Taskbar

Further Reading

• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Collection of 14 Free Windows Sidebar Gadgets [Chameleon Glass Style]
• Protect your Computer with a USB Flash Drive [Freeware]

MouseExtender is a small application can be used to start your favorite programs and URLs. Using Drag and drop or the Add function in the File Menu you can add almost any utility, task and web service to the interface.

MouseExtender features:

• Mouse button configuration
• Add items to ME using Drag&Drop!
• Group your items by tabs
• Add Web Address
• Customize item as you want. User can change launch arguments,tool-tips, icons, etc.
• Shutdown/sleep/hibernate with timer
• Automatic updates checking
• Sort Items using Drag&Drop
• Stylized controls
• Enable/Disable option from tray icon context menu
• About information
• Localization
• MouseExtender automatically adds web site icon and title for Web address

Read more here, and download from here: (http://me.krv7.net/)

.Net Framework

MouseExtender is developed on the .net platform and the .net runtime framework is required. Windows 7 users need to do nothing as it comes with the .net already installed.

If you don’t have Windows 7 you need to download and install .net framework (click here).

Enjoy!

Download MouseExtender

Download MouseExtender

Further Reading

• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• Really Take Control over Your Right-click Context Menu [How To]
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware

Remember back when the CD was first introduced – how they promised that a CD would withstand anything, heat, water, jam(!), you could even jump up and down on them…. yeah right. Okay, The CD and DVD are durable – but I have yet to find a CD or DVD that is completely child and scratch proof.

The most expensive DVD’s I buy are the one for Kids – so naturally I want to preserve them – making them last long enough for my kids to outgrow them. What do you do ?

I for one begun sniffing around after ways to take backups (for my own personal use) to preserve the original disk, and to burn a copy that my kids can (ab)use…

This is what I found…

No Liability (…or what my lawyer advised me to say…)

Before we continue I would like to point out that  this is not a tutorial on how to steal or otherwise illegally distribute DVD’s. I am writing this post for other parents out there who are in desperate need of preserving the expensive DVD’s so that they do not have to re-buy a DVD because their kids have ruined it. This is for your personal backup needs only. okay, let’s continue…

DVD copying software

First we need a program that will allow us to copy the data from the DVD to your hard drive. I recommend on that is completely free: DVDshrink. Click Here to Download.

What I like about DVDshrink is that you may copy the entire DVD as is, or you may re-master it, copying only the part you want, like the main movie, languages, subtitles etc. Making it possible to copy a 8GB DVD to a 4GB DVD. DVDshrink also allows you to control how much compression to use so you never end up with files that are too large to burn.

Step by Step

1. Insert your DVD and Click OPEN.
   Let DVDshrink analyze the disk. When done, DVDshrink will show you how much space the entire backup will take, copying the entire disk. If you want to copy the entire disk, skip steps 2 through 5.
2. To backup only the necessary parts, go through the list of contents like Audio, and subtitles (called Subpicture) and disable what you don’t need. When you do, notice that the Movie Compression Rate is automatically adjusted for you.
3. Click Re-Author
4. From the content list in the left pane, drag whatever titles you want into the DVD Structure window in the Right pane. The Main movie will always be the largest file.
5. Click Backup. Now you get to choose your new DVD settings.
6. In the Target Device Tab, chose where to store the backup (on Hard Disk Folder or directly to a new DVD). I recommend you first store the backup-files to your Hard Drive in case anything should go wrong during the copy process.
7. Set DVD region (default is Region Free) in the DVD Region Tab.
8. As long as you use the default settings for Video Compression, you cannot access anything in the Quality Settings Tab
9. To set CPU Service Priorities, click on the Options Tab.
10. If you Chose to Burn the Copy directly to a new disk, you can change the setting like Volume label, Burn Speed etc for your DVD burner in the Burn Settings tab.
11. Click OK, Sit back and let DVDshrink do the rest.

NOTE!
A Copy Protection will be read as a CRC check error.
If you do get those You might need to get hold of a copy of SlySoft AnyDVD  or another CopyProtect removal tool. Not that I’m recommending any.

