Filed under: Troubleshooting

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

TeamViewer improves speed, messaging, presentations in v4.1

by Lee Mathews Apr 29th 2009

TeamViewer is my app of choice when it comes to remote support, and their developers continue improving on an already impressive product. Version 4.1 has added some very handy new features, and it's ready for download.

Since I last wrote about TeamViewer, the connection speed has been improved a number of new additions have been made. My favorite by far is the ability to create an account and save a list of client addresses for quick access without needing to ask for IDs. The list can be accessed from any TeamViewer 4+ instance and it's also available in the Flash-based web application (also a newer addition).

New in 4.1 is the quick-sharing button (pictured) which can be enabled on application title bars. Click the button and select one of your TeamViewer contacts, and they'll be instantly connected in presentation or remote control mode and locked to that application window.

Tags: remote-control, remote-support, teamviewer

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Malwarebytes removes 1 billionth infection

by Lee Mathews Apr 22nd 2009

It's always nice to read some exciting news from the people who develop our favorite apps, and the team over at Malwarebytes had a big announcement in their forums yesterday morning. In less than a year and a half, Anti-Malware has removed more than one billion infected items from users' computers.

That's an impressive figure, and a strong testimony to the quality of their software. Anti-malware has been an indispensable part of my technician's toolkit since it was released and it keeps getting better. The app is so popular now that it's hard to believe I considered it one of my "lesser-known malware apps" back in July of last year.

To get your hands on a copy of a truly great free application, head over to their site and download it now.

Tags: malware, malwarebytes

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Ask DLS, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Ask DLS: Is Microsoft's FixIt gadget useful or not?

by Lee Mathews Apr 20th 2009

I'd like to think Microsoft's new FixIt gadget is a good idea, but I'm just not sure yet. Here's why I'm having trouble reaching a decision one way or the other.

First, it's difficult for me to imagine a home user wanting this on their sidebar. If you're having so many problems with Vista that you need FixIt always at the ready, you'd probably just dump it and roll back to XP anyway.

Also, FixIt solutions are pretty easy to find on the website. That's probably a more logical way to fix things once in a while than taking up space and resources (albeit limited) with another gadget on the sidebar.

What about In a work environment? Sure, it'd be nice if this helped prevent a few support phone calls, but does that ever happen? All of my users are still going to call and do their best to get me to fix the issue for them.

I guess I'd at least have instant access to a few common repairs, but the problems I'm fixing usually aren't issues FixIt can assist with. Also, none of my machines are Vista - they're all XP Pro, so I can't install a gadget anyway.

So when would the gadget be useful? I honestly don't know. Maybe you guys can clear that up for me in the comments!

Filed under: Design, Utilities, Troubleshooting

Three ways to hide the Facebook sidebar with userscripts

by Jay Hathaway Mar 30th 2009

If you don't like the new Facebook "Highlights" sidebar, and you've been dying to get rid of "People You May Know," then you should definitely consider installing a userscript that will hide those elements for you. The appropriately-named "Hide Facebook Sidebar" script does the trick quite nicely, while leaving your events and friends' birthdays alone.

There's also "Hide Highlights Sidebar," which hides highlights, but doesn't get rid of the "People You May Know" box. I personally find that particular recommendation feature useless, as it always suggests people I'm intentionally not friends with on Facebook, and there's no way to filter them out. If you like it, though, then you should pick this script instead of Hide Facebook Sidebar.

If you'd rather get rid of both the left and the right sidebars, and expand the main feed to fill the space, you want "New Facebook - Remove Highlights and left filters." It's called New Facebook, but it actually makes the layout look a lot more like the old Facebook. All three of these scripts can be loaded into Greasemonkey (or your browser's equivalent) or Stylish, which is a Greasemonkey-like extension just for reskinning and making cosmetic fixes to websites.

Tags: facebook, highlights, layout, remove facebook sidebar, RemoveFacebookSidebar, userscripts

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft, Beta, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

How to fix the Windows 7 7057 desktop.ini startup bug

by Lee Mathews Mar 14th 2009

Based on some of the things you've read about Windows 7, it's sometimes not so apparent that we're still talking about a work in progress. Not so with build 7057 - there's a little reminder right in the middle of the desktop when Windows starts up. Notepad will be there, unabashedly displaying the contents of desktop.ini.

It's easy enough to remedy - here's one simple method.

1. Open the run dialog ( windows + r ) and type shell:startup and press enter.

2. Set your Explorer options to display protected operating system files - pressing alt then T then O will get you to the screen quickly. Click the view tab then uncheck hide protected operating system files.

3. Delete desktop.ini from the folder. [edit] As posted by Chris123nt, you'll also need to navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and delete desktop.ini there as well.

4. Log off and then log back on, or reboot to verify that it's fixed.

5. Repeat step 2, but this time put the check mark back in hide protected operating system files (to prevent accidentally deleting something important later).

