...confessions of a freeware junkie...

StartSSL™ Certificates & Public Key Infrastructure [del.icio.us]

2010-08-25T14:01:14-07:00

StartSSL - StartCom Free SSL Client, S/Mime, Server, Domain Controller, Smartcard Certificates

SQLinForm Online Version [del.icio.us]

2010-08-16T11:49:34-07:00

Great SQL code formatting tool. Handy if you want to clean up those messy queries, making it pretty to look at! Note that this is not a syntax checker, just a formatting tool.

Tip: Getting a ‘MyBrowserBar’ screen when you should be 404’ed? Here’s the fix.

2010-08-13T07:00:00.003-05:00

So, every once and awhile lately, I had noticed something peculiar. When I was surfing around on the ‘Net and hitting pages that were no longer there...I should have been hitting (and I did for about 1.5 seconds) a site hosted 404 page or error, but then was redirected to a page that is hosted by ‘MyBrowserBar.com’. While this wasn't terribly annoying - there are indeed some 404 pages that are actually useful, and I really want to see them – Microsoft’s site comes to mind.

So, what the heck – Surely I’ve not let rogue bit of software on my system?

Upon doing a little bit of research, it appears that as a result of a PDFCreator installation, the 'PDFforge toolbar' somehow got installed, which like 99% of all other toolbars is not useful in any way.

The fix:

If you see this screen instead of the typical 404, hit up your add/remove programs applet and perform a search for ‘PDFforge Toolbar’. I need to do a bit of testing to make sure it doesn’t install itself even if I select not to – which I am pretty diligent about doing.

Request to PDFforge: Remove this "helper" program from your install.

Source: [Enghiong]
Image courtesy [Homestarrunner.com]

Quick Look - Multi-Platform Mobile Chat: PingChat!

2010-08-12T07:00:00.014-05:00

http://www.pingchat.com/

After my transition from BlackBerry to Android, my wife and I have been missing BlackBerry Messenger a LOT. BBM was great for sending photos quickly between the two of us (she still has a BlackBerry). For IM’ing, we’ve taken to Google Talk, and while it works, it’s just not there in terms of functionality if you really need something that can perform the additional things that BBM is just so darned good at.

Why I miss BlackBerry Messenger:

Send photos, voice notes easily to chat recipient
Send broadcasted messages to multiple recipients
Create groups and interact in group chats with multiple recipients
For others (I didn’t use this), group chat calendar and picture repository

An alternative? Almost.

Full disclosure: At the time of this writing, the BlackBerry client is in beta.

Currently at version 2.0 (BB beta notwithstanding), PingChat! is a client that has some compelling features to make it, in some ways, a viable alternative to BBM if you and your friends/spouse have mixed devices. Currently PingChat! supports Android, BlackBerry, iPhone and iPod Touch

So, I installed PingChat! on my wife’s BlackBerry Tour 9630 and on my Droid Incredible. The first thing I noticed right away is that the initial setup screen isn’t quite consistent (at least between these two platforms). For example:

When signing up on the Android phone, PingChat asked if I would like to use my mobile number as my id or create a new id using PingChat!’s system. On the BlackBerry, it asked you to create an account, but no option for using the mobile number.

On the Android, I could easily link my wife’s ad hoc contact to my address book. On the BlackBerry, it was a bit difficult noticing when the ‘link to contact’ option was highlighted to click on. There was no menu option either (its just good interface design to include a menu option for any major onscreen function)...

Sending a photo is easy enough on the Android…just click the attachment icon, then browse for your photos via the built-in photo browser. This is NOT the case on the BlackBerry, and is a major shortcoming in my opinion. On the Tour, we had to browse the folder structure of her SD card in order to find the photo to send, and to top it off, there are no thumbnails, so unless you’ve named your pics something useful, good luck finding the right one….

I could see where you could send a message to multiple recipients, but I’ve not been able to test how well this works. There did not seem to be a way to save a group if you created one.

Also, it appeared as though I could add a contact and just start chatting away, even though I don't recall seeing a prompt to accept the contact...

Multimedia files, pics, vids (yes!) and voicenotes were received easily from device to device, and over the WiFi, response was great.

A not-so-serious and very serious concern:

I like the fact that PingChat! will allow my Android device to create an account with my mobile number, but I’m curious as to what happens if I decide to change my number? Do my contacts get updated on their side, or will the person who eventually gets my number have the potential to login and receive chats destined for me?

One huge concern for me is that you don't get a confirmation for a new chat buddy. If someone knows your mobile number or userid, they can just start chatting it up with you. With the lack of a 'friends-only' feature or block capability, this has the potential to cause some serious mental harm to people. Think of it - bad break ups? Stalkers? Sure, you can delete the conversation, but if they keep messaging you...well, then PingChat! isn't the app for you (at this point).

So, some requests:

Themes - Minor
Make ‘Link to contact’ a menu option – Minor
On the BlackBerry, when sending a file through PingChat!, show a dialog for ‘Photo, Video and Audio’ like on the Android - Medium
Example taken from Android: ‘Share’ menu option to easily transfer a pic or other media file from the picture/media viewer via PingChat! Note that this is different than sharing a picture from the PingChat! application itself – Medium
Tell us how the chat infrastructure works – some people might want to pay for an enterprise version of this for their workforce, and would likely want to know how secure the chat is - Medium
Give us an option to buy the application to remove the ads - Medium
Grant the ability to create a group from the main window (i.e. like a new contact) where you can quickly assign multiple contacts - Major
On the BlackBerry, add a link from the ‘Send/Share’ menu option while in the media application, akin to sharing via Twitter/Facebook, etc. The current way is not user friendly at all (tweet from @PingChat! states that this will be better in OS 6.0, what about 5.0?) – Major
DESKTOP CHAT client – this would be a HUGE benefit over BBM – Major
Block a contact. If you have no way of confirming a new chat buddy, then certainly, a 'block' function would be very useful - Major
Add a verification prompt for the other user when adding a new contact. This seems rather unsafe, especially if people decide to start harassing or stalking you, coupled with the lack of 'block' feature...you get the idea - Major

Summary:

There are some pretty glaring shortcomings after being held to the very high standard that BlackBerry Messenger has now achieved...namely, the inability to block a contact, no confirmations for chat buddies to be added to other's contact lists, and no way to create a group for later (please prove me wrong on this point - anyone?) makes for some good fodder for Enflick's programmers to work on.

With all that said - don’t get me wrong, I love the thing that PingChat! has going on here. This is a niche that NEEDS to be filled as sending/sharing media via IM is not easy over multiple platforms. If you can make this easy to use for all platforms and make a DESKTOP CLIENT, you will own BlackBerry Messenger.

--- update 10:40pm 8/12/2010 ---

The latest BB build fixes the 'link to contact' oddity I expressed above. Good news!

Install:

Things I love: DropBox

2010-08-02T07:00:00.009-05:00

DropBox - slightly updated 8/2/10
http://www.getdropbox.com/

I revisited this post as I installed it for my new Android phone (and now there is a beta BlackBerry version - slots filled, sorry!).

Now, DropBox isn't like every other online storage service - - or at least not like the Microsoft SkyDrive service which I used previously...DropBox works like this:

You sign up for service, install client utility on computer 'A'
Client utility creates 'My DropBox' folder under 'My Documents'
Client copies/synchronizes contents of My DropBox to your DropBox account
You install client utility on computer 'B'
Client brings all files down from your DropBox online account to your 'My DropBox' folder on this computer (B)
You change a file on Computer B, files get uploaded and then synchronized to Computer A as soon as the client utility connects from that computer

The files and folders inside your DropBox directory get a handy little sync indicator showing if the file has been uploaded or if it is pending upload to the online service. Nice!

Share your DropBox files

The beauty of DropBox is that you have the ability to share an individual file or a whole folder to a user. Simply right-click a file or folder under the 'My DropBox' directory to see the option.

You share a folder with another user (who has a DropBox account and client loaded)
Your contents are dropped to their computer - any changes made by them or you is synchronized to/from all computers that are shared (I'm not sure how it handles conflicts as of yet).

