A Simple Solution to Backing Up Your Browser Settings

The everyday computer user primarily uses the computer to browse the internet. As a result, the web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.) becomes one of the most important pieces of software on the computer. Over a period of time, based on the user’s surfing habits, the browser cumulatively collects bookmarks, cookies, history, toolbar settings, extensions, add ons, etc. that the user ultimately becomes dependent on. The problem occurs is when the computer crashes or the user moves to a new computer AND all of those cumulative browser gatherings by the user are lost. I have actually witnessed users that were more upset that they lost their browser bookmark settings, when their computer crashed, than personal documents they may have had.

To prevent this mishap from occurring there is a backup solution, called FavBackup, that will backup your bookmarks and any other settings that are browser specific (e.g. history, cookies, user preferences, extensions and other elements).

FavBackup is a portable app that requires no installation and has the capability of backing up the browser settings for various versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari and Flock.  One point to make is that you will be see two different type of backup and restore options:

(1) – Backup or Restore – allows you to select what you desire to backup or restore

(2) – Full Backup or Full Restore – will perform a backup or restore of all settings in one fell swoop.

FavBackup is very easy to use, fast and efficient; AND is must-have software for any computer user who is tied to their browser. If anything, make FavBackup part of your normal backup routine and use it to at least backup your bookmarks.

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]

Facebook Users – Beware of Email Malware

Don’t let your guard down… Many of my acquaintances are subscribers to the popular social magnet site of Facebook.  Also, many of my acquaintances are honest people who want to believe that the internet is a safe place and often forget the “rules of the road”.

If you are a Facebook user and you receive an email that the password  on your Facebook account has been reset and your new password is attached, do not fall for the old trick of opening the attachment. This email is a form of spam email with a zip file attachment that contains an executable; that, when launched (clicked on), will infect your PC with malware (trojan) . [Source: Avira Techblog]

Remember the “rules of the road”:

Do not open email, let alone attachments, that you even have the slightest doubt. Trust me, if the doubt is there, it is most likely fake and contains malware.

Avoid unsolicited email messages; especially those with attachments or those with unsolicited links.

Always have up-to-date anti-virus, malware, and spyware software installed on your PC.

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]

Go Incognito with Firefox…

Did you know that Firefox, the choice browser of the tech community has a Private Browsing Mode built into it?

If you are a Firefox user and you are using Firefox version 3.5 or higher you can easily switch from normal browsing mode to private browsing mode. Many of the other popular browsers also have a private (incognito) browsing mode that you can explore.

When you are normally browsing the internet, Firefox remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more. In other words these browsing morsels become a profile of your browsing habits and of you. When you switch to the  Private Browsing Mode in Firefox, these browsing morsels are not collected and stored on the host computer.

Using Private Browsing Mode, to protect your privacy, is handy when browsing the internet from a friend’s computer or at work. In reverse, you can switch the browser into Private Browsing Mode when someone else is using your computer to prevent extraction of or review of your personal morsels (such as user names, passwords, history, cookies, etc…).

To get into Private Browsing Mode, go to the menu bar (at the top of the browser), click on “Tools”, then “Private Browsing Mode” [ see video ]. You can also perform the hotkey combo of  Ctrl + Shift + P on your keyboard to turn Private Browsing Mode “on or off” .

Personally, I prefer using the hotkey combination to quickly go in and out of Private Browsing Mode. When you enter the Private Browsing Mode, Firefox will graciously remember any pages or tabs that you have open, so that when you exit from Private Browsing Mode, you are right back where you started.

You can also depart from Private Browsing Mode by going to the menu bar, click on “Tools”, then “Stop Private Browsing”.  You can also leave Private Browsing Mode by simply closing Firefox, as well.

In a Private Browsing session, Firefox won’t keep any browser history, search history, download history, web form history, cookies, or temporary internet files.  However, files you download and bookmarks you make will be kept. [ click here to see details ]

You can tell when you are in Private Browsing Mode by looking at the Title Bar at the top of the browser window.  It will reflect “Private Browsing – Mozilla Firefox”. Downloading files or saving bookmarks is not affected by Private Browsing Mode.

