An Waray Blogger

How to Compress Files in Windows

2011-08-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Need to send someone a big batch of files? Don't attach one after another after another to your e-mail. Instead, compress the files into one smaller, easier-to-manage file. In other words, zip them.

The Zip file format has long been used to compress and archive data. Suppose you have, say, 50 Word documents that have a combined size of 5MB. By zipping them, you end up with a single file that's much smaller--maybe 1MB or even 500KB. Imagine stuffing all your clothes into a tiny, lightweight suitcase--that's what compression does. Even better, when you open the suitcase, everything comes out wrinkle-free.

If you're already using a utility like PKZip or WinZip to compress and decompress files, there's little point in changing. But did you know Windows has zip capabilities built right in? Here's how to use them on the fly, using the aforementioned e-mail as an example:

Compose your e-mail message, then click Attach File (or whatever is your mail client's equivalent).
Using the file selector that appears, find the files you want to attach. (They all need to be in the same folder.)
Select all the files you want to zip. (To select multiple files at a time, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking each one in turn.)
Right-click any of the selected files, then choose Send to, Compressed (zipped) folder.
Windows will quickly compress the files and create a new, zipped file that's immediately ready to be renamed (if necessary--if not, just press Enter).
Attach your newly created Zip file to the e-mail.

How to Encrypt a Hard Drive

2011-08-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

Hard drives and USB flash drives are treasure troves of personal data. They're also among the most common sources of data leaks. If you lose a flash drive, external hard drive, or laptop containing sensitive personal information, you will be at risk. Fortunately, encrypting your hard drive can give your data an extra layer of protection beyond setting up a system password. Encryption will conceal your drive's data and make accessing the files almost impossible for anyone who does not know your encryption password.

LaCie’s Rugged Safe hard drive has a fingerprint reader that you can use to unlock your data securely.

The Ultimate and Business editions of Windows 7 and Vista come with BitLocker, a tool that lets you encrypt your entire hard drive. If you don't have the Ultimate or Business version, another alternative is to use TrueCrypt, a free, open-source tool that can encrypt your entire disk, a portion of a disk, or an external drive. For its part, Mac OS X includes FileVault, a tool for encrypting your Mac's home folder; Lion, the next major Mac OS X release on the horizon, will be able to encrypt a whole hard drive.

Another option is to buy external hard drives and flash drives equipped with encryption tools. Some of these drives have built-in fingerprint readers for additional security.

How-to Password-Protect a Folder in Windows 7

2011-08-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

     Reader Ash wants to know if there's a way to password-protect individual folders in Windows 7:
"I have a PC and I am the main user of it 95 percent of the time. As such, I don't have it request a password from me when it boots, and haven't setup any user accounts. Occasionally, other people will use this PC, but there are a few documents and personal files I'd like to keep hidden with a password."

     Seems logical to me. Alas, Windows lacks any kind of file- or folder-specific protections. You said you wanted to accomplish this without third-party software, but I'm afraid that's the only real option. (With multiple user accounts, it's possible to prevent selected users from accessing designated folders--but that's a hassle to set up. Besides, you said yourself you don't have multiple accounts.)

     If you don't want to spend any money, consider going the zip route. Most zip managers, including popular freebie 7-Zip, give you the option to password-protect any zipped files and folders. Yes, you have to jump through the hoops of compressing and decompressing folders, but perhaps that's not a big deal for stuff you access infrequently.

     No good? Then drop a few bucks on a utility like Folder Lock, which is designed solely for the purpose of, well, locking folders. It's a little pricey at $40, so you might also want to check out Iobit's similar Protected Folder, which costs half as much.

     Of course, all these options overlook one of my favorite methods: misdirection. You could create a folder with the world's most boring name--Widget Sales Projections 2007, for example--and nestle it a few folders deep where no one would ever find it. For someone in your situation, with a computer that's used by you 95 percent of the time, that might be the simplest and most effective solution.

How to Change Windows 7 Taskbar Display

2011-08-12T01:34:00.000-07:00

If you've recently made the move from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, one big change you've probably noticed is the way the operating system displays icons in its taskbar (the row along the bottom of the screen).

Specifically, it shows icons only, without any text labels identifying what they are.