Other ways

There are of course other ways to make secure backups of your DVD’s, like create ISO-Images of the entire disk without violation copy protection etc. If you need to make backups of other kinds of DVD’s or want a simple way of creating ISO-Files from an entire disk, you should try ImgBurn (Read Here)

Further Reading

• Really Take Control over Your Right-click Context Menu [How To]
• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Save an Unreadable CD or DVD and Recover Data [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• FlashHacker, Watch FullScreen Flash Videos without Interuptions [Freeware]

If you have Windows 7 and would like to enhance the way Aero Snap works , then This is the freeware for you: Acer Gridvista.

Read on for download link.

More functions than Aero Snap

With Acer Gridvista you don’t only get the Aero Snap function as in Windows 7, you get a better version of it. The program allows you to divide each monitor in up to 4 individual sections, each with its own setting. You can preset zones in which the program snaps a window into place, or you can snap it in place using a custom button which is added to your explorer windows. For Windows 7 users; Gridvista integrates seamlessly into Aero Snap giving it even better functionality.

In Addition is also provides transparent windows and the option to stick a window on-top of others.

After you download and install the program, you’ll find a blue monitor icon in your Taskbar. Right-Click it edit the settings and how many zones you want to divide that monitor into.

Features

Once Installed, and monitors divided – just drag a non-maximized window over an active zone to snap it into place.  You will also find three custom buttons at the top of each window you open. These buttons let you choose which zone to use, if that window should always be on top or not and if the grid should be magnetic or not.

Yes, This Freeware is developed by Acer Computers, and originally developed for their notebooks. I have not found any official download link on the Acer Website but it is freely available for download on the net. More information on features here.

Download Acer Gridvista

Download Acer Gridvista

Further Reading

• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Protect your Computer with a USB Flash Drive [Freeware]
• Get Windows 7 Style Taskbar Thumbnail Previews in XP [How To]
• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Remote Desktop, No Installation Required – Freeware

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 !!

No Setup Problems

I’ve been using a free service from LogMeIn.com – which allows me to take full control over my friends and colleagues’ computers. The drawback is that they need to download and install a small application and register at the LogMeIn Website (with my guidance). The other drawback is that Once they are in my system – they stay there – for better or worse.

I just discovered that LogMeIn have a hidden treasure in their collection called LogMeIn Express that uses Flash. This little tool requires very little from the people in trouble. It is still in Beta, so there aren’t too much features yet but I’m sure there will be pretty soon.

No Download, No Setup, No Registering…

There is nothing to download or setup, only a small utility that the user sharing his/her desktop, need to activate via the website. The (up to 100) other users, only need a 9 digit key provided by the main user.

The Person sharing his desktop can choose which visitor to control his computer (if any). LogMeIn Express also support file-sharing and chat. Which is all you need, really.

Here’s How it works

Surf to: LogMeIn.com. As it’s still in Beta the URL is long, so I have made a short-URL for my own personal use, but feel free to use it: http://shorten.ws/LogMeIn.

Tell your friend in need, to visit the above website and click on Share, then Click Run to allow it. The utility will self-install and display a 9-digit serial number, which he or she need to give you. You type this number into the text field (on the above website) and.. wait for it … you are both online. Remote Desktop the easy way!

The toolbox is very self-explanatory. After all my 11-year-old daughter managed to chat with me after looking at it for  10 seconds, and she doesn’t even read English that well … yet. Anyways this is what it looks like:

The Chat window (shown above) opens automatically when the connection is set up. When you are done helping, just close the window and the application will uninstall itself. It cannot get any easier (or better).

The Session is online as long as the main desktop has the application running. If you need to take a break from the session, the main user may PAUSE the sharing without the need of closing it down. Also, on a dual monitor system the remote desktop will only show the main monitor.

LogMeIn Free

If you require the ability to remote control a desktop without having another user on the other computer to let you in. I recommend that you sign up for the Free Account at www.LogMeIn.com

Further Reading

• MouseExtender is an iPhone-like Menu for Windows
• Acer Gridvista Enables Aero Snap Features [Vista and XP]
• DnsJumper (v1.0.3), Changing your DNS – How and why?
• Best Windows Freebies and Guides 18 [September 2009]
• Protect your Computer with a USB Flash Drive [Freeware]