If you are at another PC, I strongly encourage that you use Firefox and the Firefox Private Browsing Mode to protect your privacy.  If Firefox is not available on the host PC you can use Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition and run it from your flash drive.

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]

An Insane Portable Task Manager for FREE

Anvir Task Manager Free – a task manager with an insane list of options and features that gives you full control of your computer.

I love playing around with the various task managers and this one is no exception. As a matter of fact, I put Anvir Task Manager into the exceptional category for task managers.

If you dare to try this task manager, I encourage you to download the portable version that requires no installation. Simply download [ link ] AnVir Task Manager Free Portable, unzip the archive and run.

What I find interesting about this task manager is that it it like finding easter eggs. In conjunction with the normal monitoring features you find in a task manager (such as Startup, Applications, Processes, Services, etc…), AnVir has some hidden features such as a tweaker that gives you access to hundreds of Windows XP and Vista settings. Another feature for example; Anvir Task Manager, when running in the background, places (3)-three small buttons adjacent to the minimize, restore and close button at the top right corner any window you have open. One button allows you to minimize the window to the system tray, another allows you to pin the window so that it stays on top and another minimizes the window to a square floating icon on your desktop. Another easter egg buried in this task manager is the ability to generate a HiJackThisPro log that can be used for online troubleshooting assistance.

Anvir Task Manager, when running will place a couple icons in your system tray. One icon readily gives you your CPU Usage and Processes; and another icon readily gives you a drive listing, disk load of each drive and free space on each drive. If you “right mouse click” on either of the icons, you can preview a list of most recently launched programs.

An option to definitely explore is that you can “Check any file with AntiViruses on Virus Total” which is handy when you need to analyze a suspicious file. Analysis of suspicious files can be quickly accomplished when troubleshooting file sources in the startup, processes and services areas.

For a complete feature list (see below). Anvir Task Manager is available in a FREE edition and several paid editions (Task Manager, Task Manager Pro, Security Suite). Click [ here ] to compare the various editions. For everyday use, the AnVir Task Manager Free Portable Edition should be sufficient to meet your diagnostic needs.  Overall this app is my choice task manager.

[ click for screenshot ]

Features of the FREE edition:

Basic Security analysis of processes, startup programs and Windows services

Startup monitor: alerts on new startups, block undesired startup programs

Check files on VirusTotal.com with 30+ antivirus engines

Startup manager: manage all programs running on startup including services and Internet Explorer toolbars

Save HijackThis log with additional info

Tweaker that gives direct access to hundreds of XP / Vista settings including settings that cannot be accessed in Windows at all without editing the registry directly

Drive’s free space as a colored horizontal bar in Windows “My Computer” (Vista style icons on Windows XP)

Click on title of any application:

• hide window to system tray
• make window semi-transparent
• pin window ‘always on top’
• change window size to 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768
• change priority of the process

List of recently used folders in “Open”/”Save” dialogs

Minimize windows to system tray and save taskbar space

Quick access to last launched programs and last opened folders in system tray

Monitor processes, services, Internet connections, CPU, disk, memory, DLLs, drivers,locked files, windows

Icons and tooltips in tray for CPU, memory, network, disk load, HDD temperature, and battery

Find locked files and DLL

Log of processes start and stop

Graph of processor, memory and disk activity for each process and for computer

Compatible with all popular antivirus, complement antivirus software or make it unnecessary

Can replace Windows Task Manager

Can run as portable application

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – Biggest Ever

To educate and inform the readers of the blog, in case you did not know; Microsoft, on the second Tuesday of each month releases updates (patches) to enhance the security of your computer, or improve your computer’s performance. If you have your computer configured to receive automatic updates, these patches will be automatically downloaded and installed on your PC.

Updates are additions to software that can prevent or fix problems, enhance the security of the computer, or improve the computer’s performance. We strongly recommend that you turn on Windows automatic updating so that Windows can install security and other important or recommended updates for your computer as they become available.

This upcoming Tuesday, October 13th, Microsoft will be unleashing a record number of updates that will address a broad range of issues affecting a variety of Microsoft products. What is important about this grouping of updates is that (8)-eight of the updates are ranked as critical (very important that you have them installed). Keep in mind you will only receive the updates necessary for the Microsoft products that you have installed on your PC.

