New, tips, and more
It has been close to a year since we first mentioned LightScribe technology. While Lightscribe drives are still few and far between, it appears as though they will be here shortly.
I saw my first lightscribe commercial onTV the other day. HP is now including Lightscribe enable drives in some of it’s PC’s. Bestbuy.com has two of the models available for purchase, though I have not seen them in Canada yet.
From CNet:
An Amish PC might sound like a contradiction in terms, but Truvia can make one for you–provided you have $55,000 to spare.
The Redmond, Wash.-based start-up specializes in building high-end PCs into handcrafted furniture, everything from simple Amish and Shaker cabinets to ornate Louis XV creations.
From SecurityFocus:
A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers’ passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users, including Hollywood celebrities, SecurityFocus has learned.
Whoa! This person had unbelievable access to information on over 16 million people. Scary!
SanDisk Corporation today introduced an innovative SDâ„¢ flash memory card with built-in USB connectivity.
Flash memory always amazes me. This card has 512MB and only uses half of the actual card. The other half is used for the USB connector. This isn’t the first SD/USB memory card; apparently that honour belongs to Digimaster. But this is even cooler!
Anyone want to buy this for me?
http://www.sandisk.com/pressrelease/20050106a.htm has the press release.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000683026343/ has some great pictures.
This site was mentioned in one of the blogs I subscribe to, Unofficial Microsoft Office Stuff. There are a collection of guides for different operating systems. Most useful are the Services guide’s, with explanation on what each service does and whether it is safe to turn it off or not.
Check it out at http://www.blackviper.com/
Back in December Microsoft bought a company called GIANT which made a well-known anti-spyware utility. Yesterday Microsoft released the rebranded utility in beta. I never tried the GIANT version, but I’m quite impressed with the Microsoft version. The interface is very nice. It is very easy to do, and it seems to do a great job. I ran it on 2 different computers (Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003) and it found several things on both computers, even though I was pretty confident I had none.
“Windows AntiSpyware (Beta) is a security technology that helps protect Windows users from spyware and other potentially unwanted software. Known spyware on your PC can be detected and removed. This helps reduce negative effects caused by spyware including slow PC performance, annoying pop-up ads, unwanted changes to Internet settings, and unauthorized use of your private information. Continuous protection improves Internet browsing safety by guarding over 50 ways spyware can enter your PC.”
This comes courtesy of the TechRepublic Windows XP Tips newsletter:
If the vast amount of available space on your hard disk is dwindling, you’re probably wondering where all that space has gone. To figure that out, you may open Windows Explorer and look for the folder or folders that are using up all the hard disk space. Or, you can save some time by right-clicking each folder, selecting Properties, and checking the Size report on the General tab.
However, an even better way to gather the information you want is to use the Windows Support Tools’ Diruse command line tool. In its basic syntax, the Diruse command displays the number of files in each folder and the total size of the folder in bytes in a nice tabular format. By using the optional parameters, you can configure the Diruse command to focus on specific folders and report folder size in kilobytes or in megabytes. Other parameters will even allow you to flag folders that exceed a size that you specify.
To use the Diruse command line tool, you’ll need to download and install Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools (this assumes that you’ve installed SP2).
TechRepublic has all sorts of good newsletters. Check it out at http://nl.com.com/guest.jsp?brand=techrepublic
From C|Net News:
Police do not need a search warrant to examine an employee’s computer for incriminating files, a Washington state appeals court has ruled.
All that is necessary is the permission of the business that owns the computer, the appeals court said in a 3-0 decision last week.
Co-worker and subscriber Pat Clary sent us this.
From Small Business Pipeline:
Every day in your workplace, the curses get louder. Unwanted pop-up ads, slow computers, PCs that crash all the time. Despite the network firewall and the anti-virus software installed on the server and every computer, your office is infested with spyware.
You’ve read the news stories. You know that spyware is not only annoying, it’s dangerous. It’s certainly affecting productivity, and it could also be recording the keystrokes of everyone in your office right now, discovering logins, passwords, company secrets. Long story short, you need to get rid of it. Now.
I have completed my review of VMware Workstation 4.5. VMware workstation allows you to run multiple operating systems at the same time within one physical PC. It is a great tool for developers, testers, support technicians and those who have a need to access multiple computers or operating systems but do not have the money or the physical space to do so.
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