Bill Mullins' Weblog - Tech Thoughts

Find That Deleted File Easily with Pandora Recovery

Bill Mullins — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:48:18 +0000

We’ve all done it; accidentally deleted an important file. That document you’ve been working on for weeks is no longer in your document folder. Yikes! The music collection you’ve spent years putting together, or that family photo album you’ve worked on for weeks – gone. Back in the DOS days, we would just use the command [...]

Fix Your Computer with Free PC Fixer a 4.5 Star Utility

Bill Mullins — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:31:05 +0000

Often, new and casual computer users get left behind when it comes to PC utility software. Developers of this type of application are prone to designing tools that require more than just a passing knowledge of how computer operating systems really work. New users are very often unfamiliar with both the technology itself, and the technical [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 8, 2009

Bill Mullins — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:37:50 +0000

5 ways to overclock a netbook (really!) – Didn’t think hardware this tiny could be tweaked? We explore five ways to turn netbooks up to 11. How to Turn an Old PC into a Media Centre – Even though PC noise & boot times will be issues, XBMC can be a very capable cross-platform, open source [...]

MozyHome – FREE Online Backup

Bill Mullins — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:36:51 +0000

MozyHome is one of the most popular free Online Backup Services available, and with good reason – it’s a snap to use! MozyHome gives you 2GB of space allowing you to backup your data over the Internet. And when you need to, the backed up files can be restored over the Internet. MozyHome includes a Windows [...]

Hide Your Private Files with Free Secret Disk

Bill Mullins — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:48:54 +0000

Privacy is under attack – everywhere. Flash cookies that follow you far and wide as you surf the Net, surveillance cameras (some in the most unlikely places), that record your every movement, and the list goes on. The days of privileged information, and personal privacy, has gone the way of the Dodo bird. Private information [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 7, 2009

Bill Mullins — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:43:28 +0000

Seven perfectly legal ways to get Windows 7 cheap (or even free) – Only suckers pay retail. You don’t have to pay full price for Windows 7. Most people have much better options available. Here are seven of them. All your computer security precautions are worthless - Install your Windows Updates. Update your antivirus software. Scan [...]

7 Top Notch Online Malware Scanners

Bill Mullins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:19:18 +0000

The one thing we know for sure about today’s malware is; it’s very smart. It’s so smart that it often recreates its own component parts even if it has been deleted. How smart is that? Today’s malware generally writes itself into multiple parts of the operating system and in many cases it can hide it’s [...]

Volcano Security Suite – Panda Security Takes a Look

Bill Mullins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:55:48 +0000

Courtesy of Panda Security: This week’s PandaLabs report looks at the Banker.LZK banker Trojan, the Volcano Security Suite malware program, and the Koobface.FU worm. Banker.LZK is distributed through emails with several subjects, and a malicious file called “Comprovante” (receipt). Once it runs on the system, it connects to a Brazilian IP address and downloads another larger file [...]

Festi Botnet Joins the Big 5

Bill Mullins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Symantec’s MessageLabs Intelligence, has just reported that the Cutwail, Bagle, Grum, and Rustock botnets, have been joined by a new botnet – Festi, which now accounts for 3-6% of the daily global spam. As a percentage this doesn’t sound like an impressive number, but translated into actual spam volume; 1.5 to 3 billion spam e-mails [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 6, 2009

Bill Mullins — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:10 +0000

Walmart unveils 15.6″ HP Pavilion G60 laptop for $298 - To heck with netbooks. Walmart’s got plenty of retail weight to swing around, and that’s manifesting itself in the form of a $298 HP Pavilion G60 laptop. How to record streaming audio - CNET editors give step-by-step instructions on how to record audio being played over [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 5, 2009

Bill Mullins — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:19:43 +0000

Clean install with Windows 7 upgrade media? Get the facts! – An argument that should have died ages ago has reared its head again. If you purchase a discounted upgrade edition of Windows 7, can you use it to perform a clean installation of the operating system on a PC that doesn’t currently have Windows [...]

SkyDrive Explorer – Simple, Efficient, Fast, and Free!

Bill Mullins — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:00:57 +0000

Guest writer Rick Robinette explains how you can manage your SkyDrive space smarter, and faster, with SkyDrive Explorer, a free extension for Windows Explorer. If you have a Windows Live account (e.g. Hotmail) I am sure you are taking advantage of the Microsoft’s Windows SkyDrive service, which offers 25 GB’s of FREE password protected online storage [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 4, 2009

Bill Mullins — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:15:44 +0000

Windows 7 Pro and Ultimate – Which Is Best? – Windows 7 is now a reality, and soon Vista will be little more than a memory for most users. If you’re one of the millions who skipped Vista to hold out for Windows 7, it’s time to make a big decision: Which of the several [...]

A Seriously Advanced Photo Tool – Free Image Analyzer 1.31

Bill Mullins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:49:56 +0000

In the days of film cameras, what you shot was what you got. You took your film, had it developed and that, was that. Unless of course, you were one of the few photo hobbyists who had the equipment, and the skills, to manipulate and improve captured images. The development of the digital camera has [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 3, 2009

Bill Mullins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:02:43 +0000

IOBit Steals Malwarebytes’ Intellectual Property – Malwarebytes has recently uncovered evidence that a company called IOBit based in China is stealing and incorporating our proprietary database and intellectual property into their software. We know this will sound hard to believe, because it was hard for us to believe at first too. But after an indepth [...]

MalwareBytes Accuses IObit of Theft

Bill Mullins — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:31:20 +0000

IObit is offering their anti-malware application for free until November 11. On the face of it, I considered this good news. That is, until a reader informed me that MalwareBytes, the developers of the highly regarded MalwareBytes Anti-malware application, announced yesterday that they have developed evidence that IObit “is stealing and incorporating” their “proprietary database [...]

Dangerous Comment Spam – Deadly Links

Bill Mullins — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:08:48 +0000

For many Bloggers, particularly technology Bloggers, comments are an important part of the mix. Amongst other things, comments can spark discussion (always a good thing), allow a reader to present his/her point of view, share tech wisdom, or spread the word on a unique piece of software. But, Blog comments are not without their share [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 2, 2009

Bill Mullins — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:52:16 +0000

Five Best Application Docks – Remember the days of digging through folders of shortcuts and menus to launch applications? These days many users prefer customizable, attractive docks for launching and keeping track of their favorite apps. Here’s a look at five of the most popular docks. Top 10 Apps that Boost Your Media Center – [...]

The 5 Step Easy Guide to Cleaning Your PC

Bill Mullins — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:22:10 +0000

Here in North America, we have just adjusted our clocks back one hour, reverting to Standard Time. To make it easy to remember, I schedule my computer maintenance and cleaning at the Spring and Fall time changes. So, today is the day to get out my cleaning supplies, and do a top to bottom physical [...]

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – November 1, 2009

Bill Mullins — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:06:43 +0000

How To Install Windows 7 from a USB Key – Not only does installing from a USB key remove the need for a DVD drive, the install time is also greatly reduced – we shaved off minutes from the total install time. Our step-by-step guide will have you rocking the new version of Windows in [...]