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Filed under: Fun, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

Four apps that will/might keep your wife from killing you


...when her computer crashes.

Jason's writeup of PMS Buddy inspired me to write a sort of Public Service Announcement. Since I'm sure a lot of our loyal readers are "the friend that knows about computers," I thought I'd share some programs that I should've used long before my wife's hard drive took a dirt nap.

Prepping a close one's computer for a catastrophic event is kind of like stockpiling supplies for a fallout shelter. When the proverbial bomb drops, you'll be safe - as long as you've got the right provisions.

1. GMail. I took the liberty of setting up what I think is a phenomenally crafty stealth email backup. Step one: enable IMAP and copy all the old messages to GMail. Step two: set up GMail to automatically check our ISP's crappy POP server. Step Three: set Outlook Express to access GMail via POP and leave the original copy on the server. Step four: twiddle thumbs. All emails are now stored in the cloud where a hard drive is a lot less likely to take a steaming hot bath in coffee.

I've chosen to use POP instead of IMAP because of the odd problem we've had with our GMail for Domains access. Phone calls from home that start "Why is it telling me the server can't be contacted?" aren't good for my health.

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Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

UndeleteMyFiles: Do we really have to tell you what it does?

UndeleteMyFiles
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]

Filed under: Linux, Troubleshooting

Stupid Ubuntu tricks: 5 Steps for resetting a forgotten password

GRUB

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.

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Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft

No Vista installation CD? You can still download a Vista recovery disc

Vista Recovery Disc
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]

Filed under: OS Updates, Security, Windows, Microsoft, Beta

Windows Vista SP1 lets you create a recovery disc

Create a Recovery Disc
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.

Filed under: Internet, Utilities

Warrick reconstructs websites from the ether

WarrickWarrick 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!

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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