Friday, January 30, 2009

Lost product keys

I have written in a previous post about the hassle of trying to remember the dozens of passwords I use to access different websites. The answer is a little utility called PasswordFox. But what about all the different product keys for the dozens of programs I have installed on my PC? A neat utility that can save you hours of rummaging through probably long-lost packaging is Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder, a freeware open-source utility that retrieves from the bowels of your machine the product key used to install not just your copy of XP or Vista, but many other applications as well. One note: a number of anti-virus programs identify Magical Jelly Bean as a Trojan, but you can safely ignore the warning.
Another very useful program to keep a track of what’s on your computer, is Belarc Advisor, which also does other useful things like providing info on the health of your hard drive, any security leaks, and more.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Better searching in Google

You probably use Google most of the time as your main search engine (after all, most of the Western world does). But while it's an amazing engine, you can get very frustrated trying to plow through hundreds of results without finding what you want. Google has dozens of shortcuts and 'cheats' that can improve your chances of getting the right page. I won't overwhelm you with them all, but here are a few choice ones:
1) Include a phrase in double quotes, to search on the exact phrase. It's particularly important to enclose 'the' or 'and' in quotes, as otherwise Google ignores these two words.
2) If you include an asterisk (*) in the phrase, Google will search for that missing word you have forgotten.
3) Google searches don't necessarily return every page from a particular site. But you can search just a specific site by typing site:www.(sitename) and then the keywords. This often works better than a site's own internal search engine.
4) Typing the word OR will seek alternatives. Eg, Bacon OR Pork.
5)~auto looks up the word auto and synonyms.
6) printer -cartridge would exclude pages with the word cartridge from a search.
7) inurl:hobbit would find every web page that has the word hobbit in the web address (the URL). (There are 162,000 of them!)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

High-risk security threats (and how to fix them)

"If you use a social network, a Web browser, a public computer, or a cell phone, beware: Your PC, your bank account, and your personal privacy are at risk," writes Andrew Brandt, of PC World. Here are 17 common threats, with fixes for each one.
"Failing to take precautions against the current wave of threats is akin to driving cross-country without a spare tire: You might get away with it, but setting off unprepared for trouble can be expensive and very inconvenient if your luck goes bad."

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Power surges

While my Auckland colleagues took an anniversary day off yesterday, I came to work in Christchurch, but found myself unable to access the Auckland computer system. Turns out a power surge had put the office out of action over the weekend. Fortunately, they had recently installed a surge protector, and while that was blown to smithereens, the main computer server was protected. (Visions of a faithful servant dying to protect its master!) It goes to show how important it is for office systems to have power protection. I'm willing to bet your home computer doesn't have similar protection - few do - but at the very least, do turn off your computer if a thunderstorm is threatening. The area in which one of my Auckland colleagues lives suffered a really bad lightning strike just before Christmas, and she lost all power and telephone for more than a week, which also meant she had no water. Couldn't even flush the loo! Fortunately, she had disconnected her computer, otherwise she would have suffered a complete disaster.