Although some icons are pretty self-explanatory (like those for Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, etc.), I like to have the accompanying labels--at least for programs that are currently running. Fortunately, it's an easy matter to tweak this option in Windows 7. Here's how:

Right-click an open area of the taskbar, then choose Properties.
In the Taskbar tab, find the Taskbar buttons pull-down menu.
Choose Combine when taskbar is full or Never combine, then click OK.

The first option, which is what I use, keeps the text labels visible until the taskbar gets so crowded as to make that impractical, at which point Windows will ditch the labels and merge multiple instances of running program (like, say, a bunch of Firefox windows) onto a single taskbar icon.

Using an HTTPS-Encrypted Connection When Browsing the Net

2011-08-07T22:52:00.000-07:00

When you're browsing the Web, protect yourself by using HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) whenever possible. HTTPS encrypts the connection between your PC and the Website you're visiting. Though HTTPS doesn't guarantee that a site is secure, it can help prevent other parties from hacking into the network and gaining access to your account.

Many sites use HTTPS by default: When you purchase an item online or log in to online banking, for instance, your browser will probably connect to the site via HTTPS automatically. But you can go one step further by enabling HTTPS on Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail.

To use Facebook's HTTPS feature, log in to Facebook and click Account in the upper-right corner. Select Account Settings from the drop-down menu, and look for ‘Account Security' on the resulting page. Under the Account Security heading, click Change, check the box next to Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible, and click Save.

You can easily enable HTTPS on sites such as Twitter and Facebook and on services such as Gmail to introduce an extra level of security.For Twitter, first log in to your account. If you're using the new Twitter interface, click your account name in the upper-right part of the screen, and select settings. (If you're still using the old Twitter interface, click the Settings link in the upper right of the window.) From there, scroll down to the bottom of the resulting page, check the box next to Always use HTTPS, and click Save.

To enable HTTPS on Gmail, log in to your account, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, and select Mail Settings from the drop-down menu. Next, under the Browser Connection heading, select the button labeled Always use https. When you're all set, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. To learn more about Gmail security, see Google's Gmail Security Checklist.

Send SMS using Gmail (Google Mail)

2011-08-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Text using Gmail

Send up to 50 free SMS daily from GMail.

Gmail SMS or SMS in Chat allows Gmail users to send SMS directly from Gmail Chat to Smart subscribers!

To send SMS, place your mouse pointer over a contact name on the Chat panel on the left side of your Gmail account.
In the small window that will popup click "More" option, and select "Send SMS".
Type in the mobile number of the contact and save.

A chat window will appear on the bottom right of the screen.
Type your messages and press enter to send the SMS!

Initially a Gmail uses is given 50 SMS credits. Every time the Gmail user sends an SMS, a credit is deducted. If the mobile subscriber replies via SMS, the Gmail user is topped up with 5 SMS credits. Note the maximum SMS credit is 50. Though mobile contacts can send numerous replies the credit will not go over the limit.

How to Restore a Missing Icon to Windows 7 Taskbar

2011-08-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

To restore Internet Explorer to the Taskbar, all you need to do is find an icon for it. Any icon, anywhere in Windows. Here's one easy approach:

1. Click Start.

2. Type Internet.

3. When Internet Explorer appears in the menu, right-click it.

4. Click Pin to Taskbar.

There's your Internet Explorer icon! Needless to say, this method works for any program you want to pin down there. And if you want to remove it, just right-click its Taskbar icon and choose Unpin this program from taskbar.

Rootkit Malware Roosts on Windows XP Systems

2011-07-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

Machines running the decade-old Windows XP make up a huge reservoir of infected PCs that can spread malware to other systems, a Czech antivirus company says.

Windows XP computers are infected with rootkits out of proportion to the operating system's market share, according to data released last week by Avast Software, which surveyed more than 600,000 Windows PCs.

While XP now accounts for about 58 percent of all Windows systems in use, 74 percent of the rootkit infections found by Avast were on XP machines.

XP's share of the infection pie was much larger than Windows 7's, which accounted for only 12 percent of the malware-plagued machines -- even though the 2009 OS now powers 31 percent of all Windows PCs.

