There are alternatives available for free, one of them is Google Chrome. I believe it’s time to give this alternative a try & the add-on is one of the factor to consider. I have selected some of them which I believe is useful (not in any ranking order). Download Google Chrome & its extensions (add-ons), give it a try. If you are Firefox fan like me, perhaps to consider use Chrome as your alternative browser.

1 SmoothScroll

Scrolls the websites smoothly when scrolling with the mouse wheel or the keyboard. The option page is clean, simple & yet give you lots of adjustment. Although this is a simple extension, it perfectly enhanced your browsing experience.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/cccpiddacjljmfbbgeimpelpndgpoknn ]

2 Tab Menu

Sometime, if we open up too many tabs it may overflowing the bar. The Tab Menu provides a vertical browser action menu in which you can select, close, and even rearrange your tabs. You can also search for a tab by typing in the text box.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/galfofdpepkcahkfobimileafiobdplb ]

3 Mouse Stroke

You can use this extension to accelerate the mouse strokes operations. Support super drag & go, rocker gestures and wheel gestures in one extension. You can go back to the previous page by move you mouse left & come back by move you mouse right. Great extension for those who prefer to use mouse rather that the keyboard shotcuts.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/aeaoofnhgocdbnbeljkmbjdmhbcokfdb ]

4 Downloads

The Downloads extension allows user to access the Downloads window directly from the toolbar. If you make a lot of downloads, then you may be interested to give this extension a try.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/jfchnphgogjhineanplmfkofljiagjfb ]

5 *Split Screen*

Watch a video, while you surfing other webpage. Opens a new tab & enetr two URLs, two website will be displayeds on one page. Worth to give this extension a try, take the advantages of having dual view in your browser.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ilpdiniechkbmflcmlffclappfmhdndn ]

6 Google Mail Checker

This extension displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. You can also click the button to open your inbox. Use this extension if you are too busy to login to your gmail account to check your mail.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mihcahmgecmbnbcchbopgniflfhgnkff ]

7 Remember The Milk for Gmail

Remember The Milk for Gmail extension is a task management goodness. It allows you to manage your tasks in Gmail, such as complete, postpone & task editing.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hphjpfmagbhbdfhdndglcccmhdjhjjce ]

8 Webpage Screenshot

With this extension you can captures the whole webpage & save it. To adjust the position of the page, Simply resize the window before capturing.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ckibcdccnfeookdmbahgiakhnjcddpki ]

9 Aviary Screen Capture

If you own a blog then you definatly need a screen capture tool to generate screenshots of a webpage. Use Aviary Screen Capture to take a screenshot of any webpage & edit it directly in your browser with Aviary.com applications. It allows user to capture the screen instantly, capture of the visible portion of all web pages and images, crop & resize the capture, save it to desktop, host online, edit in other applications, etc.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ncgcgghbabbopfcpgcjpfffdgnbadegf ]

10 Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer (by Google)

Automatically previews pdfs, powerpoint presentations, and other documents in Google Docs Viewer.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhgmkedmbmedengocbn ]

11 PageRank

This extension display PageRank right beside the address bar & I quite like it. It it simply & straight forward. If you just want to know the PageRank info of a website & don’t prefer Google Toolbar to be installed in the browser, then this extension is definitely the right choice. Btw, as illustrated in the image, it is good to know that Google has a PageRank of 10 (wow) & techmilieu.com only has a PageRank of 3 :(

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pneoplpmnpjoioldpodoljacigkahohc ]

12 Dictionary Lookup

Look up any word from Wiktionary with a simple click and without leaving the page. This extension that allows you to quickly look up definitions of words and phrases in a clean inline box.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ipdjaafajlfiopcppipdinmcjbcpofhd ]

13 Google Translate

Click the translate button whenever you want to translate the page you’re visiting. Ok, you can achieve the same result by visiting to Google, click translate & paste the url to the translation textbox. With this extension you can produce the result with one click.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/aapbdbdomjkkjkaonfhkkikfgjllcleb ]

