Random Tech Stuff | Brian Alaway Consulting

Folder Size for XP

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:50:04 +0000

A nice little free utility to list and/or sort your computers folders.

Top five rogue security applications

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:39:14 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/140/top-five-rogue-security-applications/ from July 2008 – June 2009, in order of prevalence were: 1) SpywareGuard 2008 2) AntiVirus 2008 3) AntiVirus 2009 4) SpywareSecure 5) XP AntiVirus. Check out the full report …. Symantec Report on Rogue Security Software

Malvertisements – don’t get sucker punched

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:01:20 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/133/malvertisements/ malvertisements = malicious advertisements online advertisements that dupe unsuspecting users into downloading malicious software on their computers Before clicking you may want to check out the “advertiser” using this free Google tool: http://www.anti-malvertising.com/ It’s relatively new and it’s database is limited but at least it’s a start.

Impressive SEO BAD NEWS for the good guys!

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:29:54 +0000

Seems the scammers/slammers/spammers and attackers are getting quite good at SEO.

Password Safe for safely storing all your passwords

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:47:04 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/127/password-safe-safely-storing-passwords/ Safely store, organize and manage all your passwords with one simple little utility – Password Safe. Instead of remembering dozens of passwords, remember just one. Just a few of the items that you can store for a single password are Title, Username, Password, URL and Notes. You can organize them into Groups, create your [...]

Firefox and Google’s new tab page

admin — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:10:00 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/125/firefox-googles-tab-page/ Like many I tend to keep several tabs open in Firefox and am constantly opening new tabs for a quick task then closing the tab page. I also use the Google toolbar. So it was with much frustration that I started waiting for a new tab page to open with recent history as opposed [...]

How to import a calendar file into your Outlook custom folder

admin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:59:16 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/119/import-calendar-file-outlook-custom-folder/ Prerequisites: The following applies to Outlook 2003 although this method will work for Outlook 2007 as well. This method also assumes that you have Microsoft Excel installed and you have created a custom calendar in Outlook. Problem: Suppose you’ve gone to your favorite teams website and downloaded the season schedule as a vcs file. And let’s assume [...]

Want to grab a domain name that’s expired…..good luck

admin — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:31:26 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/109/want-to-grab-a-domain-name-thats-expired-good-luck/ When a domain name expires, assuming the current owner is either unaware or does not want the name any longer, it typically takes 75 days before that name will become available for re-registering. If the name is one which would have little value to anyone else then in fact you may be able to [...]

How to verify your domain name registration details….

admin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 14:26:51 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/97/how-to-verify-your-domain-name-registration-details/ You can always pick up the phone and call your domain name registrar to obtain details on your account. You may be required to supply some identifying info for security purposes. Alternatively, you can log on to a service such as who.is. Using who.is simply type in the name of your domain – e.g. [...]

Do you really own your domain name or even your web site?

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:33:32 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/94/do-you-really-own-your-domain-name-or-even-your-web-site/ You contacted your web guy/gal, instructed him/her as to what domain name you wanted for your company’s website and once the site was up and running you assumed all was well. But your web guy/gal had a hard time staying on top of things. Response was sometimes, well , non existent. Changes and updates [...]

SyncToy for a quick sync and go

admin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:37:00 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/89/synctoy-for-a-quick-sync-and-go/ I like to carry a flash drive with me in the field that contains useful utilities, docs, etc. Because I often update my portable utils directory on my computer, I use Microsoft’s free SyncToy to quickly copy/sync my portable utils directory to my flash drive. There are a number of similar utilities – SyncBac, [...]

Move the Favorites folder

admin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:43:00 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/86/move-the-favorites-folder/ I like to periodically backup the My Documents folder to a flash drive. So why not include my Favorites at the same time. You can edit the registry to change this location but we’ll choose a safer way and just right click Favorites, drag it to the My Documents folder, let off and from [...]

Harness the Power of Outlook Search Folders

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/83/harness-the-power-of-outlook-search-folders/ One of the aspects of Outlook that I like is the ability to customize it’s interface to suit my own tastes. And one way I do that is by using Search Folders extensively. You may or may not have noticed that Outlook creates a few search folders by default: For Follow up Large Mail Unread Mail Here’s my [...]

Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders Backup tool

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:18:18 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/80/microsoft-outlook-personal-folders-backup-tool/ When using Microsoft Outlook without an Exchange server your data is stored in a local file on your computer. This file is called a personal folders file and the filename has the extension pst. Unfortunately pst files are subject to corruption so it’s always a good policy to have a backup, just in case. [...]

Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer

admin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:52:26 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/71/microsoft-windows-small-business-server-2003-best-practices-analyzer/ Lay the proper foundation for your new SBS 2003 server or review your existing SBS 2003 server by using the Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer. The Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer examines a server that is running Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) and presents a list [...]

Microsoft Exchange Analyzers

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:35:30 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/68/microsoft-exchange-analyzers/ Use the Microsoft Exchange Best Practices Analyzer to scan your Exchange server and make sure it complies with Microsoft best practices. Start with the proper foundation and build a solid Exchange network. Use the Microsoft Exchange Troubleshooting Assistant to help determine the cause of performance, mail flow and database mounting issues on computers running Microsoft [...]

Is your mail server on a blacklist?

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:45:00 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/65/is-your-mail-server-on-a-blacklist/ Trouble sending or receiving your email? Check here to find out if your mail server has been blacklisted. You’ll need to know your mail server’s IP address which you can get here. Technorati Tags: mail server blacklist

Calyptix Access Enforcer

admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:23:36 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/58/calyptix-access-enforcer/ Installed the AE500 at a client location this spring and so far some pretty impressive stats: Network Alerts Attacks – 32,721 Email Messages Suspicious / Viral Spam – 290 Spam-Rejected – 302226 Spam – Quarantined – 41503 Legitimate – 20260 Total – 364316 Web Traffic Web pages (blocked / total) 45818/1,355,090 This is an international company with a lot of [...]

Green up(s) your home office

admin — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:52:39 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/51/greenup-your-home-office/ Start by putting your PC to sleep using Wizmo. Although I have my computer set to hibernate when it’s been idle for 20 minutes, if I know I’m leaving or away from the computer, with one click I can send my PC to bed: Wizmo hibernate In addition to my computer, I have a number [...]

Wizmo – tiny but oh so useful Windows utility

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:39:59 +0000

http://bacgroupinc.com/blog/47/wizmo-tiny-but-oh-so-useful-windows-utility/ Used this tiny utility since forever and can’t imagine being without. Wizmo – created by Steve Gibson of Gibson Research Corporation has several very handy uses. But the two I use the most are to shutdown or reboot my Windows box with a single click. You can get this freeware here: http://www.grc.com/wizmo/wizmo.htm