Rootkits have become an important part of the most sophisticated malware packages, particularly botnets, because they mask the infection from the user, the operating system and most security software. By installing a rootkit, the hacker insures the compromise goes undetected as long as possible, and that the PC remains available to the botnet's controller for nefarious chores, such as sending spam or spreading malware to other machines.

Avast attributed the infection disparity between XP and Windows 7 to a pair of factors: The widespread use of pirated copies of the former and the latter's better security.

"According to our stats, as many as a third of XP users are running SP2 [Service Pack 2] or earlier," said Ondrej Vlcek, the chief technology officer of AVAST, in an interview Thursday. "Millions of people are out of support and their machines are unpatched."

Vlcek assumed that many of the people running XP SP2, which Microsoft stopped supporting with security patches a year ago, have declined to update to the still-supported SP3 because they are running counterfeits.

Although Microsoft serves everyone, even pirates, its monthly security patches and service packs, most security experts believe that users of illegal copies are very hesitant to upgrade or even patch for fear that they'll trigger the black screen and anti-piracy nag notices that Microsoft slaps on screens when it deems a PC is running a counterfeit copy of Windows.

Windows XP accounts for a disproportionate share of rootkit infections, but Windows 7 is under-represented. (Data: Avast, Net Applications.)

Vlcek urged users running legal copies to upgrade to XP SP3. "Moving to SP3 is the most basic thing that should be done," he said.

Also in play, said Vlcek, is Windows 7's stronger security, especially the 64-bit version.
"The 64-bit version [of Windows 7] has some technologies that really make it much more difficult for rootkits to infect the computer," said Vlcek, calling out that version's kernel driver-signing feature as key to keeping rootkits off machines.

But that hasn't completely protected Windows 7 64-bit, as Vlcek acknowledged.

"The surprising part to me was that I thought the Windows 7 [number] would be even smaller," Vlcek said.

Rootkits able to infect 64-bit copies of Windows 7 remain relatively rare, but they're certainly not unknown: The first popped up in August 2010, and a massive botnet some have called "practically indestructible" last month used a variant of the same malware to install a 64-bit rootkit on Windows 7.

That malware, which goes by a number of names -- Alureon, TDL, Tidserv and most recently, TDL-4 -- is especially devious, as it installs the rootkit into the Master Boot Record (MBR). The MBR is the first sector -- sector 0 -- of the hard drive, where code is stored to bootstrap the operating system after the computer's BIOS does its start-up checks.

By subverting the MBR, the rootkit is even tougher to detect, since it's already in place by the time the OS and security software are loaded into memory.

Avast found that rootkits which infected the MBR were responsible for 62% all rootkit infections.

Users who suspect that their PC is infected with an MBR-based rootkit can scrub their machine with one of several free rootkit detectors, including Avast's "aswMBR" and Sophos' "Anti-Rootkit."

English Murdered by Some Pinoy

2011-07-29T01:45:00.000-07:00

"Guys, let's call it tonight!"

"All of a suddenly..."

"C'mon! Let's get it on with it!"

"When it rains, it's four."

"Thanks God!"

"The nerves!" or "The nerd!"

"The idea crossed at the back of my mind."

"(name of person), eat your hat out!"

"This is our rooster of clients..."

"The more the manyer."

"It's a no-win-win situation."

"Burn the bridge when you get there."

"Anulled and void."

"Mute and academic."

"C'mon let's join us!"

"If worse comes to shove."

"Are you joking my leg?"

"It's not my problem anymore, it's your problem anymore."

"What are friends are for?"

"You can never can tell."

"Well well well. Look do we have here!"

"Let's give them a big hand of applause."

"Been there, been that."

"Forget it about it."

"Give him the benefit of the daw."

"It's a blessing in the sky."

"Right there and right then."

"Where'd you came from?"

"Take things first at a time."

"You're barking at the wrong dog."

"You want to have your cake and bake it too."

"First and for all"

"Now and there."

"I'm only human nature."

"The sky's the langit."

"That's what I'm talking about it."

"One of these days is not like the other."

"So far, so good, so far."

"Time is of the elements."

"In the wink of an eye."

"The feeling is actual."

"For all intense and purposes."

"I ran into some errands."

"Hi. I'm (state your name), what's yours?"

"What is the world is coming to?"

"What is the next that is?"

"Get the most of both worlds."

"Bahala na sila sa mga batman nila."

