If you guessed that UndeleteMyFiles is a program that hacks into government databases and gives you the secret launch codes for nuclear missiles, you really need to stop watching Cold War era movies. But what you can use this free Windows utility to do is recover some recently deleted files on your computer.

There are several other free programs that do pretty much the same thing. But there are a few features that set UndeleteMyFiles apart. First of all, the program features a nifty preview function. Just hit the check box next to the file you want to see and hit the preview button and the program will restore the file to a temp directory so you can check it out before deciding whether you really want to restore it to your hard disk.

UndeleteMyFiles also has several different modes for scanning your hard disks or removable storage media. For example, you can use the Media Recovery mode to scan a disk just for media files. Or you can use the Deleted File Search to scan for files meeting certain size or file type. The File Rescue wizard, on the other hand will show you all deleted files on a disk.

The program also includes a file wiper, which lets you securely delete files so that they will be nearly impossible to recover. This feature could come in handy if you happen to be in possession of oh, say a nuclear missile launch code that you probably shouldn't have.

[via gHacks]

It happens to everyone. You have so many usernames and passwords that you can't remember them all. Fortunately, Facebook, Gmail, and about a billion other online services have a "forgot password" link. Just click it and the web service will either email your password to you or allow you to reset it and enter a new one.

But what happens when you forget the password for your operating system. Not that this has ever happened to us, but hypothetically let's say we were trying to perform a fresh install of Ubuntu on a laptop this afternoon. We zipped through the installation screens so quickly that we may have accidentally inclued a typo in our password. So when the installation was complete, our (still hypothetical) computer booted up, loaded a splash screen, and then wouldn't let us login no matter how many variations of our password we type.

While you might think the easiest thing to do is reinstall Ubuntu, (after all, this is a clean install so it's not like we'd be losing any data on our hypothetical system), you can save yourself 15-30 minutes by changing the password. It turns out you don't have login to change your password. As we discovered thanks to a useful post on the Ubuntu forums, you can do it from the bootloader screen. Check out the 5 easy steps after the jump.

The Windows Vista installation DVD includes more than just the files you need to install an operating system. There's also a recovery center which helps you deal with operating system problems. It can search for problems, find system restore points, restore from backups, or fix a broken boot manager. The problem is that many, (if not most) home computer users don't have a real installation disc. What they have is a system restore disc provided by their computer manufacturer.

A few months ago we discovered that you could create your own standalone system recovery disc using tools included in Windows Vista SP1. But if you haven't downloaded the beta version of SP1, or if something has gone horribly wrong and your computer is in an unbootable state, you might need to look elsewhere.

Fortunately the folks at NeoSmart have put together a downloadable recovery disc image. The ISO is about 120MB, and you'll have to burn it to a disc before you can use it. So you'll need a working computer of some sort to play. If you're running Vista and you don't already have an install disc or a recovery disc, we'd highly recommend creating one now. The recovery center is really one of the most useful new features included in Windows Vista.

[via CyberNet]

Now that a few thousand beta testers have got their grubby paws on Window Vista SP1, a few more details are leaking out. One feature we hadn't heard about until now is a new utility for creating a Windows recovery disc. This isn't the same as a system restore disc you get from your computer manufacturer that will restore your system to its factory default settings. Instead, it's a disc that helps you boot into a basic version of Windows to repair problems with the operating system.

There have always been ways to create a recovery disc, but they've required jumping through a few hoops. You could probably argue that if the instructions were too complicated, you probably shouldn't be messing around with a restore disc in the first place. But even advanced users like to save some time every once in a while.

Vista SP1 makes the process about as simple as possible. Select "All Programs," from the Start Menu, then select "Maintenance," and then "Create a Recovery Disc." That's pretty much it. And since the whole thing only takes a few hundred MP, you can easily burn a CD in just a few minutes.

Once you have a disc, you'll be able to boot directly into the Windows Recovery Environment if anything happens to your PC. This will let you perform startup repairs, system restores, restore your entire PC from a backup image, check for memory problems, or pull up a command prompt.

Warrick reconstructs lost websites from cache data found on the web, more specifically through search engines like MSN, Google, Yahoo, and the Internet Archive. Warrick is a command line utility started by a student at Old Dominion University for his thesis on lost web sites. The recovery process is most effective when Warrick is used within the first few days after the website is deleted. Unfortunately Warrick doesn't work on pages that haven't been crawled and indexed, so newer pages may not be able to be recovered. I don't know just how useful Warrick is, since I am not in the special circumstances it requires to test it (all of my websites are safe in their kennels), but it certainly is a unique idea for ripping your website files from cache files that are hanging out with Casper and his friendly ghosts. If only Warrick could find that one file you had with lottery numbers from the future, so you could cash in. Dang!