Tags: windows-7

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Wednesday giveaway: Comodo Internet Security Pro

by Lee Mathews Mar 11th 2009

I took Comodo's free Internet Security suite for a test drive when they released it last year, and was pleased with how it performed. The company has been a respected provider of firewall protection for years, so it was nice to see them develop a more complete desktop security solution. The free version is packed with great features, and is an excellent free antivirus/firewall/HIP product for Windows PCs.

Thanks to the good folks at Comodo, ten lucky commenters will get their hands on a product key for the Professional version.

Curious about what sets Pro apart from the free version? For starters, you'll be eligible for live 24-7, "remote hands-on" tech support. Our regular readers are all pretty tech savy and may not need this, but maybe there's a relative or two on your support list that might appreciate it? That way, you both get a prize - less phone calls for you, and CIS Pro for them!

You'll also get access to Comodo's TrustConnect service, which provides you a trusted VPN connection that's available everywhere - even on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It's a nice layer of protection to have available when you're stuck using untrusted wireless access on the road.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post before the clock strikes midnight EST on Sunday, March 15th. We'll announce the winners on Monday the 16th.

This contest is open to legal residents of the United States only. Foreign DS readers, fear not! We've got more giveaways coming up for other great apps that you'll be able to participate in!

Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
To enter leave a comment on this post.
The comment must be left before March 15, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
You may enter only once.
Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
Prize: Key code for one year of Comodo Internet Security Pro (US$39).
Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Tags: antivirus, comodo, contest, firewall, free, freebie, giveaway, internet-security, tech-support

Filed under: Macintosh, Apple, Troubleshooting, Browsers

Tap into Safari 4's hidden preferences

by Jay Hathaway Feb 25th 2009

Safari 4 marks a dramatic shift in UI design for Apple's browser. In the Mac version, the big news is the Chrome-like "tabs on top" layout, and the equally Chrome-like Top Sites feature, but some smaller things have changed too. A new autocomplete feature has been added to the URL bar, and Google Suggest has been added to the search bar. Worst of all, in my admittedly-finicky opinion, That blue bar tracking page load progress in the URL bar is gone.

If this is all too much for you to take at once, and you want the faster rendering and improved standards-compliance without all of the UI upheaval, you might want to have a look at this list of hidden preferences compiled by Caius Durling. Using the Terminal, you can change everything I mentioned above back to the way it was in Safari 3. Want tabs on the bottom again? You got it. And long live the load bar!

[via Daring Fireball]

Tags: browser, hidden, preferences, safari, tabs

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Kid Key Lock prevents accidental keyboard, mouse input

by Lee Mathews Feb 19th 2009

Accidentally hitting the wrong key or mouse button at the wrong time can be a giant pain in the butt - for example, when it causes you to tab out of your favorite FPS just as you were about to pull off a sweet headshot.

It's annoying for kids as well. I can't count how many times I've been watching my son accidentally bump a button and cause his Flash-based game to lose focus.

Kid Key Lock is a free application that disable sets of keyboard keys and lock down mouse buttons and actions (like wheel movement or double-clicking).

It's not fully customizable, but it allows disabling keys by groups: none, all, just system keys, or all but space, enter, and characters.

In case you accidentally lock all keyboard and mouse functions, the program supports a password - which you can enter to override the lock or enter setup or quit the app entirely.

Kid Key Lock is also handy for when you want to give your keyboard a quick cleaning without shutting down first. It's a free program, and runs on both 32 and 64-bit Windows.

Tags: keyboard, keylock, mouse

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting, Windows x64

Portable DiskDigger provides free file recovery for Windows

by Lee Mathews Feb 18th 2009

It never hurts to have one more data recovery utility in your portable toolkit, especially when it's free.

Like Recuva, Disk Digger is dead simple to use, and does a good job at recovering the deleted files most users really care about - photos, music, videos, and documents. The preview pane supports most image types and some documents, and you can choose to recover a portion of files DiskDigger finds. Scanning speed and restoration success was on par with Recuva in my testing.

On Vista and Windows 7 make sure you run DiskDigger as an Administrator, otherwise you might run into problems. Though I received an error message after launching it on Vista Ultimate x64, it ran without further problems after clicking continue and did a good job locating and restoring lost files.

In case you have issues getting the file from the author's page, it's mirrored at Snapfiles as well.

Tags: data-recovery, deleted-files, file-recovery, format, portable, recuva, undelete

Filed under: Internet, OS Updates, Troubleshooting

What are your updating habits?

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Feb 4th 2009

I use Firefox for work. I interface with Blogsmith, our CMS, using Firefox. I use my primary email in Firefox. I eschew multiple plugins and add-ons because I want to squeeze as much performance as possible out of the "main window" to my work world. Today I see that there's a 3.0.6 update -- but I'm not updating yet.

Why? Because I don't trust it. Until I poke around and see that my (few) additions to the browser work, and that something serious didn't crop up, I'm not sold. And why is that? Let's just paraphrase: "burned a thousand times, now shy." This is true of OS updates, sadly. My primary work machine is a Mac, and there have been times when Apple has pushed updates that make things worse. Just recently I updated Safari, and now rendering is much slower than before. I have no idea why, nor will I ever, because by the next time I update, it might be fixed. Or it might get worse.