When you share a file, you do so via your Public folder. You drop a file into your public folder, right-click it > DropBox > 'Copy public link' then email your recipient the link and thats it! Your recipient can click the link on their side and download the file.

FYI: When you share a folder, your recipient will get a local copy of your shared folder - so, it goes without saying to try and not share a folder with more contents than what your recipient has in free drive space!

Download your folders as a ZIP file

A cool feature that the web site provides is the ability to download a shared folder as a ZIP file. So, if you don't have DropBox installed on a PC, you could download your folders as needed.

Refer to DropBox, get more space

The only downside to DropBox is that the free account is limited to 2Gb - but there is a cool offer for those who send referrals to DropBox. When you refer other users to sign up for the service and they create an account and download the client, you and your friend automatically get an additional 250Mb of free space!

Referral-related free space is limited to an additional ~~6Gb~~ 8Gb (thanks Rarst!) total, so if you exclusively use a free account, you are limited to ~~8Gb~~ 10Gb! You can sign up for a 50Gb plan for $99 a year, which really isn't bad, so if you have a lot of data to synchronize, this might do the trick for you!

Available across multiple platforms

There's an app for that...OS. I've personally used the iPad (ok, I've opened it on my friend's iPad), Linux, Android and iPhone app in addition to Windows - and they all work without any learning curve.

Gotcha:

If you share a folder with someone and they delete an object, it will delete in your folder as well! Be warned!

Idea: Pyramid scheme!

How about a pyramid scheme type of system for referrals? User 'A' refers 'B', User 'A' gets 250Mb of space, User 'B' refers User 'C' - User A gets 125Mb, B gets 250Mb? Or, if a referral purchases a year's worth of space, the referring member gets a significant increase in space?

I love DropBox and use it daily. It is like an Internet attached USB drive where I can keep all my stuff that I really need synchronized (and backed up if my system crashes!).

Idea #2: Poor man backup for small business or home office

Fun backup tip for small businesses/users (not necessarily small users...!): Have a backup run and create an archive in your Dropbox folder. After it synchronizes to another PC, have that computer move the file to an archived or other backup device.

Do you have any other ideas about how to cleverly use Dropbox (or other online storage solutions)? Post them in the comments section below (I apologize for the dates of some of the comments, I updated this article so some comments are related to the original post from March of 2009).

BlackBerry to Android: I’m making the switch

2010-08-01T00:19:00.004-05:00

(Android costume pic courtesy of www.mydisguises.com)
Well, it’s been a fun 5 years, but I have made the switch from BlackBerry to Android. Since I am on Verizon the iPhone isn’t really a viable option. Also, I’m not fond of how Apple has been handling their PR…eh…"problem" as of late).

We had a good run – over the years since ‘05, I had 5 different ‘Berrys: 7280, 7290, 8700c, 8703e, 9530. Out of those, I think the 8703e was by far the best.

By the time I got my Storm/9530 in 2008, freeware applications were plentiful and memory was not. I loved it at first, don’t get me wrong. But as time went on, the device was plagued with various issues. Then OS 5.0 came out – it acted like it wanted to be a good touchscreen BlackBerry…At first, it ran a lot better, but as apps were installed, the thing ran out of “oomph”.

So, after using it for nearly two years, I’ve decided to kick it to the curb and jump on the Android bandwagon.

When the Droid X was announced, I thought for sure “I gotta get that”, but then got it, and…I hated it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice phone, but it is way too big for my purposes (insert Michael Scott joke here). My Storm could fit into the screen dimensions (almost) of the Droid X. I have big hands but I still found that I had to shift the device around in my palm if I wanted to navigate with my thumb to even perform menial functions like dialing. If you want a phone that is fantastic for multimedia, then the X is the phone to have.

I ended up with the HTC Incredible. It’s the perfect size, and it packs a lot of punch. The phone is slightly taller and not quite as wide as the Storm – depth is about the same after I got my snap-on case installed (picture below courtesy of www.phonearena.com).

The compelling reasons for the switch to Android:

Google Maps Navigation. I’m selling my GPS. Now I don’t have to update my maps for $60 a year (not that I did, but you get the idea). You can integrate satellite and topographical features with navigation. It’s pretty cool to "GPS" that way.
Great marketplace, and free Google Android App Inventor offering. Sounds fun (and a little easier than developing for the BlackBerry)
Fresh interface, thanks to HTC (in this case) for their Sense UI. Not that everyone likes it, but I do.
Slick and powerful handsets not limited by one manufacturer (makes you think of someone else, eh?). C’mon – the Incredible and the Evo are stylish. The Droid X is a monster. The Nexus One (RIP) is/was FAST as all get out.
WiFi tools. I didn’t really see a lot of these for BlackBerry (even for WiFi enabled devices)
Open sourced OS
I just don’t feel…constrained any longer with the Android OS (yes, I know BB OS 6.0 is around the corner, but somehow I have my doubts about how contemporary it will really be).

Things I’ll miss about my BlackBerry:

Very granular notifications. I could set up notifier sounds/vibration settings for just about everything that has a notification feature.
BlackBerry Messenger. The group chat and broadcast feature were awesome.
Easy to use universal inbox. You had notifications showing how many emails you’ve not been made aware of since last time you checked your mail (which is different than how many you’ve not read).
If your phone was BES-connected, you had some very effective ways of controlling your device (policies, security settings, application deployment, etc.) – I only hope that something like this is coming to Android (I can’t see why not).
Single location for all your settings, advanced, basic, whatever – it was easy to tweak just about any setting on the BlackBerry.

In my effort to be as productive as I was on the BlackBerry, I had to find all my apps that I had previously or find an alternative version on the Droid. So here we go:

BlackBerry App	Purpose	Android version?	Comments
YouMail	Visual Voicemail	yes	Great Visual VoiceMail alternative to the VZ Mail app.
Poynt	Directions, yellow/white pages, movie times, gas prices, etc. (GPS)	yes	I used this application when I was trying to get to a destination, and knew I was close…Poynt always helped me hone in on my destination.
Google Maps	Maps,directions, GPS	yes	Android version has a super-slick GPS Navigation feature that works very well.
Opera Mini	Web-Browser	yes	Always could use a second web browser…
Facebook	Social network	yes	Still need to passively stalk people I hardly know…
Twitter	Social network/News	yes	Still need to passively stalk people I don’t know…
Evernote	Note taking and information archival, sync between computers	yes	This application hardly worked on my Storm. Not sure why.
Slacker Radio	Streaming audio of favorite and similar artists.	yes	Actually am using Last.fm right now – this might be my app of choice. Last.fm wasn’t available on BlackBerry
Google Voice	Can use as visual voice mail with transcription, receive SMS messages, etc.	yes	YouMail is my visual voicemail of choice, Google’s transcription is AWFUL. I actually use this solely because of the ability to receive SMS for free (we have it turned off on our phones).
BB Messenger	BlackBerry’s very own IM app. You can only talk to other BlackBerry owners with this application. Features group chat and broadcasting capabilities.	no	Google Talk is the only viable solution so far (need to research this). There is the capability of creating group chats, but no broadcast feature. Trillian might be a good app - - we’ll see.
Viigo	RSS Newsreader and much, much more.	no	FeedSquare is a decent free offering for RSS news. It plugs directly into your Google Feed Reader subscriptions. Would like to see a good one that has a similar layout as Viigo.

With all that said, the Incredible (as does the Droid X, and I’m sure, others) has a FM tuner which makes it an invaluable tool for emergency situations (weather, etc.). You need to remember that you have to have headphones or other speakers hooked up to use it (the cord is the FM antenna).

I’m looking forward to next week when Android 2.2 (Froyo) comes out and grants me additional Exchange support, 720p video and hotspot capability (well, I probably won’t use the latter, but my *gulp* mom and dad might…looks like a support call will be in order…)!

Network Tools: DNS,IP,Email [del.icio.us]

2010-07-26T05:15:26-07:00

All of your MX record, DNS, blacklist and SMTP diagnostics in one integrated tool. Input a domain name or IP Address or Host Name. Links in the results will guide you to other relevent tools and information. And you'll have a chronological history of your results.