To learn more, I encourage you to review the web clip below and visit The Register to learn more.

A “What’s On My PC…” Web Clip!

Zero-day fixes star in biggest ever Patch Tuesday

13 updates (8 critical) in record haul

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Security, 9th October 2009 09:00 GMT

Microsoft is preparing its biggest ever Patch Tuesday…

The bumper batch of 13 bulletins collectively address 34 security flaws across a wide spectrum of Microsoft products. Eight of the baker’s dozen bulletins earn the dread classification of critical, Microsoft’s highest severity rating.

The 13 bulletins compare with the previous high-water mark of 12, reached by Microsoft in February 2007 and equalled in October 2008.

[ Source: theregister.co.uk ]

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]

WOT now available for Google Chrome Web Browser

(Web Of Trust) WOT -  a free Internet security add-on for your browser announced today that there is now a WOT add-on for Google Chrome (see Web Clip below). WOT, a very important level of protection, will keep you safe from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites. WOT warns you before you interact with a risky website. It’s easy and it’s free. If you would like to test the WOT add-on for Google Chrome, you can download and learn more about it [ here ] . The add-on requires a current development version of Chrome (≥ 4.0.220.1). It’s been tested on the Windows version of Chrome, but should also work on Linux and Mac versions once their add-on support reaches the same level. To install the add-on, download the add-on using the Chrome browser.  The Chrome browser will automatically detect the download as an add-on and will prompt you for the installation.

A “What’s On My PC…” Web Clip!

Thu 08 Oct 2009 11:39:59 AM UTC — Deborah S.

Good news for all you early adopters: You can jump ahead of everyone else and try the first release of the WOT add-on for Google Chrome. This one is for the geeky among us, so if you’re game, all you need is a current development version of Chrome and the WOT add-on.

One small difference is where the icon is located. You’ll find it in the lower left corner. The rating window opens a bit differently too, but you’ll see it. Notice also that the add-on is released under the GNU GPL, so patches are most welcome.

[ Source: Web Of Trust ]

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]

Protect Private Information and Save Energy with this FREE Utility

In today’s world; businesses, healthcare providers, government agencies, banks, etc… go to great lengths to install internal safeguards to protect our privacy, our accounts and our personal information. What they sometimes neglect to take into account  is one of the most very basic “visual” aspects of data protection that is right in front of our noses; AND, that is the computer monitor.  Next time you walk into your bank, business, or healthcare provider I will guarantee that if you look around you will see personal data displayed everywhere; often within eyeshot range. Repositioning the monitor from public view or installing monitor privacy filters often resolves this problem; however, this may not be possible in all circumstances.  Another solution involves the use of specialized software that will blank the monitor screen for you.

If you are looking for a FREE utility to easily blank the screen on your monitor to prevent eavesdroppers from snooping, and will actually save you money, then you may want to take a look at Monitor Off Utility.

Now you can tell your monitor to immediately go into energy saving mode with the click of a button. Monitor Off Utility is a free program that allows you to take control of your monitors built-in energy saving features. You can setup your own custom keyboard shortcuts or setup a shortcut on your desktop or system tray. The utility supports multiple monitors and is very flexible. It even allows you to use a command line interface if you want to incorporate the utility into your own scripts.

Features:

Stand-Alone Version:
You can download a stand-alone version of the program that you can run off your USB flash drive without installing it.

Adjustable Delay:
Adjust the number of seconds the program waits before shutting off the monitors after the user initiates a monitor power off. During this delay period the operation may be cancelled.

Screen Saver Activation:
This program will also allow you to activate your screen saver at will.

Lock Workstation:
If you would like, the program can automatically lock your workstation before turning off the monitor(s).

HotKeys:
You can configure a custom HotKey to turn off your monitor(s) or to start your screensaver.

Tray Access:
You can quickly turn off your monitor(s) from the system tray.

Online Update:
Keep Monitor Off Utility up to date with the click of a button.

post to jaanix

[ CLICK HERE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ]