Technology

Portable Apps

We know that the pen is mightier than the sword, but is the pen drive mightier that the hard drive?  A USB flash, jump, or pen drive is something that most people own and use to store files.  While these drives are useful for backups and file transfers, they can do much more.  As a solid state drive they are not as fragile as your computer’s hard drive.  One way to get more out of your USB drive is to run applications from it.  Many applications have been created or adapted to run completely from your USB drive.  That means that you can use your programs, bookmarks, and files from any computer.  This empowers you to leave your computer at home and carry your USB drive instead as it is smaller, lighter, more rugged, and less likely to be stolen that your laptop.  Many of the portable apps, as they are called, are free.  There are two main “platforms” or launchers – U3 and PortableApps.  U3 comes on certain USB drives, but is not worth paying extra for since PortableApps is a free equivalent.  You can download many other individual programs.  Here is a list of my favorite portable apps.  You can also install these portable apps in your Dropbox folder instead of your USB drive.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Secure socket layer (SSL) is a technology used by some mail servers, which maintains a private connection between the server and your computer.  It keeps others from viewing the data transmitted.  This is used in banking websites that display the “s” in “https://” in the website address.  SSL is now becoming standard and should always be used.  Gmail uses SSL, both in POP/SMTP and webmail – as long as the “s” is in the address.  There is a Thunderbird extension for Google preferences that adds the “s” automatically.

Hard Drive Crash

The hard drive is one of the most fragile components of your computer because it contains the most moving parts.  Hard drives, like people, will eventually die, some of old age, some of disease, and some of accidents and injuries.  Physical trauma like dropping your laptop or knocking a desktop over, exposure to magnets, heat, electrical problems, and software problems may cause your hard drive to crash unexpectedly.

Hard drive crashes come in two varieties, logical and physical.  Logical crashes occur when files are in the wrong place.  This can be caused by a virus, improper shutdowns, overheating, or other causes.  In most cases the drive will not boot but may still be accessible by using a USB hard drive enclosure or by running a live-CD (or USB drive) operating system like Puppy Linux or Ubuntu.  This is less severe and often all the data is recoverable and sometimes the drive can be repaired with software.

A physical crash is more severe.  In this case, moving parts inside the hard drive touch each other or are damaged.  Sometimes electrical circuit boards have problems.  These crashes often are preceded by sounds of grinding, clicking, or other such noises.  This can be caused by overheating and physical trauma or other mechanical failure.  In this case, the drive may not be recognized even through a USB cable or live OS.

In most cases hard drives should only be repaired by professionals.  Prices can range from a couple hundred dollars to a couple thousand depending on how much damage has been done.  In extreme cases, the hard drive can be sent to a lab where technicians rebuild it, as surgeon would operate on a patient.  There is no guarantee that your data will be recovered.  In areas without technicians, your choices are slim and often will involve sending the drive to a technician, who could see any confidential files on your hard drive.

One way to regain a working computer in the short-term is to work without the hard drive.  Puppy Linux is a free operating system that will run without a hard drive.  It installs itself from the CD to the RAM and you can use a USB drive to save your settings.  This will allow you to use your computer to browse the internet, send email, chat, work with Word and Excel documents and perform many other tasks.  It may allow you to access your hard drive to retrieve files, even when it will not boot to run Windows.  However, if your hard drive is making noises, continuing to access it may cause further damage.  In this case, you should take it to a technician. 

If there is no technician, or you are unwilling to pay the high repair costs, you can access the drive through Puppy Linux or by installing it in another computer via a USB enclosure.  You should try to copy the important files to another computer, USB drive, or CD quickly as the drive may become worse.  After you have copied the important files (documents, pictures, music, PGP keys, etc…) try to perform a factory reset.  Put the drive back in the computer and boot using the factory CDs that came with your computer or that you downloaded. 

To prepare for the inevitable hard drive crash, you should backup your data regularly.  Get a 2.5-inch external hard drive that connects via the USB port.  That way you already have a spare hard drive and can mirror your computer’s internal hard drive.  You should also have your factory CDs and software installation CDs.  If you don’t have these, download them. 

Skype

 

Do you use Skype?  You should!  Skype is an internet based telephone service.  It allows to make calls from your computer to another computer for free and make calls from your computer to a landline or mobile telephone at affordable rates.  Skype offers video calls and instant messaging for free.  Calls to or from regular telephones may be purchased through prepaid or postpaid airtime.

GrandCentral

Are you looking for a way to save money and maintain contacts easily? GrandCentral.com, a Google product, offers a free local telephone number that may be forwarded to one or more phones. You can get a number and have it forward to your home phone, mobile phone, hotel room phone, computer, or voicemail. This allows you to maintain a single US phone number for your lifetime. It will not forward calls to international phones, but you may forward calls directly to voicemail, which may be sent to you as an email. Learn more at www.grandcentral.com

Send an Email to All Contacts in Outlook

To send a message to all your address book entries easily in Outlook, Outlook Express, or Windows Mail:

  1. Start with a new message.
  2. Click on To:.
  3. Highlight all your contacts on the left by following the next three steps.
  4. Click on the first contact.
  5. Hold down the Shift key.
  6. Click on the last contact.
  7. Click on Bcc: –›.
  8. Now click OK.
  9. Enter your email address in the To: field.
  10. Compose your message.
  11. Finally, click Send.

From http://email.about.com/cs/oetipstricks/qt/et020102.htm