"Whatever you say so."

"Base-to-base casis."

"My answers have been prayered."

"Please me alone!"

"It's as brand as new."

"So... what's a beautiful girl like you?...."

"I can't take it anymore of this!"

"Are you sure ka na ba?"

"Can't you just cut me some slacks?"

"I couldn't care a damn!"

"what's your next class before this?"

"nothing in this world is perfect except the word change."

"Can you repeat that for the second time around once more from the top? (ulitin natin hanggang mamatay tayo.)

"my dad brought home a lot of hand-me-downs! " (translation: daming pasalubong ng tatay ko)

"standard & chartered bank"

"I'm very iterated! (translation: galit sya!)

"I'm sorry, my boss just passed away." (translation: kakadaan lang ng boss nya.)

"Hello, my boss is out of town, would you like to wait?"

"What happened after the erection of Mayon Volcano?"

"Don't touch me not!"

"Hello,.. for a while, please hang yourself..."

"It's spilled milk under the bridge."

"Don't change anything! keep it at ease."

"Hello Mcdo, magiinquire lang ako kung magkano ang kidney meal?"

"Out of fit ako these days e..."

"Bring down the house down!"

Home Survival Tips

2011-07-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

You and your family can cope best by preparing for disaster before it strikes. Having the right supplies kit is one way to prepare in advance. Once disaster hits, you won’t have enough time to shop or look for supplies.

Before the typhoon:

Power may go out during a typhoon. Keep flashlights, lanterns, candles, matches and/or lighters handy.

Fill up a few gallons of drinking water and some for washing, cooking and bathing.

Secure all important documents in plastic bags and store them in as safe area.

During the typhoon:

If evacuation is unnecessary, make sure to stay inside your homes and away from windows. If you are n low-lying area and/or do not have a concrete home or storm shutters, consider seeking shelter elsewhere.

Stay INDOORS

Turn off and unplug all appliances. Shut off the main gas valve and power switch.

In case of flood:

Make sure that the main electrical power switch or circuit breaker is turned off.

When you need to touch a switch and the floor is already wet, dry yourself and stand on a dry board or carton or table and/or wear boots.

Wear a rubber gloves or use a well insulated pliers to remove wiring.

Wear rubber gloves and rubber sole shoes, remove mud and dirt from your main circuit breaker or fuse including its enclosures.

If electrical wirings or connections are soaked, allow the wires to dry completely. Drying may take days, depending on extent of water damage and external temperature.

Make sure that the appliance itself is completely dry, have it serviced or checked by a licensed electrician. Do not turn on damaged and wet electrical appliances.

After the typhoon:

Check for injuries and immediately apply first aid. Do not move the severely injured, unless they are in immediate danger. Call emergency services if you are in need of actual assistance.

Be aware of hazards. Check for damaged electrical wirings, broken glass and structural damage.

Assess your emergency supplies such as food and water and determine your priority needs.

Stay away from damaged areas, fallen wires and downed trees. Do not enter the areas that are blocked off by authorities. And do not go sightseeing in disaster areas.

Checked with your neighbors. Lend a hand on to those in need.

Your supplies list:

Candles, matches and Flashlights with extra batteries

Emergency Light and Radio

Several bottles of drinking water

First aid kit

Portable stove

Non-perishable food such as canned meat and instant noodles.

Rubber gloves and rubber boots

Rain coat

Toiletries

Cellular phone with charged up batteries

How to Automatically Update Your Computer

2011-07-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

You may not care enough about bug fixes and minor features to keep every single app on your hard drive current, but you'll need to keep Windows and a few major apps (such as your browser, your PDF reader, and your office suite) updated to avoid nasty security exploits. Fortunately, you can arrange to have all of these updated automatically.

Updating Windows

Open Windows Update in the Control Panel. Click Change settings, and set the drop-down menu to Install updates automatically. If you don't have Microsoft Update installed, only Windows updates will download automatically. If you have other Microsoft apps installed (anything from Silverlight to Office) you'll need Microsoft Update. To pick it up, click the Click here for details link at the bottom of the Windows Update window.

Updating Your Browsers

Every major browser has an automatic updating function of some sort, so your browser should already be covered. Microsoft delivers Internet Explorer updates via Windows Update, and Google Chrome receives its updates behind the scenes; to see whether your version of Chrome is current, click the wrench icon and choose About Google Chrome; if your version is old, the dialog box should give you the option to update.

Like Chrome, Firefox handles its updates internally. Get the latest releases from Mozilla by opening Tools, Options, Advanced, Update, and checking Automatically download and install. Safari's updates are handled via Apple Software Update, which normally is installed with Safari. If it doesn't run automatically, open it and go to Edit, Preferences, Schedule, where you can select your preferred update frequency.

Updating Adobe Acrobat

Definitely keep Adobe Acrobat updated because it's a popular target for malware. You can set it to update automatically by selecting Edit, Preferences, Updater and checking Automatically update and install.

Updating JavaScript

Go to JavaScript (on the left-hand side of the Preferences window) and uncheck Enable JavaScript. Since JavaScript is a common attack vector for malware, your system will be safer if you don't have it enabled by default (you can always re-enable it for individual PDFs that you deem nonthreatening).

How To Roll Back a Bad Driver

2011-07-21T19:09:00.000-07:00

Updating your machine's drivers keeps the system current on bug fixes and support for new features. It can also break things that weren't broken, however, so if you notice that your PC is crashing or behaving strangely after applying a new patch, you should revert to an older version and see if that fixes the problem. Fortunately, whether you install new drivers manually (via download from a manufacturer's Website) or through Windows Update, you can revert to an older version fairly easily.

Open the Device Manager control panel.
Browse to the device whose driver you want to roll back. Double-click the device in question.
On the properties screen, click the Driver tab, then click Roll Back Driver and follow the wizard to revert to the previously loaded driver. A restart will be required.

If the option is grayed out, an older driver is not available. If you know that the driver has been updated, you may be able to recover it by using Windows' System Restore function, which will also undo driver installations.

How To Bypass Windows Login

2011-07-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

If you're the only one who uses your computer, and you're not worried about it (or your data) falling into someone else's hands, you may not need the protection that the login screen provides.

Here's how to turn it off:

Open the User Accounts control panel.

Delete any unused accounts that are not your primary, personal account. (Click Manage another account, choose the other accounts, and select Delete the account.) You can ignore the Guest account, which is likely turned off.

At the main User Accounts page, ensure that your primary account is active. Click Change your password.

Enter your old password where required and leave your new password blank.

Reboot your machine, and it will load Windows directly without presenting the login screen. Just remember that you are compromising your system's security by operating it without a password.

How To Uninstall an Application in Windows

2011-07-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Cleaning every last trace of an old program can be a pain.

Here's how to do it quickly, in about 5 minutes:

1. Open the ‘Programs and Features' control panel, select the application you no longer want, and click Uninstall. You may need to reboot the system.

2. If the program has other parts (plug-ins, toolbars, ActiveX components, and so on), uninstall them too, following the above instructions. If an application won't uninstall, don't edit the Registry in an attempt to manually scrub the program away; in all likelihood, you'll accidentally cause more harm than good.

3. If you installed the program recently, you can try rolling back your PC with System Restore to get rid of it. Find this function under Accessories, System Tools.

4. If that doesn't work, try the Revo Uninstaller.

How To Stop AutoPlay in Windows

2011-07-15T01:47:00.000-07:00

These days, you're probably plugging all kinds of devices into your PC--thumb drives, cameras, smartphones, and so on--each of which opens a Windows AutoPlay pop-up. This can get annoying, fast.

To disable AutoPlay for an individual device:

Plug the device into your computer and allow any drivers to install completely. The AutoPlay window will pop up for the first time. Simply close it by clicking the red X.

Disconnect the device, and then plug it back in. The AutoPlay window will pop up again. Click View more AutoPlay options in Control Panel.

At the bottom of the screen, you will see your newly connected device. Change ‘Choose a default' to Take no action. ClickSave. This option will not be available the first time you connect a device, hence the requirement to plug in, disconnect, and reconnect it.

To turn AutoPlay off for all devices, in the ‘View more AutoPlay options' screen, at the top, uncheck Use AutoPlay for all media and devices.