14 Google Dictionary

View definitions easily as you browse the web. Simply double-click any word in the contents to view its definition in a small pop-up bubble. You may also view the complete definition of any word or phrase using the address bar dictionary.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mgijmajocgfcbeboacabfgobmjgjcoja# ]

15 RSS Subscription Extension (by Google)

Similar to Firefox Live Bookmarks, this extension detects RSS feeds on current page & displays an RSS icon right beside the address bar. It allows you to click on it to preview the feed content and subscribe. The extension comes has 4 feed readers by default, that’s Google Reader, iGoogle, Bloglines & My Yahoo. You can of course add any web-based feed reader to the list.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nlbjncdgjeocebhnmkbbbdekmmmcbfjd ]

16 Feedly

A magazine-like startpage. A fast and stylish way to read and share the content of your favorite sites and services. Provides seamless integration with Google Reader, Twitter, Delicious, YouTube and Amazon.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ndhinffkekpekljifjkkkkkhopnjodja ]

17 Forecastfox Weather

With Forecastfox Weather you can View current conditions, 7-day forecast, maps and severe weather alerts in an easily readable format. It delivers international weather from AccuWeather.com. Features include, severe weather alerts, radar, current conditions, 7-day forecast, details for each day, recent locations quick switch, links to hourly forecasts & more.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ihffmkcfkejomlfnilnmkokcpgclhfeg ]

18 Page Monitor

Stays in the background and monitors web pages for changes without visiting the page itself. This extension displays a notification when the page has changes. You can monito any number of pages, change the check interval, etc.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pemhgklkefakciniebenbfclihhmmfcd ]

19 NPR: News, Music and Books

Listen to NPR stories as you browse the web, check the latest headlines and set up custom feeds based on a keyword.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hcamfjcklnmlbokoackecfjidfjafgog ]

20 FastestChrome

Browse faster! FastestChrome auto-load next pages, search faster, and more. FastestFox is a popular Firefox extensions, now it is available for Chrome.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mmffncokckfccddfenhkhnllmlobdahm ]

21 Xmarks SearchTabs

SearchTabs enhances your Google search with tabs containing the top web sites related to your search, grouped by topic. It adds useful information related to the links returned by Google, showing what a site is about and how it ranks across on Xmarks.com.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/bcopailfldjiaclacokieaaalokmobdd ]

22 Search Preview

SearchPreview let you see a preview image of every search result before you click it. The extension adds preview images (thumbnails) to your Google search results.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hcjdanpjacpeeppdjkppebobilhaglfo ]

23 Mini Google Maps

If you love handy tools, then you may want to try up Mini Google Maps. It comes in handy when you’re looking for browsing on a map but want to find it quickly and get the job done. By clicking on the extension single toolbar button, the map will be opened instantly on top of a popup box.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/oeahddlmhbcabnnojadgimmiaaplfpfo ]

24 Proxy Switchy!

For those who are using proxy, why not give Proxy Switchy a try. Proxy Switchy! is an advanced proxy manager for Google Chrome, it allows users to manage and switch between multiple proxy profiles quickly and easily.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/caehdcpeofiiigpdhbabniblemipncjj ]

25 WOT

WOT, Web of Trust, warns you about risky websites that try to scam visitors, deliver malware or send spam. You can use this plugin as as your front-line layer of protection when browsing or searching in unfamiliar website. It uses the information from collected from multiple trusted sources, like phishing and spam blacklists, and the up-to-date ratings provided by WOT users.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/bhmmomiinigofkjcapegjjndpbikblnp ]

26 Digg for Chrome

Digg for Chrome is the official Digg extension, See what is being discovered and shared on Digg. It display Digg count for any URL to the right of the browser’s address bar. You can also share any URL, including Twitter, Facebook, and email. The is an additional info which I believe you can’t find in digg website itself, that’s the number of page view of a page.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nphjpicjdnignjenbhkimpjjkpbidohb ]