Download: Free quick reference guides for Office, Windows, Acrobat and Macromedia Products

2010-07-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.customguide.com/quick_references.htm

I was looking for a quick reference card of some sort to share with a user to show some of the main differences between Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0 (yes, we are that far behind that we are just now getting to 7.0), when I stumbled across CustomGuides.com. They are an on-demand resource that offers a variety of training services to you and your company – however, this wasn’t what drew my attention.

CustomGuides.com also offers a number of freely downloadable quick-reference cards that you can use as you wish in your company or at home. For the most part, you can select from Microsoft Office and Windows guides, but there are a few niche cards for Lotus Notes, Quickbooks (2005, tho’) and Macromedia products. It seems like some of the non-Microsoft items are dated a little bit (with Acrobat Standard ending at version 8 and Firefox at version 2). However, with that said, the resources that are available are still very useful for the products that are covered.

Here’s a list:

Microsoft Quick References

Microsoft Access 2003, 2007
Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007, 2010
Microsoft FrontPage 2003
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8
Microsoft InfoPath 2007
Microsoft Office 2007, 2010
Microsoft OneNote 2007
Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007, 2010
Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, 2007, 2010
Microsoft Project 2003, 2007
Microsoft Publisher 2003, 2007
Microsoft SharePoint 2007
Microsoft Visio 2003, 2007
Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7
Microsoft Word 2003, 2007, 2010

Mac Quick References

Apple Appleworks 6
Mac OS X Tiger Panther
Mac OS 9
Entourage X, 2004, 2008
Excel X, 2004, 2008
PowerPoint X, 2004, 2008
Word X, 2004, 2008

Adobe Quick References

Acrobat 7, 8
Dreamweaver (Win) CS3, 8 MX
Dreamweaver (Mac) CS3, MX
Fireworks (Win) CS3, MX
Fireworks (Mac) CS3, MX
Flash (Win) CS3, 8, MX
Flash (Mac) CS3, MX
Photoshop (Win) CS3, 7, 6
Photoshop (Mac) CS3, 7, 6
Photoshop Elements (Win) 5, 6

Additional Quick References

Computer Training
ECDL
Lotus Notes 8
QuickBooks 2005
Firefox 2

Spiceworks 5.0 is on it’s way!

2010-07-20T21:00:00.000-05:00

Don’t know what it is? Check it out here: Spiceworks. I’ve been using it since 1.1 back in early ‘07, and they have come a LONG way since then. We run our help desk and use it for our systems inventory. Easiest reporting interface.

Check out the email I got today (ok, well, the important bits):

---

For our 19^th release (can you believe it?), we’re putting the finishing touches on new and improved features that will deliver the next frontier of “everything IT” by making it even easier for IT pros to manage their networks, people, and purchasing. And it’s also going to be much faster – up to 30% speedier than previous versions of Spiceworks. Among the top new and improved features in Spiceworks 5.0:

Config Management automatically backs up the configuration of your network devices and as built-in TFTP lets you compare and restore when changes occur
A More Detailed Network Map has broader SNMP device support and collects deeper end-point device (i.e. desktop & networking) details
Microsoft Hyper-V Support means you can manage more virtualized machines in your inventory
People View associates your users with their assets and lets you perform basic support and troubleshooting tasks like password reset & unlock
Purchase Tracking lets you track, calculate & report on costs as well as purchases for your environment and users
For Managed Service Providers - Secure, centralized help desk that integrates to multiple, custom client portals so you can manage your clients' tickets from 1 location

---

So awesome. I can’t wait - - I think I’ll be setting up a beta box at work to check it out…I’m very excited about the configuration backup via TFTP for network devices. Fantastic!

Is RealPlayer making a return?

2010-07-16T12:00:00.003-05:00

http://www.real.com

Years ago, RealPlayer was the defacto player for all streaming media – this was before MP3’s hit it big, and it was most definitely Real Network’s realm. At the time, bandwidth was limited, so compressing the crap outta that stream was the way everyone went. Sure, the video was a little blocky, yes, the audio was tinny, but – it loaded fast on a low-speed connection. Then broadband Internet came. Not only was the Internet fast – now it was accessible. Making your streaming media compressed as much as possible wasn’t quite the focus any more.

Read about RealPlayer's history

Flash has overwhelmed Real Audio/Video as a viable format, and even that is in jeopardy as HTML5 looms on the horizon.

Remember when you would install the player and you would have to deselect (I kid you not) around 15-20 options so you didn’t get all of the notifications or spam emails from them? It was for this (Message Center) reason that I stopped using RealPlayer entirely. It happily sat in the system tray, spewing forth notifications that I cared nothing about, offering nothing that my current media players could offer, other than supporting a dying standard as everyone was using .asf and then Flash-based streaming media.

Some years later (I’m talking around 7 or so), I noticed that RealPlayer was actually still around, and noticed that it is actually useful. Now, I’m not saying it’s useful for all you tech-heads out there, but for the folks at the office or educators who need snippets of Youtube videos, etc. for presentations or other things…it’s a viable tool.

Also, if you are a fan of gathering said videos and playing them from your iPad/iPhone, Blackberry or other device, RealPlayer actually has a converter that is extremely easy to use that will convert flash (or other) based videos to a variety of output formats suited for these devices.

My favorite feature is definitely the download video option that appears above supported video types. Once downloaded, the video will appear in your ‘My Library’ tab, granting you additional actions you can perform against the video. It’s dead easy to do.

Features that makes RealPlayer compelling:

Easy one-click download of Flash-based videos, i.e. Youtube, CNN, more… (no DRM stuff like Netflix or Hulu, though!)
Easy conversion process of recognized video types (including downloaded videos) to portable devices/smartphones or PC/Mac
Quick snipping tool for videos. Only want a short portion of that Youtube video you downloaded? Crop it!

Overall, I still don’t use RealPlayer as my default player of choice, but it does add a certain something to my toolbox of media utilities.

Organize your desktop quickly and easily: Fences v1.01.143

2010-06-25T07:00:00.005-05:00

http://www.stardock.com/products/fences/downloads.asp

When I was a kid, my room was ALWAYS cluttered. There was stuff everywhere, and every time I cleaned it, it would somehow get cluttered again. My mom even took pictures of it (sorry, don’t have them here for you) and still shows it to me on occasion. Thanks mom.

In any case, my Windows desktop typically will get to be the same level of disjointed mess that my room was (and now, my garage and office, *sigh*).

Enter Stardock Software’s (makers of WindowBlinds) ‘Fences’. This little gem can organize your desktop by creating borders/containers around icons of different types. These fences are adjustable and are scrollable if you have a LOT of items in the fenced area.

Upon initial installation, the program will perform an ‘auto-layout’ if you desire, based upon some basic criteria: Are the icons shortcuts of folders, programs, files, system shortcuts, etc.?

This automatic feature can be utilized after you’ve cluttered up your desktop again later, but I’d like to see it as an automatic option (i.e. always auto-layout, even if new icons are dropped to your desktop), or at least a right-click option. With that being said, new icons that are in fact dropped to your desktop (free version) will not go into a fenced area, so you will have to manually organize or dig through the configuration screen and perform another auto-layout.

New fences can be created quickly by simply secondary-clicking (right-click for default mousers) and dragging a rectangled area on the desktop – not unlike when you perform a multi-select to highlight multiple icons. Upon your button release, a menu will appear, and you can click ‘Create fence’. Fences will then take over and ask what name you would like to give your new area. Drag your icons into the new area, move the fence, and you are done!

Additionally, you can adjust the color and transparency of the fences using the configuration tool in addition to taking snapshots of your current layout prior to making changes. There are a number of pre-made layout ‘templates’ you can choose from if you don’t like the default (as shown below).