The question of web apps updating themselves automatically is another debate (which we'll get to soon enough). But my question is: how often do YOU update? Every point update? Do you investigate the update first, or do you just click and do it? Plus, are you less skeptical of paid updates to software? And is there an app that you've let sit, un-updated, for years because you happen to dislike the current features or interface? Sound off in the comments.

Tags: firefox, question, software, update, upgrade

Filed under: Utilities, Troubleshooting, Web

iConvert: web-based icon converter

by Jay Hathaway Jan 18th 2009

Ever see an icon you like, but when you go to download it, you find out it's in the wrong format? You could copy and paste it into an image editor, and save it in the correct format, but some editors don't save .icns, .ico, or other popular icon types. iConvert does, though, and it's web-based. It also works with Windows, Mac and Linux-compatible formats.

Just upload a file in any one of the numerous formats iConvert accepts, from .png to .tga. It will spit out download links for other formats, and you can just take the ones you need. I tried uploading a .ico file, and got links for .hqx, .icns, and 6 different sizes of png. So, don't despair the next time you find some great icons you don't think you can use: iConvert might be able to make them compatible with your system.

Tags: converter, icns, ico, icons, iconvert, svg, tga

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting

Kiwi is a simple Windows application usage monitor (and more)

by Lee Mathews Jan 12th 2009

Kiwi application monitor is a free program for Windows that helps you keep tab on your computer usage. Setup - though not automatic like some similar utilities - is simple. To monitor an app, you can either click the browse button and locate its executable or select it from a list of currently active processes.

Apart from watching how much you use your monitored apps, Kiwi also tracks CPU and memory usage and allows you to create alerts when certain conditions are met. It will even email alerts to you if you choose.

Actions can also be triggered: close an app when its memory usage or CPU time gets out of control, or after a set length of time. Kiwi can also run an additional program when one of your monitored apps starts or ends.

Statistical reporting is only available in the pro version. If you're looking for that functionality in a free app, you may want to check out Slife. Kiwi used about 25mb of memory in its standard mode, but the settings menu lets you force a "lite" version that forgoes images for a smaller footprint.

Tags: application-monitor, usage-habits, usage-statistics

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Commercial, Freeware, Troubleshooting

Help! I need a free app to convert DAA and UIF files!

by Lee Mathews Nov 18th 2008

Download Squad reader David contacted us, asking for a solution to his problem and it's one I've dealt with myself: fighting with the proprietary disc image formats of MagicISO and UltraISO.

"I've been looking through the web for some free program to do this for me and I haven't had any luck. UltraISO and MagicISO are great programs, but I just don't have the money to dish 30 bucks on each [one]."

First off, let's be honest. If you're dealing with a UIF or DAA, it's very likely a disc image of a program or game you torrented (this may or may not have been my own experience). If you're extracting, mounting, or burning something like that, you may as well just torrent MagicISO or UltraISO too and be done with it. I'm certainly not going to judge anyone for doing that.

Tags: burning, cd-image, conversion, daa, iso, uif

Filed under: Utilities, Freeware, Ask DLS, Troubleshooting

Help! Some idiot partitioned my giant hard drive!

by Lee Mathews Nov 16th 2008

Steve, a loyal DS reader, left this comment on my listing of five apps to clone hard drives:

"Some idiot (my friend) partitioned my 1TB drive @ 10gb just to start me off and I can't do anything. I have partitioned/formatted the rest of my drive and cloned onto the new partition but I can't get rid of my C drive to use my new partition as my main drive. Any suggestions? Please help."

Ah, yes. The well-meaning friend with just enough computer knowledge to be dangerous. While it's certainly a good idea to partition a large drive, ten gigs may have been a bit on the miserly side - and it sounds like our reader didn't really want his new drive partitioned in the first place.

Now what? Fortunately, there are a number of good, free apps that will allow him to combine the two partitions into a single large one, or resize them to more reasonable capacities.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Troubleshooting

ShutDownGuard tells Windows where to stick automatic restarts

by Lee Mathews Nov 14th 2008

My office workstations - which runs Windows Vista - has an annoying tendency to restart following updates, even though I've told it not to. Via the radio button, of course, though I have tried actually yelling, and that's not working either.

It's a pain, but I'm not about to disable Windows Updates. All I want is for it to be my choice when my system gets restarted.

ShutdownGuard waits in your system tray like a thug in the shadows, waiting to leap out and beat unwanted shutdown requests into submission. It uses about 2mb of memory and blocks shutdown, restart, and logoff attempts.

When it springs into action, you'll receive a balloon tip notification. Click the message to continue shutting down, click the x to close the alert, or just ignore it. If tips aren't being displayed, grab this .VBS from Kelly's Corner ( # 11 ) to re-enable them.

It's a free, tiny (7kb) download for Windows only. ShutdownGuard is packaged as a .7z file, so you'll need 7zip or a compatible app to extract it.

Tags: reboot, shutdown, windows-updates

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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