27 Facebook for Google Chrome

Although this is an unofficial Facebook extension, it lets you check your Facebook news feed, wall, inbox and notifications. The extension now supports English, Spanish and French.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/lkdedmbpkaiahjjibfdmpoefffnbdkli ]

28 Chromed Bird

Chromed Bird is a Twitter extension that allows you to follow your timelines and interact with your Twitter account.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/encaiiljifbdbjlphpgpiimidegddhic ]

29 Cooliris

Cooliris is cool! The 3D Wall that speeds up search on Google Images, YouTube, Flickr, and more. Enjoy the richest way to view photos from Facebook, Picasa, and even your own computer. On the infinite 3D Wall, you can effortlessly scroll though thousands of images and videos in seconds without having to click from page to page.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/noocneohefmdhonidldnlhaainpiomkp ]

30 Flickr Puzzle

Jigsaw Puzzle ! Yes it is! The selected images are loaded from Flickr & the image set will be updated as you refresh or scroll through the images. Understand that it is the amazing new HTML5 canvas element that make this extension possible.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/eofclhgoplclkhhfhhheoknoodjlpjhb ]

31 Chrome TV

Chrome TV, watch online TV direct from your browser. I’m not sure how useful it is, with more than 3,000 TV channels from all over the world. Give it a try.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/lambangeielkjcnmioccboaphdfcffib ]

32 Chrome Sounds

Enjoy a more magical and immersive experience when browsing the web using the power of sound.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kkfibincabhfblmkmhcabnlghmncdcaf ]

33 RemindMe

Setup reminders while browsing and sync them between computers. Remind yourself of online stuff that you want to do later, tasks that need to be done at a specific time.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/dkbeopafgiefnlffkhmkhldcojehlgam ]

34 Favorite Doodle

With this extension you can replace the logo on the Google homepage and search results page with your personal favorite Google Doodle. You would’t miss the special occasions doodles as it will still show the new doodles on special occasions.

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nedjejdfkkjgebciefdfofjhmeogiaga ]

35 1-ClickWeather for Chrome

1-ClickWeather allows users to quickly view the current weather conditions, maps, and the weather outlook for the next 24 hours directly in the Chrome browser with a single click. Available in one of 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, German, or Portuguese).

[ Link: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/fgmbighdoomjmebfbgplfmhcdbomjkoa ]

Here are the two issues I want to highlight to you:

1. The Navigation Pane focus goes away when directory is expended.
2. The Navigation Pane is overwhelmed with unwanted items such as Libraries, Favorite & Homegroup.

The Navigation Pane Focus Goes Away When Directory Is Expended

If you are not clear what this issue is about, perhaps you should try this. In the Navigation Pane of the Windows Explorer, try to expend as much folders as you can. You will come to a point where the focus will goes away to the top of the pane, especially when there are a lot of expended folders in the Navigation Pane.

Maybe, this is only a small issue; nevertheless it greatly reduces the efficiency while we are in the middle of exploring our files & folders. For illustrations, check out the following video.

The Navigation Pane Is Overwhelmed With Unwanted Items

I was surprised when I saw the unnecessary items (Favorite, Libraries & Homegroup) appear in the Navigation Pane & can’t be removed directly. I believe more than 99% of the Windows users don’t need the Favorite & Libraries folder. I personally prefer these folders not to stay inside the pane; it simply takes up the space.

The Workarounds

I’m not sure whether the “focus” behavior is functioning as intended or by mistake. In actual fact, it is related to the extra items in the Navigation Pane as mentioned above.

That means to say hiding (not deleting) the Favorite, Libraries & Homegroup in the Navigation Pane, with the “Show all folders” uncheck in the Folders Option (as illustrated below), will makes the Navigation Pane focus stay at it is & it will behaves more like the classic Windows XP, simple as that.

I’m not going to show you how to hide those items here, there are excellence posts around for you to go through. It involves editing the windows registry. If you are serious about this issues, check out Customize the Navigation Pane in Windows 7 Explorer and How to Remove and Hide “Libraries” Group from Navigation Pane of Windows 7 Explorer. Good luck!