Dislikes:

Not sure where fences.exe runs – as a service? I have to admit, I couldn’t find it running either in task manager or via services. This is a red flag for a lot of people. and may trigger some anti-rootkit or malware detection apps.
Have to dig in the configuration screens to get back to the auto-layout option (‘Tools’> ‘More tools…’> ‘Perform an auto-layout on my desktop’)
Automatic organization option when new icons are saved or moved to your desktop *

I will quantify this dislike by saying that Stardock does in fact have a pro version, but this feature isn’t apparently in either version - although you can (in the pro version) tell Fences to automatically assign a fence to new icons, but I didn’t see a way to make it perform an auto-layout on new icons.

Likes

Auto-layout at program initialization and manual “re-layout”, this is very handy
Transparency looks great, it is very unobtrusive
Great set of initial fences
Good feature set for free offering (list of features – free vs. pro)

Deploy/control Firefox via GPO and MSI: FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition [del.icio.us]

2010-06-23T09:48:41-07:00

FrontMotion Firefox Community Edition is a customized version of Firefox with the ability to lockdown settings through Active Directory using Administrative Templates. Similar to lockdown settings with mozilla.cfg on one computer, you can now use Administrative Templates to enforce settings across your organization.

Diagnose MySQL in real-time: Spotlight on MySQL

2010-06-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.quest.com/spotlight-on-mysql/

Here’s a quick one for you…if you maintain any MySQL databases (IT admins, you know who you are), then you can drill down on potential issues and performance counters using Quest Software’s awesome Spotlight tool (they also make Spotlight on Windows – a fantastic troubleshooting and monitoring tool).

Aside from looking cool, the tool has some useful features.

Like Spotlight on Windows (actually, the MySQL piece runs in the same parent ‘Spotlight’ instance), you can see a quick overview of important performance counters and statistics, which in turn allow you to drill down to additional information about that particular counter.

You can view (if enabled), the slow, general and error logs in a tabbed display, check out performance graphs of SQL execution rates, row access, sessions, etc. and much more. Also, as before, you can get audible or visual notifications if an item hits a defined threshold (see the program preferences).

This is a must have if you have a need to keep a *ahem* spotlight on your MySQL databases.

One caveat, though – you must have MySQL 5.0.3 or later running the InnoDB storage engine (not ISAM). Also, be sure the user account you use for monitoring has all the proper permissions in MySQL.

Anyone know of any other great MySQL monitoring tools? I actually need one to watch ISAM-based databases - - and I am not a MySQL guy, so any help here is appreciated!

Sorry about all the layout changes...!

2010-06-16T07:00:00.002-05:00

So, as you may (or may not) have noticed, I've change the layout and colors a few times over the past couple of days. I think this darker theme is where I'm going to stick for now; it's sleek, "techy" enough, and is pretty easy on the eyes.

It's kind of a mental thing for me. I feel that in order to build enthusiasm for me and the blog, I have to make some layout/color changes to get an understanding of where I want to go and to make an impression of a 'new beginning' of sorts for myself.

I got a few opinions from some members of the Spiceworks community re: the layout I had. While I was on the fence with a 'wood-like' background, overall consensus wasn't too favorable. That was enough to lean me to the direction of changing up the theme once again.

Hope this will work for ya and I promise I'll stop.

computer-hardware-2.jpg (JPEG Image, 1280x1813 pixels) [del.icio.us]

2010-06-15T19:00:27-07:00

Very thorough PC tech chart with various interface types, memory configurations, CPU socket types, etc. Very handy for any tech.

Remote Control: Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Manager

2010-06-14T23:09:00.003-05:00

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4603c621-6de7-4ccb-9f51-d53dc7e48047&displaylang=en

If you maintain multiple servers (or “server-like” computers), you probably find that you connect to the same computers over and over again via RDP. Sure, you can save individual RDP files and have a list of them in a folder, but there’s something to be said for a tool that will organize your connections for you.

In the past, you may have seen me refer to Royal TS from time to time – which I still say is amazingly useful…but…there’s a new-ish game in town. In the beginning, Royal TS was completely free, but over the past few years, they’ve shifted to a limited freeware model (limiting you to 10 connections for free). While still useful, we were forced to purchase a copy if we wished to use the latest version for our 20-odd servers that we maintain.

Don’t get me wrong, the price for Royal TS is fantastic for what you get, but they may have to up the ante a bit to compete with some features here from their competitors.

Out with the old

Microsoft’s prior tool, ‘Remote Desktop Manager’ was ok, but that’s about all I can say about it. Basically, a resounding “meh” from the industry in terms of features and functionality. It gave you a quick way to quickly list and connect to your remote desktop sessions. The nicest part about it was being that it technically was MMC-based, you could include it in your own “swiss-army knife” of administrative tools (computer manager, active directory users and computers, event log viewers, etc.).
But, MMC can only take you so far.

In with the new

Microsoft’s new remote connection manager, entitled “Remote Desktop Connection Manager” or “RDCman” for short, is a fantastic follow up to a mediocre tool. Yeah, it’s not flashy, but what it lacks in style makes up for in usefulness.
Features:

Create groups of servers, think folders, but with more functionality
Assign a set of credentials at one level, let it pass down to the servers underneath
Assign local resources, display and security settings, gateway addresses, etc. using the same hierarchical fashion.
View a thumbnail preview of all connected servers in realtime
Drag and drop servers to change their order or group membership

Performance seems more than adequate, and I have already placed it as a published application on our Citrix server for ease of management while “on the outside”.
A recommended download for any admin!

Alternates:

Royal TS free (limited to 10 managed connections)
CodePlex Terminals (RDP, VNC, VMRC, SSH and ICA)
Remote Desktop Manager (thanks Shannon!)

Coming back soon…

2010-06-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

I realize it’s been a LONG time, but things had gotten busy busy busy at the workplace, and the blog was definitely not a priority.

Things have straightened out mostly, so I hope to start getting some regular postings again, starting with 1 a week and maybe moving up to 2 again.

Sorry for the long hiatus!

Rob

Sending large files to a friend without a web service? Create a torrent!

2009-10-28T09:00:00.003-05:00

There have been times that I have needed to send large files (like I'm talking around 1Gb or more) to my friends...and well, you know - something over 5Mb is just plain rude to send through email. There are 3rd party services like transferbigfiles.com, yousendit.com, FilesOverMiles.com and others. It's great to have these available, but sometimes I just don't want to use a 3rd party service, but I do want to take advantage of the great features that the Bittorrent protocol gives me.

So, how do I send a copy of a DVD of home movies to my family?

Here's a great article from www.bootstrike.com: Creating a [Private] Torrent using uTorrent (Guide/Tutorial) Version 0.51 - the title says it all.

The summary goes something like this:

Install uTorrent
Identify your IP address and upload port for uTorrent incoming connections (you will need an address that will be yours for as long as you need to upload the file to your friend/family)
Enable the self-tracking feature of uTorrent via the setup options.
Note your tracker URL - - i.e. http://yourip:incomingport/announce
Add a Torrent with your file or folder you wish to share, add your local tracker to the torrent. Enable 'start seeding' and 'private torrent' then click 'Create and save as...'
Send the Torrent file to your friend/family and have them drag it into their Torrent downloader.

To get optimum performance from your BitTorrent client, check out the great guide provided by bootstrike.com here: http://www.bootstrike.com/Articles/BitTorrentGuide/

Easily Install Multiple Software Programs With Ninite [del.icio.us]

2009-10-27T08:00:18-07:00

Installing multiple software applications can be quite a painstaking, time-consuming chore, but a Y Combinator-funded startup has just pushed a tool that aims to make the process very, very easy. And free of charge on top of that.

Meet Ninite, a multi-app installer tool thats as useful as it is simple.

Antivirus Now available: Microsoft Security Essentials

2009-10-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

Microsoft Security Essentials
http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

A new free Antivirus to rival the likes of Avast!, Avira and AVG (huh, a lot of 'A' packages, eh?)...or so we hope. Microsoft has retired it's Live OneCare product in favor of their new Microsoft Security Essentials package. So far, initial reviews have been favorable (See yesterday's post).

Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free* download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. It’s easy to tell if your PC is secure — when you’re green, you’re good. It’s that simple.

Microsoft Security Essentials runs quietly and efficiently in the background so that you are free to use your Windows-based PC the way you want—without interruptions or long computer wait times.

In its first week, it has been downloaded over 1.5 million times...not bad, but it will be interesting to see how it performs in the long-term.

I've installed it my pc in lieu of Avira and Avast!. I usually go for Avira when configuring my personal customer's machines...no registration key to enter once per year, but this might be a good alternative due to its pure simplicity.

Client download is small, I've noticed no system slowdown and it even picked up a virus that Avira missed (but this might be because I did not perform a full scan with Avira before loading MSE).

One word of warning, though: If your Windows version isn't valid (i.e. it fails the WGA test), then it will not install.

Have you tried it? What do you think?

A new free antivirus has hit the virtual shelves!

PC World Reviews Free Antivirus Solutions: Avira comes out on top, but there are some notable surprises...

2009-10-15T07:00:00.002-05:00

In the latest issue of PC World, they review the top free Antivirus solutions available including (but not limited to) Avira, AVG, Avast!, Comodo and others.

Not surprisingly, Avira comes out on top.

Here's the quick summary:

Avira has the best heuristic protection, making it great to prevent unknown threats. Also, scan speed was a plus, while it got negative points for its interface for non-techies. The one thing that always bothered me about Avira was the advertisements for the pro version, but thankfully, there are ways to get around this. This seems like the best for technical folks.

Avast! has a great anti-malware mechanism, but the interface is still the same as it has been for years: clunky, clunky, and oh, did I mention? Clunky - it's not intuitive to a new (or sometimes longtime) user how to scan your computer. I have, however always liked how it allows you to run a boot-time scan in addition to a screen-saver mode. One bad mark from me is that you have to re-register every year. Not that this is an issue for me, but for 99% of my home-users that I support, they let it expire and never re-register. *shakes head*

AVG is the darling of the Internet. It has a pretty friendly interface, and it was fair at blocking new unknown threats. Overall speed wasn't the greatest and its malware detection wasn't up to snuff to Avira. With that said, it did do a good job of preventing false-positives. I can see this as a toss-up with the new (and not fully reviewed) Cloud Antivirus for being the friendliest for non-techies.

Microsoft Security Essentials Beta (which has since been released) is a newcomer to the AV market, replacing the OneCare line. This one actually scored pretty well, cleaning malware with ease, including new unknowns. The biggest ding against it was its scan speed. It is noted in the review that this is beta, so there is a possibility that this could change with the full version.

PCTools Antivirus rated poorly, ok, terribly with regards to spyware protection. In addition, it "left the door wide open for about half of the malware in our tests." It scored dead last in detecting new unknown threats. Also, it didn't schedule a scan by default, nor is it set for automatic updates without manually configuring after installation.

Comodo Internet Security has a special place since it also is a freely available commercial solution (unlike the others), and it includes a firewall product (which was not reviewed). The bad? The default installation changes your default browser search engine, installs a social toolbar, and switches your homepage to hopsurf.com. Yikes. It scored a 74.6% malware detection rate, and produced the most false-positives of any of the programs reviewed, which in my book is unacceptable. Finally, it has a prompt-to-accept action based methodology that prompts you to allow or deny certain actions from being taken. This reminds me (and apparently, the reviewer too) a lot of the old firewall programs of a few years back.

A couple mentions but weren't included in the final scoring was ClamWin ("not ready for primetime" - mostly for its lack of active scanning, and virus detection was mediocre), and the new kid on the block, Panda Cloud Antivirus, which from initial showings seems like a great contender.

Interesting stuff...over the years, I've always been a fan of Avast! but I have to say, I've been using Avira on my home computers as of late. It does do a great job, as long as you keep the advertisements to a minimum. I will be trying Microsoft Security Essentials soon, though - I like to keep track of what's out there!

Not that this reflects the free apps specifically, but the av-test.org quadrant map shows some good information with regards to AV effectiveness, which is indicative of the company's free offerings which (I would guess) use the same scanning engine.

Creative Commons Search [del.icio.us]

2009-10-12T11:45:20-07:00

A Creative Commons-based search search engine of search engines.

Open Source Alternative Solutions - System Utilities [del.icio.us]

2009-10-06T09:40:23-07:00

Great Open Source Network and Inventory monitoring solutions (short list)

4sysops - Top free Windows administration tools [del.icio.us]

2009-09-22T07:19:52-07:00

Top free Windows administration tools

CtxAdmTools - Tools for Citrix, Microsoft and VMware Administrators and Consultants [del.icio.us]

2009-09-21T07:23:20-07:00

A nice assortment of AD/LDAP and Citrix utilities.

Web Filter, Firewall, Spam Blocker and more for your budget network: Untangle

2009-09-17T21:22:00.009-05:00

http://www.untangle.com

Disclaimer: This is not a Windows app specifically, but there is an Untangle build for Windows. In this article, I will be talking about the Linux-based Untangle appliance OS.

You ever get the feeling that the big security companies are conspiring against us? You know what I mean; new viruses and malware are released and you just need to have the shiny new hardware appliance to plug into your rack to keep it all out, right?

If you are a small (or heck, let’s face it, medium too) IT shop, you know it’s hard to budget for those items like a decent spam blocker, new firewall, or a web filter. Rejoice my friends, here’s a free offering that can help you along the path of a secure Internet and keep those nasties at bay.

Untangle is an open-source project based on the Debian Linux Kernel which allows you to easily (and I mean EASILY) plug in new virtual security appliances to your network with hardly a dime spent.

My test setup:

HP dc7100 Ultra-Slim form factor PC with 768Mb RAM, 3.0Ghz Intel HT and 40Gb Hard Disk
1 x 1Gb internal LAN adapter (inside interface)
1 x 100Mb PCI LAN adapter (external interface)
4-port NetGear switch

Download and install

Downloading the ISO was a cinch (as they all are, right?) from Untangle’s website. I burned the image to a disc using CDBurnerXP. I then booted the disc in the 7100 and ran the installation using the install wizard, usually accepting all defaults - - again, this was not a difficult install at all.

Once the installation was completed, I was presented with a screen to configure my network adapters (you’ll need two for a bridged/internal and external interface). You’ll be prompted at this point to decide whether you want to set the Untangle OS up as a DHCP server or not – most likely, you probably won’t, but in my scenario (for public kiosk stations), I did.

The interface

The entire OS interface is essentially a wallpaper and a series of buttons at the bottom of the screen which allow you to do a few basic things like shutdown, restart, change resolution, etc. – however, the button with real power here is the ‘Start Untangle Client’ button.

Once opened, Untangle presents you with an empty (think 2-post) “rack”. To get started with new applications and functionality, you simply browse and install them from the left-hand pane. Once again – the install is as simple as a single click. When you find and click on your app of choice, you then click ‘download’, the appliance will download in the background and install itself into the rack when it is done. Alright, so I guess that’s two clicks…

Open Source and Paid

A word of warning: Untangle has an Open-Source and paid category of appliances. They are all listed together on the left, but you can download all the freely available apps in a package by downloading the ‘Open Source Package’ at the top of the left-hand pane (the picture above doesn’t show it, since I had already downloaded it). Once this is done, all the free appliances will show up with an ‘install’ link instead of ‘more info’. Kind of an easy way to separate the two.

Of course, the Open-Source apps aren’t quite as nice as the paid versions in some cases, but they aren’t anything to sneeze at either.

Hardware layout:

In my setup, the PCs are connected to the NetGear switch, which is plugged into the internal interface on the Untangle box. The external interface is then plugged into the Comcast cable modem.

Kiosks, those dirty little computers…

Like I mentioned before, we have a few kiosks here at work, and their primary focus is to log on to our patient portal, fill out some surveys, and perhaps log into the patient’s webmail to retrieve some important information from our system.

As far as the kiosk OS configuration goes, another of our technicians had installed the Microsoft Windows SteadyState software on them, which essentially “freezes” the configuration, disallowing anyone from making any changes to the system (akin to Deepfreeze) upon system restart. If you run public computers, you should check it out.

These PCs are connected to a shared Comcast Internet connection, which are not connected to our production network in any way, so as such, they are not part of our system-wide policies or filters (or firewall, for that matter).