How To Troubleshoot a PC That Won't Turn On

2011-07-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

There's no easy way to determine exactly why a PC won't boot (we're assuming that you tried booting from an optical drive or a bootable USB disk, and it failed), but the following steps will take you through the most common hardware reasons for a PC that won't load Windows.

Check all of the external cables, including the power cable. Confirm that your monitor is turned on.

Do you hear beeps while the PC tries to boot? Write down the number or the sequence of beeps (for instance, one long, three short) and search the Web to learn their meaning. If you know the manufacturer of your BIOS, that will simplify the search. For example, try a search for "Phoenix 1-2-2-3 beep code" (for a PhoenixBIOS PC with a pattern of one beep, two beeps, two beeps, three beeps); in this case, you'll see that the PC has likely experienced a motherboard hardware failure. Even if you don't know the BIOS maker, you should be able to determine the issue this way.

If your PC doesn't produce beeps, open the case and verify that the internal cables--especially cables from the power supply and cables linking the hard drive to the motherboard--are properly connected.

Make sure the RAM is properly seated; remove and reinsert it, and try booting with one RAM stick at a time (if dual RAM sticks are not required, of course). If you have a spare RAM module or two, try subbing them in.

Your system's power supply may have gone bad--many are cheap and prone to failure. Try connecting a spare power supply to your system (you needn't install it inside the case), and see if the PC will boot. Don't be tricked by whirring fans: A power supply may have enough juice to keep the fans going, but not enough to power everything else.

If your PC has a discrete graphics card, try removing it and attaching the monitor to the integrated graphics connector.

Finally, if all of the above steps fail, you're probably dealing with a bad motherboard or (less likely) a fried CPU.

Tips for Protecting Customer Data

2011-07-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

     Recent headlines prove that the threat against customer data is alive and well. Massive attacks on databases from Sony and Epsilon show that big companies with enough money to have the right kind of security don't necessarily have an advantage.

     Clearly, antivirus, firewall and other security technologies aren't enough. Companies need to think carefully about how and where they are storing customer data, who has access to it, and how to prevent prying eyes from stealing the data and sharing it with other cybercriminals and manipulating customers with e-mail phishing attacks.

1: Limit access to customer Personally Identifiable Information

     Companies today have an open culture when it comes to data. But that policy shouldn't be consistent across all data types, particularly personally identifiable information, or PII. In our company, we recently reviewed who has access to our customer database and noticed that not all of the authorized users needed access to certain types of data. As a result, we have pared down access to just a few employees.

2. Bulletproof your security software and your network

     Protect customer data as you would financial data. Organizations can refer to publicly available guidelines, such as those published by the PCI Security Standards Council. You should encrypt all of your customer information at the database level to avoid unauthorized users from hacking into your accounts. You may want to consider Tokenization, which is a higher level of security. Often used for e-commerce transactions, including credit card data, tokenization replaces sensitive data with unique identification symbols so that PII stays out of the data stream.

    Another option is to deploy anti-phishing software, which can secure the e-mail channel by blocking malicious e-mail messages purporting to be from you. The software does this by checking for proper e-mail authentication and issuing alerts when fraudulent activity is detected. These are just a few examples of the kind of security protections you need for customer data. A third-party security audit of your systems and processes can evaluate your infrastructure, provide recommendations and issue annual certifications.

3. Require that partners and vendors with access to customer data also have the best available protection
     Agencies, software firms and e-mail service providers should have the same (if not better) controls as your company. For instance, if you use a marketing automation solution for campaign generation and tracking, your provider should require IP address blocking so that only users from within your firewall can access customer data and e-mail addresses. External IP addresses will be locked out if they obtain passwords and attempt to log in to a customer database.

    If any of your partners stores customer data for you, understand exactly how they are securing their information systems and handling access control.

4. Get the help of a lawyer

     If a breach occurs, your company could be on the line for thousands or millions of dollars in lawsuits and other fees to your customers. What type of protections can you build into your services to prevent financial disaster and what guarantees do you need to provide to customers if their data is compromised, lost, or stolen? This also applies to your marketing vendors. What are their obligations if a breach occurs in their systems? This could include legal fees and other financial penalties. Have your lawyer draft the appropriate language for your Web site, customer documentation and vendor contracts.