Setting up WordPress on your local computer is straight forward. All you need is the WordPress itself & XAMPP as a host server. In this article, I show you how to install WordPress on your local computer with XAMPP.

1 Download & Install XAMPP Lite

First, you need to download & install XAMPP Lite. (I recommend the lite version because there are some applications that bundled with the full version which you are hardly need them for normal work. XAMPP Lite is most importantly contains Apache, MySQL & PHP, those three are the one we need.)

Be sure to download the self-extracting archive, it is the easiest way to install XAMPP. Double click the EXE file, choose a directory and click “Install”.

Once the installation is completed, double click the “XAMPP Control Panel” icon to launch XAMPP Control Panel. Next, click “Apache” & “MySql” start buttons to get both applications running.

Now, you need to check whether your Apache local server is running properly. Go to your browser, in the address bar type http://localhost & press enter. If the XAMPP is installed correctly, you will see the default “splash” page as illustrated bellow. Select a language to enter the welcome page.

2 Create The Database For WordPress

Your Apache server & MySql database are now running. Now we need to create a database for your WordPress. Under the Tools menu on the welcome page, click “phpMyAdmin”. Enter “MyWordpress” into the “Create New Database” textbox, make sure “utf8_unicode_ci” is selected & press “Create”.

3 Download & Install WordPress

That’s all for XMAPP. Now, download the latest version of WordPress http://wordpress.org/ (zip file). Extract the WordPress to a new folder (name it as MyWordpress) under the “htdocs” folder where “XMAPP” is installed (default should be at C:\xampplite\htdocs\MyWordpress).

Under the folder, rename the file wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php. Open & edit the file in Notepad, locate & change the following lines, make sure it is exactly the same as illustrated (database name is ‘MyWordpress’, database username is ‘root’, password is ” & hostname is ‘localhost’).

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'MyWordpress');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'root');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', '');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

Again, go to your browser, in the address bar type http://localhost/wordpress/ & press enter. Key in a Blog Title, Your E-mail & press “Install WordPress”.

That’s it, your WordPress is now in your locally on your computer & ready to be used . Have fun !

Clear & White Background

Smoke Art 01 [ Photo by Krister462 / CC BY-SA 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 02 [ Photo by claude.attard.bezzina / CC BY-ND 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 03 [ Photo by geishaboy500 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 04 [ Photo by geishaboy500 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 05 [ Photo by Krister462 / CC BY-SA 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 06 [ Photo by LeNs'PHoTOs / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 07 [ Photo by Rebecca Miller / CC BY-ND 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 08 [ Photo by árticotropical / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 09 [ Photo by árticotropical / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 10 [ Photo by árticotropical / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 11 [ Photo by árticotropical / CC BY 2.0 ]

Dark & Black Background

Smoke Art 12 [ Photo by deanfotos66 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 13 [ Photo by deanfotos66 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 14 [ Photo by deanfotos66 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 15 [ Photo by deanfotos66 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 16 [ Photo by deanfotos66 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 17 [ Photo by geishaboy500 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 18 [ Photo by geishaboy500 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 19 [ Photo by geishaboy500 / CC BY 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 20 [ Photo by Quang'y / CC BY-SA 2.0 ]

Smoke Art 21 [ Photo by Krister462 / CC BY-SA 2.0 ]

Pingtest.net gives each test result a grade to help you interpret the overall quality. It measures specifically on your connection’s Packet Loss, Ping & Jitter quality. It sounds technical at first; nevertheless Pingtest.net makes the test process easy for you. All you need to do is to click a button & the test result is shown in minutes.

Screen shot from pingtest.net

So, what do the technical terms mean?

Packet Loss is a measurement the loss of data during the transmitting & receiving of “packets” data. It can mean download & upload speeds or quality of data streaming. 0% means your connection is perfect, if anything greater than that should cause concern.

Ping on the other hand measures how long it takes for a “packet” of data to transmit from your computer to a server on the Internet and goes back. Similar to Packet Loss, the lower is better; result below 100 ms should be expected from a broadband connection.