Now, these computers are pretty safe, since they are running with a SteadyState configuration – however, there is still the problem of potential misuse by the occasional child-of-a-patient-waiting-in-the-lobby scenario.

Web filter

For the purposes of this post, I’ll chat a little about the ‘Web Filter’ appliance, which was the primary reason for our test at work.

Our Untangle box is replacing the D-Link router that was previously configured (basically acting as a DHCP server and rudimentary firewall). We configured Untangle so that we were running a DHCP server and set the internal interface to bridge to the external interface (set for a dynamic address to be assigned by Comcast’s connection).

After that, we installed the Open-Source Web Filter appliance (and a few others!).

Now, let me say that the Open Source Web Filter is pretty no-frills, but it will do exactly what some people want; global blocking of websites. With that said, you can specify certain categories you wish to block or merely log – you know, the usual suspects: gambling, social networking, pornography, hacking, etc. You can also specify sites in particular you wish to allow or block.

In the regular Open-Source version, you can’t block or allow certain people by groups or username, but you can do it by IP address. To me, this isn’t realistically feasible for most shops, as they are typically DHCP, but perhaps blocking by range may work…

On a side note, there is an AD Connector appliance you can install to aid with user policy mapping, but it isn’t free, so alas, I couldn’t really speak to this. Some people may really need this so there is true auditing capability, but then again, many businesses might be OK with just simple blocking (as long as the stuff is being blocked, right?).

Quick test: Network admin vs. pre-adolescent boy or ‘tweaking the settings right away’

As with any web filtering tool, there is some logging available, which is a necessity to review in your early implementation phase so you can tweak the settings accordingly. In my case, I had to block ‘www.freeonlinegames.com’. So, you’ll see that while the built-in filters are good, they aren’t 100%…as such, you may want to review them occasionally to look for anything that slips through the cracks.

When I saw that the freeonlinegames website was being passed, I took a quick trip by the kiosks, and noticed that yep – there was a slouching 10-year old boy happily tapping away on the keyboard; playing online games in our lobby. A quick trip back downstairs, a click on the the ‘block lists’ tab and I had him locked out within a minute.

Heh.

Ok, stupid network admin power trip aside, it was reassuring that we can indeed block sites as necessary. Not only does this protect our overall image (who wants to see kids playing games in the lobby of an Orthopedic clinic? Let’s not even think about the nasty websites they might click on and leave on the screen), but it also protects our patient’s privacy.

In addition to the Web-Filter, we installed the firewall, intrusion protection, protocol control (block instant messaging and more), attack blocker and reports appliances. I’ve not been able to fully explore these, but one interesting appliance of note was the Open VPN (set up site-to-site VPNs with two Untangle boxes?)…

So, if you are a small IT shop finding it hard to leverage your favor with the boss to approve the budget for a firewall, web/spam filter or other niche appliances, Untangle might be your answer. At the very least, you can use it to show the benefit of having such a device on your network and get those dollars approved for either the paid appliances or something bigger. At the very least, you can breathe new life into an older PC that may work just fine, but is otherwise sitting around!

Do you use Untangle? If so, let us know in the commments!

Free IT certification study guides available from Geeks are Sexy

2009-08-29T13:39:00.004-05:00

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2009/08/28/special-offer-free-it-certification-study-guide-bundles-and-practice-exams/

Now, I know I've not posted for awhile (many apologies). The fact I've not posted is due to my overwhelming work load and baby duty as of late. However, I had to pass this along to you all...

Kiltak over at Geeks are Sexy has posted an offering of IT certification study guides including Cisco, Network+, Security+, Windows Sharepoint and more!

Even if you aren't studying for certifications, this might be good information to have on hand. Download them today and add them to your "e-Library".

Via [GAS]

Host your own secure file website for your small business: Accellion Green EX Virtual Appliance

2009-07-30T07:00:00.004-05:00

Accellion Green EX

http://www.accellion.com/news/09-17-2008.html

If you work in a small office and have needs to transfer large (or small) files securely over the Internet, then you might find that this isn’t a problem that is easily solved – especially if the sensitive or private data is involved.

The problem:

John from Finance wants to send out critical financial data through email to an auditor off-site. No problem, you say…”we can zip that up with AES-256 bit encryption and a password.” However, you find out that the file is just a smidge over your accepted attachment threshold of 20Mb.

Solution(s):

You could do one of (but not limited to) the following:

Set up a higher threshold for your local email user to allow the attachment to go through – however, you still might be limited on the other side by acceptable incoming sizes…Not to mention how much they will despise you for hanging their email client while the message is downloaded.

Use a publicly available file transfer service and hope that there aren’t any nefarious hacker types that control that server and do what they will with your data (encrypted or no, I’m not willing to take the chance).

Set up a secure file attachment server on your network that will house your files for you and remote users would log into the server to download – all the while, upload and download statistics are logged for your administrator to keep handy in case of an audit.

The Accellion Green EX Virtual Appliance is a Linux-based server appliance which runs in VMWare (either ESX/i or Server flavors) and requires hardly any configuration whatsoever to get running…basically, you need to log into the Linux console and set the IP, subnet, gateway, local hostname and mail server IP. There are some other options to configure, but this will get you going.

The process works like this:

You or an admin logs into the administration console for Accellion and configure users through the ‘Manage’ option which sends out invitation emails to your users (limited to one domain name). The user logs in, changes their default password, configures some optional settings and then they are ready to go!

Sending an email from Accellion is as simple as clicking on the ‘Send File’ link. The rest of the interface is pretty much the same as any web-based email program. One major downside here, though – there is no facility for saving frequently used addresses, although you can use the file manager to resend attachments again.

Note: When you attach a file to send, it doesn’t actually upload to the Accellion appliance until you click the ‘Send’ button.

When you receive a secure email via Accellion, the content looks like this:

Notice that you have a limited time (this feature is configurable) to download the file.

Your recipient will receive an email like above, and if they have never downloaded a file from you, they will need to create an account on the server and generate a verification code to log in.

Once the attachment is downloaded, you will receive a notice. Nice!

The server console has some additional options that will enable you to tweak it a bit, but there’s nothing that will allow you to brand it with your own logo. Also, you cannot have people on the outside create logons to send files to you internally (they will have to get their own Accellion Green appliance!).

If you do host this for users on the outside, you are going to need an external IP and DNS entry so remote users can easily get to the system. Also, you will want to purchase a secure SSL certificate and apply it to the box – this is easily done through the admin console. Otherwise, users will get an unverified certificate message when attaching (they can still download attachments).

Requirements:

VMWare ESX/i 3.0 or Server 2.0 (both ESXi and Server are freely available)
50-70Gb (expanding volume) on VMWare host
1Gb virtual memory allocated
600Mb space for Accellion Appliance download

Caveats:

Limited to 25 email accounts
No AD integration
No company branding
Outside users cannot utilize Accellion to send you files

Overall, this is a very useful tool for any network administrator that needs to supply a large file securely (and to lessen the burden on your mail server!).

Accellion does provide a more advanced and robust version of it’s appliance (both in hardware and software forms hosted remotely or locally) which allows you to integrate Accellion into your LDAP environment, provide custom branding, remote login account creations for unsolicited file transfers to your domain, and much more.

Announcement: DriverMax free is now severely limited

2009-07-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

Well, it was a good run; DriverMax, my favorite application to download/export drivers has now gone (almost completely) the way of the payware model, and has severely limited their free offering by presenting free users with a counter delay for downloading the driver that you need, ala RapidShare free. Not only that, but DriverMax is now only granting free users to no more than '2 driver downloads per day'.

So, if you are building up a new computer and really need drivers, guess what? It will probably take you a few days to do it with DriverMax.

The download delay I can understand, but the limiting of downloads? Hmmm. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that not everyone can support the freeware model - but there are ways of doing things with advertisers that can keep your freeware offering afloat (case in point: Spiceworks). So a big 'WOW' from me, this was quite a surprise to me when I attempted to update a tablet PC I was working on.