5. Educate your employees

     Developing policies and providing regular training for employees handling customer data is imperative. Consider adding internal security measures to protect against the possibility of social hacking incidents. These are situations in which, for example, an employee who has access to your data has the account password stolen.

      In many cases, if that password was stolen, there is the possibility that other passwords, such as an e-mail password, were also stolen and a simple e-mail verification link won't be secure enough. To minimize risk in this situation, consider requiring employees to use a two-step verification process to access your data. For instance, employees logging in to your application from a new location would have to use a code sent to their cell phone and also provide an answer to a security question before gaining access. This process is similar to the standard used by many financial institutions.

Steps for a Better New PC

2011-07-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

     Just bought a new PC? Here's how to ditch the bloatware, get the apps you want, and make sure it has all your important data.

     It's exciting to buy a new computer. As soon as you haul the laptop home from the store, or the delivery truck drops off the extra-large box, you just want to tear into your new machine and see what it's capable of. If you want to have a better experience, however, you'll stop, take a few deep breaths, and do a little preparatory work first. Taking a bit of time to set up your new PC can make a world of difference in its performance, its long-term stability, and your personal sanity. Besides, your old PC almost certainly has some data on it that you'll want to move to the new one, and that's a task best not delayed.

1. Back Up Data for Transfer to the New PC

     The first step in setting up your new computer requires spending time on your old computer: You need to back up all the important data on your old machine for transfer. (Of course, this assumes that you aren't buying a new computer because your old one is hopelessly broken and entirely unusable.)

     You can use Windows Easy Transfer to copy your data, but it might not get everything you want.You can use Windows Easy Transfer to copy your data, but it might not get everything you want.You can find tools to automate this process somewhat. Microsoft's built-in Windows Easy Transfer tool does a good enough job but doesn't necessarily transfer everything you want; other third-party tools are similar. These aren't bad choices for moving data and settings from an old PC to a new one, but I don't like them for two reasons: First, if the data is that important, you should be backing it up, not just switching it from one point of failure to another. Second, none of these tools really grab everything you want them to get, so you end up manually transferring stuff anyway.

     Here's a better solution: Buy a cheap external USB hard drive if you don't already have one. You can burn your data to a bunch of DVDs if you prefer, but that's kind of a hassle. Plug in the USB hard drive, name a folder 'Old PC Backup' or something similar, and start copying files and folders there.

1. Back up your music, photos, and videos. Personal photos and videos can never be replaced--those are your most precious megabytes.

2. Next, turn to your documents. If you have been saving everything to the My Documents folder in your user directory, your job is easy. Otherwise, you'll have to hunt around in Windows Explorer and the Desktop to find every important document and copy it to the external hard drive.

3. Fire up your Web browser and go to its bookmarks manager, and then export your bookmarks and copy that file to the external drive--assuming that you aren't using Xmarks or another bookmark-sync tool. This is a great time to clean out old, unused bookmarks, too.

4. Launch whatever software you have with activation limits and deactivate or deauthorize your old computer. Photoshop and iTunes come to mind.

5. Before you disconnect the external drive and power down the old system for good, consider what other data you might want to keep. Your game saves, for example.

     When you're absolutely sure that you have backed up all the useful data to the external drive, you can shut down your old computer forever. Copying files to an external drive and then to the new computer might seem like a slow, tedious, pitifully manual way of getting data to your new PC--but it has the benefit of providing a nice backup of all that important data, ready to restore should your PC ever suffer a catastrophic failure, go missing, or get stolen.

2. Clear Out the Crud

   SlimComputer can automatically remove your new PC's included bloatware.SlimComputer can automatically remove your new PC's included bloatware.Unfortunately, computer manufacturers still insist on shipping new PCs loaded down with a lot of software you may not want or need. Some of it is just annoying, while other programs can slow down performance.

   There's no one way to know exactly what you should remove and what you shouldn't. Start by going to Control Panel, Programs, and then clicking Uninstall a Program. Scroll down the list, and remove any software you know you don't want: image viewers, media players, antivirus software you don't like (though you should replace it with something else promptly), toolbars, software trials ... just use your best judgement. If you're unsure about a program, write down its name and revisit it later.

   Many PCs come with software to update the drivers and utilities; I recommend leaving this kind of software on your system, though you may want to tweak its options to check for updates less often if you find it bothersome. Keeping drivers and other software up-to-date is an important part of keeping your PC running well.