Jitter measures the variance for successive ping tests. 0 Jitter means the results were exactly the same every time, anything above 0 is the variance. Lower Jitter value is better, nevertheless some Jitter should be expected over the Internet & having it be small is in good health.

Go ahead, test out your Internet Connection Quality, give pingtest.net a try.

Another scenario is where you want to move your existing Windows from one hard drive to another. This cannot be done with “copy & paste” in Windows Explorer, some files can only be created in the installation process.

The solution here is to use a Disk Cloning Utilities to backup the existing system. This is useful when you want to restored your system back to the original state with all the drives, software & configuration intact. If anything goes wrong to your system, you can easily reinstall or move your Windows to any hard drive at anytime.

Using DriveImage XML for Disk Cloning

There are plenty of free Disk Cloning Utilities around the net, but I have only tried DriveImage XML. DriveImage XML is an easy to use utility for system & data backup. It can backup the whole hard drive & create bit-by-bit compressed mirror image of data in the drive. The image being created is smaller than the original, my 15GB system in a 60GB partition has been compressed into 8GB multiple files image.

DriveImage XML runs under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Vista and Windows 7 only. The program will backup, image and restore drives formatted with FAT 12, 16, 32 and NTFS. The image can be restored back to the system without having to reboot.

If you do not have a image copy of your Window system, go ahead & give DriveImage XML a try. Backup your system & keep the backup image files in separate drive location.

(Note: DriveImage XML has successfully backup my Windows XP laptop system. Nevertheless, DriveImage XML is unable to detect my Window 7 notebook system hard drive. Alternatively, you can use the backup utility that comes with Windows 7, however I still prefer the whole hard drive to be cloned. Perhaps, the workaround is to boot DriveImage from a CD-ROM, I’m going to try WinPE later for the solution.)

Website: http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm

Nevertheless, the technique will only work with Window Operating System & Firefox Browser with Stumbleupon Toolbar installed (yet to be tested on IE).

Important Note: This technique does not encourage you simply to ignore or thumb up every shares, doing so will lose your credibility in Stumbleupon community. At the end of the day, you still need to view all shares you received & decide whether or not to exercise your thumb. The trick is to make this process more efficient.

1 Setting Up AutoMouseClicker & Toolbar Shortcut

If your system match the one as mentioned above (I believe you are), then the first step is to download & install AutoMouseClicker. Use this program to perform automatic mouse clicks on a specific position for a number of times.

Second, setup the Stumbleupon toolbar keyboard shortcut. Basically, we just need to setup one shortcut, which is the I like it! button. Click the Tools Menu of Stumbleupon toolbar & select Toolbar Options. Go to Shortcuts Tab & check the Enable Stumbling shortcuts checkbox. Change the shortcut key for Rate “I like it!” to Ctrl+Q, click the Change & then OK buttons.

I prefer Ctrl+Q because Q is located right beside W on our keyboard & we are going to use Ctrl+W to get our job done.

2 Use AutoMouseClicker to Automate the Clicking Process

Okay, now we are ready to go, double click the AutoMouseClicker icon to launch the program. Click the Locate button, point your mouse to Stumbleupon toolbar & click the Stumble button to capture the mouse position.

Next, key in the Click Interval, this is the waiting time between two clicks. Placing a 10000 to 20000 (10 to 20 seconds) should give your browser sufficient time to load a page. You may adjust the time according to your internet connection speed.

Fill in the number of times to click, this is the number of page you want it to be opened in new tabs, follow the number on your Stumbleupon toolbar.

Now, here is the trick … press the Shift key on your keyboard 5 times, and a MessageBox will appear. Click OK to turn on the Windows StickyKeys. Then press the Ctrl key 2 times to lock the Ctrl key.