Overall, I have been extremely happy with DriverMax over the years, preferring it to all other driver backup and download utilities , but now it seems that we budget-conscious users must carry on and find a new solution that will bring us our drivers - Me? I'll probably move to RadarSync.

One small ray of light: DriverMax may still be a good solution for backing up and importing your drivers, so it isn't totally useless as a freeware tool...*sigh*

Announcement: Spiceworks 4.0 is out!

2009-06-22T07:00:00.008-05:00

I would have posted this on Friday last week, but I was way too busy at work!

In any case,I had the privilege of attending a Spiceworks 4.0 web conference on Thursday that went over some of the new features of SW 4.0.

This is certainly VERY exciting news! I installed 4.0 on friday, and have been loving the smoother interface, and the responsiveness overall. Nice job guys!

Side note: I also LOVE the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference in the screenies...

Serve Your Users with the IT User Portal! Wish you had an intranet to serve your users’ IT needs? The Spiceworks IT user portal is just that! Customize it with your company’s logo and colors Drag and drop content to format the layout to your liking Include info like contact details, maintenance schedules & newsfeeds! Add knowledge articles and FAQs
Run the Spiceworks Help Desk with Exchange 2007 Ready for some great news? The Spiceworks help desk now supports Exchange 2007! Get tickets and send email using your Microsoft 2007 Exchange server Use Exchange 2007 over protocols like POP or SMTP
Loop In Relevant Parties with cc: on Help Desk Tickets Working a ticket that requires someone else to be in the loop? Now you can cc: others on any Spiceworks ticket. Get approvals without drafting a separate approval request Make sure your boss knows a touchy topic is being addressed
Work Faster with a Streamlined User Interface Want to work more swiftly in Spiceworks? Our cleaner user interface makes it easier to find things! See tabs and detail views up top Do common tasks, like creating a ticket in one-quick-click See more of your tickets without having to scroll down - the new interface is now optimized for higher screen resolutions Follow new cookie crumb trails to help you cruise thru Spiceworks
Watch Videos via the Spiceworks TV Widget Checked out the full line up on Spiceworks TV? The handy Spiceworks TV widget will make sure Spiceworks videos are a part of your regularly scheduled program! Watch Spiceworks tutorials, webinars, IT comedy clips & more Access Spiceworks videos directly from your dashboard
Manage Spiceworks Updates in Your Subscription Center Did you know that you can control all the communications you receive from Spiceworks? The new subscription center allows you to: See and manage all your Spiceworks subscriptions Explore the variety of communications that Spiceworks has to offer including product & company updates, partner offers, survey opportunities & more Opt to receive a daily or weekly email summary of the Spiceworks Community posts that you care about most …and remember, when you opt to receive these emails, you're doing your part to help keep Spiceworks free!
See Your Set Up with Network Map^BETA Want to see a visual layout of all your network elements and how they inter-relate...Spiceworks network map^BETA makes it possible for select layer 3 devices! See how your devices are connected View how much bandwidth each of them is consuming Identify users consuming the bulk of your bandwidth in network “hotspots”
Triage Windows Events with ID Collaboration Wondering what to do about a particular Windows event you came across in your logs? Now Spiceworks has Windows Event logs! Includes a “look up” link that takes you directly to a description of the issue Connects you to all other Spiceworks users who have dealt with that ID before
Tweet from Spiceworks with Twitter Integration Tweet much? Now you can “tweet” from Spiceworks using our new Twitter Integration! Tell the Spiceworks Community what you're doing while you’re doing IT “cc: Twitter” to update your Twitter account directly from Spiceworks Have a Spiceworks ‘swoosh’ appear next to your tweets to show your followers that Spiceworks is where “everything IT” happens!
Extend What You Can Do with New Plugins Want to get even more functionality (& fun!) out of Spiceworks? Grab one of the many plugins that Spiceworks users and partners alike have created to extend the value you get from Spiceworks. Put your user portal in your local language with the 'user portal translator' plugin Get a laugh with the Daily Dilbert comic plugin Compare how many MS licenses you’ve bought vs. how many Spiceworks detects (no worries, Spiceworks keeps your info private!) with the the Microsoft License Organizer plugin Archive 5 email accounts for free, then use the LiveOffice Mail Archive plugin to set up and monitor the status of your email archives
Manage Requests On-the-Go with “Tickets Anywhere” Wish you could work on your tickets while you’re out to lunch? Now you can with "Tickets Anywhere!" Work tickets from a mobile device as though you were sitting at your desk Send an email to your help desk - handy hashmark commands let you create, respond, reassign, classify and close tickets

Look cool? Then get Spiceworks here:

☆ Pixel Delicioso ☆ [del.icio.us]

2009-07-27T05:30:00-07:00

Delicious Pixel ★ Icons, Wallpapers, Docks

Podcasts on your BlackBerry or iPhone: Stitcher

2009-06-16T07:00:00.005-05:00

Stitcher
http://stitcher.com/home.php

I'm a BlackBerry user - since it has become more central in my every day life, I'm finding that I am looking for a wider array of applications that I never had the opportunity to use on my old 8703 (RIP). As such, I'm using it more and more for its multimedia capabilities. I'm a daily user of Slacker radio, I download Revision3 Internet shows to my video player, and my Storm serves as my MP3/Audio player of choice - - only wish I had a bit more space, but we'll get there soon I think...!

I really use my netbook for writing extended emails, documents, Facebook and some quick surfing. Other daily tasks have now been delegated to my Storm.

In any case - one thing that was noticably missing on my BlackBerry was a decent podcast application. Viigo is more than adequate for my RSS needs - but I'm missing my fix of Escape Pod (Sci Fi Short Fiction), Pseudopod (Horror Short Fiction), Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (Science), and my Scott Sigler (Independent Horror Fiction).

Stitcher is an application made for BlackBerry and iPhone which allows me to quickly browse and select podcasts for a quick listen.

Stitcher works like it advertises - find a podcast in the directory, allowing you to 'favorite' them. I can't say too much more about the application, as it just works as advertised. Iphone users, your mileage may vary, but I assume it works similarly with exception to running in the background (thanks to a multi-tasking limitation imposed on the iPhone pre 3.0 OS).

I do wish that Stitcher put an option on the global menu that allowed me to stop or pause (or close) Stitcher from anywhere I might be on my BlackBerry (say someone calls on the deskphone, and I need to mute it quickly).

Beside Stitcher and the forthcoming update to Viigo (podcast feature is still in alpha stages), what other free apps are there for the BlackBerry?

Likes:

You can listen to your podcast while doing other things (at least on the BlackBerry, can't vouch for iPhone) - major
Easy interface, no mess - major
Good quality audio - major

Dislikes:

Can't see a way of playing an older podcast from the same source - major
Podcast choices are limited to those that sign up with the Stitcher service as a partner - major
Occasional pauses in audio - medium
Can't pause or stop audio unless in Stitcher app - medium
Would like to see video streaming as well - minor

Icon Archive - 24,100+ free icons, buddy icons, xp icons, vista icons, desktop icons, aim icons [del.icio.us]

2009-06-12T16:03:20-07:00

The Icon Archive is a categorized collection of high quality desktop & web icon sets. We currently host over 24,100 icons in 856 sets from 204 icon authors. Icons can be used for Windows (XP, Vista, etc.), Macintosh (OSX, OS) and Linux (as PNG Files). Copyright of icons belong to original authors. Public usage license can be found on each icon set page.

Easy as pie virtual drive mounting via ISO: Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.3.2

2009-06-11T07:00:00.006-05:00

Virtual CloneDrive 5.4.3.2
http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html

When you start moving into the world of virtualization or disc archiving, you come upon a day when all of the sudden, it just doesn't make sense to have all those discs lying around. Also, if you are working on a virtual server/workstation, and need to mount some ISO files within Windows, you need something ridiculously easy.

Enter SlySoft (used to be 'Elaborate Bytes '- but development is being continued by SlySoft) 'Virtual CloneDrive'. This little program makes attaching to ISO files easy as a double-click. You can attach up to as many drive letters as you have remaining (after taking into account attached network and physical disks)...