   You can find some tools that will help automate this process. A nice bit of freeware called SlimComputer will scan your PC and make suggestions for what is safe to uninstall or remove from your PC's startup, and it can do the zapping in a few clicks. A simpler and more straightforward app is PC Decrapifier; on the creator's Website, you can see a list of the programs that it can automatically remove.

3. Update Drivers and System Software

   If your PC came with a tool to search for driver updates and other important software (and you didn't just delete it), run it now. If such a tool isn't installed, head to your PC manufacturer's Website and look in the support section for your model. You'd think a brand-new computer would come loaded with all the latest drivers, BIOS updates, and other important system software, but that isn't always the case. Keeping these items current can improve your PC's performance and reliability, so don't skip this important step just because everything seems to be working well.

   The support section of your PC maker's Website will usually have the most recent drivers and utilities, but graphics drivers are often outdated. If you have an Nvidia graphics processor in your new system, head to Nvidia's Website to download the latest drivers. For AMD/ATI graphics, head to the AMD support site.

   Windows UACThis is a good time to perform a handful of useful Windows tweaks. If you want to adjust how often you receive annoying User Account Control alerts (the security pop-ups that make you acknowledge when an application is trying to do something), head to Control Panel, User Accounts, and click Change User Account Control Settings. I suggest you don't disable it completely, though.

   A huge pet peeve of mine is Microsoft's insistence on hiding file extensions by default, as if our feeble brains wouldn't know what to do if we saw the .jpg, .doc, or .mp3 at the end of a file name. To fix this setting, launch the Explorer file browser (not Internet Explorer), click the Organize drop-down in the upper left, and choose Folder and search options. Go to the View tab and uncheck the box that says Hide extensions for known file types. While you're in there, you can make other tweaks to the way Explorer displays files and folders.

4. Install New Software the Easy Way

   You've backed up your old PC's important data, cleaned the junk from your new PC, updated drivers and other system software--it's finally time to get to the good stuff. Now you can fill up your new PC with new software. For this task, there's no tool I like better than Ninite.

   You can use Ninite to install dozens of useful apps with a few clicks--no unwanted toolbars included.You can use Ninite to install dozens of useful apps with a few clicks--no unwanted toolbars included.Ninite is a Website that lets you install a load of useful free software all at once, no user intervention required. Simply head to the site and check the boxes next to the software you wish to install. My list would include Chrome, Dropbox, Evernote, Firefox, Flash, iTunes, K-Lite Codecs, Microsoft Security Essentials, Silverlight, Skype, Steam, uTorrent, VLC, .Net, and 7-Zip.

   Just click the Get Installer button, and the site sends you a tiny executable file that, when you run it, will download all of the selected applications from their original sources and install them with default settings, all at once, with no user intervention required. It doesn't install toolbars and other extra junk that can sometimes tag along with free applications, and it's smart enough to grab the 64-bit versions if you have a 64-bit operating system. Sure, you'll have to tweak some of the defaults and maybe dump a few unwanted desktop icons, but it's still an enormous timesaver.

   You're not done yet, though. Ninite is great, but it may not have all the software you need. If you like using a certain app that wasn't available on Ninite's list, or if you have for-pay software (such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, or games), now is the time to install them. For example, I would install the handful of games I'm currently playing, plus TweetDeck, Windows Live Photo Gallery, and several choice browser extensions.

5. Transfer Your Backed-Up Data

   Now that your new computer is up-to-date, free of junk, and loaded with the tools and applications you want, it's time to go back to the external hard drive and start transferring your older data. Copy everything from the backup folder to your new computer (don't move the files, copy them, so that a backup copy remains on the external drive). This is an opportunity to get organized, as well, so take your time and carefully place your music, photos, videos, documents, and other important data in subfolders that make finding everything easy.

   The whole process of prepping your new computer, even with timesaving tools such as PC Decrapifier and Ninite, can take a few hours. Forcing yourself through a few hours of boring busywork when what you really want to do is play around with your shiny new PC can be tough. Nevertheless, I encourage you to be patient and to follow these steps--tolerating a few hours of boredom when you first obtain a new PC can save you from dealing with lots of headaches in the future.