A tiny icon will appear on the right side of the Windows Taskbar, showing the Ctrl key is lock. With the Ctrl key locked (similar to holding it), clicking on the Stumble button will open your shares from friends in new tabs. (You can turn the StickyKeys off by pressing the Shift+Ctrl keys)

Adjust your Windows Accessibility Option if this doesn’t work for you. Go Control Panel & select Accessibility Option, under the Keyboard tab click the Setting button under StickyKeys. Tick to turn the options on or off accordingly. (Windows 2000, XP, Vista & 7 are similar)

Click the START button on AutoMouseClicker to start the clicking process; your new share should be opened in new tabs automatically. In the meantime, leave your computer alone & have your free time. Do other things else & come back after the clicking process is completed.

3 Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Exercise Your Thumb

Now all your shares are opened in new tabs. To continue, first we need to press Shift+Ctrl to turn the StickyKeys off.

Remember, we have setup the keyboard shortcut for I like it!, which is Ctrl+Q. Besides, the shortcut for Close Tab in Firefox is Ctrl+W. This makes our life easier … place your left hand on the left side of your keyboard, press Ctrl+Q to thumb up a page & then Ctrl+W to close the tab, repeat the step for next tab. To ignore a spammy page, simply press Ctrl+W to close it. Meanwhile, you can use mouse wheel to scroll the page down & read the contents.

Happy Stumbling! This article is inspired by this post: How to Free Your StumbleUpon Inbox From “SPAM” Shared Messages

In this post I have selected some free Slideshow Creators available in the internet. These tools allow everyone with minimum technical knowledge to create their own slideshows.

Animoto

Animoto is an online slideshow creators, it automatically produces beautifully unique video from your photos, video clips and music. It turn your photos & videos into purely amazing slideshow.
Link: http://animoto.com/

Slide

Mainly for social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, hi5, etc. It offer people the ability to communicate, engage and have fun with one another. Slide was founded in 2005 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and is backed by Mayfield Fund, Blue Run Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund.
Link: http://www.slide.com/

Kizoa

With Kizoa you can simply Create beautiful slideshows with music and many effects, insert them into your blog or website, burn slideshows to DVD. You can also edit your pictures easily & store or organize all your photos online, share your creations with your loved ones.
Link: http://www.kizoa.com/

Imageloop

Imageloop offers preset theme for your slideshow. Imageloop is easy to use, it offer free image hosting, unlimited uploads of your image to their server. With Imageloop, you can create an online version of any pdf and ppt presentation.
Link: http://www.imageloop.com/

Moblyng

Moblyng Games is an innovative social gaming company. It slideshow creators is similar to Imageloop. You can simply make you slide show mobile, create an online version of your unique slideshow.
Link: http://www.moblyng.com/make-slideshow/

There are numbers of great encryption software around the net, many of them are free. I have personally tried TrueCrypt & found that this files encryption software comes with powerful features. Those who are concerned about protecting their data should definitely give it a try.

TrueCrypt is a free real-time on-the-fly files encryption software. This means that data is automatically encrypted or decrypted right from the disk or any portable storage device. Unlike the other encryption software which encrypts only on individual files, TrueCrypt can store many files in an encrypted file or even in entire storage device. This is useful when you want to prevent others from exploring your files.

Files are encrypted in a TrueCrypt volume, you can choose whether the volume to be resided in a volume file which acts just like any normal file or in a whole partition or drive. Files can be copied to and from a mounted TrueCrypt volume just like they are copied to or from any normal disk, permitting you to open, copy, modify or delete them easily. TrueCrypt does not store any decrypted file back on to the disk during the decryption process; files are actually decrypted in memory while they are being read. When you turn off your computer, the volume will be dismounted and files stored in memory will be inaccessible.

If you are concern about the speed of reading the encrypted files on-the-fly, TrueCrypt uses so-called pipelining technology to work this out. Playing an encrypted mpeg2 file on my Pentium 2GHz, 2GB RAM computer has produced excellence result & has no problem at all.

The installation package comes with extensive help manual and the encryption & decryption wizard helps user to understand the process. TrueCrypt is not for careless users, be sure read the manual & understand what you’re doing. My advice is to test this software out on a few sample files before do anything risky to your important data.

Website: http://www.truecrypt.org