What makes Virtual CloneDrive stand out is the pure ease of attaching to an ISO image. The first one is simplest; just double-click and go.

The next ISO you double-click switches out the first mounted image for the new one - but leaves the old ISO path in the recent history for Virtual CloneDrive, making it easy to pick your drive letter, then mount an ISO image from the listing.

The summary of Virtual CloneDrive says "Image files generated with CloneDVD or CloneCD can be mounted onto a virtual drive..." - but you can mount any supported image type made by any disc image creation program.

Features

Supports all common image formats such as ISO, BIN, CCD (also DVD, IMG and UDF - Rob)
Supports up to 8 virtual drives at the same time
Easy to use - just double-click an image file to mount as a drive
Virtual CloneDrive is freeware, you may use it at no cost.

System Requirements

An IBM-compatible personal computer with a minimum 500 MHz Pentium-class microprocessor (1 GHz recommended) and 128 MB RAM (256 MB recommended)
Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP64/VISTA/VISTA64
If you use Windows 2000 or Windows XP you must be an administrator to install Virtual CloneDrive

(I love that they say "IBM-compatible" - that's old school!)

What I really liked was the fact you did not have to restart your computer after installing the software, much like you do with another of my favorites: Alcohol 52% (or Deamon Tools).

Likes

Easy to use, this couldn't be any simpler
No rebooting required
Runs on 64-bit Operating Systems
Quick

Dislikes

Would like to see the software automatically mount subsequent ISO files that were double-clicked, rather than mount them as the first drive and list the others as 'ready to mount'
Would like to see it have the ability to mount more types of image files, similar to Alcohol 52%.

Easy! No spills and no mess!

Alternatives:

Need to make an ISO?

VisioCafe - Technical Visio Stencils [del.icio.us]

2009-06-04T07:43:35-07:00

Tons of freely available visio stencils for system architects, network admins, or really geeky folks.

Prey = Software to keep track of your stolen laptop [del.icio.us]

2009-06-01T11:13:20-07:00

Prey helps you find your stolen laptop by sending timed reports to your email with a bunch of information of its whereabouts. This includes the general status of the computer, a list of running programs and active connections, fully-detailed network and wifi information, a screenshot of the running desktop and — in case your laptop has an integrated webcam — a picture of the thief.

Article: Panda Cloud Antivirus installed. Ok Cloud, fix me up.

2009-06-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago, Lifehacker published a post regarding a new free AV program from Panda – called ‘Panda Cloud Antivirus’. Currently in beta, this new AV is on the fast track to revolutionizing the way we think of AV programs as intrusive, bloated, sometimes complex apps that slow down our computer and break seemingly benign programs.

This new idea of theirs seems like a cool concept; Rather than having to keep downloading virus and malware definitions, Skynet-er, I mean the ‘Cloud’ determines what is and isn’t dangerous to your computer, and does all of this on the fly (and in the background).

*Read the Panda Cloud Antivirus blog post on the mentality behind the Cloud scanning technology.

A snippet:

One of the main pillars of Panda Cloud Antivirus is its real-time use of Panda Collective Intelligence, which is an online from-the-cloud system that automates the entire malware protection cycle; collecting new samples, analyzing, categorizing, creating detection and disinfection routines and delivering the protection to each node.

Thanks to this approach users do not need to worry about updating signature files anymore. In fact, detection of millions and millions of different malware variants is no longer limited by the size of a signature database, as Collective Intelligence can hold literally unlimited number of detections without consuming any memory on the users’ PC.

All your base are belong to us…in the Cloud.

Very cool. Great idea – and I hope it works out for them. The idea that malicious files will be analyzed and categorized on the fly by something greater than my PC that isn’t necessarily human is intriguing…let’s see where it takes us a year from now.

What about your preference for Avast?

If you’ve been paying attention to my posts whenever I speak of AV, you’ll note that I’ve always been a fan of Avast! antivirus. But, that doesn’t mean that I’m an AV elitist; my netbook has Avira installed and at work I have AVG corporate installed. Also, I typically give AVG free to my home clients as they don’t know what to do when Avast! prompts for a renewal serial number. So, I hope you can tell that I have an open mind.

Panda CAV: First look – where’s the beef?

One thing I noticed right away is that there is an obvious lack of buttons and menus when you examine the AV console. I think this is a good thing…right? What about all the doohickies and whatsits for us technical types? Where’s all of our buttons? Panda CAV is intended to be as simple as possible, so I guess for you button mashers, there’s an unfinished game of Diablo calling for you.

My minor gripe just as well might be the true end-user appeal of the Panda Cloud AV program. I mean, think of it – it’s a perfect fit with parents and other tech-deficient relatives who don’t know what to do when they are prompted with a pop-up box asking if they would like to block some program that they did not install nor click on. So, if the computer is being cleaned and protected without user interruption, then I say point goes to Panda.

What about the beta, any real gripes?

Since I’ve not run Panda CAV long enough to talk about how well it works, I guess I have just a couple minor cosmetic issues upon first glance:

When selecting a full system scan, ‘Scan all my computer’ is a little unwieldy as far as a phrase goes…kinda like ‘all your base are belong to us’, right? Maybe Panda should re-word that to ‘Scan all of my computer’, or ‘Scan entire computer’, etc. Petty, I know. However, think of it this way; The hallmark of malware posing as an actual AV program is bad grammar or english.

Note the upper right-hand corner. ‘Correct’ is an odd word to pick that really means ‘Clean’ or ‘Uninfected’ or ‘No problems detected’.

The interface could be spruced up a little bit…I dunno, it still kinda reminds me of one of those fake AV programs (Internet Antivirus 2009 and it’s variants).

One cool feature of the Panda CAV (yep, I’m tired of typing Cloud Antivirus) is the ability to hit up the ‘Recycle Bin’ and recover a program that Panda may have misidentified. You can get to it by clicking the lower right-hand corner of the console.

Another cool feature? Your system doesn’t trudge along like a drunk tortoise stuck in a tar pit while an AV scan is running.

So – while this isn’t really a review of the program itself and how it performs, it is more of a ‘first-installed impressions’ type of blog post. I will most likely be installing this into a virtual PC session and see how I fare while surfing with the goal of getting infected…stay tuned.

Check out the highly effective video (if you can get past the nasal voice of the narrator!):

New theme and functionality for CFJ

2009-05-29T00:44:00.004-05:00

After a long time using the old 3-column theme (can't remember where I got that from now...), I've decided to mix things up a bit and install a new theme that is a little cleaner and overall, simpler to use.

I've added a few functions to the site:

the 'CFJ Navigator', which should give readers the ability to find out which posts are hot, editor's picks, browse the comments, etc.
star rating system - readers can now rate articles based on preferences
new comment system - this should help block against spam while making commentary a bit easier overall, especially for anonymous readers
Returning to the Google search bar. Seems to be quicker than the Lijit search, and I wanted to keep it as consistent as possible with regards to appearance and functionality

I'm hoping that overall, the site is easier to use, and just more effective for you to find the information that you want.

I do have some minor tweaks to take care of (bullet listings - fixed, quotes, etc.), but otherwise, it is pretty much in its final form.

Let me know what you think!

Rob (maximillian_x)

Limited offer: Techsmith SnagIt 7.2.5 available for free (again!)

2009-05-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

Remember way back in '07 when Techsmith was giving away its 7.2.5 version of SnagIt for free?

Well, it seems that TechSmith is once again offering the 7.2.5 version at no charge, thanks to 'Covermount' (not sure what that is, exactly). Even though 9.1 is the most current release, this version is perfectly capable. Download it and try it out - you won't be disappointed. Get your free serial number here.

Also, if you upgrade to 9.1 immediately, you can get the it for 50% off the usual purchase price (standard price is $49.95).

Interestingly enough - the page says that 8 is the latest release, but the confirmation email states that indeed, 9.1 is the most current version.

Download SnagIt 7.2.5 here

Autodesk Project Dragonfly [del.icio.us]

2009-05-27T06:50:57-07:00

Free 3d rendering tool to help you design layouts to your house, office, etc. Comes with a vast array of 3d library objects.